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Author: Stephanie Farr

  • Our columnist’s picks for the most Philly gifts you can give

    Our columnist’s picks for the most Philly gifts you can give

    Philadelphia is obviously a gift to the world, but what in the world do you give someone who is obviously in love with Philly?

    If The Inquirer’s 2025 Very Philly Gift Guide helps you find something for everyone, this one’s just for the locals — and anyone who thinks a Sizzli snow globe is peak holiday magic. Consider this a love letter to Philly’s quirks: a collection of gifts that only true locals (and a few honorary ones) will fully appreciate.

    As one of those people myself, I’ve compiled this list of some of my favorite recent Philly purchases and experiences, along with items I’m putting on my own wish list this year.

    The selections here represent The Inquirer’s picks this holiday season. When you make a purchase through a link in this list, The Inquirer may be paid a commission.

    Apparel

    SEPTA ugly sweater

    It’s no secret that Al’Lee Floyd, who manages SEPTA’s store, has elevated the agency’s retail outlet into a must-stop shopping destination for Philly transit lovers.

    SEPTA’s ugly holiday sweater for 2025.

    This holiday season, Floyd is really killing knit with a particularly snazzy ugly holiday sweater featuring a front-and-back design of SEPTA vehicles, the Philly skyline, and snowflakes.

    So while all you may want for Christmas is for our state legislatures to permanently fund SEPTA, you can at least get this ugly sweater — which seems far less likely to unravel than our government.

    🛍️ SEPTA’s holiday sweater is $49.95 and available at shop.septa.org.

    ‘Women’s Sports Town’ shirt

    A collaboration between Go Hamm and Watch Party PHL, this shirt celebrates Philly’s forthcoming WNBA team.

    If you want to score points with the sports fan in your life who’s hyped that Philadelphia is getting its own WNBA team in 2030, this year’s slam-dunk gift is a “Philly is a women’s sports town — Est. 2030″ T-shirt.

    This wardrobe staple is extremely versatile — you can wear it while traveling or to court — and it’s been spotted on celebrities like Parks and Recreation’s Aubrey Plaza, who wore it to a WNBA game this summer.

    Aubrey Plaza is spotted in the audience of a New York Liberties vs. Minnesota Lynx at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., wearing Go Hamm and Watch Party PHL’s popular “Philly is a Women’s Sports Town” T-shirt.

    The tee is a collaboration between Go Hamm, a Philly-based shirt company dedicated to women’s sports, and Watch Party PHL, a group founded by Philadelphia firefighter Jen Leary.

    🛍️ The T-shirt is available for $29 at go-hamm.square.site.

    ‘Go Phils & Phillips’ shirt

    Called the “shirt of the year” by the Phillies’ social media account, the “Go Phils & Phillips” tee from Phillygoat is ridiculously random and a great gift for the Phils fan in your life who’s still salty at the actual team.

    Phillygoat’s “Go Phils & Phillips” T-shirt celebrates the vast variety of Phils on this planet.

    Emblazoned with the words “Go Phils” on the front and back, the T-shirt features an assortment of people, characters, and things named Phil and Phillip, or that have “fill” in their name. There’s Uncle Phil from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, former St. Joe’s basketball coach Phil Martelli, Punxsutawney Phil, and a cavity filling.

    Phillygoat also makes a “Go Birds!” shirt with images of Larry Bird, Tweety Bird, and a hand flipping the bird.

    This T-shirt from Phillygoat is for the birds.

    🛍️ The “Go Phils & Phillips” shirt is $34.99 and the “Go Birds” shirt is $32.99, available at phillygoat.com.

    Holiday decorations

    Delco ‘crash bridge’ ornament

    If you’re stuck on what to get the diehard Delaware County resident in your life, how about a holiday decoration that commemorates getting stuck in Delco?

    The Route 420 “crash bridge” ornament, featuring a tractor-trailer stuck under a low-clearance bridge, nods to the Amtrak bridge on Route 420 in Prospect Park, where big-rig drivers keep getting stuck despite the warning signs.

