A 260-apartment development, largely composed of one-bedroom units, is the latest residential project slated for 4401 Ridge Ave. in East Falls.
The almost two-acre site has been long vacant and is now covered in trees. It is owned by the Philadelphia Housing Authority, which operated a dozen rental homes there until the late 1990s. The property is under an agreement of sale, according to the agency.
Plans for the project were posted on the Philadelphia Planning Commission’s website Tuesday, showing a six-story building from Stokes Architecture & Design.
The zoning paperwork in city records is signed by Eric Marshall, who is the principal with MGMT Residential. The company, based in Northwest Philadelphia, owns and manages hundreds of units in neighborhoods including Roxborough and Manayunk.
MGMT itself is not the developer and will not own the property, according to the project’s zoning lawyer, Richard DeMarco, although the company will manage it once construction is completed.
The development team declined to comment in advance of a neighborhood meeting Wednesday night.
The plans show that the apartment building proposed for 4401 Ridge Ave. will offer 217 parking spaces. It will also host at least 8,000 square feet of commercial space, according to the East Falls Community Council, which has been negotiating with the developers.
The neighborhood group’s zoning chair, Hilary Langer, reports progress at the discussions.
He says that many neighbor concerns center on traffic, parking, and the preponderance of smaller units — a concern he does not personally share.
“The … fact is that one-bedroom apartments are in demand and their vacancy rate is [almost] 10%, which is really the same as annual natural turnover,” Langer said in an email.
Langer said that by his calculations, 115 two-bedroom apartments have been built in his neighborhood since 2021, and a quarter of them are still vacant. But 399 one-bedroom or studios have been constructed in that time frame, and only 12.5% of them are empty.
An aerial rendering of the 260-unit apartment building proposed for 4401 Ridge Ave.
The project needs approvals from the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment to move forward, with a hearing set for March 25. It will appear before the advisory-only Civic Design Review committee on March 3.
The last proposal for the site came in 2021 from Baltimore-based Atapco Properties. That project included 189 parking spaces for 185 apartments.
Thatformer proposal’s frontage was pushed back from Ridge Avenue, which the East Falls Community Council feared would make an already pedestrian unfriendly environment even worse.
The newer development has the apartment building fronting on the sidewalk.
“You’re not going to get walkability if you just put in plazas and parking lots,” Langer said. “This building, at the very least, it provides the chance of walkability.”
Amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration and deployment of federal officers to cities across the country, students at Philadelphia-area colleges are protesting against the appearance of U.S. Customs and Border Protection at campus career fairs.
At least four local universities — Thomas Jefferson, Villanova, Temple, and Rowan — have faced opposition to allowing recruitment in recent months.
A petition circulated at Jefferson last week sought to keep CBP from appearing at a campus career event. CBP and ICE — both agencies that enforce immigration laws under the Department of Homeland Security — have been at the center of a national debate after two Minneapolis residents were killed by federal immigration enforcement agents in shootings now under investigation.
“Due to the harm CBP has caused to communities across the nation, it is abhorrent for TJU to accept CBP at their institution,” said anoccupational therapy student who signed the petition and asked that her name be withheld, fearing retribution. “I don’t think any institution should be encouraging students to get involved in these kinds of agencies, given the current climate.”
But the petition has since come down, the student said, and CBP is not on the list of employers due to appear at the event, called the 2026 Career Day and Design Expo, on Thursday at the East Falls campus. Jefferson has not acknowledged that CBP was on the list initially or responded to questions on whether it was removed.
CBP, which has offices in Philadelphia, has appeared at campus career events in the area in the past.
An email seeking comment from CBP’s media office was not returned.
At Rowan University in New Jersey earlier this month, the participation of CBP’s Trade Regulatory Audit Philadelphia Field Office in a career fair drew some student protest. Members of a student activist group distributed fliers speaking out against CBP during the fair, according to Rowan’s student newspaper, the Whit, and campus police and administration officials came to the scene.
The agency also reserved a table and came to afall event at Rowan to share information about accounting-related auditing internships, said Rowan spokesperson Joe Cardona,and has done so at the public university for the last decade.
Rowan’s Rohrer College of Business Center for Professional Development hosts more than 200 employers each year, including local, state, and federal agencies as well as private-sector groups, he said.
“The presence of any employer on campus does not constitute institutional endorsement of that organization’s policies or actions,” Cardona said. “Rather, it reflects our commitment to supporting student career exploration while upholding principles of open access and free expression.”
At Villanova, CBP pulled out of a career fair it had planned to attend earlier this month, according to the Villanovan, the student newspaper. The withdrawal followed criticism on social media about the organization’s planned appearance.
The organizer of an Instagram account that opposed the agency’s participation said they wished that Villanova had made the decision to disallow the group rather than the group withdrawing, according to the student newspaper.
“I think a lot of students will feel a lot safer and more comfortable attending this Career Fair,” the organizer said. “But it doesn’t take away the anger that this was ever something that was gonna happen.”
