Around the Block: 11/21/25

11/21/25

Witty takes, can't-miss Philly updates, insider info, and curated listings - by Jeff "City" Block

Important Men

Dick Grayson

Dear Readers,

Today, it is about a pretty specific topic. Important men with November birthdays who have passed. Now there are a lot of famous men who fit this bill—

• All-time athletes such as Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio and Walter “Sweetness” Payton

• How about with more of a Philly flavor—Both Whitey Ashburn and Harry the K were born in the eleventh month.

• So was Chuck Bednarik. Go Birds! Beat Dallas!

• Ezra Pound & Kurt Vonnegut

• Three famous Frenchmen with nothing in common—Voltaire, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Charles de Gaulle. Toulouse-Lautrec, BTW, was dramatized in the movie and Broadway show Moulin Rouge. And apparently, the real Henri was even more eccentric than the Moulin Rouge character.

• President James Garfield—the shortest serving president. Tragically assassinated several months after taking office. Fun fact. As a child prodigy, Garfield could write Latin with one hand while writing Greek with the other. Hmmm—I can barely pat my head and rub my belly.

• Another President—Chester A Arthur. Now I wouldn’t really know anything about Chester Arthur except that the school named after him at 20th and Catharine was recently renamed to honor Marion Anderson. This name change makes sense on so many levels. First, Anderson is deservedly one of the most respected Philadelphians of the 20th century. Not only a world-class singer but a civil rights icon, as well. And she was born in the Graduate Hospital neighborhood—several blocks from the school. A perfect match. And while Arthur was not the most blatant racist of his time (a pretty high bar for that distinction, I must say), he was the president who signed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which is generally viewed as one of the more racist, anti-immigrant statutes in American history. Now there is some nuance to the Chester Arthur story. He was not known as a racist throughout his career (at a time when so many were), and he apparently vetoed an even more draconian version of the Act. But at the end of the day, he succumbed to political pressures, and there you have it. No question that changing the school name was the right move. The Marion Anderson Rec Center is also just a few blocks away.

  
  

  Now Marion Anderson’s defining moment was the 1939 Lincoln Memorial Concert. She was barred from singing at Constitution Hall because she was Black. So, what did she do? Just this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAONYTMf2pk

• A few more random November birthdays to complement this eclectic list… Roy Scheider, Martin Luther (our earliest November birthday boy—1483), and Booker T Washington.

Quite a list of some great men (and some not…  okay, sorry to pile on Chester A). But today, I want to mention two men born in November who are not famous but are really important to me.

First, Richard Block. My dad. Born on November 9, 1938. Died on March 17, 2008. My dad was a character—probably the only non-drinking Jew whose favorite holiday was St Patrick’s Day. He liked to people watch. What can I say. He was so smart, and he died young, at 69, on his favorite holiday. A huge Phillies fan who loved to cook, loved the ponies, and loved classic rock when I was a kid (then just called rock, I guess). Of course, as I got older, I still liked classic rock, while he moved on to what the “young kids are listening to.” He always drove a two-seater convertible (Fiat or Alfa Romeo), and I sometimes had to sit on a weird little ledge in the back (like the trunk would have literally been safer).  I have written about my dad quite a bit over the years. Like here (about my dad’s album covers), here (about the Phillies), here (also about the Phils in a generational piece), here (about the song You’re So Vain and I am pretty sure he really liked this album cover as well), and quite a few others as well (also about the Phillies, music, and Philly in general). I love you, Dad, and I miss you.

Second, Richard Onest. My wife Kristen’s grandfather, born on November 18, 1935, and passed away on December 28, 2020. The man we all called Papa is pivotal in my life because he was such a wonderful man in Kristen’s life. Growing up in Ohio, he was always there for her and the entire family. With courage, humility, selflessness, and love. So much of Kristen’s character comes from Papa, and that has been passed on to my boys—Ari and Ezra. I first met Papa in 2003, and I loved going to his home in Conneaut, Ohio. He was so warm and funny, and we got along just swell. Kristen’s family always seemed like they were light sort of eaters to me. Small portions; pretty healthy; only eat when they are hungry; yada, yada. Ok, well that was not Papa or me. Let me just say that I loved his cooking (pierogies, cabbage rolls, and the like), and he loved the food in Philly—my kind of guy. Papa also served in the Air Force in the mid-1950s. He was one of seven crew members who flew over the Marshall Islands to photomap the island right after atomic bomb testing. Sadly, Papa died of COVID in the hospital just as the COVID vaccine was about to be made available. I loved Papa, and I wrote about him here and here. I miss you, Papa.

Ok, on a much lighter note involving these two gentlemen, both of their names were Richard, and they both went by Dick. Nothing unusual there. A very common name for that generation, right? I never thought anything of it (not totally true, but true enough 😊). But I now know that kids born in 2010 and 2015 totally do not get that name. They are like, “How could they pick that name? Why not go with Rich or any other possible variation? How is Dick even short for Richard anyway?” And so on and so on. Now, interestingly, both my boys say that Dick Grayson is their favorite Robin. He is the OG and my favorite Robin as well. And I took Ezra to the Phillies game this summer, where Dick Allen was commemorated for his Hall of Fame Induction (wish Dick Block could have been there). So, Ezra now has a Dick Allen pin on his backpack. So, boys, it is not such a bad name after all.

Ok, and on that note, please have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Warm regards,

Jeff

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