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Cake and Joe will open a new cafe in Center City at 1735 Market St. on Feb. 18. The first 100 will get free individual cakes. Owners Sarah Qi and Trista Tang opened their first shop in Pennsport in 2020, followed by a second cafe in Fishtown in 2022.
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Michael Tanenbaum
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Avenue of the Arts — also known as South Broad Street — is set to undergo a major transformation over the next few years.
The $150 million “AveArts 2.0” project, which officials said will unfold over the next decade, will reshape the one-mile stretch from City Hall to Washington Avenue into a “pedestrian-focused public realm.”
“This is Philadelphia claiming its future,” Chair of the Avenue of the Arts, Inc., board Carl Dranoff shared in a news release. “Cities that leadthe world invest boldly in culture, public space, andgreening. With AveArts 2.0,theAvenue of the Arts will become one of those rare, magical streets theworld talks about.”
Gensler, the global architecture and planning firm, in collaboration with OJB, alandscape and urban design practice, envisions a green, pedestrian-centric boulevard featuring landscaped medians, seating, enhanced lighting, outdoor performance spaces, rotating public art, and sculptural elements.
“By prioritizing people, this transformation turns infrastructure into experience,” said OliverSchaper, principal at Gensler and lead designer for the project. “It’s a model for howcultural corridors can support climate resilience, economic vitality, and everyday life in a21st-century city.”
Credit: OJB
Credit: OJB
Credit: OJB
33 years ago, the Avenue of the Arts was established by Former Mayor Ed Rendell to transform what was considered a declining office corridor into a vibrant performing arts district.
Today, it is one of the largest performing arts districts in the U.S. by seat count, second only to Broadway, city officials shared.
Valued at $4.4 billion, the Avenue of the Arts is home to renowned organizations such as the Philadelphia Orchestra and schools such as the Rock School of Dance, and features an extensive public art collection and historic and modern architecture.
City officials shared that the first phase of the 10-year project will begin on the block between Spruce and Pine streets, in front of the Kimmel Center.
Construction will begin January 30, 2026, and is expected to be completed by June 2026, just in time for Philadelphia’s major 2026 events.
This part of the construction will include a raised, landscapedmedian with native trees and plantings, a rainwater-collection cistern, and lighting.
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The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the medical society that owns and operates the Mütter Museum, will start construction next year to expand its campus and create new gallery spaces inside a historic former church next door.
The organization said Monday it plans to unite its current home at 19 South 22nd St. — between Market and Chestnut streets — with the adjacent Swedenborgian Church and Parish House at 2129 Chestnut St. The college bought the property for a reported $9.3 million in 2023 with the goal of making the campus more cohesive for its fellows and the public.
MORE: Ken Burns’ new series highlights some lesser-known revolutionaries from Philly and South Jersey
“We are not content to rest on our past,” President and CEO Larry Kaiser said in a statement. “We see a need to move forward with plans for innovation, inclusion, and renewed purpose.”
The college, established in 1787, is the nation’s oldest private medical society and houses a vast historical library used by physicians and public health researchers. The Mütter Museum was founded in 1863 to showcase a collection of more than 25,000 medical specimens, giving visitors a glimpse into the study and evolution of treatments for various maladies.
The Mütter Museum’s core gallery will get a “significant expansion” into the church that will allow for the display of thousands of more items held in stored collections, officials said. The vast majority of the college’s medical instruments, biological specimens, teaching models, texts and other archival materials are not publicly displayed.
Adding space will allow for new rotating galleries, a larger museum store and more opportunities for school groups to visit the Mütter.
The Gothic Revival church, built in 1881, was designed by renowned Philadelphia architect Theophilus Parsons Chandler Jr. and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It originally served as the Church of the New Jerusalem, an 18th century Christian sect that followed Swedish theologian Emanuel Swedenborg. The church closed in the mid-1980s and the building later underwent a renovation that converted some of its space into medical offices.
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia purchased the former Swedenborgian Church and Parish House, shown above, for a reported $9.3 million in 2023.
The college’s expansion comes on the heels of the museum’s two-year ethical review to examine and update policies for the display of human remains. The process led to a shake-up of the college’s executive leadership that brought Kaiser into the fold in January and installed a new team to oversee the museum’s future development.
Construction will be carried out in stages to minimize disruptions to the college, its visitors and the surrounding community, officials said. A fundraising campaign has already collected $27 million for the first phase, which includes creating a glass connector between the two buildings and opening up fully accessible entrances to both.
Other plans call for new classrooms and multi-purpose spaces that will serve college fellows, the public and attendees of future medical conferences in the city. The college did not provide a timeline for the completion of its work.
“We are thrilled about the opportunities the campus expansion provides to the Mütter Museum and Historical Medical Library,” said a joint statement from Mütter Museum directors Erin McLeary and Sara Ray. “This is a unique place where our visitors get the chance to see objects that spark curiosity, promote creativity, and encourage engagement with medical history.
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Michael Tanenbaum
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A person was stabbed on the platform of the SEPTA station at 5th and Market Street in the area of Independence Mall on Monday night, SEPTA officials confirmed to NBC10.
The person was taken to the hospital and is in stable condition, the official said.
No word on if any suspects are in custody and no information as to what lead to the stabbing were immediately available.
This is a developing story, check back for more updates.
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Brendan Brightman
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Mayor Cherelle Parker unveiled her vision to reverse the decadeslong decline of East Market Street on Friday, promising a process that will restore the corridor as Philadelphia’s economic and cultural anchor while accounting for the interests of people who live in the area.
Some residents, who say they still are recovering from the trauma caused by the process of the 76ers’ abandoned plans to build a new arena on East Market, feel this new situation is all too familiar.
MORE: Researchers create ‘digital monument’ to site of 2019 South Philly refinery explosion
After months of lobbying the city to build their $1.3 billion arena at 10th and Market streets, the Sixers abruptly withdrew the plan in favor of partnering with Comcast Spectacor, their current landlord at Xfinity Mobile Arena, to build an arena in South Philly. The joint venture includes commitments to invest in East Market Street.
“After we all got over the shock and awe of what was not going to happen on Market East, I immediately shifted into my eternally optimistic view about how we are going to be able to move things forward,” Parker said during a press conference at Jefferson Health’s Honickman Center.
The Market East Corridor Planning and Advisory Commission, led by Brandywine Realty Trust CEO Jerry Sweeney, will be tasked with creating a redevelopment plan that stretches from City Hall to the Delaware River. The planning process is expected to take about a year.
