Running a retail or restaurant business in Philadelphia isn’t easy.
But some local programs can provide much-needed cash for specific purposes like equipment purchases, store improvements, and security.
Here are four to consider.
The Storefront Development Program
Operated by the Philadelphia Department of Commerce, the Storefront Development Program provides as much as $15,000 in matching funds to upgrade and beautify your storefront, including masonry and brick pointing, exterior painting, new windows or doors, facade lighting, signage and awnings, see-through security grills, cornices, and similar enhancements. Only businesses in certain commercial corridors are eligible and projects must be planned and approved in advance.
Justin Coleman, owner of Bake’n Bacon in South Philadelphia, used the program to replace deteriorating windows, update doors, and repaint his storefront’s exterior.
“The program helped us cover half the expenses for our 11-foot windows, which was a tremendous assistance,” he said. ”The new paint made a significant difference, and the upgrades to the exterior of my business improved visibility and curb appeal.”
InStore Forgivable Loan Program
Also administered by the city’s Department of Commerce, the InStore Forgivable Loan Program offers forgivable loans of up to $100,000, which are interest-free for the first five years. They can be used for interior build-outs, equipment purchases, and other improvements.
Forgiveness is given if the business is open and operating at the same location for the full five-year term. Like the Storefront Development Program, only businesses located in certain areas of the city are eligible.
Business Security Camera Program
The city’s Department of Commerce also provides up to $3,000 in matching funds for businesses and property owners that install exterior security cameras through the Business Security Camera Program.
Companies that participate must register their cameras with the Philadelphia Police Department’s SafeCam system, so police can request access to footage when needed. Participants must either own the property or have permission from the landlord and can only use contractors approved by the city. The application process also requires photos and cost estimates.
“I wanted to have as many exterior security cameras around my storefront, as there can be a lot going on out there,” said James Singleton, owner of men’s clothing store Smooth Like That in Olney. “These cameras are good for the commercial area, making everyone feel safer.”
Stabilization grants
The Merchants Fund was founded in 1854 in Philadelphia to initially support retired merchants with pensions. But today the fund aids active small businesses with financial needs.
The fund offers stabilization grants, which are intended to help stabilize a business when it can identify a specific issue or challenge that it doesn’t have the financial means to address, said Jill Fink, the fund’s executive director.
“Often these are capital expenses — equipment, repairs, or improvements — that have a real shelf life, and small businesses simply don’t have the thousands of dollars needed to replace them,” she said. “Our goal is to make an investment that actually fixes something so that the business can keep operating, serve its neighborhood, and in some cases create a new revenue stream.”
The fund provides one-time grants of up to $10,000 to eligible Philadelphia-based small businesses. They must be independently owned; have a physical storefront, food truck, or kiosk; have been in business for at least two years; and demonstrate financial need, with annual revenue between $50,000 and $750,000. Professional services firms, nonprofits, and real estate, childcare, and eldercare businesses are not eligible.
At the Link Studios in Old City, which sells hair and beauty products and services, the fund helped owner Carla Clarkson turn an unused space into something functional. She used the grant to buy shelving, storage, air purifiers, heating and air, and paint. She was also able to access coaching and mentorship from other business owners.
“The networking alone was incredibly valuable,” Clarkson said. “I met other entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders, and that directly led to new opportunities for my business.”
Fink, a former business owner, stresses the additional resources that her fund provides beyond just grants.
“We work to try and find ways to connect businesses with each other because being a small-business owner can be a very lonely place,” she said. “There’s lots of times in their business they might have friends or family that don’t necessarily understand the stress and pressure that a small business is under.”
When machines at the NV Optical store in West Philadelphia went down, owner Tiffany Easley said, the business couldn’t afford the necessary repairs, and the Merchants Fund was an enormous help.
“It was less than 30 days from application to repair. The timing lined up perfectly and made a huge difference for our business,” she said. “They don’t just give you money. They understand small business struggles and connect you to resources that are vital to long-term growth.”
The Merchant Fund’s next enrollment period opens March 15.
Whether you’re pursuing a City of Philadelphia program or a stabilization grant from the Merchants Fund, your business is expected to be licensed, registered, and have all necessary permits from the city and state. And it must be current on both federal and local taxes or enrolled in an approved payment program.