Villanova said in a statement that CBP‘sOffice of Trade had participated in prior career events and that employers with prior participation were contacted “through standard outreach” about this year’s event.
Temple’s law school last semester had planned to host a “Coffee and Careers” networking event with a DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement lawyer but later canceled it, according to the Temple News, the student newspaper. The event was replaced with a talk on public interest law by Philadelphia City Councilmember Rue Landau.
DHS “chose to engage directly with students interested in DHS opportunities rather than participate in a scheduled career event,” Temple spokesperson Steve Orbanek said.
He also noted that “career fairs are university-sponsored events, and actions that disrupt these events may violate university policy and established on-campus demonstration guidelines.”
This week in Philly music features a tribute to the late songwriter Jill Sobule, a 20th-celebration anniversary of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s debut, a two-night stand by funkateers Lettuce, a golden age of hip-hop rapper, and a host of rising stars. That includes power pop band the Sharp Pins, jazz musicians Kenyon Harrold and Isaiah Collier, and genre-blending maverick Sudan Archives.
Thursday, Jan. 22
Rakim
No list of the most influential rappers of all time is complete without Rakim. He is the golden age of hip-hop MC who set new standards for lyricism and internal rhyme schemes with deejay Eric B. on late 1980s albums like Paid in Full and Follow the Leader. His latest is last year’s The Re-Up. 8 p.m., City Winery, 900 Filbert St., citywinery.com/philadelphia
Gregory Alan Isakov
South Africa-born, Philadelphia-raised, and Boulder, Colo.-based indie folk singer Gregory Alan Isakov’s most recent album is 2023’s Appaloosa Bones. It is a moody evocative set of allusive songs on the Iron & Wine and Fleet Foxes continuum. His North Broad Street show is “an intimate acoustic evening.” 8 p.m., Met Philly, 858 N. Broad St., themetphilly.com
Lamp
In the Grateful Dead- and Phish-adjacent universe, Lamp has legitimate bona fides. Russ Lawton and Ray Paczkowski are the rhythm section in the Trey Anastasio Band and Scott Metzger plays in Joe Russo’s Almost Dead. 8 p.m., Ardmore Music Hall, 23 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore, ardmoremusichall.com
Friday, Jan. 23
Sharp Pins
Twenty-one-year-old power-pop wunderkind Kai Slater’s Sharp Pins is all the indie rage, with the kinetic Balloon Balloon Balloon drawing from Guided By Voices and the Byrds and sounding downright Beatles-like at times. The band plays two shows at Jerry’s on Front with Atlantic City’s Te Vista opening. 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., Jerry’s on Front, 2341 N. Front St., r5productions.com
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
In 2006, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s self-titled debut’s music blog-fueled buzz helped reshape the indie music business. Singer Alec Ounsworth is marking the milestone with a “Piano & Voice” solo tour that kicks off with hometown Philly shows on Friday and Saturday. Noon, Free at Noon, World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St., xpn.org and 7 p.m., Philadelphia Ethical Society, 1906 Rittenhouse Square, r5productions.com
Lettuce, as pictured on their new album “Cook.” The Boston funk band plays two nights at Ardmore Music Hall, on Friday and Saturday.
Lettuce
The Boston funk sextet Lettuce has named its new album Cook, and the members all sport chef’s toques on the album cover. The band, whose musical stew pulls from horn-heavy influences like Tower of Power and James Brown, plays two shows this weekend. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Ardmore Music Hall, 23 E. Lancaster Ave. Ardmore, ardmoremusichall.com
Saturday, Jan. 24
Isaiah Collier and Keyon Harrold
This Penn Live Arts show pairs two rising stars in the jazz world. They’re both Midwesterners. Ferguson, Mo., trumpeter Keyon Harrold has played with Jay-Z and Common, who guests on the opening track of his album. He has also played the trumpet parts in the Don Cheadle-starring Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead. Isaiah Collier is a Chicago saxophonist whose The Story of 400 Years traces four centuries of Black American history. 7:30 p.m., Zellerbach Theatre, 3680 Walnut St., pennlivearts.org
Keyon Harrold plays the Zellerbach Theatre at the Annenberg Center on Saturday with Isaiah Collier.
Jillith Fair: Loving Jill Sobule
In May, singer-songwriter Jill Sobule tragically died in a house fire in Minnesota. A tribute show at the Fallser Club in East Falls will be co-hosted by Sobule’s friends Jim Boggia and Martykate O’Neill. The evening will feature Tracy Bonham, Jonathan Coulton, James Mastro, and author Tara Murtha. Expect an emotional evening. 8 p.m., the Fallser Club, 3721 Midvale Ave., thefallserclub.com
Daffo
Daffo, the indie pop singer born Gabi Greenberg, went viral with the 2024 single “P:or Madeline.” Their debut, Where the Earth Bends, was recorded with Elliott Smith producer Rob Schnapf. 8 p.m., PhilaMoca, 531 N. 12th St., philamoca.org
Winter Carnival
This package tour brings together several veteran alt-hip-hop luminaries, headlined by Twin Cities rap duo Atmosphere. It also includes Sage Francis and R.A. the Rugged Man and former Ultramagnetic MCs leader Kool Keith. 8 p.m., Brooklyn Bowl, 1009 Canal St. brooklynbowl.com/philadelphia.
