Twenty-five years after Calvin Helton was killed in what remains the deadliest mass shooting in Philadelphia history, his mother, Veronica Conyers, feels frozen in time.
Her son, forever 19 in the West Philly rowhouse where he was killed execution-style with six other people ranging from 15 to 54 years old. And Conyers, left to spend the years since fighting to keep his memory alive.
“I’m not healed,” she said of losing her firstborn, who had dreamed of being a Navy SEAL. “I want everybody to know the truth behind this massacre.”
These days, that truth is shared with anyone who will listen and at annual vigils that celebrate the victims’ lives. There are Samuel “Malik” Harris Jr., 15; Tyrone Long, 18; George “Jig” Porter, 18; Ronnette Abrams, 33; Edward Sudler, 44; and Alfred Goodwin, 54.
Despite the notoriety of what came to be known as the Lex Street massacre, Conyers remains hurt by how the deaths never garnered protests, and how the interest in the homicides came in the form of sensational headlines.
The shooting, after all, took place in a house known for drug activity during a turbulent period in the neighborhood, when residents complained of rampant drug dealing and concerns over safety.
Coverage of the Lex St. Massacre in Jan. 2001.
Conyers felt public sentiment regarding the homicide was sealed, doomed to be forgotten, once police and prosecutors attributed the shooting to a drug-turf dispute.
It would later turn out the killings stemmed from a dispute over the trade of a car and a broken clutch. But Conyers felt the damage had been done by police and media reports.
“They slandered my son’s name, saying he a kingpin and he was drug dealer,” she said, adding he was a good student and never gave her any trouble.
Coverage of Lex St. case in 2002.
The initial bungle in the investigation, which involved allegations of coerced confessions by police, also stunned legal minds at the time. Four men spent 18 months in jail and faced a possible death sentence, only for charges to begin to be dropped just as the first trial was set to begin. Those men would go on to successfully sue the city for $1.9 million over their imprisonment.
Police arrested brothers Dawud Faruqi and Khalid Faruqi in late 2002, as well as Shihean Black and getaway driver Bruce Veney, in connection to the killings.
In the various trials, it was revealed Black traded his Chevrolet Corsica for Porter’s Dodge Intrepid. But Porter blew the Corsica’s clutch, and when Black would not trade the cars back, Porter used his spare key and took back the Intrepid.
Black found Porter on the 800 block of North Lex Street and an argument escalated into a shooting.
Black pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and the brothers were convicted of seven counts of that charge. All three received seven consecutive life sentences. Veney, the getaway driver, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, receiving 15 to 30 years in prison.
Tameka Porter, George’s sister, has led the vigils that take place every Dec. 28. She feels a lot of hurt from how public sentiment placed blame on the victims for being in that house.
Coverage of the Lex Street massacre in 2002.
“No one is at fault but the killers,” she said.
Even so, Porter tries not to think about what people might say. “It doesn’t matter how he died or who did it, he’s gone.”
Her brother and Helton were best friends, she said, recalling that both were smart and charming, and loved to flirt with girls. Her brother never got in trouble or was arrested for drugs, she said. That’s what she wants people to know.
On Sunday, Porter held the annual vigil at the Lucien Blackwell Community Center. The neighborhood looks drastically different after a Philadelphia Housing Authority effort in the aughts to revitalize the area, building 18 new homes.
It was an intimate affair, though it did not set out to be so.
Porter and one of Helton’s cousins talked about how they wanted to celebrate all that the victims meant to them. Councilmember Jamie Gauthier echoed the sentiment.
“Today is about honoring them,” she said. “It is about holding space for the survivors, and it is about standing with families and with our community members here in Mill Creek and across our city who continue to carry the weight of gun violence.”
Conyers stayed quiet, holding back tears. She wore a sweatshirt that read “Lex St. Fallen Soldiers.” On it was the now-very faded photo of her son.
The link to request plowing on Philly 311’s online portal became “inoperable and experienced technical difficulties” officials learned during Friday’s ice and sleet storm, Philadelphia Managing Director Adam Thiel said in a statement. Residents can call 311 for basic city services — from graffiti cleanup to pothole removal — on weekdays, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., but the portal is available after-hours.
“Our Streets Department is on the front lines of responding to any weather event, including this one,” Thiel said, “and Streets crews, along with many other city workers, have been working 24/7 since [Friday], treating and clearing all roadways in every neighborhood. That critical work continues.”
In the roughly 20 years that Pamela “PJ” Johnson-Thomas and her husband, Weller Thomas, have celebrated Kwanzaa, they have usually marked the holiday at their home or the homes of friends.
This year, they wanted to expand their celebration. So they gathered about two dozen people at the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. House in Germantown on Saturday, the second night of Kwanzaa.
This holiday “focuses on culture,” and “culture’s under attack,” Johnson-Thomas said. For example, this year, the Trump administration has targeted programs focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion; aimed to sanitize the history of American slavery; and disparaged Black immigrants and their home countries.