Next month, the Old City establishment will also roll out a “lighter portions, lighter prices” section of its regular menu.
This is all to keep up with the evolving preferences of Philly-area diners, said Barry Gutin, cofounder of Cuba Libre.
“We said, ‘We should put something on the menu for all sorts of people watching their diet and their money,’” said Gutin, whose staff has noticed GLP-1 users and nonusers alike requesting these options more over the past year. This trend has also been seen at Cuba Libre restaurants in Atlantic City, Washington, and Orlando, as well as at its Paladar Latin Kitchen and Bomba Tacos locations in the Philadelphia suburbs.
For customers, an added perk is that they pay less for these smaller-portioned menu items, Gutin added. He said diners have become more focused on value amid broader financial uncertainty.
“The economy dictates that we have a diversity in pricing that meets more people’s needs,” Gutin said. “You think about the way people look at menus online. They’re scanning through prices as well.”
The dining room at Cuba Libre in Philadelphia. A cofounder says staff has noticed GLP-1 users and nonusers alike requesting smaller-portioned, less expensive options more over the past year.
In August, more than a third of U.S. diners said they were dining out less frequently than they did a year ago, according to a survey from YouGov. Of the less-frequent diners, 69% said they were eating out less in part because of the perceived cost of restaurant meals, the survey found.
Lower-income consumers were most likely to have cut back on dining out, according to the survey, while middle- and higher-income folks hadn’t changed their habits substantially.
This jibes with what executives at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia are hearing, too.
“Even individuals with discretionary income to spend are being careful,” Anna Paulson, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, said Wednesday. “For example, although people are still eating out in Philadelphia, contacts tell us that less expensive options on the menu are becoming more popular.”
“The only exception to this trend is at more upscale restaurants,” Paulson added. “High-income households, bolstered by a strong stock market, appear to be driving elevated consumption growth.”
The Ropa Vieja meal from the GLP-Wonderful menu at Cuba Libre as shown on Jan. 14.
Alcohol use among adults has plummeted, with just 54% of respondents saying they drink in a July Gallup survey. That’s the lowest percentage in at least 90 years. It likely drops even lower this month as some people abstain from alcohol as part of the Dry January trend.
All of these trends are on display at Philly-area bars and restaurants. And owners are trying to keep up.
“We’re definitely at a time of dramatic shift in people’s preferences and tastes,” said Avram Hornik, owner of FCM Hospitality, which runs about a dozen venues in the region. They include Morgan’s Pier, Harper’s Garden, Craft Hall, and Concourse Dance Bar, as well as seasonal cocktail and beer gardens such as the traveling Parks on Tap.
“I don’t think people are spending less or going out less,” Hornik said, “but I just think they are doing it differently.”
Customers dine at Liberty Point, one of Avram Hornik’s restaurants, in 2023.
At Hornik’s restaurants, overall sales have been consistent year over year, he said. Some customers are looking for smaller portions, he said, and late-night business has dropped precipitously. But group dining and special events have made up for losses in other areas, he said.
When customers decide an outing is worthwhile, Hornik said, they generally aren’t sparing expenses.
People are “looking for more of an experience when they go out to eat,” Hornik said. “It’s really about value: Am I getting a good value for the money that I’m spending?”
To retain customers, Hornik said his restaurants are leaning into weekly specials, such as $1 tacos at Rosy’s, and happy-hour deals.
At Cuba Libre, Gutin said he sees the GLP-1 menu, as well as the forthcoming lighter-portions menu, as a way to make his restaurants as appealing as possible for all diners.
At each location, only about a dozen people request the GLP-1 menu each week, he said. But if a group is considering dining at Cuba Libre and one person is on a GLP-1, the special menu could make or break their decision. He said it could keep the GLP-1 user from exercising their “veto vote,” sending the entire group to dine elsewhere.
Dining trends differ by location
In the Philadelphia suburbs, restaurateurs said dining trends vary depending on location and type of restaurant.
The dining room at Joey Chops, the Malvern steakhouse that Stove & Co. restaurants co-owner Joe Monnich said has been least impacted financially by changing consumer habits.