“All of us have connections to Market East and a significant stake in remaking this corridor into a valuable asset for the city,” Sweeney said.
Leaders from Comcast Spectacor, the 76ers and dozens of other institutions will now be responsible for planning construction, infrastructure upgrades and social services along a street that has had trouble keeping businesses in storefronts and has a large homeless population.
Parker said she learned from how she handled the contentious arena planning process, which drew resistance from communities in Chinatown and Washington Square West. She pledged to take a different approach to city planning that listens to government, businesses and residents.
“I don’t want anyone leaving here today saying that there is a plan that is baked, that is cooked, that is done, and (that) it is a plan that will be shoved down the throats of Philadelphians,” Parker said. “That is not what this is.”
Neighborhood advocates at Friday’s press conference said they have little faith that the city will follow through with its promises.
“There’s not a clear accountability measure for making sure that the actual citizens of Philadelphia are heard in this process,” said Katie Garth, a member of the Neighborhood Alliance of Washington Square West.
The Sixers and Comcast Spectacor already have plans to demolish several vacant buildings on the south side of Market Street, between Ninth and 10th streets, before the end of the year. The structures, which cover half the block, include the former Robinson department store and a former Reebok store.
The Philadelphia Department of Licenses & Inspections has a demolition notice posted for the buildings at 1020-1024 Market St., which Comcast Spectactor and the Philadelphia 76ers plan to knock down in the coming months to make way for a World Cup pop-up next summer. Opponents of the plan taped signs next to the notice on Friday morning.
Comcast’s chief legal officer, Thomas Reid, said the empty space will be used for activities related to the World Cup when the international soccer tournament comes to the city in June. He gave no other details, but said Comcast already has invested $60 million in properties on Market Street and will be a “turbocharged engine” for redevelopment as the city prepares to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary next year.
Beyond 2026, Comcast and the 76ers have not disclosed plans for the soon-to-be vacant lots.
“We think that that’s going to further blight the neighborhood. It’s going to make the situation worse with no real guarantees that it will get better,” said Laney Myers, with the historic preservation group RePoint Philadelphia.
The Design Advocacy Group, a volunteer organization of development and planning professionals in the city, published a letter last week calling the pending demolitions “impulsive.” They questioned why it took nearly a year for Parker to convene the advisory group and said the city should consider “strategic reuse” of the buildings slated to be torn down.
Michael Tanenbaum/PhillyVoice
Comcast Spectacor and the 76ers plan to soon demolish several buildings along the 1000 block of Market Street as part of a long-term plan to revitalize the corridor.
Neighborhood leaders in attendance Friday said the city’s push for demolition is a bad start that shows little has been learned from the arena planning process, despite Parker’s claim that plans on Market Street have not been finalized.
“We are still suffering from PTSD over the arena debacle, and there’s a lot of deja vu happening right now,” Myers said.
As the Market East commission’s work gets underway, Parker said progress is already taking shape on East Market Street.
She pointed to the ongoing streetscape improvements along Market Street in Old City and the Philadelphia Parking Authority’s plan to invest $13 million to renovate the former Greyhound bus terminal on Filbert Street. She also praised the Convention Center for investing nearly $1 million in new lighting along the corridor.
City Councilmember Mark Squilla, whose 1st District covers East Market Street, said he will create an online portal where residents can share ideas about Market Street’s future.
“That allows us to take input from everybody, especially the adjoining communities that will be impacted the most,” he said.
Sweeney anticipates there will be competing ideas and conflicts in the months to come.
“No doubt, through our public engagement process, many strong opinions will be expressed,” he said. “All perspectives will have a full seat at the table to present ideas, raise concerns, share their hopes and aspirations, and then we will collectively determine our short- and long-term path forward.”
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Michael Tanenbaum
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A man has been charged with murder after police said he shot another man to death at a busy SEPTA station in Center City Philadelphia.
According to the Philadelphia Police Department, the shooting unfolded on Friday, October 17, 2025, just after 7 a.m. at the 15th Street/City Hall station.
When officers got to the scene, police said they found a 27-year-old man, now identified as Sied Ali-Young of Philadelphia, in the underground train station suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest.
Police said SEPTA officers transported him to the hospital, where he later died from his injuries at 10:43 a.m.
Police in Philadelphia have announced that the man who was shot on a SEPTA platform in Center City Friday has died from his injuries. NBC10’s Matt DeLucia reports.
The suspected shooter, identified as 27-year-old Dawiz Idris Munson of Philadelphia, later turned himself in to police, where he also surrendered a gun, according to police.
Police said Munson was taken into custody and charged with murder and related offenses.
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Cherise Lynch
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World of Flight, the Nike spinoff store dedicated to the Jordan Brand, opens Friday in Center City with a 4 p.m. block party on the 1600 block of Walnut Street.
The two-story shop in Philadelphia is the Jordan Brand’s first outpost in the United States and one of only five worldwide. It’s packed with streetwear, sneakers and visual callbacks to Michael Jordan’s legendary NBA career. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who has a Jordan Brand endorsement deal, also figures heavily into the store’s merchandise and design.
MORE: How a Point Breeze cheesemonger became the first American to win a world championship
Hurts is expected to make an appearance at Friday’s block party, a Jordan Brand spokesperson said during a tour of World of Flight on Thursday afternoon. But the decision to open the brand’s first U.S. store in Philly actually was made before Hurts became an ambassador.
“It was a combination of sports, culture and passion for community — that resonates deeply for Jordan Brand,” said Jeremy Bolds, general manager of Jordan Brand North America. “We sit at pretty much the intersection of sport and culture. What our brand values and what the city values was a perfect match.”
The shop at 1617 Walnut St. occupies 6,344 square feet in a Beaux-Arts building that’s listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. The Jordan Brand’s design team had to work within parameters set by the city’s historical commission, including restoring the storefront’s facade and its French windows above the entrance. The goal was to infuse the building’s historic elements with the aeronautical themes of the Jordan Brand.
Nike’s World of Flight store at 1617 Walnut St. is shown above on Oct. 2. Ahead of Friday’s opening, Nike added a final touch of Jordan’s iconic Jumpman logo on the arch above the entrance. A smaller Jumpman sits in the pediment at the top of the Beaux-Arts building constructed in 1921.
Michael Tanenbaum/PhillyVoice
Art on the walls of Nike’s World of Flight store pays homage to Michael Jordan’s stellar NBA career.