“It’s up to us,” Johnson-Thomas said, to continue cultural traditions.
Children and adults dressed in fine clothes with African prints lined up in the fraternity house’s meeting hall to light the seven candles of the kinara and talk about the seven principles of Kwanzaa: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. Traditionally, families light one additional candle each night of the seven-day holiday.
PJ Thomas dances during the Kwanzaa ceremony at Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. on Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025, in Philadelphia.
Since Friday, families across the Philadelphia region and the world have been celebrating the annual African American and Pan-African holiday created in 1966 with the goal of uplifting people of African descent. The nonreligious holiday honors culture, community, and family.
On the south side of City Hall, the candles of a Kwanzaa kinara are lit each day of the holiday, which ends on Jan. 1. Each year since 2017, Boathouse Row has been lit in Kwanzaa colors — red, green, and dark purple, which represents black — to celebrate.
“This year I think we’ve seen more robust Kwanzaa programs than in any year in recent history,” Street said. “The purpose of Kwanzaa was to have a cultural celebration that united our people across religious, regional boundaries. … It’s great that we continue to have spaces and places where people can celebrate it.”
Attendees of the celebration talked, laughed, danced, sang, ate, and played games together. They honored ancestors by calling out the names of family members and Black activists and cultural icons who have died.
Vincenteen Paige, a friend of the hosts’, usually has yearly Kwanzaa gatherings at her house but was happy to join the broader celebration.
“With all the things that are going on in politics and all the things that are being changed, you need something to hold. What did we have? What has meaning? I think people are looking for that,” she said.
Thomas told the crowd that Kwanzaa is about unity. “It’s about bringing us all together and pulling together,” he said.
He and Johnson-Thomas own a travel company called Pathfinders Tours & Travel, which formed out of the publication they ran for 25 years called Pathfinders Travel Magazine for People of Color. They regularly travel with groups to places inside and outside the United States.
On a future trip, they want to return to Egypt with some young people, Johnson-Thomas said, because “I think they need to see their greatness.”
“Everything we do,” she said, “we want to highlight the culture as it relates to African American people.”
Brynne and Tai Elmore light the kinara during the Kwanzaa celebration at Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. on Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025, in Philadelphia.
First, Danielle Delange saw the news alert: Bristol Health & Rehab, the nursing home where her mother lived, was on fire.
Within minutes, Delange got a phone call from an unfamiliar number. On the line, she heard her 64-year-old mother’s trembling voice.
“My mom said there was a gas explosion,” Delange said. “And I said, ‘How do you know it was a gas explosion?’ And she said, ‘Because we’d been smelling gas.’ … And I said, ‘Today?’ And she said, ‘No, for a couple days.’”
Her mother, Anna Grauber, who uses a wheelchair, was evacuated from the burning building soon after Tuesday’s devastating blast, which killed a nurse and a resident and injured 20 people. The cause of the explosion remains under investigation.
First responders work the scene of an explosion and fire at Bristol Health & Rehab Center, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Bristol, Pa.
According to Delange, in the immediate aftermath of the explosion, her mother was outside, and she was starting to get uncomfortably cold.
Delange said her mother, who lives with COPD and emphysema, didn’t have the oxygen that she needs and was struggling to breathe. Even her emergency inhaler was back in her room.
Delange’s mother is one of the 119 residents who had to be relocated from the healthcare facility in Bristol Township, Bucks County, to other care homes across the region. With the facility now the scene of a federal investigation, Grauber and other residents are left without their possessions and, according to several families, they lack even basic necessities like clothes and phone chargers.
‘She doesn’t have pants’
The company that runs the nursing home, Saber Healthcare Group, says it’s doing all it can while it waits for the National Transportation Safety Board to determine whether people can safely return to the nursing home building at 905 Tower Rd.
But family members of residents, such as Delange, are questioning whether that’s enough.
Delange said her mother was promptly moved to another Saber Healthcare Group property, Statesman Health & Rehabilitation Center, a short drive away in Levittown. However, her mother had to go several days without one of her medications, Delange said, and was struggling to adjust.
Muthoni Nduthu’s son Clinton tears up while the family speaks with the media on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025, in Bristol Township, Pa. Muthoni Nduthu was killed in the explosion at Bristol Health and Rehab Center on Tuesday.
Delange said that when she visited her mother on Friday at her new home in Levittown, her mother was wearing men’s basketball shorts and a T-shirt. She said that Saber has not provided clothes for the relocated residents, and so staff have resorted to pulling clothes from a donation box.
“She doesn’t have pants,” Delange said. “And that got me thinking, like, what did my mom have on when she left there?”
‘No indication’ of issues
Zachary Shamberg, Saber’s chief of government affairs, said the company is doing everything it can to help the displaced residents — but right now, nobody is allowed in the Bristol facility.
Possibly as early as Monday, Saber may be cleared to reenter the building, Shamberg said. “We’ll survey the damage, we’ll see what can be salvaged, and we’ll get in touch with families to ensure any items were returned.”