Sunday, Jan. 25
On a Winter’s Night
In 1994, Christine Lavin produced a folk compilation called On a Winter’s Night, featuring John Gorka, Patty Larkin, Lucy Kaplansky, Bill Morrissey, and others. That album prompted many concert tours with folkies of various stripes, and this reunion features Gorka, Larkin, Kaplansky, and Cliff Eberhardt. 8 p.m., Sellersville Theater, 24 W. Temple Ave., Sellersville, st94.com
Josh Ritter
Josh Ritter is never short on new songs or stories to tell. Having completed a full band tour for his new album, I Believe in You, My Honeydew, he’s now out on a solo tour. On Sunday, it will take him to West Art, the new venue in an old church in Lancaster. 8 p.m., West Art, 816 Buchanon Ave., Lancaster, westartlanc.com.
Brittney Denise Parks, also known as Sudan Archives, plays Union Transfer on Tuesday.
Tuesday, Jan. 27
Sudan Archives
Brittney Denise Parks, who performs as Sudan Archives, is a singer, violinist, and electronic musician. She is at her most dance-floor directed on the excellent and creatively restless The BPM, the follow-up to 2022’s acclaimed Natural Brown Prom Queen. 8 p.m., Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St., utphilly.com.
Greg Freeman
Put Greg Freeman in the category of RIYL MJ Lenderman, Ryan Davis, and Bob Dylan. The latter’s 1978 album Street Legal is the inspiration behind “Curtain” from Freeman’s 2025 album Burnover, which confirmed the buzz generated by the Vermont songwriter’s 2022 debut Looked Out. 8 p.m. Ukie Club, 847 N. Franklin St., 4333collective.net.
Concert announcements
It’s a busy week for tour announcements.
A$AP Rocky was musical guest on Saturday Night Live last weekend. The rapper, who also happens to be Rihanna’s boyfriend, used that appearance to announce a “Don’t Be Dumb” tour that comes to Xfinity Mobile Arena on June 4.
The Human League plays the Met Philly on June 28, joined by fellow 1980s British acts Soft Cell and Alison Moyet. And Tori Amos’ new album, In Time of Dragons, due May 1, will bring her to the Met on Aug. 1.
Snail Mail, the Baltimore indie rocker born Lindsey Jordan, has announced her new album, Ricochet, due in March, and a date at the Fillmore on April 16 with Swirlies and Hall Gallo. Ticket details at r5productions.com.
Frosted vegan pop-tarts, swirls of dairy-free soft serve, and meatless bacon-egg-and-cheese croissants have officially arrived in East Falls.
Crust Vegan Bakery opened Thursday at the intersection of Ridge and Midvale Avenues, just off Kelly Drive. The move from its two-space operation in Manayunk to a larger location enabled the confectionery to consolidate its retail storefront and commercial kitchen, said owner Meagan Benz.
Benz spent more than nine months transforming a 3,000-square-foot office along the Schuylkill River into what she called a “cakelike retail space” with baby-pink walls piped with white paint and ceiling tiles modeled after Lambeth-style cake trims. Light from oversized front-facing windows dapple a trio of pastry cases filled with batches of all-vegan sweets, from cheesecake slices and cinnamon buns to black-and-white cookies and crumb-coated coffee cakes. Baristas-slash-bakers pull espresso shots and whisk matcha for lattes sweetened with house-made syrups.
“I wanted to create a place where people think, ‘Oh, I can get everything I need there,’” Benz said.
Crust Vegan Bakery owner Meagan Benz with a display case of treats on opening day Jan. 8 at the bakery’s new location at 4200 Ridge Ave. in East Falls. Crust moved there from Manayunk.
Benz, who went vegan in 2009 while a freshman at University of North Carolina Greensboro, launched Crust in 2015 as a wholesale vegan bakery out of a commissary kitchen at 220 Krams Ave. in Manayunk. When custom cake and wholesale orders dried up almost overnight in 2020, she and then-co-owner Shannon Rocheopenedtheir storefront at4409 Main St.as a way to keep on staff they would’ve otherwise had to lay off during the pandemic, a move Benz said ended up making Crust profitable enough to bring on more employees.
“Retail is where we make more money,” said Benz, 35.
Now, the business has outgrown the satellite storefront that saved it.
Jordan Fuchs prepares pop-tarts at Crust Vegan Bakery’s former commercial kitchen space on Krams Avenue.
Splitting time and staff between the retail space and commercial kitchen proved logistically challenging. Benz said Crust’s storefront manager wound up spending most of her time ferrying pastries between locations, a half-mile journey that led to lots of wasted product.
“It was a really short distance, but people drive crazy — someone slams on the brakes in front of us and we’re done for,” Benz said. “We had many times where things would tip over and we’d have to determine if it was still usable.”
