Philadelphia Beer: A Heady History of Brewing in the Cradle of Liberty by Rich Wagner

The first half of this book covers the nearly 250 years of Philadelphia brewing before prohibition. Suitably, Wagner examines the history of Philly brewing by placing it in the context of neighborhoods, and also by establishing a timeline of the particular styles that gained prominence era to era. It was interesting to read about Philadelphia’s pioneering of Lager beer, and how its popularity helped to establish the city as a nationally leading beer producer. This section of the book was comprehensive, but also somewhat dry. At times, I felt as though I was reading a long wikipedia page on the subject.

The book picks up in its second half, as Wagner goes on to describe how the Volstead Act utterly destroyed one of Philadelphia’s largest industries. The vast majority of breweries closed at the introduction of the act, but some remained opened manufacturing near beer and selling it as a breakfast food (so punk rock.) Prohibition was of course repealed, but at that point the economy was suffering through the Great Depression, and most of Philadelphia’s breweries would never reopen.  There were over a dozen large scale breweries in the city before prohibition. By 1950, there were only four, and by 1970 there were two. Schmidt’s was the last brewery operating in the city when it shut down in 1989 and began its transformation from an abandoned industrial complex to a bro stomping ground. The final chapter dealt with Philly’s more recent history, from the small brewpubs that popped up during the 90’s to the large scale breweries of Yards and PBC that we enjoy today.

This book was a short, and I finished reading it rather quickly. The beginning of it was a bit boring, but only because so much of Philadelphia’s early brewing history has been lost to time. As the book continued, the author was able to interject an increasing amount of detail, making the book worthwhile for those with an interest in the subject. At the very least, it will give you some new things to ponder while walking around Brewerytown, or while catching a band at Ortleib’s. This book is available at Amazon

SPECIAL NOTE: I mostly was drawn to reading this book because I happen to be organizing a craft beer festival in historic Brewerytown. Info here: Brew Fair

To Every Thing a Season: Shibe Park and Urban Philadelphia 1909 - 1976 by Bruce Kuklick

To Every Thing a Season is a great book because it is as much about the A’s and Phillies teams of the Shibe Park era as it is about the neighborhood the ballpark transformed, and ultimately mirrored. Bruce Kuklick is a long time professor of history at the University of Penn, and has written several books on the philosophical and intellectual history in the United States. Books of this type are sometimes prone to an overly sentimental perspective, but Kuklick is successful at avoiding this pitfall, and instead takes a deep look at exactly what causes that type of mass nostalgia in addition to his historical recount.

The story itself is rather compelling. In the 70+ years from the park’s founding to its demolition, the neighborhood transformed from a collection of small farming villages, to a densely populated inner city on a steady decline. The park itself was considered a great technological achievement when it was built, but by 1971 it was heavily regarded as pro baseball’s worst stadium and famously likened to chicken shit by Richie Ashburn. Kuklick covers it all with great detail; closely examining the many local factors and national trends that shaped the area during that time, but also giving equal time to highlight the baseball personalities that made the area famous.

The location of Shibe Park was selected for its proximity to local trolley and regional rail lines. But by the 1940’s, it was a lack of automobile parking that had both the A’s and the Phillies pining for a new home. The section of the book that dealt with the respective team’s efforts to relocate and the city planning that eventually lead to the regrettable Veteran’s Stadium was particularly interesting. It’s a shame that most of the follies associated with that era of publicly funded stadiums still exist today, as politicians continue to falsely believe that a new stadium will benefit the city, when it usually only benefits the owners of the team that resides there. I would have love to have Kuklick’s thoughts on what lead up to the building Citizen’s Bank Park, but this book was published in 1994, at a time when public opinion of Veteran's Stadium had only begun to sour.

The closing of To Every Thing a Season was especially strong. It reminded of some of Milan Kundera’s writings as Kuklick uses Shibe Park to reflect on the nature of collective memories, which run both true and false. The author quotes local papers from the time of Shibe’s closing, and some remembered the neighborhood, stadium, and its teams as they were. But many were already looking back with rose tinted glasses, finally praising the very stadium they’d been lobbying against for the past 25 years.

This book is rich in detail, and the writing has a great flow to make for an enjoyable read. While much of its focus is on baseball, I’d recommend this book to anyone with a serious interest in 20th century Philadelphia. Unfortunately, this book is not available in the Kindle store, so you’ll have to lug around a hard copy if you want to read it. Available on Amazon