Walter Jackson Freeman II was a Philadelphia physician who wanted to simplify lobotomies and make them accessible to everyone. Freeman invented a transorbital lobotomy procedure, otherwise known as the ice-pick technique, and took his show on the road. Freeman traveled across the country, performing brain surgery door-to-door in his lobotomy-mobile…

Tony Trov and Johnny Zito, from South Fellini, share their memories of growing up as altar boys in Philly. Hear their takes on mean priests, angry nuns, and silly saints.Check out SouthFellini.com to grab our gear; apparel for the Philadelphia lifestyle. Subscribe to South Fellini on YouTube.com/SouthFelliniCONNECTShop: http://southfellini.comInsta…

We're back, Baby! The South Fellini crew returns after a year long hiatus to give their reactions to the year that was 2023. Hear Bierman speak of his travels to Toronto. Salivate over Trov's food recommendations. And delight in Zito's giggle fits.Check out SouthFellini.com to grab our gear; apparel for the Philadelphia lifestyle. Subscribe to Sout…

We're coming back to the podcast, now with a video component. If you were a fan of Legends of Philadelphia, then we've got good news. We're bringing back the weekly content. Bierman will return for new episodes of Legends. Trov & Zito will be talking about the 'ol days in South Philly. And we hope to have some special guests come down to our homegr…

We're coming back to the podcast, now with a video component. If you were a fan of Legends of Philadelphia, then we've got good news. We're bringing back the weekly content. Bierman will be back for new episodes of Legends. Trov & Zito will be talking about the 'ol days in South Philly. And we hope to have some special guests come down to our homeg…

We're going out for cigarettes. Be back soon.

Philadelphia is known as the original home of American Bandstand. But Dick Clark packed his bags and skipped town as fast as he could. For years, dancing was dead in the city of brotherly love. That is until the debut of the area's longest running reality tv show in Philly history. Join us as we strut our stuff with Madonna, Fresh Prince, The New K…

Long before the cola wars fought for domination over the taste buds of American youth, local brands dominated the refrigerators of families in the Delaware Valley. Coke and Pepsi took a back seat to a hometown favorite. But you would only know that if you lived within a 50 mile radius of Philadelphia City Hall. Join us as we crack open a can of Fra…

Back in the 90s, it seemed like every block had at least one person with an illegal cable connection that granted them access to Pay Per View events, premium content and adult movies. These devices were known as “hot boxes” most everywhere else in the United States. But in Philadelphia, we called it “the chip” and it was the worst kept secret in th…

In the sleepy town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania an annual meteorological event gathers thousands from around the world. In the wooded hills of this forest town lives Phil the Groundhog, a magical creature with the ability to affect the changing of the seasons. Should Phil NOT see his shadow, winter will end early; crops will flourish and the peopl…

DisneyQuest was a chain of indoor interactive theme parks in the late ’90s. Disney execs intended to build them in cities across the U.S. but the planned Philadelphia site never materialized. Instead we were left a giant hole, one square block in size, two stories deep. Join us as we explore the hidden levels of The Disney Hole.…

This is our “skip week” where we take a break from the regular format. One of the most fun things about doing Legends of Philadelphia are all the great comments, emails, and DMs we get on the social medias. Listeners clued us in when we were wrong and shared new stuff that we didn’t know before. And it has been a while since our last E&O so we have…

On April 28, 1978, David Bowie performed the first date of a two night stand in Philadelphia, which formed the bulk of his second live album. “Stage” was recorded on the Isolar II Tour and released through RCA Records in 1978. Join us as we listen to David Bowie, live at the Spectrum.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (better known by its acronym SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that services nearly four million people in five counties in and around Philadelphia. SEPTA has often struggled with management issues, employee morale, strikes, aging equipment, inadequate funding and poor public…

Longwood Gardens is a botanical garden that consists of over 1,077 acres of gardens, woodlands, and meadows in the Brandywine Creek Valley. It is open year-round for visitors to enjoy horticulture and seasonal-themed attractions. Most notable of these events are the Christmas celebrations, which include festive trees draped in gilded garland. But w…

The lighting of the ceremonial Christmas tree is now such a regular occurrence that we hardly take notice every year as another fully decorated tree shows up at City Hall or the Passyunk fountain. But public pines weren’t always the norm, the tradition only kicked off in major cities about 110 years ago. So join us as we festoon Philly’s first fest…

During the holiday season of 2017, Mark D'Amico and Kate McClure started a GoFundMe fundraiser to help homeless veteran Johnny Bobbitt. The campaign went viral and captured the hearts of 14,000 people worldwide. Together they raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to help Johnny, but when a team of journalists and authorities took a closer look, t…

The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Temple University Concert choir made a Christmas album together in 1962. Conducted by Eugene Ormandy, this record sold more than a million copies that season, going on to become "the fastest-selling classical set in history," according to the Record Industry Association of America. This collection continues to sel…

