Located on the banks of the Schuylkill River and next to Fairmount Park, East Falls provides year-round access to walking, jogging, and cycling trails.

[citation needed] East Falls is best known as the childhood home of Grace Kelly, actress and Princess of Monaco, who grew up at 3901 Henry Avenue.

Senator Arlen Specter, author and Jewish studies scholar Chaim Potok, Pennsylvania governor and former Philadelphia mayor Ed Rendell owned homes in the neighborhood.

Ravenhill Academy, a school for girls led by the Religious of the Assumption, a Roman Catholic order of nuns founded in France, was attended by Kelly and Corazon Aquino, former president of the Philippines.

East Falls is home to historic Laurel Hill Cemetery, burial place of numerous prominent Philadelphians and other notables.

Thomas Mifflin School and the former Woman's Medical College, both located in East Falls, have been named to the National Register of Historic Places.

Before the War of 1812, Josiah White and Erskine Hazard harnessed the water power from the cataracts for a foundry, wire mill and nail manufactory.

Their combined energy needs led them to learn how to successfully use anthracite in industrial heating during the War of 1812 and to push for the legislation and corporation behind the Schuylkill Canal, then found the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company.