    This ornament by Rock and Russ Creations of Delaware County immortalizes the Route 420 “crash bridge” in Prospect Park.

    The ornament is from Rock and Russ Creations, a company founded by lifelong Delconians, Stephen and Lisa Russell. The couple started designing locally themed ornaments in 2022, and they release a new one each year. Stay tuned to their website for this year’s very Delco decoration release.

    🛍️ The Route 420 “crash bridge” ornament is available at select Delco gift shops and rockandruss.com for $25.

    Wawa snow globe

    Sleigh gift-giving this year with the Wawa snow globe.

    For your Shorti who’s always going on a Wawa run, consider shaking up gift-giving this year with a Wawa holiday snow globe.

    Is there any reason this had to be made? Nope, but I’m snow glad it was. The globe features an old-school Wawa store and a base that reads “Wawa Wonderland.”

    If you’ve ever been to a Wawa after 2 a.m., you know it is a land of wonders, indeed.

    🛍️ This Sizzli and snowy gift is $19.99 and available at gear.wawa.com (sold out as of Nov. 25).

    Hallmark ornaments

    Hallmark’s Jalen Hurts Keepsake Ornament is sure to be number one on your tree.

    For those who dream of hanging in their living room with Jalen Hurts or Trea Turner, Hallmark can help make your holiday wishes come true.

    No, you can’t buy your way into a Hallmark holiday movie with Hurts or Turner as your star-crossed lover, but you can buy official Hallmark ornaments of the Philly sports stars your friends will pine after, fir sure.

    Hallmark’s Trea Turner Keepsake Ornament will slide its way into your holiday collection.

    🛍️ The Hurts ornament is $28.99 and the Turner ornament is $29.99. They are available at hallmark.com and at local Hallmark Gold Crown stores.

    Experiences

    Save the Light Show

    The Wanamaker Christmas Light Show and Dickens Village will return this year thanks to a fundraising campaign by the Philadelphia Visitor Center and the building’s new owner, TF Cornerstone. And for the first time, you can secure the “best seat in the house” by making a donation in a loved one’s name (or in your own, Scrooge).

    The “Behind the Lights” blueprint is available for those who donate at least $250 to the “Save the Light Show” fundraiser.

    As part of the “Save the Light Show” fundraiser, there are several donation gifts, including an 8-by-10 “Behind the Lights” blueprint for those who donate $250 and a “best seat in the house” experience for four to view the show from the second-floor mezzanine when you donate $500 or more. (Note: There are no plans for actual seats. It will still be standing room only.)

    Obviously that’s a sack full of money, but it’s for a great cause, and the show is still free to the public.

    The holiday light show at the Wanamaker Building in 2019, when it was owned by Macy’s.

    🛍️ To donate, visit savethelightshow.org.

    City Hall tours

    I can’t believe it took me 18 years to go on the tower and building tours of our gorgeous City Hall, but after finally crossing it off my bucket list this year, I highly recommend the tours for the Philly-phile on your list.

    Even though I’d walked in and around City Hall countless times, I saw so many details on the building tour I’d never noticed before, like City Hall’s cornerstone.

    Philadelphia City Hall.

    The tower tour, which is a separate ticketed experience, took me high up in City Hall and into a four-person elevator that dropped me off right below the statue of William Penn and onto a platform with an incredible 360-degree view of the city.

    🛍️ Timed tickets for the tours are available at phlvisitorcenter.com/CityHall and range from $10 to $26 a person, depending on age and military status.

    The Universal Sphere

    Times are tough right now, and just leaving your house can feel expensive, so I wanted to include a free experience that doesn’t feel cheap — the Universal Sphere at the Comcast Technology Center.

    The Sphere, a state-licensed attraction in the building’s upper lobby, is a 34-by-39-foot futuristic orb you step inside of for an immersive theatrical experience. For most of the year, it features a seven-minute film called The Power of I, about the power of ideas, but during the holidays you can see the short film Shrek’s Festive Flight, which features a roller-coaster-esque adventure to the North Pole that begins with a flyover of Philadelphia.

