Former Slum Named City's Most Beautiful Street

The block recently received the Philadelphia More Beautiful Committee's highest honor - and a $1,000 first prize - the culmination of a years-long effort to clean up and reclaim the 2500 block of East Gordon Street.

"[Resident and Instigator Kathy] Berry stood with this Daily News reporter in front of her house recently and asked the same question she had asked the army of Philadelphia More Beautiful Committee judges who descended on her tiny, narrow block of Gordon Street, near Belgrade, in early October.

"Can you tell me," she said, gesturing to the homes on the block, "which houses are empty and which houses are occupied?"

The reporter couldn't. The judges couldn't."