Saber’s insurance company would likely handle replacement or compensation for items destroyed in the blaze, he said.
As far as he knows, Shamberg said, the company is not providing money or purchasing new clothes or essential items for residents. He encouraged residents’ families to contact leadership at the Bristol facility if they need anything.
Shamberg said many residents have been moved to other Saber-affiliated nursing homes in the area, and these residents would promptly get prescriptions refilled. In addition, the company has started working with Medicare and Medicaid to replace residents’ dentures and eyeglasses. However, because some Saber locations are full, people have been placed in other facilities.
In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, Shamberg said, the goal was to get people “to the best care setting as quickly as possible.” He added the company tried to keep residents as close as possible to their families.
“The focus, initially on Tuesday, was to make sure staff and residents were safe,” Shamberg said. “Now, we survey the damage. We assess the facility. And we decide what happens next in terms of rebuilding and moving forward.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro delivers remarks on the explosion at Bristol Health & Rehab Center, at Lower Bucks Hospital on Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Bristol, Pa.
Saber staff at Bristol are being paid for the next 30 days regardless of whether they work, Shamberg said, and the company is offering them positions at other locations. Some staff, such as care coordinators and facility leadership, have remained in close contact with residents’ families, he said.
Saber, a privately run for-profit company, acquired the Bristol nursing home from Ohio-based CommuniCare Health Services barely three weeks before the explosion. Under CommuniCare, the nursing home had received numerous citations for unsafe building conditions and substandard care.
Saber was aware of these issues, Shamberg said. However, he said, as the company took over, there was no indication of problems with its gas lines.
“When you acquire a nursing home, you inherit that nursing home’s survey history,” Shamberg said. “Even looking at the most recent survey, the October 30th survey, there’s nothing that indicated a potential gas leak or explosion.”
Bristol had not been the first choice for 49-year-old Lisa Harnick and her family when it came time to find a nursing home for her mother, Debra Harnick. However, since Lisa Harnick didn’t have a car, the family opted for a choice close to her home in Bristol Township.
Now, Lisa Harnick’s 77-year-old mother is about an hour away at York Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Philadelphia, she said. (The facility is not part of Saber Healthcare Group.) And their weekly lunch date is on hold.
“We started going over every Tuesday to have lunch with her, and visit with her, and now I can’t do that,” Lisa Harnick said.
Debra Harnick is “completely bed-bound,” her daughter said, and has no possessions except for her iPad, which she uses to communicate with family. She does not have a cognitive impairment, is alert, and is not happy about her new situation, Lisa Harnick said.
She added that Saber has remained in touch.
“I’ve been in contact with the social worker, and the activities director,” she said. “And I’ve been in contact with the insurance company, too. They just wanted to verify that she was there.”
Friday’s snow, sleet, and rain brought a cold mix of precipitation to Philadelphia and surrounding areas, leaving behind slippery conditions Saturday.
“Today looks quiet compared to last night, but watch out for the icy roads,” said Joseph DeSilva, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service’s Mount Holly office.
Saturday looks to be mostly cloudy, with a high of 34 degrees, a low of 25, and no precipitation on the horizon, DeSilva said.
While roads continue to be treated, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has already removed a 45 mph temporary speed-limit reduction for major highways in the five-county Philadelphia region, including on Interstates 76 and 95, as well as I-476, I-676, and I-295.
The wintry mix of snow, sleet, and intermittent rain moved into the region overnight, with temperatures hovering in the mid-30-degree range.
Regional accumulation totals varied, from .2 inch in Rittenhouse Square to .3 at Philadelphia International Airport, .4 in Mt. Holly and 1 inch in Skippack.
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Ray Martin, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service’s Mount Holly office said Friday that even without especially high accumulations, conditions would remain hazardous.
Sleet tends to be more compact than snow, demanding more effort when it comes to shoveling or plowing it off sidewalks, entryways, and garages.
For Martin, thisis: “a lot of little ice balls, basically frozen raindrops, covering the ground. It will be like shoveling sand.”
If possible, he recommended waiting to drive until later Saturday, when temperatures were expected to rise above freezing.
In Northeast Philadelphia, icy roads have already claimed a life.
A 45-year-old woman was killed when her car was struck head-on by a pickup truck, police said. The crash occurred around 2 a.m., when thepickup was traveling north on the 3500 block of an ice-covered Aramingo Avenue when the driver lost control of the truck, police said.
The pickup was moving at an “unsafe speed for the wintry conditions,” police said, crossing into the southbound lanes and striking the woman’s car head-on.
Fire Department medics transported both drivers to local hospitals. The cwoman was transferred to Temple University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 2:35 a.m. Meanwhile, the pickup driver is considered stable at Jefferson Hospital.
A third person, a 29-year-old passenger in the truck, was taken to Temple University Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
And the snowy, icy conditions aren’t just affecting Philadelphia.
Accumulation totals were higher north of the area, with anywhere from 2 to 6 inches in northern New Jersey.