Joe Monnich, co-owner of Stove & Co. restaurant group, said food sales are up at his higher-end restaurants, including Joey Chops steakhouse in Malvern. But farther from the Main Line, in more “blue-collar” Lansdale, he said, Stove & Tap’s business is less steady of late.
There, “I feel more economic up and downs,” Monnich said. He felt similarly about his Al Pastor restaurant in Havertown, which is now closed after a local buyer came in last month and offered Monnich cash on the spot for the building.
At his more casual concepts all over the region, people are spending less on average, he said, and about the same at the higher-end spots. Recently, he added, staff have noticed diners being more mindful of how much they’re consuming.
“People aren’t getting that second drink,” Monnich said. “People aren’t getting dessert. People aren’t getting that appetizer.”
Changing drinking habits have hurt alcohol sales, too, Monnich said. In recent years, many customers have turned away from local microbrews and gravitated toward canned cocktails and “macro beers” like Michelob Ultra and Miller Lite.
“Three years ago I barely sold Michelob Ultra and right now it’s one of my top sellers,” Monnich said. As are canned cocktails. “Surfsides are expensive, and I don’t make a lot of money off them.”
Stove & Co. executives have talked about creating special menus catering to these evolving consumer preferences, Monnich said, but he gets anxious about making portions smaller. So for now, he too is leaning into happy-hour deals and other value-focused items.
“I try not to be too focused on trends because trends come and go,” Monnich said. “I do see the current trend, these weight-loss drugs, I don’t see that going anywhere … [and] people are going to be drinking less-octane alcohol.”
Staff writer Ariana Perez-Castells contributed to this article.
Colonial Philadelphia — a community of wooden dwellings and businesses along the Delaware River back in the 1700s — was under constant threat of burning to the ground. Fires could and did start from the haphazard fling of a cigarette, or burning the soot out of chimneys, or sometimes the accidental drop of a lantern.
By 1730, the city had just one fire engine — a steam-powered box car — and dozens of buckets for carrying water to extinguish flames. When a fire that year on Fishbourne Wharf nearly destroyed the city, causing 5,000 pounds in property damage, Ben Franklin took notice.
The incident prompted him to advocate for fire prevention in his newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette, coining the still-used fire safety mantra, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
On Dec. 7, 1736, Franklin and 24 other prominent Philadelphians established the Union Fire Company.
The formation of the Union Fire Company will be remembered Saturday at the Firstival to be held at Fireman’s Hall Museum. Firstivals are the Philadelphia Historic District’s weekly day parties celebrating historic events that happened in Philadelphia before anywhere else in America, and often the world. They are part of a yearlong celebration of America’s 250th birthday.
Artist Jenn Procacci’s sculpture incorporates maps of 1700s Philadelphia highlighting routes volunteer firefighters would take to extinguish blazes.
The Union Fire Company, also called the Bucket Brigade, was modeled after mutual aid firefighting organizations in Boston. In its early years, the company only helped its members put out fires in their homes or properties.
In 1742, the members voted to help any Philadelphian whose home or property was ablaze.The fact that they helped all Philadelphians, not just members, made the company America’s first volunteer fire department.
Within the decade, Philadelphia had eight volunteer fire companies.
These early volunteer fire companies were elite organizations that capped their memberships at about 30, explained Carol Smith, curator and archivist at Fireman’s Hall Museum. Members provided their own equipment: buckets for carrying water to put out fires and bags to salvage items from being destroyed. Companies had several meetings a year and members were fined for absence or tardiness.
As the home of the country’s first volunteer firefighting outfit, Philadelphia was progressive when it came to fighting fires — they were among the first companies in the country to experiment with innovative hoses. The city also was unique in establishing ways to support Philadelphia residents impacted by fire.
Philadelphia’s early network of volunteer firefighters stopped major fires, like the 1794 burning of Zion Lutheran Church, and prevented extensive fire damage to the city.
“A lot of it was because of the advances in firefighting technology like updated hoses,” Smith said. “Our volunteer fire departments were very proactive.”
Today’s fire houses are descendants of Ben Franklin’s Union Fire Company.