“You come in through a very historic facade and as you walk through the spaces, you start to see a bit of a transition again — the idea of the history and then it being more future-facing,” said Andre Kim, Jordan Brand’s director of retail design. “It’s meant to feel a bit otherworldly.”
One of the store’s most eye-catching fixtures is a circular, digital display that hangs from the ceiling of the first floor and cycles through clips featuring Hurts. Among other products, the Eagles star’s exclusive Jordan Brand collection features shirts and hoodies with his “Love, Hurts” slogan.
Michael Tanenbaum/PhillyVoice
Jordan Brand athlete Jalen Hurts has his own streetwear collection that will be sold exclusively at the World of Flight store in Philadelphia.
Michael Tanenbaum/PhillyVoice
A digital display on the ceiling of World of Flight’s first floor shows clips of Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts.
The store also has sections for winter wear, women’s and kids’ apparel and everyday comfort. The sneaker displays are on the second floor, where there’s an array of sections for basketball and streetwear.
Jordan Brand partnered with Mural Arts Philadelphia to choose local artists to create the designs seen on the walls and behind the register at World of Flight. Nick D’Auria, who goes by NDA, painted a mural on the second floor that Kim said represents the city’s youth culture. Even the store’s wayfinding signs are inspired by historic plaques in the city with wings added to give them a Jordan flare.
Michael Tanenbaum/PhillyVoice
Philadelphia-based muralist Nick D’Auria is among the local artists whose work adorns the walls of World of Flight.
Michael Tanenbaum/PhillyVoice
Above, the women’s section of the World of Flight store.
Provided Image/Jordan Brand
World of Flight’s sneaker displays are on the store’s second floor.
Michael Tanenbaum/PhillyVoice
World of Flight has a wide selection of men’s, women’s and kids’ Jordan Brand sneakers.
The store plans to carry a rotation of T-shirts with hyperlocal designs exclusively available in Philadelphia. Some will be created by local artist Dina Scott, whose work is featured behind the register and on the walls of the fitting room in the back of the first floor.
The highlight of the store is the second-floor lounge and customization area where shoppers can have their clothing and shoes embellished with a selection of patches and pins. The lounge is decked out with a glass display and shelving filled with Jordan sneakers, memorabilia, books and nods to Philadelphia. A side wall features iconic photos of Jordan, including one from his final game played on the road against the Sixers as a member of the Washington Wizards in 2003.
Provided Image/Jordan Brand
A lounge on the second floor of World of Flight showcases sneakers, memorabilia and photos that highlight the intersection of the Jordan Brand and Philadelphia.
Michael Tanenbaum/PhillyVoice
The customization workshop on the second floor of World of Flight lets shoppers put their own touch on sneakers and apparel.
On Thursday afternoon, the store welcomed members of the Jordan Brand’s youth-focused Wings Scholars program that was founded in Philly in 2015. The program now operates in six cities and works with local partner organizations to give teens internship experience with the company. The Wings Scholars each received gift bags with sneakers and other apparel.
Michael Tanenbaum/PhillyVoice
Members of the Jordan Brand’s Wings Scholars program in Philadelphia got the first look at the city’s new World of Flight store on Thursday afternoon.
Kim said hardcore sneakerheads who visit the shop will be able to spot a few Jordan Brand Easter eggs throughout the space. The door handle to the store is shaped in the design of the plastic “wings” on the sides of 1989’s Air Jordan 4s.
Michael Tanenbaum/PhillyVoice
The door handle at the entrance to World of Flight pays homage to the adjustable ‘wing’ feature of the Air Jordan 4 sneakers released in 1989.
“If you know, you know,” Kim said. “It kind of gives you a peek in terms of what you’re going to see and experience throughout the space.”
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Michael Tanenbaum
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Ace No. 3, a counter-style burger joint, just opened the doors on another location in Charlotte.
Customers can grab a juicy burger and a beer at the chain’s new spot at District One on South Tryon Street in Center City, according to an Instagram post shared Thursday, Oct. 9.
Krazy Curry, an Indian-Nepalese restaurant, also opened inside the business center this week.
Ace No. 3 has expanded its footprint around the city since opening its first location in Charlotte’s Belmont community back in 2019, CharlotteFive previously reported.
“Our team has put in a lot of hard work, and we can’t wait to share with you,” it said via Instagram, announcing the new restaurant. “Who’s coming by to grab a bite? We can’t wait to see you.”
Beyond burgers, customers can find classics like jumbo hot dogs, sweet potato tots and coleslaw, according to the restaurant’s website. Hand-spun milkshakes are also on the menu, as is a rotating lineup of craft beers.
Co-owner Andrew Chapman said Ace No. 3 keeps things simple, noting its house burger was inspired by a childhood memory of a “perfectly grilled and seasoned” burger.
“There are some pretty solid burger options in this city, but we are really focused on competing with ourselves,” Chapman told CharlotteFive in 2019. “There’s something special in simplicity, and as long as we are on top of our game, we think people will come see us.”
Location: 101 S Tryon St UNIT 120, Charlotte, NC 28280 (now open)
Location: 1001 Belmont Ave, Charlotte, NC 28205
Location: 829 Providence Rd, Charlotte, NC 28207
Location: 8520 Pit Stop Ct NW #10, Concord, NC 28027
Cuisine: Burgers, shakes and beer
Instagram: @aceno.3
This story was originally published October 9, 2025 at 11:35 AM.
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Tanasia Kenney
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The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation announced that construction will close the Vine Street intersection with 9th Street for several months.
The closure will begin on Monday, October 20, and is scheduled to end on Tuesday, February 3, 2026.
During the closure, officials stated that westbound Vine Street motorists will be directed to use Callowhill Street, Ridge Avenue, 10th Street and Vine Street. Eastbound Vine Street motorists will be directed to use Arch Street, 11th Street, and Vine Street.
Officials said motorists need to allow themselves extra time when traveling near the work area. Significant backups and delays are expected.
This is all a part of $8.5 million project to improve safety along a section of Vine Street in Center City Philadelphia, according to PennDOT.
“As part of this safety project, PennDOT will implement several pedestrian and cyclist improvements on Vine Street. The project will include a road diet (reducing the number of lanes from three to two) along Vine Street in both directions between 8th Street and Broad Street (Route 611), upgrading traffic signals; installing ADA-compliant curb ramps, bump-outs, and bike lanes; and performing a complete mill and overlay of the roadway,” PennDOT wrote in a news release.
