Broad Street Review

Philly's home for arts, culture, and conversation

Thom Nickels

Contributor

BSR Contributor Since March 27, 2010

Thom Nickels is an author and writer who lives in the Fishtown-Port Richmond section of Philadelphia. His latest book is Legendary Locals of Center City Philadelphia. Visit his blog at thomnickels.blogspot.com.

Thom Nickels is a Philadelphia-based author of eight published books, including Philadelphia Architecture (2005), which won the Philadelphia AIA Lewis Mumford Architecture Journalism Award. His latest book is Legendary Locals of Center City Philadelphia.

He is also author of the play, Lincoln in Louisville. In 1990, Mr. Nickels was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award and a Hugo Award for his book, Two Novellas.

He has written feature stories, celebrity interviews, and social commentary columns for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Bulletin, City Paper, Philadelphia Weekly and Philadelphia Style magazine. Mr. Nickels is the architectural writer/critic for the Philadelphia Bulletin, the religion editor for Lambda Book Report, a contributing editor at the Weekly Press, a feature writer for ICON magazine, and a weekly columnist for Philadelphia's STAR publications. Mr. Nickels' new novel, Spore, will be released in June 2010.

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Page 1

Too masculine to play Wilde? LeVasseur (Photo by Mark Garvin)

'Oscar Wilde: From the Depths' at the Lantern (first review)

A man untransformed

Author Charles McMahon missed the opportunity of exploring Oscar Wilde’s spiritual life in the new Lantern production about the playwright.

Jan 26, 2016 Articles 3 minute read

Does the modern gay family include a child? (Photo by Peter "Hopper" Stone - © 2014 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.)

Terrence McNally’s ‘Mothers and Sons’ at PTC (second review)

Fathers Know Best?

While the predictable, albeit slow, ascendancy of the mother’s acceptance of the situation seems to be the main thrust of the play, we also get a cinemascope review of the entire LGBT movement. For the straight person who doesn’t know much about gay history, this 101 overview might serve as the perfect seminar.

Feb 13, 2015 Articles 5 minute read

Rivers in a 1967 publicity shot

Remembering Joan Rivers (three)

The person and the persona

Joan Rivers had to continually perfect her face because that face had become the mask of comedy itself.

Sep 07, 2014 Essays 4 minute read

He arrived as an alien: Robin Williams and Pam Dawber in “Mork & Mindy” (© American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.)

Remembering Robin Williams (eight)

Confronting the unmentionable

Did Robin Williams act too soon? Should he have waited and asked for more help from friends and family?

Aug 12, 2014 Essays 4 minute read

Il Ponte Vecchio at sunset

A solo visit to Florence

Sorrows of a Florentine traveler

Nestled in the cradle of the Tuscan hills, this city of light, good food, and tiny medieval streets has a history as extraordinary as its beauty. Florence is the birthplace of the Renaissance, secularism, liberalism, rationalism, and the pagan world.

Mar 10, 2014 Articles 5 minute read

The Louvre pyramid at night (photo by Benh LIEU SONG, via Wikimedia Commons)

The pyramids of Paris and Philadelphia

A tale of two cities

I. M. Pei caused a stir when he built a pyramid at the Louvre in the 1980s; another pyramid caused a similar stir in Philadelphia during the same decade.

Feb 07, 2014 Articles 5 minute read

Antiwar protest, 1968: Up against the establishment.

A conscientious objector’s story

Moment of truth, 1969: We were the future, but we didn't know it

When I chose to apply for conscientious objector status during the height of the Vietnam War, I was 18 years old and an outcast among my family and friends alike. How, then, did naÓ¯ve and idealistic kids like me turn an entire country around?

Sep 28, 2013 Essays 11 minute read

Monument National Park: Drive drunk? That's your problem.

The "new' Colorado

Where have all the hippies gone? A journey to the new West

Spiritual descendants of cowboys and hippies now co-exist in Colorado, as I discovered on a recent visit. But the open spaces and mountain vistas, so breathtaking to outsiders, can sometimes drive permanent residents nuts.

Aug 11, 2013 Essays 8 minute read

When it's really cold, you get chummy with anything that moves.

Discovering myself in Lapland

Pass the reindeer steak, or: Six days that changed my life

When winter comes, some Philadelphians head for Florida. I headed instead for Finland and the Arctic Circle. The price was right— and in any case I think I got the better deal.

Feb 06, 2011 Essays 9 minute read

Not every nun was blessed with Audrey Hepburn's eyebrows, but a kid can dream, can't he?

Changing habits: What I learned about nuns

Forbidden fruit: My fantasy life among the nuns

As a suburban Catholic grade school student, my meager education in the mysteries of the opposite sex came by watching— and fantasizing about— nuns.

Dec 04, 2010 Essays 6 minute read

Not exactly the Art Museum, but....

Sugarhouse Casino: Color me convinced

How I learned to stop worrying and love my casino

Concerned Philadelphians say the new Sugarhouse Casino will ruin its surrounding neighborhood. But if you lived in that decaying neighborhood, as I do, you'd feel differently. You might just perceive it as our best hope for the future.

Oct 24, 2010 Essays 6 minute read

Saint Cajetan was a man of the world (albeit by Catholic standards).

Can positive thoughts make you rich?

Think and grow rich? Hey, if it works for you….

My wealthy friend tells me I won't make big money until I cast off my “poverty mentality.” To get rich, she and others in her class insist, you must think rich. Why do I remain unpersuaded?

Aug 10, 2010 Essays 4 minute read

Tim and I relax at poolside. Can you see the pool?

A Caribbean cruise from hell

Are we having fun yet? Reflections on an ocean cruise

I'd never taken a cruise before. In fact I'd always derided cruises as an artificial form of travel. Then I took a ten-day cruise to the Caribbean and discovered I'd been right all along.

Jul 16, 2010 Essays 8 minute read

Wynn in Las Vegas: Philadelphia is different.

Fighting Steve Wynn: A civics lesson

Up against a casino mogul (from one who lived to tell the tale)

Philadelphians were shocked recently when the Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn abruptly withdrew from his deal to develop the Foxwoods casino. But some of us— who successfully fought Wynn's attempt to hijack the Maxfield Parrish Dream Garden mural in 1998— knew better. There's a lesson here for timid Philadelphians: The supposed movers and shakers aren't always as tough or resourceful as you think.

Apr 17, 2010 Essays 4 minute read

Nuns' beauty pageant, 2008: Why scapegoat priests?

Priestly sex abuse: Who's to blame?

Sex and the Church: What hath Vatican II wrought?

Who is to blame for the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal? The vast majority of cases coming to light today occurred 20, 30 and 40 years ago— the post-Vatican II years, when liberalizing experimentation within the Church was at its height, and sexual norms were tottering throughout society.

Mar 27, 2010 Essays 7 minute read

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