crowd assembled in the area. A man tried to come to Bradford's aid by attacking the police officers at the scene, but he and Bradford were arrested. Rumors then spread throughout North Philadelphia that a pregnant black woman had been beaten to death by white police officers. Later that evening, and throughout the next two days, angry mobs looted and burned mostly white-owned businesses in North Philadelphia, mainly along Columbia Avenue. Outnumbered, the police response was to withdraw from the area rather than aggressively confront the rioters. The race riots of 1964 became iconic for the rising ethnic tensions in the region, and the continued withdrawal of white residents. The riot, which virtually destroyed the central shopping district of North Philadelphia, signaled the beginning of the end for the North's commercial sector. The withering of the American manufacturing sector led to the closing of many of the factories that many northern neighborhoods were centered on and depended on. Increased urban blight and the general decline of Philadelphia in the late 20th century even saw the decline of many of the strong black communities in North Philadelphia. The legendary Connie Mack Stadium was closed in favor of the new Pattison Sports Complex. North Philadelphia Station lost Amtrak Service, and the BSL subway line garnered a reputation for violent crime and rape. The great art deco office buildings and government institutions were mostly abandoned, as were the mansions of the many ruined industrialists. As in many poorer African American city ghettos, drug addiction became a major blight in North Philadelphia, further destabilizing families and social networks. Locale North Philadelphia today Neighborhoods North Philadelphia, like many other sections of Philadelphia, is highly racially and socially segregated block by block. A noticeable pattern in the area is that, in the southern part of North Philadelphia (south of about Erie Avenue), Germantown Avenue (which later becomes North 6th Street) is the dividing point between the areas that are predominantly Black (to the west), and the areas that are predominantly Hispanic (to the east). However, this is slowly changing, with a small yet growing population of Hispanics living west of Germantown Avenue, and already significant population of Blacks living east of that street. The area between Broad Street and 5th Street is increasingly becoming a "transition zone" between the larger predominantly black area west of Broad, and the smaller predominantly Hispanic area east of 5th. This