For more information, you can visit the Vine Street Corridor Safety Improvements project page.
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Cherise Lynch
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After four months of renovations, the Film Society Center theater in Center City is ready to relaunch next week. And while its new bar and lobby remain locked away and hidden for the time being, audiences can already see one major addition on the back of the building.
MORE: With new theater company Relic, acting couple makes Philly part of the show
Splashed across the brick wall on the 1400 block of Sansom Street is an eye-catching tribute to movies set and shot in Philadelphia – plus the local organizations that support filmmaking and film culture. “Films Shaped by a City,” a new mural by artist Marian Bailey, will be officially dedicated in a Friday ceremony. But it’s been getting early buzz from curious onlookers since its completion.
“I have driven past this wall quite a few times and now that the mural is up I like to pass by it when I can,” Bailey said. “And so it’s always fun to see people just stopping and looking at it because it’s so colorful. I try to hear what people are pointing out, but I don’t always capture that. So I’m definitely curious to see which ones people are more drawn to.”
The project, over two years in the making, was a collaboration between Mural Arts, Philadelphia Film Society and BlackStar Projects. Representatives from the latter two groups and others formed an advisory panel to finalize a list of movies and groups to feature in the mural; they also used a public survey of Philadelphians to help guide the choices.
The local institutions featured include PFS and BlackStar Projects but also Scribe Video Center, the Greater Philadelphia Film Office, cinéSPEAK, Lightbox Film Center, the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, PhillyCAM, ReelBlack, Secret Cinema and the Philadelphia Latino Arts & Film Festival. Departed rental chain TLA Video and the shuttered QFest also get shout-outs.
As for the movies, the mural contains 11. The oldest are from 1976, while the newest premiered in 2020. See if you can spot them all on Sansom. Here’s a little background info on each:
This sci-fi film opens in 2035 in a post-apocalyptic Philadelphia. But the crew shot in the 1995 version of the city, using Eastern State Penitentiary, Girard College and the Pennsylvania Convention Center as some of its sets.
As a fictional serial killer called the Liberty Bell Strangler terrorizes the city, a sound editor tries to expose a massive political conspiracy and cover-up. That’s the basic plot of this 1981 thriller, directed by Philly native Brian De Palma – who also used his hometown for the chase scene in “Dressed to Kill.”
This recent Netflix movie dramatizes the urban cowboy culture of North Philadelphia and features real riders from the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club. Bailey was especially excited to incorporate “Concrete Cowboy” into the mural.
“I love going to like Clark Park and seeing the cowboys on their horses, giving rides to children,” she said. “So I wanted to make sure that that was represented. Especially because we live in this metro area and every time I see them on their horses, I just get really, really excited.”
Two crooked pals hide out from the mob and work through long-standing frustrations in this ’70s classic. Director Elaine May, another Philly native, filmed in the city over the summer of 1973. Locations included the former Nixon Theatre on 52nd Street, the Woodlands cemetery and former Essex Hotel on Filbert Street.
“Something from a different era can really tell you a lot about a place,” Bailey added.
Set in 1976, this historical drama follows a former Black Panther returning to Philadelphia for his father’s funeral. “Night Catches Us” shot in the city in 2009 and features a score by the Roots. Its director Tanya Hamilton, who lived in Philly for several years, apparently fought her producers to keep the story set in Germantown.
The Boss penned an Oscar-winning song about the “Streets of Philadelphia” for this LGBTQ+ legal drama. The trial scenes unfold in courtroom 243 inside City Hall, per the production notes, while other scenes feature the University of Pennsylvania library and former Spectrum arena.
No Philly film tribute would be complete without the city’s unofficial mascot Rocky Balboa. For this piece of the mural, Bailey tried to lean on familiar iconography without making a direct copy of the famous statue at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
“The big thing here is the Rocky statue, but we didn’t want it to be too reminiscent of that,” she said. “And so we settled on an Italian flag and it says ‘Rocky’ and there is still Rocky with his hands in the air. But it doesn’t look like things that you’ve seen before.”
Jenkintown native Bradley Cooper stars with Jennifer Lawrence in this romantic dramedy about grief, mental illness and the Birds. While “Silver Linings Playbook” filmed its dance finale at the Franklin Residences, perhaps the most crucial scene takes place inside the Llanerch Diner on 95 E Township Line Rd.
Pedestrians passing by the mural won’t find a painted miniature of M. Night Shyamalan, but the Penn Valley filmmaker is represented through his breakout hit “The Sixth Sense.” The 1999 film’s title is hidden inside an eye hovering over the left side of the mural. The imagery, according to Bailey, is a riff on the movie’s oft-quoted line, “I see dead people.”
Temple and Rutgers alum Cheryl Dunye set her feature debut in Philadelphia. The 1996 movie, now considered a landmark LGBTQ+ film, stars the director herself as a video store clerk trying to make a documentary about a Black actress credited only as “the watermelon woman” in a classic Hollywood film.
This modern spin on “The Prince and the Pauper” takes place in the city during Christmastime. “Trading Places” transformed the Curtis Institute of Music into a members-only club and the Community College of Philadelphia into a police station over its weekslong winter shoot. Bailey painted stars Dan Akyroyd and Eddie Murphy in a pose similar to the one they strike on the movie’s poster, but set them inside a $50 bill with a phrase from the final scene – “Looking good, feeling good.”
“I just think that’s such a goofy movie,” Bailey said. “And even the illustration that I came up with for it is really goofy.”
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South Street bar and restaurant Bob & Barbara’s Lounge — a neighborhood staple since 1969 — will start tearing down its short-lived streetery next week after losing a monthslong battle with the city over a road resurfacing project that requires removal of the structure.
The business spent about $35,000 on the U-shaped bar it built on South Street after the project got approval from the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections in January. At the time, the city failed to mention the upcoming road work, the owners say. Bob & Barbara’s didn’t find out they would need to remove the streetery until May, when they were informed by a city contractor for the Streets Department project.
MORE: Trash pickups for large items are now available for Philly residents
“We wouldn’t have built the thing if we knew that there was an upcoming road resurfacing project,” Oskar Duva, one of the bar’s managers, said Tuesday.
Like many bars and restaurants in the city, Bob & Barbara’s relied on outdoor dining to stay afloat during the public health restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The city’s early outdoor dining program didn’t have overly stringent regulations of what businesses could do to create space for customers outside. Duva said the city’s initial oversight was relatively accommodating to the business community.