At Crust’s new location, a sparse yet cozy cafe area with two tables and a large, lived-in green couch bleeds into the kitchen, where staff pivot from packaging cakes and swirling soft-serve cones to frosting pop-tarts. The streamlined setup has allowed Benz to dream big. Already on her wish list for the future: a separate convection oven for made-to-order breakfast sandwiches, a back room for cake-decorating classes, and more room for colorful displays.
A brown sugar pecan pie pop-tart, soft frosted cookie, and vanilla strawberry cake from Crust Vegan Bakery are plated next to a hot latte. Beverages are new to the bakery.
Benz spent two years looking for the right location, unwilling to compromise on a short list of non-negotiables. Most of the bakery’s 15-member team live in Northwest Philly, she said, so the new space needed to remain in the area while being more transit-accessible.
Crust’s new location sits at the convergence of five bus lines. It also will leave Manayunk without a pastry specialist when Crust’s former commercial-kitchen neighbor Flakely decamps for Bryn Mawr in February.
Taleema Ruffin takes an order from Chase Sanders and Ryan Martinez-Peña, of East Falls, at the counter of Crust Vegan Bakery’s new location at 4200 Ridge Ave. on opening day, Jan. 8, 2026.
Crust’s move also marks the launch of its first-ever coffee program, headed by cake decorator-turned-beverage coordinator Jordan Fuchs.
The bakery will serve a short but sweet menu of coffee and tea drinks, with beans and matcha sourced from Rise Up Coffee, a fair-trade roaster based in Maryland. Crust makes its own vanilla and mocha coffee syrups, and Fuchs has plans for a rotating menu of seasonal additions. The signature drink will be a black sesame latte, Fuchs said, and she’s currently perfecting a chocolate-covered strawberry latte in time for Valentine’s Day.
Jordan Fuchs pours a rosetta on top of a hot soy latte inside Crust Vegan Bakery. Its new retail space in East Falls has enabled the bakery to start a beverage program.
Crust will also continue selling two things Benz said many of her vegan customers desperately miss from their dairy-consuming days: soft-serve ice cream and hulking breakfast sandwiches.
Benz’s breakfast sandwiches are served on flaky vegan croissants or thick biscuits, both made in-house, with Just Egg patties and seitan bacon that crisps up like the real thing.
The bakery started offering nondairy soft serve year-round in 2023, Benz said, as a way to satiate her own craving. Crust uses a vanilla base made with pea protein and then adds mix-ins for flavors that rotate every two weeks. The ice cream is silky, and curls out of the machine with the flourish of a Dairy Queen swirl. It’s sweet, but doesn’t quite capture the essence of its full-dairy counterpart; Benz said that’s the point.
“If our ice cream doesn’t exactly taste like dairy ice cream, that’s OK,” she said. “I just want it to taste really good.”
Crust Vegan Bakery’s dairy-free soft serve menu, which is offered year round and includes toppings.
Pastries are still the main event at Crust’s new location. The bakery’s staff make roughly 22 dozen pop-tarts a week, with some bakers spending a full eight-hour shift solely on rolling out dough, preparing fillings, and sealing the edges for baking. To make the process smoother, Benz made a custom crimping tool that creates cartoonishly perfect hash marks. Her favorite flavor is the wild berry, a dead ringer for the purple-frosted Kellogg’s version.
Also on offer: slices of sweet potato, Oreo, blueberry lavender, and funfetti cheesecakes (gluten-free and vegan) that take up a pastry case’s entire top shelf. The secret to Benz’s recipe is Tofutti cream cheese, which is versatile enough to be customizable and easily whipped into a dairy-accurate texture.
“I make a lot of things because I want them, I miss them,” Benz said. “Then I hope other people do, too.”
A display case of vegan cheesecake, cake slices, and cinnamon buns inside Crust Vegan Bakery’s new location at 4200 Ridge Ave. in East Falls.
Crust Vegan Bakery, 4200 Ridge Ave., Philadelphia, 215-298-9969. Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
When Hope Coleman and Nathan Fong were looking for a larger East Falls rowhouse for themselves and their two young sons, they settled on a house that combined character and practicality. It had a garage, very rare for a rowhouse in that neighborhood.
The couple — Coleman is a veterinarian and Fong a marketing professor at Rutgers University — moved into the house in 2019 but have now left for a larger house in Bala Cynwyd to accommodate aging parents on both sides.
“The stuff that gave it character was original,” said Coleman, describing the East Falls house.
The five-bedroom, 2½-bathroom home is 2,288 square feet.
The heated, window-lined front porch provides entrance to the living room with original cathedral glass and stained-glass windows, high ceilings, and hardwood and Second Empire architectural style indicate it is considerably older. Documentation says the house was built in 1925, but Coleman believes that the mansard roof and architectural style indicate an earlier construction date.
The living room features original cathedral glass and stained-glass windows.
The dining room has a butler’s cabinet and a powder room with a pocket door.