    Audience members enter the Universal Sphere in the second-floor lobby of the Comcast Technology Center earlier this year.

    Tickets are free, but timed reservations are recommended — that way, you don’t have to tell anyone it was free. Pair this with free visits to the nearby Comcast Center’s holiday show on its LED wall and the Wanamaker Christmas Light Show, and you’ve got a day that’s easy on the wallet but rich in memories.

    🛍️ To make reservations for the Sphere, visit comcastcentercampus.com/universal-sphere/

    Toys

    Gritty and Phanatic shoulder buddies

    Two of my favorite purchases this year were plushies of Gritty and the Phanatic that sit independently on my shoulders. When I wear them both at the same time, it’s the Philly version of having an angel in one ear and a devil in the other.

    Called “shoulder buddies,” these plushies come with magnets in their bottoms and an additional flat magnet that goes inside of your shirt so the doll can attach to it. These stuffed mascots are so humerus nobody will give you the cold shoulder while you’re sporting them around town.

    Gritty sports an itty-bitty shoulder version of himself.

    🛍️ The Gritty shoulder buddy is $24.99 and available at shop.outphitters.com. The Phanatic shoulder buddy, which I bought at Citizens Bank Park, is harder to come by. The Reading Fightin Phils had it available online for $25 at fightinphils.milbstore.com recently, but it was unclear how long supplies would last.

    ‘It’s Always Sunny’ Little People set

    If there’s a wildcard on your list who’d like an itty-bitty Danny DeVito holding a teeny-tiny rum ham, look no further than Fisher-Price’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Little People collector’s set.

    Released this year to mark the 20th anniversary of the show about five megalomaniacs who run a skeevy Philly dive bar, the set also features Charlie in full conspiracy-theory mode, Flipadelphia Dee, Fat Mac, and Dennis demonstrating his D.E.N.N.I.S. system of seduction.

    The “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” Little People set from Fisher-Price.

    🛍️ The Little People gang comes in a box made to resemble Paddy’s Pub and is available on Amazon for $29.95.

    Books

    ‘Greater Philadelphia: A New History for the Twenty-First Century’

    From the folks at the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia website and the University of Pennsylvania Press comes a hardcover book set, Greater Philadelphia: A New History for the Twenty-First Century, for the Philly history buff in your life.

    The set features three books: The Greater Philadelphia Region, Greater Philadelphia and the Nation, and Greater Philadelphia and the World, which tell the true Philly stories behind everything from the topography and transit of the region to the Revolutionary War, the Odunde Festival, Gritty, and scrapple.

    “Greater Philadelphia: A New History for the Twenty-First Century” comes in individual editions or as a three-volume set.

    Timed to coincide with the nation’s 250th anniversary next year, these new encyclopedic books feature lovely images and loads of dense text about the city’s history and its place in the world.

    🛍️ The books retail for $44.95 each or $125 for the three-volume set. They are available wherever books are sold and at pennpress.org.

    ‘Cheers to McGillin’s: Philly’s Oldest Tavern’

    When it comes to mainstay establishments in Philadelphia, few have more street cred or more stories than McGillin’s Olde Ale House, which predates LOVE Park, Ralph’s Italian Restaurant, and even City Hall.

    Now the tales of Philly’s oldest continually-operating tavern, which opened in 1860, have been gathered into one book — Cheers to McGillin’s: Philly’s Oldest Tavern — by the bar’s longtime publicist, Irene Levy Baker.

    “Cheers to McGillin’s: Philly’s Oldest Tavern” traces the 165-year history of one of Philadelphia’s longest-running establishments.

    The newly released book includes ghost stories, tales of love, sports celebrations remembrances, recipes, photos, and a foreword by former Gov. Ed Rendell.