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Due to the slippery conditions, acting New Jersey Gov. Tahesha Way declared a state of emergency across her state Friday morning, urging people to monitor official updates, remain off the roads unless necessary, and stay safe.
Due to the severe snowstorm, with the potential of icy and slippery conditions, I have declared a State of Emergency across the state beginning this afternoon.
Please monitor official updates and remain off the roads unless necessary.
As of Saturday afternoon, 27 flights at Philadelphia International Airport were cancelled, and 164 were delayed, due to the storm. Those with holiday traveling around the corner, can track flight statuses at Philadelphia International Airport.
So far this season, Philadelphia has already seen more than half the snow last winter brought. This year’s seasonal total stands at 4.2 inches, while the city saw 8.1 inches during the entire2024-25 winter.
Slight melting is expected through Saturday, but refreezing will come overnight, bringing a rainy Sunday with a high of 43 and a low of 37 degrees.
Conditions are set to improve in Philadelphia by early next week, with Monday expected to bring a high of 58 degrees and a low of 28, and the year waving farewell Wednesday with a high of 38 degrees and a low of 30, according to AccuWeather.
A pedestrian walks through a cloud of steam on a cold winter day in West Philadelphia, Friday, Dec. 26, 2025, as snow and a wintry mix are forecast for the area through Saturday morning.
I set out deliberately this week to make an astronomical event photo for this space. I’ve done Santa and a menorah already this winter so I wanted to give props to the solstice.
The same pond on Dec. 14, just after the first significant snowfall of the season.
With the days getting shorter leading up Dec. 21, I first thought of sunset occurring earlier. But I worked nights for many years and photographed many of those.
Then I thought of all the time I’ve spent in our city’s historic district. (I love history, as the following paragraphs will attest, and I expect I’ll be there even more in 2026 as we celebrate the Semiquincentennial.)
I recalled a Chippendale armchair in the Assembly Room of Independence Hall made by Philadelphia cabinetmaker John Folwell in the years after our country was born. George Washington sat in the mahogany chair with a gilded sun carved into it for three months in 1787 as he presided over the Constitutional Convention.
A replica of George Washington’s chair in the Independence Visitor Center.
Benjamin Franklin is credited with immortalizing the chair at the close of the convention, expressing his optimism for the future of the new nation while looking at the design.
”Often and often … I have looked at that {sun} … without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting, but now at length, I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.”
That’s why I decided to get out early this week to find a photo at sunrise, as I look ahead to the future.
However, speaking of history, there is also an established tradition of news organizations looking back at the end of the year.
So here is the Inquirer photo staff’s “Year in Review.” A visual record of the challenges, achievements, and the everyday moments of a year lived in full.
Since 1998 a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in the print editions of The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color:
December 22, 2025: SEPTA trolley operator Victoria Daniels approaches the end of the Center City Tunnel, heading toward the 40th Street trolley portal after a tour to update the news media on overhead wire repairs in the closed tunnel due to unexpected issues from new slider parts.December 15, 2025: A historical interpreter waits at the parking garage elevators headed not to a December crossing of the Delaware River, but an event at the National Constitution Center. General George Washington was on his way to an unveiling of the U.S. Mint’s new 2026 coins for the Semiquincentennial, December 8, 2025: The Benjamin Franklin Bridge and pedestrians on the Delaware River Trail are reflected in mirrored spheres of the “Weaver’s Knot: Sheet Bend” public artwork on Columbus Boulevard. The site-specific stainless steel piece located between the Cherry Street and Race Street Piers was commissioned by the City’s Public Art Office and the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation and created and installed in 2022 by the design and fabrication group Ball-Nogues Studio. The name recalls a history that dominated the region for hundreds of years. “Weaver’s knot” derives from use in textile mills and the “Sheet bend” or “sheet knot” was used on sailing vessels for bending ropes to sails. November 29, 2025: t’s ginkgo time in our region again when the distinctive fan-shaped leaves turn yellow and then, on one day, lose all their leaves at the same time laying a carpet on city streets and sidewalks. A squirrel leaps over leaves in the 18th Century Garden in Independence National Historical Park Nov. 25, 2025. The ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) is considered a living fossil as it’s the only surviving species of a group of trees that existed before dinosaurs. Genetically, it has remained unchanged over the past 200 million years. William Hamilton, owner the Woodlands in SW Phila (no relation to Alexander Hamilton) brought the first ginkgo trees to North America in 1785.November 24, 2025: The old waiting room at 30th Street Station that most people only pass through on their way to the restrooms has been spiffed up with benches – and a Christmas tree. It was placed there this year in front of the 30-foot frieze, “The Spirit of Transportation” while the lobby of Amtrak’s $550 million station restoration is underway. The 1895 relief sculpture by Karl Bitter was originally hung in the Broad Street Station by City Hall, but was moved in 1933. It depicts travel from ancient to modern and even futuristic times. November 17, 2025: Students on a