The renovated eat-in kitchen has solid oak cabinetry, granite countertops, a wide island with seating for four, and a beautifully restored Chambers stove complete with built-in warmer and broiler and griddle, vented to the exterior.
The wide kitchen island can accommodate seating for four.
Glass doors open from the kitchen to a private patio. A sunroom, added by the couple and connected to the kitchen, has underfloor heating, two skylights, and additional access to the backyard and side entrance, creating seamless indoor-outdoor flow.
Glass doors open from the kitchen to a private patio.
A back staircase leads directly from the kitchen to the second floor, which has three bedrooms, including a spacious front room that is used as a family room but can also serve as a large second-floor primary.
The hall bath has a stained-glass window and a laundry room, which has built-ins, closet space, and the home’s original porcelain sink hutch.
The third floor has two additional bedrooms and a newly added full bath. The rear bedroom could serve as a walk-in closet, office, private retreat, or a primary suite.
The house is listed by Lisa Denberry of BHHS Fox & Roach Chestnut Hill for $652,000.
Drexel University has signed a lease that will enable it to consolidate its College of Medicine research labs in University City, Drexel and the developers of a new building at 3201 Cuthbert St. said Thursday.
Drexel’s space in the $500 million building, a joint project from Gattuso Development Partners and Vigilant Holdings, is slated for completion in 2027. Drexel researchers moving from sites in Center City and East Falls are expected to fill four floors of the structure.
“By bringing our research spaces together in University City, we will create an environment that fosters greater interdisciplinary collaboration, accelerates innovation, and strengthens our collective capacity for discovery,” Drexel president Antonio Merlo said in a message to the school community.
Drexel will occupy 150,741 square feet of the 11-story, 520,000-square-foot building. The developers’ goal is to fill the rest of the building with life sciences tenants, though that could be harder than it was in 2022, when the building was announced as a partnership between Drexel and Gattuso Development.
The move of research labs to University City is part of a long-term plan to centralize the Drexel College of Medicine, which includes the combined operations of the former Hahnemann Medical College in Center City and the former Medical College of Pennsylvania in East Falls.
On a recent Thursday evening, Philadelphia art collector William Skeet Jiggetts sat in the foyer of Awbury Arboretum’s Francis Cope House surrounded by grand collages taken from the walls ofhisEast Falls home.
The art — all made by living artists and friends of Jiggetts — is striking. A framed paper and antique lace dress by textile artist Rosalind “Nzinga” Vaughn-Nicole sits next to portrait-size cameos that mixed media artist Danielle Scott fashioned from newspapers and other found objects.
A guest looks at artwork collected by William Skeet Jiggetts during the Museum of African American Art Collections’ inaugural exhibit at the Awbury Arboretum in East Germantown.
Jiggetts, 57, an art collector for more than 30 years, has had pieces from his collection on display in small shows, but never in his wildest dreams did he think that they would anchor an exhibition — in a traveling museum that he founded.
While the Barnes Foundation houses the late chemist and art collector Albert C. Barnes’ collection, there are very few other — if any — museums whose walls are solely dedicated to the collections of collectors. Nomadic, traveling museums, at that.
“It got to the point where I had more art than walls,” Jiggetts said looking over his black-framed glasses. “Nobody saw it … I didn’t even see it. I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool for a bunch of collectors to get together and create a space to show our work. Tell our story?’”
Guest look at art work during the Museum of African American Art Collections inaugural exhibit at the Awbry Arboretum in East Germantown on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025.
Jiggetts got the itch to show his collection in the early 2020s after talking with colleagues who wanted to show theirs, too. In 2023 he set up a foundation, started approaching collectors, and began nailing down locations.
“There is a treasure trove of African American art in our living rooms, in our reading rooms, and in our dens that need to be shared,” Jiggetts said. “The Museum of African American Art Collections is a forum to host these collections and tell the stories that come with them.”
That’s how the Museum of African American Art Collections began.
A $200 frame and an obsession
Jiggetts, who works as a tax accountant, grew up in Germantown and spent Sunday afternoons at the Philadelphia Art Museum gazing at the impressionist works of Manet and Monet.
When he was in his 20s, he bought a poster of Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers. “I spent $200 of 1989 money on that frame,” he said with a laugh. That purchase marked the beginning of an obsession. He bought his first piece of original art from Germantown painter Lucien Crump Jr., who, according to a 2006 Inquirer obituary, owned the first gallery in the city dedicated to Black art.
Jiggetts scoured galleries and festivals for original art, buying any piece that tickled his fancy for under $500. In the early 2000s, his mentors — well known Philadelphia appraiser Barbara Wallace and the late African American collector Ronald Ollie — urged him to start evaluating his choices and he became a serious art collector.
“I figured out what it was I really liked,” Jiggetts said, describing his favorite pieces as ones that marry impressionist and abstract art, like the ones on display at Awbury Arboretum. “I realized I enjoyed the experience of buying art as much as the art. I like the company of artists.”