    🛍️ Cheers to McGillin’s: Philly’s Oldest Tavern is $29.95 and available at mcgillins.com, at McGillin’s Olde Ale House (1310 Drury St.), the McGillin’s Shoppe (123 S. Juniper St.), and wherever books are sold.

  • The final night at Pica’s in Upper Darby: Scenes from an Italian restaurant

    The final night at Pica’s in Upper Darby: Scenes from an Italian restaurant

    On our first date 10 years ago, my husband and I went to Pica’s Restaurant in Upper Darby and then to a John Oliver stand-up show at the nearby Tower Theater.

    The latter was his choice, but the restaurant was my pick. I was well aware of how large Pica’s legend loomed in Delaware County, and Upper Darby native Tina Fey had recently extolled her love for its unique sauce-on-the-top square pizza on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, so I wanted to try it.

    I arrived at the restaurant a bit frazzled, given that I’d spent the hours before reporting on ferrets eating a baby’s face off. “Intense” is the word my husband uses to describe me that night. I’m pretty sure my nail marks are still embedded in the table where we sat.

    The final night of dinner at Pica’s Restaurant in Upper Darby.

    I don’t remember what we talked about that night or what we ate, but I remember feeling comforted by that man and by that place. Pica’s wasn’t fancy or pretentious — the outmoded decor looked like it hadn’t been updated since the ’90s — but it was packed. Not with people who came to be seen, but with people who came to be with each other.

    You know how there are comfort foods? I could tell this was a comfort restaurant.

    My husband and I haven’t been back to Pica’s a lot in the years since, maybe because it felt like a place we’d always be able to go back to. So when I heard Pica’s was closing its Upper Darby location on Sunday after 69 years, I knew we had to get in on the last night. We invited friends — a couple who are Delco lifers, like my husband — along for the ride.

    How Delco rolls

    On a TV in the lobby, a still frame of Tina Fey eating Pica’s pizza on the Tonight Show played on rotation, along with photos of Pica’s food and awards it’s received over the years, like Philadelphia Magazine’s 2017 Best of Philly award for “Best Red Gravy Italian.” The carpeting and wood paneling were unchanged since my first visit a decade ago.

    Upper Darby native Tina Fey and “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon share a Pica’s pizza on air in 2014.

    There was a good crowd, but the restaurant wasn’t packed. Within 15 minutes of arriving, our friend ran into two of his friends who’d also stopped in for a last supper, because that’s how Delco rolls. Near us was what appeared to be three generations of women who shared two pizzas between them, and at another table, a dad and daughter who said little to each other, but were very happy to see their huge pasta dishes.

    We ordered pizza and mozzarella sticks as appetizers and pasta for dinner, which felt gluttonous because it was, but we’ll be happily eating the leftovers this week. From the wonderfully sweet sauce to the perfectly melted cheese and pepperonis the size of manhole covers, everything was on point.

    Two year-old AJ Jr. sits between his parents AJ Grenier, Sr. (right) and Carolyn Grenier (left) as he grabs a slice of pizza on the final night of dinner at Pica’s Restaurant in Upper Darby Sunday.

    The bar even had Montepulciano wine and I got the last full glass. Our amazing server, Shannon Murphy, who’s worked at Pica’s for 27 years, also brought me a sidecar glass containing the last few sips of the bottle so that it didn’t go to waste. The way I’d felt like I’d won the lottery in that moment is hard to explain.

    Murphy, who had her wedding reception at Pica’s, said the closing of the Upper Darby restaurant was “bittersweet” and “nostalgic.”

    “The family is just amazing to work for,” she said.

    Three generations

    Founded by Frank Pica Sr., Pica’s first opened in 1941 as a brick-oven pizza shop in West Philly before the proprietor and his son, Frank Pica Jr., moved it to West Chester Pike in Upper Darby in 1956, where it became a full-service restaurant.

    The company is now owned by the third generation of Picas, Angela Pica-Oandasan and Frank Pica III. Their sisters, Lori Pica-Rosario and Karen Pica, also played important roles in the family business over the years.