That all changed in October 2022, when the city released new guidelines for streeteries and other outdoor dining arrangements. Bob & Barbara’s original streetery — just a walled-in overhang built to shield customers from rain — was no longer compliant and had to be removed by early 2023.
Over the next year, the business went through the city’s step-by-step process to design and obtain approval for a new streetery. The process requires review by multiple city agencies, including the Art Commission and the Streets Department, before L&I grants streetery licenses that cost businesses $1,750 per year.
“It’s my understanding that road resurfacing projects require years of planning, so the Streets Department was certainly aware of this project coming even at the time that they approved our design,” Duva said.
In an Instagram post Monday, Bob & Barbara’s announced the impending demise of its streetery at the hands of a city government it claimed “made a big ole oopsies” when it handed out a license for a road that was about to be ripped up and repaved.
“After many months of battle we regret to inform you that Goliath has won and decreed our structure to be moved, all at expense to the business of course,” the bar wrote.
Located just west of 15th Street, Bob & Barbara’s is cemented in Philly lore for inventing the citywide special — a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon and a shot of Jim Beam for $4. In the mid-1990’s, the Duva family took over the business from its previous owners and maintained its friendly reputation as a dignified dive bar. The owners partly credit surviving the pandemic to having a makeshift streetery, one that required staff to lug bar furniture in and out each day.
The new streetery at Bob & Barbara’s isn’t the type of structure that can easily be removed and rebuilt. It has 12 built-in stools and a thick bartop. The streetery was modeled using guidelines published by the city when the new regulations were established in 2022. Duva said he consulted with an engineer to ensure the design complied with the city’s rules and followed its recommendations.
But the month after the bar got its streetery license, the city put out an updated set of guidelines that stated all structures must be removable within 48 hours of receiving written or verbal notice from a city official. The newer guidelines advise businesses to “avoid build-outs that would require special lifting equipment, such as cranes, or time-intensive disassembly efforts for removal.”
Bob & Barbara’s discovered it had invested heavily in a streetery that the city could order them to remove within 48 hours.
“That was the first time I ever saw that,” Duva said of the updated guidelines. “Construction was already underway at that point, so there wasn’t really any going back. We figured even if we have to spend a good chunk on building a legit streetery, it was going to pay off in the end. We would have changed our design if we had been made aware that we would have to be able to remove it at a moment’s notice, essentially.”
The city updated its guidelines, in part, to reflect what was already required by law. One of the reasons streeteries are approved for one-year licenses is that city streets are public property.
“The law specifically requires that streetery structures be removable within 48 hours, and that they be removed for public projects,” the Streets Department said in a statement Tuesday. “This is, again, because they are placed in the public right-of-way, not the restaurant’s property. Other streeteries have temporarily moved for public events like marathons, and for paving projects.”
The city declined to comment about its communication with Bob & Barbara’s during the streetery application process. Officials also did not answer questions about how the agencies involved in the streetery program coordinated when approving Bob & Barbara’s design and license, and whether they might have foreseen how discussing the road resurfacing project would affect the bar’s plans.
Philadelphia’s streetery program has been criticized by City Controller Christy Brady for being too complex and making the process too costly for many businesses. During the pandemic, upwards of 800 streeteries operated in the city. By the time the controller’s office examined the issue in August and published a report with recommendations for improvements, fewer than 30 had been approved under the new permitting guidelines.
Weeks after the Streets Department contractor notified Bob & Barbara’s of the planned road work, the business found a city order posted on its streetery stating the structure needed to be removed by June 30. City officials said the notice was posted on June 6, giving the bar weeks to comply instead of the minimum 48-hour notice.
Bob & Barbara’s contacted a lawyer and filed for an appeal of the decision, noting how there had been lapses in communication about the road work.
The ongoing resurfacing project — which covers South Street from 27th to Broad streets — was postponed over the summer. Duva said the business used that time to exhaust all of its legal options, but it was given a new deadline of Sept. 10 to remove the streetery.
Bob & Barbara’s then filed an emergency injunction to stop the order and they were granted a court hearing last week. It didn’t go as they had hoped.
“(The city is) unwilling to compromise or reach any kind of agreement,” Duva said.
In her decision on the matter, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Sierra Thomas Street ruled in favor of the city’s order to remove the streetery. She noted that the application and licensing process for streeteries requires businesses to attest to the 48-hour removal policy, which is baked into the city code to give priority to scheduled road maintenance and utility projects.
“On the application for the Streetery License, applicants sign an attestation that they will abide by the removal requirements,” the Streets Department said.
Whether Bob & Barbara’s was informed about the road work, they legally had acknowledged the city’s terms by applying for the license. And even if the design the bar chose was based on guidelines that failed to stress the importance of building removable structures, the court sided with the city because of the attestation.
“The argument was that the streeteries are supposed to be designed to be able to be removed within 48 hours notice,” Duva said. “That is part of the city code, but it was not specified in the set of guidelines that our whole design was based on.”
In February, Duva shared his frustration over the amount of time it took to get the new streetery approved under the city’s guidelines. In court documents Bob & Barbara’s filed with the city, the business noted that it had to undergo at least two revisions of its streetery design. Despite that, the city never mentioned that it would behoove the business to make their structure easily removable — let alone the fact that South Street was being resurfaced later in the year.
In hindsight, Duva said he wishes Bob & Barbara’s could have taken a different and safer approach.
“I wouldn’t have designed it to the level that it is now,” he said. “I would have tried to make it something that could be removed more easily. Based on what I knew at the time, what we built was what the city wanted us to build. Based on what they published, we tried to follow that as closely as we could.”
With about a week to go before the streetery is removed, Duva said the part of the saga that stings most is that the city hasn’t shown any willingness to work with Bob & Barbara’s. The Streets Department said the city can’t afford to further delay the repaving of South Street, which was originally scheduled to be completed by the end of August, because doing so could jeopardize federal funding that covers the majority of the cost.
“They’re just being relentless,” Duva said.
Although the contractor for the road resurfacing on South Street suggested his crews could work around the streetery, the city didn’t view that as a solution, Duva said. The court ruling also offered no financial relief from the city to make up for the bar’s investment. Removing and rebuilding the structure after the road is resurfaced would cost another $30,000.
“It would require a lot of work, a lot of heavy machinery, and a lot of money that we can’t put out right now,” Duva said, noting that legal fees have added to costs associated with the streetery.