The Bounty Bowl was a notorious NFL game held on Thanksgiving 1989, between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys. The game is infamous for allegations that the Eagles coaching staff issued a $200 bounty on Dallas Cowboys kicker Luis Zendejas, who was cut by Philadelphia earlier that season. So, join us as we put the hurt on The Bounty Bow…

(Note: This episode was recorded before the Phillies lost the World Series. Sorry we jinxed them.) In 2008, the Phillies won the World Series, breaking a 28-year dry spell. The sudden release of all that tension threatened to tear the city apart. Luckily, all of that energy was properly channeled into the biggest Halloween party in history. Boot an…

The Phillies are in the World Series and you know what that means... City workers must grease the telephone poles on Broad Street. This is to deter revelers from climbing above cheering crowds to chug beers. You might think this solution was born of necessity. However, climbing greased poles began centuries ago and has been a decades long tradition…

On April 21, 1865, a train carrying the body of Abraham Lincoln left Washington for a 180-city, seven-state journey of more than 1,600 miles. The route would end in Illinois but its first stop would be in Philadelphia. Join us as we dig up the dirt on Abe Lincoln's ghoulish tour of Philadelphia.

A cryptid is an animal that has been claimed to exist but has never been proven to exist. Every state in the union has their very own legendary creatures that roam nearby dark forests and murky lakes. The Keystone State is home to our very own Bigfoot, Loch Ness, and chupacabra. Join us as we journey into deepest darkest Pennsylvania.…

All over the city, you’ll find dozens of funeral homes buried in every neighborhood. Further South, the collection of mortuaries grows even more dense. It’s not something you might have noticed if you grew up here. However, we’ve often been asked by new Philadelphians, why are there so many undertakers on Broad Street? So join us as we investigate …

Every culture has superstitions they believe in and the Italians have many. In their culture, the most common superstition is the Malocchio, or the Evil Eye. Italians believe that if someone stares at you with jealousy or envy or evil intent, you will be cursed to have bad luck or misfortune. So join us for our first Halloween episode of the season…

Some 300 years ago, Blackbeard and other pirates terrorized Philadelphia. Still, the Quaker colony was sympathetic to the seafaring marauders. Pirates during the early 19th century, just as today, were often considered romantic heroes in the public eye. Philadelphia was a hotbed for pirates in its early years, when some of the most notorious pirate…

The Philadelphia Eagles have had some interesting uniform combinations in the franchise’s 86-year history. The fan base has embraced some of these looks and rejected others over the years. Something unique about the Eagles uniform history is the city may like the "Kelly Green" throwbacks better than the current "Midnight Green" color scheme. So tod…

As strange as it sounds, the classic cowboy hat was designed and manufactured in North Philly. The Stetson Hat Company’s Philadelphia factory, incorporated in 1891, produced dress hats for both women and men. Employing over 5,000 workers in various departments, the company turned out more hats than any other during the early 20th century. He built …

Everyone is hype on the new Elvis movie starring Tom Hanks and Directed by Baz Lurmann. A plot point in the movie is that Elvis never toured overseas but he did criss-cross the United States several times. And that got us thinking about Elvis in Philadelphia. The King of Rock n Roll played shows in town during the 50’s and then returned again in th…

We are doing things a lil differently this week. This is our “skip week” where we take a break from the regular format. One of the most fun things about doing Legends of Philadelphia are all the great comments, emails, and DMs we get on the social medias. Listeners clued us in when we were wrong and shared new stuff that we didn’t know before. So, …

Clementon Park and Splash World is a mid-sized combination theme park and water park in Clementon, Camden County, New Jersey. It is one of the world's oldest operating amusement parks and is one of only thirteen trolley parks still in operation. The park closed in September 2019 and successfully reopened on June 25, 2021. So join us as we buy a tic…

Monopoly, a popular family board game, was invented by Charles Darrow who first sold the game in local Philadelphia department stores. The Monopoly board is based on Atlantic City, New Jersey locations. The point of the game is to buy up property, stay out of jail, and bankrupt your opponents. What started as a socialist parable turned into a capit…

The Pennsylvania Lottery was established on August 26, 1971, by a legislative act, Title 91. The Pennsylvania Lottery is the only state lottery that exclusively targets its proceeds to benefit older citizens. But not everyone respects the sovereign sanctity of the lotto drawing. Occasionally someone tries to game the system to win it all. Today we …

What does Philadelphia taste like? Is it onions? Is it garlic? How does a snack food company perfectly capture the palate of a whole city as eclectic and diverse as ours? They manufacture a cheese steak flavored version of their product. Herr’s recently released three Philly inspired varieties of potato chip and wouldn’t you know it, one of them ta…

