The pet shop where Adrian worked in four of the seven “Rocky” motion pictures is down for the count and has been knocked out... er, knocked DOWN.
J&M Tropical Fish is (was, actually) located at 2146 N. Front Street in Philadelphia's Kensington district. Though the shop dates from the 1920s and has been closed and abandoned since 2006, its main claim to fame is being where Adrian (“yo Adrian!”) Pennino of the Rocky film franchise worked.
The pet shop was used as a filming location beginning with the first film, “Rocky”, in 1975. Scenes from Rocky II, Rocky V, and Rocky Balboa were shot there as well. Always a gritty working-class neighborhood, Kensington is finally receiving some attention thanks to the double-edged sword of gentrification.
The proverbial sword's cutting edge came down on the former pet shop and film fandom icon on April 20th of 2017, much to the surprise of Ben Caplan, a Philly native who has been leading Rocky tours for about a year. “I was getting ready to tell these people, 'Well, hey, across the street is the —' and then I looked over and saw a big bulldozer,” stated Caplan to Tommy Rowan of Philly.com. At least Adrian won't have to clean those cat cages ever again.