field trip from the Christian Academy in Brookhaven, Delaware County, pose for a group photo in front of the Liberty Bell in Independence National Historical Park on Thursday. The trip was planned weeks earlier, before they knew it would be on the day park buildings were reopening after the government shutdown ended. “We got so lucky,” a teacher said. Then corrected herself. “It’s because we prayed for it.” November 8, 2025: Multitasking during the Festival de Día de Muertos – Day of the Dead – in South Philadelphia.November 1, 2025: Marcy Boroff is at City Hall dressed as a Coke can, along with preschoolers and their caregivers, in support of former Mayor Jim Kenney’s 2017 tax on sweetened beverages. City Council is considering repealing the tax, which funds the city’s pre-K programs. October 25, 2025: Austin Gabauer, paint and production assistant at the Johnson Atelier, in Hamilton Twp, N.J. as the finished “O” letter awaits the return to Philadelphia. The “Y” part of the OY/YO sculpture is inside the painting booth. The well-known sculpture outside the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History was removed in May while construction continues on Market Street and has been undergoing refurbishment at the Atelier at the Grounds for Sculpture outside of Trenton.October 20, 2025:The yellow shipping container next to City Hall attracted a line of over 300 people that stretched around a corner of Dilworth Park. Bystanders wondered as they watched devotees reaching the front take their selfies inside a retro Philly diner-esque booth tableau. Followers on social media had been invited to “Climb on to immerse yourself in the worlds of Pleasing Fragrance, Big Lip, and exclusive treasures,” including a spin of the “Freebie Wheel,” for products of the unisex lifestyle brand Pleasing, created by former One Direction singer Harry Styles.October 11, 2025: Can you find the Phillie Phanatic, as he leaves a “Rally for Red October Bus Tour” stop in downtown Westmont, N.J. just before the start of the NLDS? There’s always next year and he’ll be back. The 2026 Spring Training schedule has yet to be announced by Major League Baseball, but Phillies pitchers and catchers generally first report to Clearwater, Florida in mid-February.October 6. 2025: Fluorescent orange safety cone, 28 in, Poly Ethylene. Right: Paint Torch (detail) Claes Oldenburg, 2011, Steel, Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic, Gelcoat and Polyurethane. (Gob of paint, 6 ft. Main sculpture, 51 ft.). Lenfest Plaza at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts on North Broad Street, across from the Convention Center.September 29, 2025: A concerned resident who follows Bucks County politics, Kevin Puls records the scene before a campaign rally for State Treasurer Stacy Garrity, the GOP candidate for governor. His T-shirt is “personal clickbait” with a url to direct people to the website for The Travis Manion Foundation created to empower veterans and families of fallen heroes. The image on the shirts is of Greg Stocker, one of the hosts of Kayal and Company, “A fun and entertaining conservative spin on Politics, News, and Sports,” mornings on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT.September 22, 2025: A shadow is cast by “The Cock’s Comb,” created by Alexander “Sandy” Calder in 1960, is the first work seen by visitors arriving at Calder Gardens, the new sanctuary on the Ben Franklin Parkway. The indoor and outdoor spaces feature the mobiles, stabiles, and paintings of Calder, who was born in Philadelphia in 1898, the third generation of the family’s artistic legacy in the city.September 15, 2025: Department of Streets Director of Operations Thomas Buck leaves City Hall following a news conference marking the activation of Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) cameras on the Broad Street corridor – one the city’s busiest and most dangerous roads. The speed limit on the street, also named PA Route 611, is 25 mph.
We’ll show you a photo taken in the Philly-area, you drop a pin where you think it was taken. Closer to the location results in a better score. This week’s theme is all about the Mummers Parade. Good luck!
Round #13
Question 1
Where were these people?
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ClickTap on map to guess the location in the photo
ClickTap again to change your guess and hit submit when you're happy
You will be scored at the end. The closer to the location the better the score
Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Pretty good/Not bad/Way off! Your guess was from the location.Spot on! Your guess was exactly at the location. Here's also where a random selection of Inquirer readers guessed.
People danced in front of the Engine 1 Ladder 5 firehouse on South Broad Street to celebrate the new year during the Mummers Parade on Jan. 1, 2025.
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Question 2
Where is this museum?
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Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
Pretty good/Not bad/Way off! Your guess was from the location.Spot on! Your guess was exactly at the location. Here's also where a random selection of Inquirer readers guessed.
This is the Mummers Museum on South Second Street, which chronicles the history of the annual New Year’s Day parade since 1976.
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Question 3
Where was this band?
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David Maialetti / Staff Photographer
Pretty good/Not bad/Way off! Your guess was from the location.Spot on! Your guess was exactly at the location. Here's also where a random selection of Inquirer readers guessed.
The Duffy String Band was practicing at TipTop Playground in Northern Liberties in December 2021.
Your Score
ARank
Amazing work. Your score is full of glitter and shines brightly!
BRank
Good stuff. You’ve marched impressively down Broad Street.
CRank
C is a passing grade, because we judges are giving you a generous score. Turn up your real performance!