    Brian Henley (left), part-time Pica’s bartender for 10 years, talks with Anthony Voci, Jr. eating dinner at the bar on the final night at Pica’s Restaurant in Upper Darby.

    The siblings grew up in the restaurant, and the staff was always happy to see them because that meant extra hands to help, Pica-Oandasan said.

    “We would all sit in a circle sometimes making pizza boxes together on a Friday afternoon,” she said. “We all joke around about our memories.”

    In 2017, Pica’s opened a second location in West Chester, which remains in operation. The family plans to open a takeout spot in Delco, most likely in Broomall, but they’re still in negotiations (they hope to make an official announcement in the coming weeks). Until then, takeout at the Upper Darby Pica’s remains open.

    ‘Tough decisions’

    When Pica’s posted on Facebook in March that it would close its Upper Darby location this year, its page was flooded with comments calling the restaurant a “landmark,” a “core memory,” and a “historical spot.”

    Carolyn Grenier sits with her twin two year-old sons James (left) and AJ Jr. (right) eating their ice cream dessert after pizza on the final night of dinner at Pica’s Restaurant in Upper Darby Sunday.

    Generations of Delco residents have had their birth, death, and wedding celebrations at the Upper Darby restaurant. One of the options on Pica’s phone directory was: “If you are calling regarding a luncheon after a funeral, please press six.”

    Making the decision to close the restaurant wasn’t an easy one, the owners said. But the building is older and needs a lot of work. The Upper Darby location is just massive — it seats 250 in the dining room, 200 more in the banquet room downstairs. On top of that, staffing has been hard after the pandemic, and the owners often have to fill in.

    “It’s hard leaving here because we just spent so much of our time and our lives here … and we know how much this building and this business meant to our father, our grandfather. But sometimes in business you have to make tough decisions and you have to transition and adapt to the times,” Pica III said. “We do really understand how much this business has meant to this community for so long — all the schools, all the graduations, we worked them all.”

    Dominic D’Angelo (right) banters with nine-year server Stephanie Cornman (standing) as he has dinner with family members on the final night of dinner at Pica’s Restaurant in Upper Darby Sunday.

    Pica-Oandasan said the family received cards from customers dining at the restaurant for the last time, some of whom they’ve been serving for three generations.

    “It’s very heartwarming to see the impact, that it means so much to them,” she said. “It makes it harder. It’s bittersweet, all the memories that will be lost in that building.”

    It’s not only the customers they’ll miss, it’s the employees. One staffer worked there for more than 50 years and two others, for more than 40.

    “It was always a big family environment” Pica III said. “Everyone really put their heart into here.”

    One last hug

    At the end of our meal, Murphy didn’t judge me for using a $20 off coupon I got in a mailer, like the classy Delco resident I am. And when I asked, she said I was more than welcome to take a copy of the paper menu for my scrapbook.

    Murphy told us a lot of people had asked to keep the menu, and one customer even requested all of the restaurant staff autograph it for them.

    As we got ready to leave, I met two women in the lobby wearing Pica’s T-shirts and getting their photos taken with staffers. Bernadette Wasch, 72, of Havertown, and her friend, Kathleen Baker, 73, of Upper Darby, are uber Pica’s fans and said it always felt like home.

    Kathleen Baker, 73, of Upper Darby, at left, and Bernadette Wasch, 72, of Havertown, at right, are uber Pica’s fans. They came to the Upper Darby restaurant in their Pica’s shirts for dinner on Sunday, the final night for in-house dining.

    Wasch first came to Pica’s in grade school. In the last week before its closure, she visited three times to wring all the nostalgia she could out of the place. I watched as she hugged staffers one last time with what seemed like every ounce of her being.

    “The food is just incredible and so is the waitstaff. People say it’s like family and it really is,” she said. “We’re very sorry to see it go.”

    Baker agreed. “This is goodbye but it’s not good,” she said.