The city gave the bar another deadline of Sept. 30 to remove the streetery, but Duva said his contractor can’t do the job until early October.
“Once paving is completed, Bob & Barbara’s will be free to restore the streetery as other restaurants have,” the Streets Department said.
Bob & Barbara’s isn’t the only business on South Street that’s been affected by the resurfacing project and the city’s streetery regulations. About two blocks west, Pumpkin BYOB closed in July after nearly 20 years in business. Part of the reason for the closure was an order for the restaurant to dismantle a $50,000 streetery it had built to be compliant with the city’s new guidelines. It had to be taken down within a month of being completed.
Duva said he hopes the plight of Pumpkin BYOB and Bob & Barbara’s convinces the city to take a closer look at how it’s treating businesses and whether its streetery program has clear enough rules and regulations. In his view, the entire situation could have and should have gone differently.
“Either our design shouldn’t have been approved because of this upcoming road resurfacing project — or, even if they approved it, they should have let us know and we would not have built it,” Duva said. “We would have waited until after the project was finished. It was a lack of communication and consideration for how businesses are trying to operate.”
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Michael Tanenbaum
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The driver who fatally struck cyclist Barbara Friedes last week in Center City allegedly had a blood-alcohol concentration that was twice the legal limit in Pennsylvania and was driving as fast 57 mph when he hit her from behind, sending her body at least 150 feet from where the collision occurred, prosecutors said Thursday.
Michael Vahey, 68, has been charged with vehicular homicide, driving under the influence of alcohol and related offenses, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said at a press conference. He surrendered to police Wednesday night following his release from the hospital and an investigation into the July 17 crash.
MORE: Police seek 2nd suspect allegedly involved in fatal shooting at West Philly block party
Friedes, 30, a third-year pediatric resident at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, was riding in the designated bike lane on the 1800 block of Spruce Street around 7 p.m. when Vahey’s blue 2018 Volkswagen swerved into the bike lane and hit her, police said. Vahey allegedly was attempting to get around other cars at the time of the crash. Video evidence shows he ran over multiple plastic bike lane dividers, crashed into several parked cars and nearly struck a pedestrian, prosecutors said.
A toxicology report found Vahey allegedly had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.16, prosecutors said.
Vahey, who was injured in the crash, spent days in the hospital during the investigation, but he had been released as of Monday, police said. He is expected to be arraigned Thursday, and prosecutors intend to seek bail at $1 million.
“Despite the fact that this defendant has no prior record, obviously the crime is horrible,” Krasner said. “The outcome is almost unspeakable.”
The crash drew outrage from traffic safety advocates and cyclists, who say the city has fallen short of its commitment to safe streets and should have installed concrete barriers to prevent cars from entering bike lanes. The plastic flex posts installed along Spruce Street and many city bike lanes can be run over by cars.
“In 2009, we also recommended a protected bike lane on Spruce and Pine, and that request was rejected,” Nicole Brunet, policy director for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, said at the press conference.
The crash that killed Friedes coincided with two pedestrian collisions elsewhere in the city on the same day, including one that killed a 38-year-old man in Kensington. Two more pedestrians were killed in crashes over the weekend, police said.
Cycling advocacy groups held a vigil for Friedes at the scene of the crash near Rittenhouse Square on Sunday. They and others have criticized Mayor Cherelle Parker for decreasing funds for Vision Zero projects by about 60% in the city’s latest budget, despite her public commitment to the initiative in March. Vision Zero seeks to end all traffic fatalities by 2030.
“We are again asking our city officials and decision makers to invest in Vision Zero and build protected bike lanes — real protected bike lanes — all over the city for vulnerable users, for drivers, for the safety of all Philadelphians. We are also asking our state officials to stop dragging their feet and allow parking-protected bike lanes on state roads.”
The charges against Vahey also include involuntary manslaughter, recklessly endangering another person and speeding.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said it took more than a week to file charges against Vahey, because crash investigations are complex and methodical.
“The immediacy is not about blowing into a breathalyzer,” Bethel said. “We have to have a much more complex process to make sure that we have a strong case.”
Krasner said the charging guidelines for crashes run up against a “fuzzy line” when determining what crimes were committed. He said additional charges could be filed against Vahey based on further investigation.
“We understand that there are crashes that are more accidental in nature and then others that are more criminal in nature,” Krasner said. “But recklessness can be criminal. Negligence can be criminal.”
The district attorney added that there is “little doubt” that if the bike lane on Spruce Street had a cement barrier or was separated from the traffic lanes by a row of parked cars, Friedes would not have been killed.
Through the first six months of 2024, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia recorded 52 traffic-related deaths in the city. That’s the lowest total for the first six months of a year since 2019, when there had been 48 fatalities. Friedes is the first cyclist to be killed in a crash in Philadelphia this year. Last year, 10 cyclists died in crashes in the city, officials said.
In the wake of Friedes’ death, the Bicycle Coalition also has called on city leaders to end the practice of allowing cars to park in bike lanes on weekends and to replace “No Parking” signage with “No Stopping” signs in bike lanes.
Krasner said he’s hopeful the city will take steps to protect the safety of cyclists and pedestrians in Philadelphia.
“The consequences are horrible and we intend to prosecute this case justly and vigorously — and to do what we can to not only make sure there is accountability in this case, but do what we can to make sure we do not have these accidents in the future to the extent we can,” Krasner said.
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Michael Tanenbaum
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Cork & Candles, an “experiential scent bar,” is expanding to a new location in University City next week.
The new store opens Wednesday, July 24, at 3421 Walnut St. near University of Pennsylvania’s campus, where it will run BYOB candle-making workshops, host private events and sell specialty candles. The latest addition will join Cork & Candles’ other two locations in Center City (1315 Walnut St.) and King of Prussia (255 Main St.).
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“We like to invest in and support our local communities, and we’re bringing something to the University City area that will offer students and faculty and working professionals in that part of Philly an opportunity to do something where they can connect with friends and spend quality time with peers,” said Kenny Straub, a West Chester native who co-owns Cork & Candles.
The University City store fills a 2,465 square-foot space that formerly housed the United By Blue cafe, which closed last year. There will be a retail section of the company’s feature candles (they once put out a “Sexy Batman” candle that “embodies the essence of Jason Kelce”), a bar area where guests will be seated for candle-making experiences, and an open-floor area that can hold larger parties. Straub describes the decor as having a “rustic, luxurious Napa feel to it.” The new location will be able to hold about 70 guests at a time.