DRank
D isn’t great. Your performance was like sneaking into the parade without a costume!
FRank
We don’t want to say you failed, but you didn’t not fail.
You beat % of other Inquirer readers.
We’ll be back next Saturday for another round of Citywide Quest.
The Wall Street Journal crowns Philly the best place to visit in 2026: A
Congratulations to Philadelphia, which has officially been named the world’s best place to visit in 2026 — a sentence that still feels fake even after you say it out loud.
The Wall Street Journal says it’s because of America’s 250th birthday, the World Cup, March Madness, the MLB All-Star Game, and a stretch of months where Philly will be hosting basically every major event short of the Olympics.
But let’s be clear: Big events don’t make a city great. They just expose whether it already is.
Philly works as a destination because it can handle the chaos. This is a city that treats historic milestones and sports meltdowns with the same emotional intensity. Where strangers will give you directions, opinions, and a life story within 30 seconds. Where the best part of your trip will almost certainly be something you didn’t plan: a bar you ducked into, a neighborhood you wandered through, a crowd you got absorbed into without realizing it.
So why not an A+? Because Philly being crowned “best place to visit” comes with consequences we know all too well. Inflated hotel prices, SEPTA stress tests, streets that were never designed for this many people, and locals being asked, again, to carry the weight of a global party while still getting to work on time.
And because, frankly, Philly doesn’t need outside validation. This city didn’t suddenly get interesting because the Wall Street Journal noticed. We’ve been loud about this for years, from barstools, stoops, and comment sections, and now the rest of the world is finally catching up (and booking flights).
Still, credit where it’s due. This is a huge moment, and a deserved one. Philly is about to have the kind of year cities dream about, even if we’ll spend most of it grumbling, redirecting tourists, and muttering “we told you so.”
We’ll host the world. We’ll complain the entire time. And somehow, we’ll still prove them right.
Primo’s founder Rich Neigre and Audrey Neigre, his daughter, hold a whole Italian hoagie in 2011.
Primo Hoagies covering big-dog adoption fees: A+
This is what “using your powers for good” looks like.
As PhillyVoice reported, Primo Hoagies quietly covering adoption fees for large dogs at a South Jersey shelter is the kind of move that cuts straight through the holiday noise. No brand stunt. No overexplaining. Just: These dogs keep getting passed over, that’s not right, let’s fix one part of it.
Big dogs are the last ones out the door. Everyone wants the tiny, apartment-friendly, Instagram-ready pup. Meanwhile, the 70-pound sweethearts sit there, year after year, wondering what they did wrong (answer: nothing). Removing the fee doesn’t solve everything, but it removes one very real excuse, and sometimes that’s all it takes.
Also, this is extremely on-brand Philly energy. Feed people. Love dogs. Don’t make a big deal about it. Just do the thing.
City skyline with people present for the unveiling of the new logo for Xfinity Mobile Arena the former Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday, September 2, 2025.
Philly making Zillow’s hottest housing markets list: B (with side-eye)
Zillow’s takeaway is that Philly is “affordable,” centrally located, and culturally desirable. Which is true. It’s also the most polite way possible to say: People are moving here because they’ve been priced out of everywhere else. Welcome! Please enjoy our rowhouses, strong opinions, and streets that were absolutely not designed for this many buyers.
The median home value sitting around $230,000 looks great on a national list. On the ground, it translates to open houses packed like an Eagles tailgate and starter homes disappearing in 48 hours with cash offers that make lifelong renters quietly spiral. Philly didn’t suddenly become hot. It became relatively attainable, which in 2025 is the real flex.
But let’s acknowledge that there is tension baked into this moment. Being desirable is good. Being affordable is better. Staying both at the same time? That’s the hard part.
Jason Kelce with the Hank Suace cofounders (from left): Matt Pittaluga, Brian “Hank” Ruxton, and Josh Jaspan. Hank Sauce was founded in 2011 and is based in Sea Isle City. Kelce announced a partnership with the local brand and his family’s Winnie Capital.
Jason Kelce investing in Hank Sauce: A+ (this was inevitable)
There are celebrity investments, and then there are ones so perfectly aligned they feel less like a business move and more like destiny. Jason Kelce backing Hank Sauce, a Sea Isle City staple sold in surf shops, Shore houses, and Philly-area grocery stores, is very much the latter.
Sea Isle is so Jason Kelce. He’s there constantly. He bartends there. He fundraises there. He rips his shirt off there. He eats there. At this point, investing in a Sea Isle brand feels less like branching out and more like protecting his natural habitat.
And Hank Sauce? Also a perfect match. It’s not about pain tolerance or macho heat levels. It’s a hot sauce for people who want flavor without suffering, which somehow mirrors Kelce’s whole deal: loud, intense energy paired with surprising warmth and accessibility.
This doesn’t feel like a celebrity slapping his name on a product he just met. Kelce was already a customer. Already a fan. Already drinking beers with the founders in the back room years ago. Philly and the Shore can smell authenticity a mile away, and this one passes immediately.
