“The way I work, all my books are inspired by things I stumble across in real life,” Greg Neri says. “It’s kind of the act of stopping me in my tracks.” Several years ago Neri, an award-winning author of young-adult fiction, stumbled across photographer Martha Camarillo’s book about the men and the horses at Philadelphia’s Fletcher Street Stable. Inspired and amazed, Neri began digging for more information about these urban cowboys. He discovered gold.
“At that time you could google it and nothing would come up,” he says. “There was no information about this neighborhood or the history or what was going on there.” He says that he began what he calls a treasure hunt, collecting stories, profiles of people, reports of incidents—all to create the canvas for what he believed would be a great story. Getting to know the people on Fletcher Street, and seeing their commitment to the young people, the horses and the community, convinced Neri that there was an extraordinary story to tell. He never imagined that his book would one day bring Hollywood to Philadelphia to turn the novel into a major motion picture, starring Idris Elba.
Unsung Heroes, Nurturing Generations
Horses are embedded in the fabric of the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood in North Philadelphia. For more than 100 years, in often makeshift stables, horses have been part of the scenery, stoking imaginations of young people in the neighborhood and serving as rewards for good behavior.
Aspiring cowboys and cowgirls must be accountable, avoid trouble and do well in school before they can ride. It’s part of the deal at Fletcher Street, and it’s rigorously enforced. The people who work at the Fletcher Street Stables, many of whom grew up riding there, continue the tradition of keeping young people occupied and out of trouble.
In his book, Ghetto Cowboy, Neri tells the story of Cole, a troubled young boy from Detroit. He’s skipping school, vandalizing the school cafeteria with graffiti, hiding the sad truth of his daily routine from his overworked mother. He can’t picture himself as anything other than a kid with no future.
“I don’t know why I stopped going to school,” the fictional Cole explains. “I guess I didn’t wanna waste no more time with teachers and homework and all a that, ‘cause what difference do it make in the end? I’ll never do anything great in my life. Do they really think I’m gonna be like Obama? Not a chance. I just feel sorry for Mama for thinking that I could be somebody.”
His mother, terrified that Cole’s future will be irreparably stunted if she doesn’t do something extreme, decides to take the young man to Philadelphia to live with his estranged father. His father takes him to Fletcher Street, changing the trajectory of his life.
From the Streets, to a Book to a Movie
The people who have kept the Fletcher Street Stables alive through the years have poured themselves into the enterprise. It has never been easy. They’re not wealthy people, but they saw that they could make a difference in the lives of young people in the neighborhood—because someone had made a difference in their lives.
Neri says that Ricky Staub, who owns Neighborhood Film Company in Brewerytown, had seen the equestrians from Fletcher Street navigating the traffic and city streets. “He lived in this area of Philly, and one day saw these black urban cowboys riding by and he had the same reaction I did. In his googling he came across my book, and really liked it and kept it in the back of his head.”
For several years, Staub had worked in Hollywood, Neri says. “He used to work for Sam Mercer who is a bigtime Hollywood producer, and went off and started this independent film company.”
In 2017 Staub had directed a short film, The Cage, which told the story of a young man trying to break out of society’s low expectations for him, as well as the violence and crime that stalked him. He chose to use non-actors in the film, believing that the people who were actually living the story could tell it better and more authentically. The film was a critical success.
Neri says the buzz around that film led Mercer to encourage Staub to do a feature-length film. Staub recalled the book Neri had written, and decided it checked all the boxes on his list of what he wanted to achieve with his company.
“This story talks about everything I want to talk about,” Neri says. “He reached out to me and after talking to him, I knew that his concerns were my concerns in terms of wanting to show the neighborhood in compelling ways. He had an interest in social justice as I do and started a program retraining formerly incarcerated people to be production people.” Thus, the movie Concrete Cowboy was born. It was shot in and around the neighborhood that inspired Neri’s book and captured Staub’s imagination.
The people at Fletcher Street, Neri says, have been involved with the film from the beginning. “Ricky (Staub) really wanted the neighborhood to feel a part of it and it would not be authentic if they were not involved.” He says that although Concrete Cowboy is an independent film, it has major Hollywood “players” behind it.
The Myth of the Cowboy
For people all over the world, the idea of the cowboy—fiercely independent, resourceful, courageous—has been an inspiration. And mostly the picture conjured up is a white cowboy on the open plains or riding off into a pink and orange mountain sunset. The urban cowboys Neri celebrates in his book shatter that image but are no less inspiring. He says that this particular book has defied the usual course his books have taken. “This book which came out in 2011 is a book that keeps going on and on and on. Ordinary life of a book--you write it, it comes out and then it fades.” He says that this book continues to inspire young readers, and it’s the one kids always want to hear about.
This story combines the magic of the cowboy with the incongruity of the city streets with their vistas of rooftops and skyscrapers instead of mountains. It’s a formula that transcends national boundaries. “There’s a certain mythology of the cowboy that appeals to Europeans. Especially in Germany the fascination with the old west runs deep,” Neri says. “I even toured Russia with this book and had amazing reactions from the kids there.” He says kids are inspired by the dogged persistence of the people at Fletcher Street. “It’s about standing up for yourself, standing up for your community. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or who you are, these cowboys have been saving these horses and saving these young people by giving them these horses for decades.”
He says one of most pleasant surprises he encountered while touring the United States was the reality that Philadelphia’s urban cowboys are not alone. “Kids and cowboys would come out to see me and I would find there are communities like this. Everywhere I went these black cowboys would show up and even better black teens who were cowboys. They took pride in the fact that they were now represented in the book. It will be interesting to see how the movie takes this forward.”
The Need for Support Remains
The irony in the widespread interest in the story of these urban cowboys is easy to overlook. But is all-too evident to Neri. He says it would be easy for people to assume that once Hollywood comes to an area like Fletcher Street, the money will follow. He says it’s a double-edged sword. “They’ve relied a lot on the kindness of strangers to keep doing this in terms of donations, so now as soon as they have a movie made about them people might think they’re rolling in money. People only know what they know about Hollywood. They’re in the same situation, but now their profile is higher.”
If you’re interested in supporting the Fletcher Street Stables, please reach out to Erin Brown at FletcherStreetStables@gmail.com.