“It’s a bigger space,” Straub said. “And the space itself is pretty much right on Penn’s campus, so sort of right in the heart of the college there, which is really nice.This is our third location. Each new store is slightly different from the one before it, as we sort of learn from our previous openings and improve upon it.”
Cork & Candles offers two different candle-making experiences. During the 90-minute “Signature Experience,” guests are guided by experts in making two 8-ounce candles. The process involves personalizing their own scent combinations by choosing from more than 60 fragrance oils in the Cork & Candles scent library. Then, guests pour and stir the hot wax, and allow it to cool. They can take home their creations at the end of the session.
Cork & Candles’ new location in University City includes a ‘scent library’ where customers can choose their favorite fragrances to add to the candles they create.
“That’s going to feel more like a date night,” Straub said of the Signature Experience. “You go out to a restaurant, you get seated with your girlfriends or with your partner or your date at your own table, the server comes and takes care of you. That’s what that experience looks like. You get your own table, you get your own server, and we guide you through every step of the process.”
Then there is the “Novelty Experience,” which is a class that people can sign up for to learn how to make a different quirky candle creation each month. Some previous examples include candles that look like margaritas, succulents and martinis.
“We call them ‘candle of the month’ classes because we have a new one every month,” Straub said. “So we’ve got 12 in rotation, and each month, something new is offered. But that’s more like a class you’d come in and you’d be with a group of other people, and our instructor will lead you through how to make the cereal bowl candle, or how to make a candle that looks like a strawberry shortcake or one that looks like a banana split.”
Provided Image/Cork & Candles
Classes at Cork & Candles allow guests to create their own novelty candles, like the ‘cereal bowl’ candle pictured above.
People can also book private events, as Cork & Candles locations have hosted corporate outings, birthday parties and showers, according to Straub. Customers are permitted to bring their own beer, wine or champagne to Cork & Candles.
While there are some differences from store-to-store — flatbreads and charcuterie boards are only available at the KOP location — Straub said they are taking steps to streamline the Cork & Candles experience after starting to franchise the business. The first franchisee-owned location, which they sold in March, is slated to open in September at 65 Cricket Ave. in Ardmore.
“We’re looking to standardize more than we’re looking to differentiate from location to location,” Straub said. “And as you franchise, you want it to be more uniform, so that any guest that goes into any store gets a similar experience with that. … (Franchising) is a big part of our vision and passion, to grow this out so that we can really support other folks that want to get into business for themselves.“
Cork & Candles is owned by Straub and his father, Dave. Dave grew up learning candle-making from his own father, who died when Dave was 23. Dave would load up the candles he made into a wagon and sell them door-to-door when he was just 12 years old. He went on to own several businesses, including Bruster’s Ice Cream stores, while Kenny has spent much of his own career working in private equity firms. In 2021, the father-and-son duo decided to team up and launch a business that brought together their interests and talents, and also brought their customers closer together.
“Coming out of COVID, we liked the idea of building a business that brought people together,” Kenny said. “The tagline is, ‘where friends gather,’ and we wanted to build something around that and the family history of candle-making.
“And so we just continued to explore that more and more, and we landed on a candle-making experience. … It was creative. It tied to the family. It was something we could do together and something that we understood. But we also wanted to build it in a way that would be able to work with others and scale it out through the franchising. So that was sort of part of the vision from the very beginning.”
Cork & Candles in University City will be open Monday through Thursday from 1-8 p.m., Friday from 1-10 p.m., Saturday from 11 a.m.-10 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
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Franki Rudnesky
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A 16-year-old has been cleared of all charges related to a fatal shooting at 15th Street Station after an investigation showed that he was not involved.
The shooting took place on Jan. 11 on the station’s Market-Frankford Line westbound platform. Tyshaun Welles, 16, was struck in the head by a stray bullet after a shooter opened fire at a crowd. Welles died of his injuries on Jan. 16.
Zaire Wilson, 16, and Quadir Humphrey, 18, were arrested separately at the scene for the shooting. Police at the time said that Wilson had pulled out a gun before Humphrey began firing.
Wilson, however, maintained his innocence. Surveillance footage showed that Wilson was “clearly not involved” in the shooting and that Humphrey had acted alone, said Jane Roh from the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office in an email.
According to Roh, the footage was not immediately available to the district attorney’s office after Wilson’s arrest.
As a result, the office requested a hearing on the matter. On Feb. 29, the district attorney’s office dropped all charges against Wilson and Judge Joffie Pittman ordered his release. Wilson was reunited with his family soon after.
“When presented with evolving or new information, the criminal legal system should move as quickly in the interest of justice,” said District Attorney Larry Krasner in the email. “…whether that means being prepared to meet the Commonwealth’s burden at trial or releasing from detention people who did not actually participate in a crime.”
Meanwhile, the district attorney’s office is still prosecuting Humphrey for murder and other related charges.
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Chris Compendio
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Opponents of the 76ers’ proposed arena in Center City released an analysis Thursday claiming to show the project could cost the city a billion dollars in tax revenue over the next several decades by destabilizing businesses in nearby neighborhoods.
The analysis, shared by Chinatown organizers, aims to refute brighter economic projections touted by the team in its quest to gain city approval for the project on East Market Street. The 76ers called the new study “fatally flawed” and questioned the methods used by its author, who fears the city’s commissioned impact studies on the arena — which have yet to be released — will fail to capture any potential downsides of the team’s plan.
“The idea behind this project was to try to look beyond the direct impact of the arena and try to model what might happen to the existing businesses and employees in the area,” said Arthur Acolin, the University of Washington researcher who conducted the analysis.
The study looks at potential impacts on businesses in the 19107 ZIP code, which covers the commercial core of Chinatown, Washington Square West and Midtown Village within a mile of the proposed arena site at the Fashion District mall. The businesses in this footprint generate an estimated $296 million in city and state tax revenue each year, according to Acolin’s analysis.
Acolin presents three hypothetical scenarios — low, median and high impact — with calculations of potential business closures and tax revenue losses during the five-year period of the arena’s construction and the first 30 years of operation.
The economic rationale for the study is that disruptions during the construction phase will harm area businesses — some of which operate on slim margins — by discouraging people from shopping in the area, according to Acolin. And when the arena is completed, crowds for Sixers games and other events will most often spend their money on concessions and at new businesses built to complement the arena. Over time, this could threaten the survival of existing businesses to varying degrees, past research on other development projects shows.
