On this block in 1927

On this block in 1927. . , The building located at the southeast corner of Broad and Pine Streets became home to the Young Men's Hebrew Association (YMHA) in 1924 after it merged with a newly formed organization called the Young Women's Hebrew Society (YWHA). The purpose of this building was to create a cultural, educational and social meeting place for the Jewish community of Philadelphia. The image to the left from 1927 shows the limestone and brick building, designed by architects Frank Eugene Hahn and Paul Philippe Cret, which included a health and fitness center with an Olympic-sized pool and a fully-accredited nursery school., The building became known as the "Gershman Y" in 1985 when it was dedicated in honor of Charles and Elizabeth Gershman. Today, while the building is owned by the University of the Arts, it still houses the Gershman Y including The Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in the Adolph and Rose Levis Museum, The Borowsky Art Gallery and The Open Lens Photography Gallery., In 1927 , President: Calvin Coolidge (R) , Mayor: Richard Vaux (D) , Philadelphia population: 1,823,779, Events , January 7 , First trans-Atlantic telephone call was made from New York City to London., May 20-21 , First solo non-stop trans-Atlantic flight from New York to Paris by Charles Lindbergh., May 23 , The first demonstration of television before a live audience. Nearly 600 members of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Institute of Radio Engineers view the demonstration at the Bell Telephone Building in New York., Wonder Bread was introduced by Taggert Baking Company of Indianapolis., The first compulsory automobile insurance law was passed in Massachusetts., A study was performed on the brains of "three scholars," who joined "The Brain Club" or "The American Antropometric Society" including the famed physician Sir William Osler. Osler actually wrote a note as he lay dying directing that his brain be removed and shipped to the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia. The study claimed to find difference between the brains of the elite and the less intelligent. Modern scientists have failed to see any marked differences. The brains now rest in a dark closet at the Wistar Institute, the nation's oldest non-profit medical research center on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania., Money matters ,

Weekly income of Greta Garbo after the release of "Flesh and the Devil": $5,000 , Loaf of bread: 10¢ , Butter: 57¢/pound , Coffee: 45¢/pound , Sombrero: $1.98 , Iron: $4.95 , Mouthwash: 79¢ , Toothbrush: 25¢ , Cost of Charles Lindbergh's Ryan Monoplane: $18,000 , Baseball: $1.39 , Fishing rod: $4.37 , Trolley: 5¢ , Bus fare: 8¢, 15¢ for 2 tokens