Will this help Hank Sauce grow further nationally? Almost certainly. But more importantly, it feels earned. It’s a local guy with local roots putting money behind something that already belonged to the place — and to him.
SEPTA buses travel along Market Street on Dec. 8, 2025, in Philadelphia.
Philly’s ever-lengthening commute: C-
Nothing bonds Philadelphians quite like the shared understanding that getting to work will take longer than it should, feel more chaotic than advertised, and somehow still be your fault for not “leaving earlier.”
A new report confirms what everyone stuck on the Schuylkill, the El, or a delayed Regional Rail train already knows: Philly’s average commute is longer than most big cities — and it got worse last year. Thirty-three minutes doesn’t sound brutal until you remember that’s a one-way trip, on a good day, assuming nothing’s on fire (which, this year, was not a safe assumption).
Yes, return-to-office mandates are part of it. Yes, traffic is bad everywhere. But Philly commuters have been playing on hard mode: SEPTA funding drama, service cuts that almost happened, service cuts that did happen, train inspections, near-strikes, and the ever-present question of whether your bus is late or just gone.
The most Philly part is that it’s still technically better than 2019. Which feels less like a victory and more like saying, “Hey, at least it’s not the worst version of this misery.”
New York’s commute is longer. Congrats to them. But Philly’s special talent is making 33 minutes feel like an emotional journey. You leave your house hopeful. You arrive at work already needing a break.
An Eagles fan holds up a sign supporting the Tush Push as the Eagles faced the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field last month.
The Tush Push is officially losing its magic: C
Let us be honest with each other, because denial is unbecoming. The Tush Push is no longer a cheat code. It’s a memory. A beautiful, violent, once-automatic memory.
Three tries. Three failures. False starts, no gain, another flag, and then Nick Sirianni punting like a man quietly admitting something he didn’t want to say out loud. When the Eagles chose not to run it on fourth-and-1, that was the tell. Not the stats. Not the penalties. The vibes. Coaches don’t abandon unstoppable plays. They abandon plays that might get them booed.
For a while, the Tush Push was everything Philly loves: blunt, physical, a little rude, and wildly effective. It turned short-yardage into theater. It broke opponents’ spirits. It sent NFL discourse into absolute hysterics. It won games. It won a Super Bowl. It made grown men scream about “nonfootball plays” like the Eagles had discovered witchcraft.
And now? Teams figured it out. Officials started staring at it like it personally offended them. Hurts clearly got tired of being a human battering ram. What was once inevitable is now… work. And unreliable work at that.
This grade isn’t a condemnation. It’s grief. The Tush Push didn’t die because it failed once. It died because it stopped being feared. It went from “automatic” to “ugh, here we go,” and that’s not good enough in January.
The Eagles will be fine. They have Saquon Barkley, creativity, and other ways to move the ball. But the era of lining up and daring the defense to stop you, knowing they couldn’t, is over.
Raise a glass. Pour one out. Say something nice. Then move on.
In a global survey that asked residents of 65 large cities how satisfied they were with where they lived, Philadelphia came in almost dead last, according to the Gensler Research Institute. Only about 59% of Philly respondents said they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” about living here.
And among U.S. cities, Philly ranked 26th out of 27, with peers like New York City at nearly 70% satisfaction andDetroit and Columbus, Ohio, at 66%.
But satisfaction is subjective, and surveys are not gospel. As a tumultuous year comes to a close, here is what a handful of neighborhood leaders across the city had to say about living in Philly today, the issues that matter most to their communities, and what still makes them excited to be Philadelphians.
Life feels harder and more expensive
“Things just feel a lot harder and a little bit more expensive,” said Jamila Harris-Morrison, the executive director of ACHIEVEability, a West Philly anti-poverty nonprofit focusing on single-parent and homeless families.
This year, ACHIEVEability has received more requests for assistance than ever before, she said. Inflation has created financial pressure. “We’re talking about people who are working full-time jobs or maybe two jobs and feeling like they can’t make ends meet,” she said.
That pressure has led West Philly’s young people to pick up any side hustle they can, like photography and sneaker cleaning. Some dismiss the idea of going to college or trade school, Harris-Morrison said, because they need money and resources now, not years down the line.
Latisha White gathers at a balloon Release in memory of her nephew Maurice White, 19, at Level Up, in Philadelphia, July 10, 2024. White was killed in a drive-by shooting that injured eight others at a July 4th gathering in Southwest Philadelphia.
Harris-Morrison hears them talk about aspirations to get out of their neighborhoods one day, but not necessarily out of Philly. And their adult counterparts still hold some optimism, despite recent struggles.
She said that Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s H.O.M.E. initiative especially has people energized and looking forward to how it might ease their housing burdens.
“There’s still a level of hope,” she said.
Community problem-solving
Affordability is a major issue in West Mount Airy, too, according to Josephine Gasiewski Winter, executive director of the West Mount Airy Neighbors nonprofit. She said it has become more difficult for people who have lived in the area to stay, and for younger families to buy homes.