His collection is comprised of mostly living artists like the mixed media artist Danielle Scott; abstract painter Ben F. Jones; and Paul Goodnight, who is known for his colossal oil paintings featured in the backdrops of TV shows like Seinfeld and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. (Although Jiggetts does have a pencil sketch by the late Bahamian artist Purvis Young.)
Graphic designer for the Museum of African American Art Collections, Staci Cherry, places labels for the art collection from Stephanie Daniel during the Museum of African American Art Collections inaugural exhibit at the Awbry Arboretum in East Germantown on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. The piece in the center is the Dox Thrash mezzotint.
Keepers of history
Collectors are the glue that keep the fine arts ecosystem — artists, patrons, buyers, gallerists, and museum creators — connected and running.
They are often patrons of the arts like James J. Maguire and his late wife, Frances, investing in artists and art institutions, building impressive art collections in their homes. Collectors Adrian Moody and Robyn Jones connect artists to buyers at Jenkintown’s Moody Jones Gallery, but their personal collection has more than 400 pieces.
Art collectors Adrian Moody and Robyn Jones during the Museum of African American Art Collections’ inaugural exhibit at the Awbury Arboretum in East Germantown.
“Collectors drive the market,” said Valerie Gay, chief cultural officer for the city of Philadelphia. “They have the power to catapult an artist from obscurity to a household name.”
It’s the Black collector who discovers artists at street fairs, off-the-beaten-path galleries, hair salons, and their friend’s basement.
Their interest — like mid-20th-century author Ralph Ellison’s enthusiasm for Harlem Renaissance-era oil on canvas master Romare Bearden — brings artists’ work to a wider audience that can lead to cementing an artist’s place in the fine arts canon. Their picks speak to the collective Black experience, shaping Black America’s historical image.
“They are the keepers of our history,” Green said. “Mediators who carry the work forward and continue the legacy.”
A guest walks past art collected by Diana Tyson during the Museum of African American Art Collections inaugural exhibit at the Awbry Arboretum in East Germantown on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. Artis Beverly McCutcheon created Dad (left) and a piece titled Untitled.
Setting value
The Black collectors’ library, Jiggetts says, is the first stop on living artists’ journeys to corporate boardrooms or the walls of major museums. “Our role is that of an economist,” Jiggetts said. “We set the value.”
Collectors shared their experiences over white wine and sweet potato cupcakes on opening night.
Daniel — whose collection features local masters — spoke effusively about her Dox Thrash mezzotint. She will never let the print by the important early 20th-century Black artist go, she said. Robyn Jones interpreted the Jesse Read and Antoinette Ellis-Williams vibrant abstracts. (This reporter thought both of those pieces were images of shoes.)
Art collector Stephanie A. Daniel with Samuel Benson’s.Gay Head Cliffs MV painting during the Museum of African American Art Collections inaugural exhibit at the Awbry Arboretum in East Germantown on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025.
The concept of a collectors museum is a new one. Black collectors are not.
“We’ve always collected our work,” Jiggetts said, stressing that these times require Black people to be stewards of their own stories.
“At the Museum of African American Art Collections, no one can tell us what to do, what not to do, and what we need to do differently. We don’t have to worry about having it being taken away. It’s ours.”
The Museum of African American Art Collections, through Dec. 31, Awbury Arboretum’s Francis Cope House, 1 Awbury Rd., Phila.Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free.
The buyers: Jessica Lubniewski, 41, museum educator; David Jacobs, 40, electrical engineer
The house: A 1,300-square-foot rowhouse in East Falls with 3 bedrooms and 1½ baths, built in 1930.
The price: listed for $325,000; purchased for $327,500
The agent: Benjamin Camp, Elfant Wissahickon
The ask: Jessica Lubniewski and David Jacobs didn’t want to buy just any house; they wanted to buy their friend’s house. But when the friend didn’t accept their offer, they had to pivot.
The couple started looking for houses that cost less than $375,000 in East Falls. They wanted at least three bedrooms, a bathroom on the first floor, and a dining room that was big enough to entertain. “That was a really big thing for me,” said Lubniewski. They also wanted character and original details — not a recently flipped property.
Lubniewski and Jacobs in their dining room that is big enough to entertain.
The search: The couple went to a few open houses and spent their evenings browsing Zillow listings, where Lubniewski spied a preview listing for a house that wouldn’t be on the market for a few weeks. “I just kept looking at it and being like, ‘Man, that house looks so cool,’” said Lubniewski. “It was right around the corner from where we were renting our apartment and had all the things we were looking for.” Lubniewski and Jacobs told their agent they wanted to see the house and he worked to get them “the first viewing on the first day that it was on the market,” said Jacobs.
The appeal: The couple loved the look of the first floor,which includes two fireplaces. “Neither of them are working,” said Lubniewski, but the mantles are “so beautiful.” The one in the living room has its original facade.
The arched doorways in between the living room and the dining room and the dining room and the kitchen give “a nice look,” said Lubniewski. Jacobs appreciates the house’s central air system.
