Yeah it’s always been a war zone.
When I left in ‘87 it was a pure crap hole area
You got that right. Born and raised in South Philly. Left in 1994. On the rare occasions that I went back for funerals, weddings, family visits, etc. even the areas that I remembered as being 'safe' were complete no-go zones unless you were driving a tank.
Interesting location for a rally given the area, but aside from the Wells Fargo center (~ 20,000 capacity), I don't know of any other arena-type venues in the city aside from the Liacouras Center which has a decent capacity of about 10,000. Hope the security in the area and on the subway is solid as I imagine a lot of people will be getting there using the Broad Street Line.