But in general, people are pretty happy to be living in the neighborhood and the city, she said. Her organization was founded in 1959 to make the area one of the first intentionally integrated neighborhoods, and she said people today still value its diversity, plus its access to green spaces and the rest of the city.
“It is a very magical little corner of Philadelphia,” she said.
A strong sense of community is a key component of making people feel more satisfied, according to Winter. Recently, neighbors have come together for anti-immigration-raid trainings, and for mutual aid activations when SNAP benefits were paused.
Local resident Carol Bates (far left) aims a speed gun at passing motorists as members of the West Mt. Airy Neighbors (WMAN), East Mt. Airy Neighbors (EMAN) and other community members hold a Protest Traffic Violence rally at Emlen Circle on Lincoln Drive Lincoln Drive in Phila., Pa. on Sept. 11, 2022.
“So when it feels like there’s not much you can do, there are people around that are doing things, and they’re united toward that common goal. That is a reason I think why people love living here,” Winter said.
In South Philly, trash and litter are always top of mind for residents, according to Jimmy Gastner, board vice president of the Passyunk Square Civic Association.
The problem persists even going into year two of the Parker administration’s twice-weekly trash pickup program in South Philly, so Gastner’s block has a contract with Glitter, a popular sidewalk and street-cleaning business. Gastner said litter in the area is a multifaceted problem that requires improvements to infrastructure but also personal responsibility.
Attendees pass vendors at the 2025 Flavors of the Avenue Festival, hosted by the East Passyunk Business Corporation, on East Passyunk Avenue.
He said residents have also shared concerns about maintaining safe, accessible options for transit.
Gastner still sees people positive and optimistic about their slice of South Philly, boosted particularly by neighborhood schools, parks, and resident groups. People value the restaurants and small businesses, and together it makes residents feel connected to where they live.
“Particularly coming out of COVID, I think we’re all looking to get that sense of community,” he said
Uncertainty moving forward
While Kensington may have a certain reputation to those living outside the neighborhood, lately residents have shared mostly mixed feelings about living there, said New Kensington Community Development Corp. executive director Bill McKinney.
Their ambivalence is driven strongly by uncertainty. McKinney said people feel unsure about what is coming next from the federal government.
Theo Caraway of Philadelphia walking his dog Cooper, 6 months, Shitzu/Poodle wearing his Eagles jersey along Kensington at Ontario Street on Philadelphia, Friday, September 5, 2025.
What the city’s latest plan is for the neighborhood’s unhoused population, its open-air drug market, and those suffering from substance abuse is also unclear to residents.
“There’s constant movement but not a lot of clarity,” McKinney said. “You’re kind of just waiting for the other shoe to drop because you know the larger thing wasn’t solved.”
Yet McKinney said there is plenty of positivity around, and it often goes overlooked. Whether or not that adds up to people being satisfied with living there, McKinney said he clearly sees the ways community members are invested in their neighborhood, like reclaiming open spaces to create Kensington’s thriving community gardens.
His agency hosted a workshop series on housing over the last few months, with hundreds of people coming to learn about housing policies work and how coming plans may affect them.
At a packedyouth town hall cohostedwith the nonprofit FAB Youth Philly, many questioned whether Philly was a place where they could see a future for themselves, McKinney said. He hopes that changes — for young people to envision a home here, a family, a job, and a community that they love. It will take major changes and investment, but McKinney thinks it’s possible.
“I’m here because I love Kensington. I can live anywhere … I believe in it. I believe in the people here,” he said.
Ring in 2026 with fireworks lighting up the Delaware River waterfront. Philadelphia’s New Year’s Eve shows will return with two displays, including an earlier, family-friendly show at 6 p.m., followed by a midnight celebration to welcome the new year. The Rivers Casino fireworks are a rain-or-shine event, with views from several free spots along the waterfront.
Best free viewing spots
For those looking to enjoy the show without a ticket, the fireworks can be seen from various locations along the waterfront, including:
Race Street Pier: 📍 North Christopher Columbus Blvd., Philadelphia, Pa. 19106
Washington Avenue Pier: 📍Washington Avenue Green, South Christopher Columbus Blvd., Philadelphia, Pa. 19147
Pier 68: 📍At the end ofPier 70 Blvd., Philadelphia, Pa. 19148
Spruce Street Harbor Park: 📍301 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd., Philadelphia, Pa. 19106
Great Plaza at Penn’s Landing: 📍101 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd., Philadelphia, Pa. 19106
Ticketed events with great views
Elevate your celebration with one of these ticketed options:
Cherry Street Pier: Choose between family-friendly fun or an adults-only party, both offering unbeatable views and live entertainment. 💵 $32.70 (with the service fee); 🌐 delawareriverwaterfront.com
Battleship New Jersey: Watch the fireworks from a unique vantage point aboard this historic ship, complete with food and drinks. 💵 General admission: $10, VIP: $125; 🌐 battleshipnewjersey.org