The Union Fire Company housed its equipment on Old City’s Grindstone Alley and was active through the early 1800s, disbanding in 1843. Its remaining members joined the Vigilant Engine Company, that, in 1871 became Engine 8, one of the city’s first municipal fire stations.
The Mediterranean-style stucco home in Montgomery County was ringed by maple and oak trees. A tri-level deck with a hot tub and covered porch faced a sylvan pond on an adjacent property.
Inside, the house had oak flooring, Amish-crafted red oak kitchen cabinets, two fireplaces, and a family room with a beamed cathedral ceiling.
The almost 5,000-square-foot home Casey Lyons and her husband, James, purchased in 2021 also had a basement with a sauna, gym, full bath, and a great room opening out into a patio where their two young sons could play.
On the second floor were four bedrooms and three baths and abundant closets fitted with drawers and shelving. Previous owners had installed a sophisticated sound system to play music.
The 1988 structure was dated, though. The kitchen had “peachy” squares of tile for a backsplash, Casey said. The 1½-acre property was attractively landscaped, but the outdoor decks were stained a worn rust color.
The home has a three-level deck in the backyard. It was painted green to play off the surrounding trees.
To give the first-floor living spaces a contemporary look, Casey reached out to interior designer Val Nehez through a mutual friend. Nehez remembers, “Casey asked me, ‘Can you make me love this house?’”
Nehez, owner of Studio IQL, and her senior designer, Ulli Barankay, were up to the challenge.
In the kitchen they kept most of the cabinetry but replaced one wall with white subway tile and open shelves. They installed a white marble island, new globe light fixtures, and curved black faucets. Mustard-colored chairs surround a white table.
“We turned a Lancaster County country kitchen … into a Southern California kitchen,” Nehez said.
With two active boys and a chocolate lab, Casey has to clean the chairs once a month. Still, she said, “I love the color.”
The renovated kitchen features white subway tiles and a marble island.Lyons loves the mustard color of the chairs in her kitchen.
In the center hall, red oak entry doors, adjacent closet doors, and the staircase were painted dark green to match the slate floor.
The dining room decor was inspired by a large abstract painting of white swirls on a green background from James’ family’s art collection. The walls are hunter green, and the “Flock of Light” curved metal chandelier from Design Within Reach complements the swirls in the painting.
Nehez found upholstered chairs for the walnut table, which Casey had custom-made by John Duffy, owner of Stable Tables in Flourtown.
For the formal dining room, Lyons chose a large abstract painting from her husband’s family collection and a “Flock of Light” chandelier.
The dining room’s vintage apothecary cabinet and heavily carved buffet had been in her previous home.
A copper plate and new mantle were added to the living room fireplace to make it more distinctive. The stone fireplace in the family room was whitewashed to blend with the white walls and emphasize the height of the cathedral ceiling. Furnishings include a tan leather sofa in the family room and white chairs, and a green velvet sofa and floral-pattern rug in the living room.
The fireplace stone in the family room was whitewashed to accentuate the tall ceilings.A copper plate and mantel were added to the living room fireplace.
Outside, the decking was painted a moss green to blend with the surrounding foliage. The back wall of the covered porch was covered with glazed green tiles. The porch features a maroon-and-white-striped sectional and blue, beige, and purple lantern-shaped lights. “It’s a beautiful place to sit” and admire the pond and the changing colors of the leaves in late autumn, Casey said.
Some furnishings came from Material Culture, an antique store in Germantown. Other items and lighting came from Minima, a contemporary lighting and furniture store in Old City. Nehez said items were selected to “reflect the owners’ taste.”
She and Barankay chose black porcelain fixtures for the powder room and wallpaper patterned with black and white zebras on a red background. In a happy coincidence, after the powder room remodeling was completed, the designers found a print of two zebras in the families’ art trove, which they hung in the hall nearby.
The view of the nearby pond from the deck outside Lyons’ home.Lyons’ dog, Joe, walks along the three-level deck.
As is their custom, with some exceptions such as the dining room painting, they waited until all the furnishings were in place to hang the art.
Finding the right piece to blend in, Nehez said, is “like finding the perfect pair of earrings after getting dressed.”