Acolin completed his graduate studies in urban planning at the University of Pennsylvania and said he has remained invested in Philadelphia’s economic future. He’s been a community representative in the city’s ongoing review of the 76ers’ arena plan and previously has attended planning meetings for the Save Chinatown Coalition, but said he was not paid for his research.
In his worst-case scenario, Acolin projects there could be a loss of more than 500 businesses and 15,000 jobs in the 19107 ZIP code. That could result in as much as $1.04 billion in lost city and state tax revenue, a figure that would offset much of the $1.472 billion in tax revenue the 76ers have claimed the arena will generate in its first 30 years for the city and state.
“The new businesses entering bring new customers, but also drain some of the customers from the area,” Acolin said. “It’s really a substitution effect that in the Sixers’ numbers is not taken into account at all. They’re just looking at what their investment will be contributing in terms of economic activity, but not what they are taking away from the community.”
The 76ers called Acolin’s conclusions “haphazard,” suggesting it has “half-baked theories,” errors and omissions.
“The underlying research and citations do not actually reach the stated conclusions,” said Mark Nicastre, a spokesperson for the 76ers on the arena. “There is no explanation of how the researcher arrived at his data, assumptions, or conclusions. If it exists, we encourage the author to submit it to the city for independent analysis as we have done.”
In the 76ers’ campaign to build their arena and residential tower, the team has committed to privately financing the $1.55 billion project. State subsidies haven’t been ruled out, but the 76ers’ proposal is otherwise an unusual example of a sports venue that ostensibly would not be dependent on significant public money — apart from a negotiated tax payment, called a PILOT agreement, that the 76ers would get on the land they lease from the city.
The project’s financing is among the reasons the Sixers are so optimistic about their tax revenue projections related to the arena, which they say will create 1,000 permanent jobs and crucially fill the impending void of created by the Fashion District mall’s decline.
Acolin and the Chinatown organizers contend that the 76ers and the city have not examined any of the potential negative impacts of an arena on small and mid-size businesses in the area. They say there has been too little transparency around the methods behind the impact studies done by the 76ers’ consultants and by the firms chosen to lead the city’s arena impact studies, which are paid for by the team and overseen by the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp.
“It is hard to tell given the lack of details, but from what I have seen, they do not claim to model changes in surrounding activity as part of their tax estimates,” Acolin said. “If they do, they should make it clear and break down how much is coming from (the arena’s) economic activity and how much is coming from what they anticipate to be the impact on existing businesses.”
PIDC did not respond Thursday to a request for information about when the city’s impact studies will be released and whether they will have data that answer questions similar to Acolin’s research. A spokesperson for City Councilmember Mark Squilla, whose 1st District covers the arena site, said Thursday that community members participated in shaping the goals of the impact studies and that Squilla’s office defers PIDC about their specifics.
Chinatown organizers said they expressed concerns to Squilla and others last year, but were never assured that their requests would been taken into account.
“Despite multiple requests to fill that gap (made to PIDC, city planning, and Squilla) the scope of work has not been modified to include an analysis of potential lost revenue, to our knowledge,” Save Chinatown Coalition spokesperson Melissa McCleery said.
As the wait continues for the city to release its studies, the 76ers warn that the precarious future of the Fashion District makes the arena’s approval a pressing issue for local leaders. The team believes it holds the best path forward for the languishing East Market Street corridor and has presented a rare opportunity for the city to leverage private investment in a bold, multifaceted project. In emails Thursday, team officials questioned why building the arena would be considered more harmful than letting the mall die with no plan to replace it, or opting for a different project that theoretically could affect other businesses in ways similar to those described in Acolin’s analysis.
“This should be read for what it is — another attempt by those who oppose the project to obfuscate the truth by pumping out misinformation,” Nicastre said.
Given the lack of direct highway access near the proposed arena site and the lofty expectation that fans will embrace public transportation, Acolin argues that the viability of the arena “seems highly speculative.” He feels the city would be better served if the 76ers built a new arena at the Sports Complex in South Philadelphia, where the project could better support and connect to neighboring projects in the Navy Yard and the development of the Bellwether District. He acknowledged that the challenges on East Market Street are significant, especially in the context of broader economic conditions constraining new development, but he urged careful deliberation about whether an arena is the right answer.
“One of the big issues is the pressure to act now and find a solution for that location now while the development cycle is really not favorable to any large-scale development,” Acolin said. “The arena can seem like an immediate fix, but then there is the potential that it does not support the existing businesses and residents.”
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Michael Tanenbaum
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Craftsman Row Saloon is bringing the merriment of New Orleans to Philadelphia with a pop-up celebrating Mardi Gras, otherwise known as Fat Tuesday.
The Center City hangout, known for its elaborate pop-ups during holidays like Halloween and Christmas, is serving Bourbon Street vibes with Mardi Gras-themed food, drinks and decorations. This year, Mardi Gras falls on Feb. 13, but due to popular demand the bar is extending its pop-up through Saturday, Feb. 24.
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The bar is packed floor-to-ceiling with gold, green and purple decorations, plus glittering beads, feathers, umbrellas, jazz instruments and masquerade masks. There are also illustrations depicting some of New Orleans’ most famous streets and destinations. Craftsman Row Saloon sets the mood with festive jazz paying homage to Carnival, and there will be some Mummers tunes on the playlist too.
Craftsman Row Saloon’s fourth Mardi Gras pop-up will also include an indulgent food and drink menu inspired by NOLA. Hungry guests can enjoy crawfish mac and cheese, fried chicken, Jambalaya, the “Big Easy” burger and several Po Boy offerings. Drinks include an over-the-top boozy “King of Bourbon Street” milkshake and several themed cocktails like the Cajun Margarita, Louisiana Hot Honey Margarita and Voodoo Queen.
“We are excited to bring our Mardi Gras Pop-Up Experience back to Philadelphia,” co-owner Vasiliki Tsiouris said in a release. “It was great to bring the spirit of Bourbon Street and The Big Easy first to the scene and we have added more this year, all geared to totally envelope the senses with the sights, sounds and tastes of Mardi Gras.”
Reservations for the pop-up can be made online. During the Mardi Gras season, Craftsman Row Saloon is open Tuesday through Thursday from 4-11 p.m., Friday through Saturday from 12 p.m.-12 a.m. and Sunday from 12-11 p.m.
Now through Saturday, Feb. 24
Craftsman Row Saloon
112 S. 8th St, Philadelphia, PA 19107
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Franki Rudnesky
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