In Vietnamese cuisine, bánh mì is a short baguette with thin, crisp crust and a soft, airy texture. It is often split lengthwise and filled with savory ingredients like a hoagie and served as a meal. Passyunk Avenue lost one of the greatest Banh Mi makers this week; Andre Chin at Artisan Bakery. So today felt like an opportunity to remember a great…

The 4th Miss America pageant was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Saturday, September 6, 1924. Ruth Malcomson competing as Miss Philadelphia came in first place against a field of 83 entrants, the largest number of competitors in contest history. We noticed the photo of Ruth circulating on the interwebs in her “Miss Philly” sash and thought it …

The famous Melrose Diner and Bakery has been a long-standing Philadelphia tradition for over 80 years. Conveniently located in South Philly on West Passyunk Ave, Melrose is a central fixture in the neighborhood. Behind their mid century facade, they serve up comfort food & people-watching 24/7. So, on today’s episode we want to let you know why eve…

Betsy Ross was a talented seamstress and upholsterer who was widely believed to have made the first American flag. In preparation for the country’s 200th anniversary, the Betsy Ross Foundation and her descendants wanted to exhume her grave and rebury her remains in the courtyard of her historic home at 4th and arch, where it was believed she sewed …

Rocky Balboa is an American sports drama film starring, written, and directed by Sylvester Stallone. It is the sequel to Rocky V (1990) and is the sixth installment in the Rocky franchise. The only returning Rocky cast member is Burt Young. Rocky Balboa was theatrically released by MGM Distribution Co. and Sony Pictures Releasing in the United Stat…

If you’re a fan of the Sesame Street TV show, you may be familiar with the Sesame Place theme park just outside Philadelphia. Since opening in 1980, the park has welcomed fans of Big Bird, Elmo and the entire Sesame Street gang. The 14-acre park is home to one roller coaster and an abundance of kid friendly attractions. With recent news that the ic…

It’s no secret that Philadelphia is a horse town, and not just because “philly” is a homonym for a female equine. Informal stables exist throughout North and West Philadelphia and in Cobbs Creek Park. The horses are ridden throughout the city's streets and regular races are held on an open strip of Fairmount Park called the Speedway. So today we wa…

We are doing things a lil differently this week. This is our “skip week” where we take a break from the regular format. One of the most fun things about doing Legends of Philadelphia are all the great comments, emails, and DMs we get on the social medias. Listeners clued us in when we were wrong and shared new stuff that we didn’t know before. So, …

Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz is a meteorologist for NBC10's First Alert weather team. You can watch Glenn’s live forecasts weekdays during the 11 a.m., and 5 p.m. newscasts for the last three decades. He recently announced his retirement from the weatherman game and his last broadcast will be May 27th 2022. So we thought this would be a great time to…

In 1996 the ultimate contest of machine versus man took place in Philadelphia as Deep Blue, an emotionless IBM supercomputer faced off against Garry Kasparov, the world chess champion. No computer had ever beaten a human under usual tournament rules, in which each player has two hours to make 40 moves. The contest was seen as symbolically significa…

The 1983 Sixers team is unfairly overlooked when talking about the greatest teams in league history. The franchise had lost the NBA Finals in 1977, 1980 and 1982, and suffered an even more agonizing conference finals loss in 1981 that cost them an almost sure title. So, Philadelphia was hungry for a championship and 1983 was the year they finally g…

In May of 1975, after Lennon had launched his solo career, he took an Amtrak train from New York City to Philadelphia to promote his new album and raise money for the Helping Hands marathon. Lennon's influence on music, politics, pop culture and celebrity remained powerful as it was during the height of Beatlemania. And for three wild days he toure…

We Philadelphians love us some pretzels. We eat 12 times as many as anybody else in America, and we make 80 percent of the nation’s supply. As the rest of America gathers around with family and friends to celebrate national pretzel day on April 26th we thought it would be fun to explore the history of pretzel snacks and maybe do a lil taste testing…

When Double Dare premiered in 1986, it became an instant kid-friendly sensation. Hosted by Marc Summers, the gak-soaked Nickelodeon game show aired in some form or another on the network until 1993. Many remember that Double Dare was shot in front of a live audience at Nick Studios in Orlando Florida. However, it;s a forgotten fact that Double Dare…

The Philadelphia Stars were a professional American football team which played in the United States Football League (USFL) during the mid-1980s. They were the short-lived league's dominant team, playing in all three championship games and winning two. Now that the USFL is coming back we wanted to take a minute to remember Philadelphia’s Winningest …

The Phillie Phanatic is the official mascot for the Philadelphia Phillies Major League Baseball team. He is a large, furry, green bipedal flightless bird with an extendable tongue. He performs various routines to entertain fans during baseball games at Citizens Bank Park and makes public relations and goodwill appearances for the Phillies. The Phan…