Since the remodeling Casey, her sons, and husband “have a space where we can cook, watch, television, and dance,” she said, in a home she now loves.
Is your house a Haven? Nominate your home by email (and send some digital photographs) at properties@inquirer.com.
You can’t turn around these days in Philly without someone telling you this is going to be a big year for the city, including me. You get it, things are happening, people are coming, but I bet you mostly just want to know how you can either join in on the parties or figure out how much they’re going to annoy you.
I usually try to temper my expectations — one, because I’ve learned a few things in 18 years here and two, because I like to be pleasantly surprised. But I’ve recently found myself imagining what the big moments will be like: the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament in March; the PGA Championship in May; the FIFA World Cup and MLB-All Star games this summer; and the yearlong celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Antoine Watts, back left, and Michael Clement, front center, participate in the Red, White, and Blue To-Do Pomp & Parade at Independence Hall in 2024.
I have big hopes and some worries for Philadelphia, just like I do for everything I love.
And while the stuff above is a lot, it’s not everything going on here this year, not even close. So if you’re seeking alternatives to the big to-dos, looking to keep your calendar full all year long, or just hoping to run into Mark Ruffalo, here are 14 more Philly happenings to look forward to this year.
(Dates are subject to change. Check related websites for updates.)
Jan. 30: Philly is Unrivaled
The first big event features incredible athletes you won’t see in any of the major sporting events I mentioned above: women.
Unrivaled, a three-on-three format women’s basketball league, is holding a doubleheader at Xfinity Mobile Arena to kick off its first tour later this month.
Rose BC guard Chelsea Gray (12) drives past Lunar Owls wing Rebecca Allen (9) in their Unrivaled 3-on-3 basketball game Jan. 5 in Medley, Fla.
The games will undoubtedly hype up fans for when Philly gets its own WNBA expansion team in 2030 and prove to any doubters that Philly is a women’s sports town (we even have a shirt that says it).
The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in northern Italy will feature a host of local athletes and at least one famous Philly podcaster. Watching it also doesn’t require you to leave your house, so win-win.
Four Philadelphia Flyers will be playing Olympic hockey: Travis Sanheim for Canada, Rasmus Ristolainen for Finland, Dan Vladar will represent Czechia, and Rodrigo Abols will take the ice for Latvia.
People take photos in front of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics and Paralympics rings, in Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy.
Other local athletes will undoubtedly qualify, but I don’t have a full list yet so don’t email me asking why I didn’t mention your cousin-in-law on the U.S. Curling Team.
Kylie Kelce will also serve as a digital content creator for NBCUniversal’s Creator Collective and she’ll have on-the-ground access to the games to produce social media content.
Go Birds. Go Team U.S.A.
Feb. 14: ‘Universal Theme Parks: The Exhibition’
How much fun can learning about theme parks be without the roller coaster rides, immersive lands, or concession stands? Philly will find out next month when the Franklin Institute premieres: “Universal Theme Parks: The Exhibition.”
An artists’ conceptual rendering of the Franklin Institute’s “Universal Theme Parks: The Exhibition,” which is slated to open Feb. 14.
The new exhibit spans eight galleries and tracks the history and world-building of Universal’s theme parks. It was created by the team at the Franklin, who hope it will introduce young visitors to science and tech careers in the theme park industry.
I’m hoping there’s a section about whatever alien incantation protects the E.T. Adventure ride, which opened in 1990 and is the last remaining original ride at Universal Studios Florida. The high-tech stuff is awesome, but there’s nothing that beats the nostalgia of that flying bicycle ride and the flashlight-fingered alien.
March 14: Ministry of Awe opens
The more I hear about the Ministry of Awe the less I understand it, and the more intrigued I become.
The permanent, six-story immersive art experience helmed by Philly muralist Meg Saligman inside of Manufacturers National Bank in Old City “transforms an abandoned 19th-century bank into a fantastical, seemingly impossible institution that trades in the many enigmatic facets of humanity,” according to its website.
Guests will be encouraged to question what they value and to wander the multimedia art space, which will lean into a banking theme and includes a room for counterfeiting. Actors will be on hand to enliven their experiences.