Arched doorways separate the living room from the dining room and the dining room from the kitchen
The deal: A few hours after visiting the home, the couple put in an offer. Their agent suggested they bid a few thousand dollars over the asking price, so they offered $2,500 more for a total of $327,500. Lubniewski thinks they may have been the only people to see the house.
The seller accepted their offer and after the inspection, agreed to cover $5,000 of the closing costs. He also threw in the patio furniture and the grill. In exchange, the couple did a 30-day closing.
“It all happened pretty smoothly and pretty quickly,” said Lubniewski.
One of the couple’s favorite aspects of the house were the two original fireplace mantels in the living room and the dining room.
The money: The couple had $90,000 to spend on their home. That included $40,000 of personal savings.
“We don’t have any kids. We don’t have a lot of expenses,” said Lubniewski regarding how they were able to save. And after Jacobs got his current job as an electrical engineer, they were “able to save a lot quite easily,” she added, a first for both of them.
They also got $40,000 from Jacobs’ parents, and additional money they inherited from relatives who died earlier in the year.
They tried to pursue a first-time homebuyer’s mortgage but were about $500 over the income limit, Lubniewski said, so they got a 30-year-mortgage with a 6.45% interest rate instead. They put 20% down, about $65,000.
The move: Lubniewski and Jacobs made a few changes to the house before they moved in, including ripping out the carpeting upstairs. “It was horrible work, so gross,” said Lubniewski. They hired someone to redo the floors and buff the original hardwood downstairs. They officially moved in at the end of July, said Lubniewski, “on what felt like the hottest day of the summer.”
Original details, like the woodworking on the staircase banister, was important to Jacobs and Lubniewski.
Any reservations? Jacobs wishes they had time to replace the old electrical wiring they discovered after they moved in. “In the basement the electrical all looked really good, and the inspector didn’t flag anything.” But when they tried to replace a light fixture in the dining room, they encountered old, fabric-wrapped wire, an outdated type of electrical wiring that exists in many old homes. They think there may be more, but they don’t want to bust through the walls right now to find out.
Life after close: Since moving in, Jacobs and Lubniewski have been busy getting to know their neighbors. In fact, a woman who grew up in the house stopped by on Halloween and asked to peek inside. “She was really excited,” said Lubniewski. She even had her son take a photo in front of the fireplace mantel, the same spot her mother took a photo of her on Halloween in the ‘70s. “It’s always so interesting to know what has changed,” Lubniewski said. Or in the case of the fireplace mantel, what hasn’t.
Virginia A. Smith, 75, of Philadelphia, longtime reporter and editor for The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Bulletin, the Akron Beacon Journal, and other newspapers, mentor and working-mother role model to many, and avid gardener, died Friday, Nov. 14, of interstitial lung disease at Roxborough Memorial Hospital.
Born in Philadelphia, Ms. Smith joined her hometown Inquirer in 1985 after three years at the Beacon Journal in Ohio, six months at the Bulletin in Philadelphia, and earlier stints at other papers in New York and Connecticut. Until her retirement in 2015, she covered news, health, and gardens as a reporter for The Inquirer, and served as city and Pennsylvania editor.
In her official Inquirer profile, she described her final assignment as “happily writing — and learning — about gardening full time since 2006.” Her son, Josh Wiegand, said: “She was a curious person and interested in so many different things.”
Former colleagues praised the depth and variety of her reporting, especially the detailed long-form stories she wrote about Sister Mary Scullion in 1992, the Iraq War in 2004, her own extensive garden in 2006, and the other interesting people and significant events she encountered. “She was open to reporting a story until she was confident she had all of its shadings,” Inquirer investigations editor Daniel Rubin said. “She had a gift for the stories people would talk about.”
For Ms. Smith, there was no better place than her own garden.
Ms. Smith was named The Inquirer’s garden writer in 2006, and, of course, wrote detailed previews and reviews of the annual Philadelphia Flower Show. But her favorite stories, she told colleagues, were the hundreds of others about climate change, garden gnomes, community gardens, butterflies, pruning techniques, seed banks, edible weeds, how blind people enjoy gardens, and other topics.
Her winter holiday story in 2006 was not about poinsettias or Christmas tree farms. Instead, she profiled an author who discovered a treasure trove of old black-and-white photos of gardeners tending plots in prisons, war zones, and concentration camps.
“It was her idea,” said Joanne McLaughlin, her editor then. “She wanted to write about gardens nurturing the soul under the worst of circumstances, giving hope under the worst of circumstances.”
She wrote often about her own garden in East Falls and ended one story in 2006 with: “When winter arrives, maybe I’ll settle down. Oh, what are the chances? New years are for confessions, so here’s mine: Come first snow, I’ll be out there shoveling the garden pathways, hoping to sneak another peek.”
Ms. Smith wrote this two-part series in 2012.
Her column was called “Garden Scoop,” and she blogged at “Kiss the Earth” on Inquirer.com. She won two achievement awards from what used to be called the National Garden Writers Association and the 2011 Green Exemplar Award from Bartram’s Garden.
