I think of "Mom & Pop" as a real estate term with business connotations. To me a classic example was the Fireside Restaurant that used to be on 43rd Street near Pine. The row of stores on the 4500 block of Baltimore provided other examples. The Davis Family lived above and behind their Drug Store. Norman and Mary Weister raised 5 kids above their appliance repair shop. Joe the Butcher lived above his place, until his wife made him move out to Overbrook. In a "Mom & Pop" arrangement, the 'family' would live above or behind the business (store, restaurant, beauty parlor) and they would pull together to keep costs low. Mom could sub for Pop behind the counter. One could do the banking or pick up supplies while the other ran the register and kept the place clean. Kids if any would sweep, restock and do homework under a parents eye. This use is still a way for recent immigrants to create equity, buy a home and start the climb up the income ladder. And it is still a common property use in North and South Philly.
On the 3400 block of Sansom, the White Dog qualified under my definition, as Judy Wicks lived above the Restaurant. I thought I read somewhere that she retired or sold it, to concentrate on good deeds and changing of minds and the world. Another great old term is "In-Law" apartment. These are now more often used for income, guests, live-in help, or seriously indulgent entertaining. Best! Liz On Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:42:27 -0400 [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > It's possible he's referring to the food carts which would certainly > qualify as > Mom-and-Pop in many cases. > > Quoting Anthony West <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > > It's anybody's guess! For starters, "upscale" does not contrast > > logically with "mom-and-pop"; many a Napa Valley winery is an > upscale > > mom-and-pop operation. For another thing, I'm hard pressed to > think of > > any "on-campus" operations that are "mom-and-pop" -- Penn's > real-estate > > wing has long favored chains -- and not many that are "downscale" > > (unless you count their fast-food franchisees, etc.). > > > > Either that Penn real-estate wonk hadn't had his coffee before he > was > > interviewed, or, more likely, the Penn kid who wrote the story had > > little grasp of either business or geography and was flinging > around > > terms wildly, hoping they had a nice ring to them. > > > > -- Tony West > > > > > > Ray wrote: > > > > > > here's another: [thursday's dp]: http://tinyurl.com/2zydee > > > > > > [if anyone can figure out what they mean by mom-and-pop > operations, > > > I'd like to hear!] > > > > ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