“She understood how important the topic was to this area,” said Reid Tuvim, a longtime editor at The Inquirer.
As a health reporter in the early 2000s, Ms. Smith wrote about bottled water, flu medicine, Lyme disease, organ donation, mental illness, children’s healthcare, and other issues. In 2004, she wrote a story about the Medical Mission Sisters, a progressive religious order that offered healthcare advice and full-body massages as well as spiritual guidance. In the third paragraph, she said: “But this is no spa. And that woman doing the hands-on — are you kidding me? — is a nun!”
She covered Scullion’s acceptance speech of the 1992 Philadelphia Award for community service and described it as “fiery and heartfelt, troubling and joyful.” Inquirer staff writer Amy Rosenberg said Ms. Smith “always drilled down to such emotional depths with her subjects. She defined so much of what The Inquirer meant back then.”
Ms. Smith doted on her granddaughters.
She mentored colleagues as she had been mentored and was a role model for fellow working mothers. “I watched her over and over again get up at 5 p.m. and walk out of the newsroom to get her son when he was young,” Rosenberg said. “Never mind what any of the boys in the room thought.”
Virginia Ann Smith was born Oct. 26, 1950. She graduated from the old Eden Hall high school in Philadelphia and earned a bachelor’s degree in English at Manhattanville University in New York in 1972. In 1981, she earned a master of legal studies degree at Yale University Law School through a Ford Foundation fellowship for journalists.
She married Alan Wiegand, and they had a son, Josh, and lived in East Falls. After a divorce, she married Randy Smith in 1985. He died in 2020, and she moved to Cathedral Village Retirement Community a few years ago.
Ms. Smith was a great cook, friends said. They said she was funny, stubborn, and opinionated. She was so into gardens, her son said, that she visited him in Colorado specifically to renovate his garden.
Ms. Smith poses with her husband, Randy, and her two granddaughters.
She listened to classical music and danced at blues festivals. Everyone said she made them feel as if she was their best friend.
“She was one of the most genuine people I’ve ever known,” said friend and former colleague Mari Schaefer. Friend and former colleague Mary Flannery said: “She was so creative and so brave.”
Her son said: “She was the best. I don’t know how she did it. She wanted to do it all, and she did.”
In addition to her son and her former husband, Ms. Smith is survived by two granddaughters, two brothers, and other relatives.
A celebration of her life is to be held later.
Donations in her name may be made to the Schuylkill Center, 8480 Hagys Mill Rd., Philadelphia, Pa. 19128.
Ms. Smith tends to her garden’s black-eyed Susans in this photo.
Sure, you could pick up hot dogs, falafel, or shawarma from a street vendor while watching the Philadelphia Marathon. But here are 10 options for a family-friendly sit-down experience.
Menu style: Greek street-food café with gyros, souvlaki, salads, loukoumades, pita platters.
Kid-friendly notes: Counter-service; quick and easy food; typically calm; just off the Parkway near the start/finish corrals; there’s also a Center City location with counter service at 120 S. 15th St.
Kid-friendly notes: Pizza is an easy win; quick service; plenty of room inside the dining rooms; outside along the Parkway for stroller parking and snacking while watching runners.
📍 1701 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, 📞 215-801-5198
Pedestrians fill the 12th Street sidewalk outside Reading Terminal Market.
Menu style: American comfort food, featuring burgers, chicken fingers, mac & cheese, salads, brunch dishes.
Kid-friendly notes: One of the most reliably family-friendly restaurants in the city, with a kids’ menu; plenty of room for strollers; drinks for adults; outdoor seating when weather allows.
Menu style: Food hall with an interesting mix of Peruvian, Mexican, Southeast Asian, and Indian food, sandwiches, burgers, salads, coffee, pastries, and a Federal Donuts location.
Kid-friendly notes: High-ceilinged, spacious, good bathrooms; fast service — extremely easy for families and large groups; steps from the Walnut Street bridge spectator zone and across from 30th Street Station. There’s a bar, too.
📍 3025 Market St. (Bulletin Building at Drexel), Philadelphia
Menu style: Neapolitan-style pizza, pastas, shareable antipasti, wood-fired dishes.
Kid-friendly notes: Pizza and pasta are always kid wins; roomy layout; easy access relative to Center City; its East Falls location is right next to the Kelly/Ridge spectator stretch.
Menu style: Pizzas, salads, sandwiches; upstairs bistro has more plated entrées.
Kid-friendly notes: One of the most kid-friendly restaurants in Manayunk — booster seats and high chairs; pizza by the slice; lots of families on weekends; right on the marathon’s Manayunk out-and-back.
📍 102 Rector St., Philadelphia, 📞 215-483-2233
The Landing Kitchen is an all-day cafe at the riverside redevelopment of the Pencoyd Ironworks.
Kid-friendly notes: Huge outdoor space in Bala Cynwyd overlooking the river (across from Manayunk); very stroller-friendly; plenty of room for kids to move around; great for families who want a calmer scene than Main Street.