Muralist Meg Saligman inside of the still-under-construction Ministry of Awe in November. Opening date is March 14.
“There’s a teller that smells you. You will walk through and be delighted and surprised along the way,” Saligman told The Inquirer.
The Ministry of Awe says we all already have accounts open there and one thing is for certain, my interest rate is sky-high.
April 14 — May 31: ‘1776 The Musical’
There are not many musicals set in Philadelphia and the one thing you can say about 1776 is that it’s one of them.
The production about the events that led to the signing of the Declaration of Independence never became a juggernaut like Hamilton and didn’t produce any smash songs. But after rewatching the film version last Independence Day, I can safely say it’s still a pretty good musical. Especially if you hate John Adams, or love watching people hate on him.
While it would have been epic if this production could have been staged at Independence Hall this year, seeing it at the Walnut Street Theatre — the country’s oldest theater, which opened just 32 years after 1776 — is a close second.
April 16: Cruise ships begin sailing out of Philly
For the first time in nearly two decades, cruise ships will return to the region this spring, offering locals a chance to seas the day with an aquatic trip abroad.
Construction of the Port of Philadelphia (PhilaPort) Cruise Terminal began last month in Tinicum Township, Delaware County, at a site adjacent to the Philadelphia International Airport that was formerly known as the Hog Island Dock Terminal Facility.
(How’s that for a local word salad — a Philly port in Delco at a dock named after the place that may have inspired the word hoagie.)
A conceptual rendering of the future PhilaPort Cruise Terminal, a 16-acre site adjacent to Philadelphia International Airport.
Norwegian Cruise Lines has exclusive rights to sail out of the PhilaPort Cruise Terminal through March 2033. According to its website, the first voyage will be a seven-day round-trip to Bermuda.
Fear not the Bermuda Triangle, my fair Philadelphians, for we’ve weathered far stranger things here following Super Bowl wins, and on an average Tuesday.
April 18: Monster Jam at the Linc
If you think the Birds are beasts on their home turf, buckle up, because 12,000-pound trucks are coming to Lincoln Financial Field this spring as part of Monster Jam’s Stadium Championship Series.
Foam teeth line the front of the Megalodon monster truck at Monster Jam at Lincoln Financial Field in 2023.
When I hear Monster Jam my first thought is “It’s probably boysenberry,” or “I wonder if it’s as fun as a mash?” but if you have little ones who love things that go vroom — or you do — this auto be wheelie good time.
May: The Greyhound station reopens
Slated to come back from the dead this spring like it was Kenny or Jon Snow will be Philly’s intercity bus terminal, formerly known as the Greyhound station.
The Philadelphia Parking Authority will operate the terminal on behalf of the city, which has gone more than two years without a facility since Greyhound left the terminal at 10th and Filbert Streets in 2023 after 35 years.
Corner of the former Greyhound station at North 10th and Filbert Streets in 2018.
In the aftermath, buses used public street curbs to pick up travelers, who were forced to wait outdoors in the elements and had very little access to basic amenities, like bathrooms. The whole situation was bus-ted and I’ll be glad to see it fixed.
June 12: ‘Disclosure Day’ premieres
Filmed in parts of South Jersey last year and featuring Philly’s own Colman Domingo, Disclosure Day is an alien thriller from director Steven Spielberg that I can’t wait to get my tentacles on.
I love good sci-fi and this one has a screenplay by David Koepp, who also wrote the screenplay for Jurassic Park, one of my favorite movies of all time. The trailer for Disclosure Day is intriguing, unsettling, and reveals little about the plot, but I already find the movie authentic: If aliens were to land anywhere, South Jersey seems like a fitting place.
At the end of the trailer, a nun says “Why would He make a vast universe yet save it only for us?” which hearkens to a famous Carl Sagan quote:“The universe is a pretty big place. If it’s just us, seems like an awful waste of space.”
Aug. 30: Philadelphia Cycling Classic returns
If there’s one thing Philadelphians love doing, it’s partying while watching other people exercise and this year they’ll get to do it again at the Manayunk Wall when the Philadelphia Cycling Classic returns after a 10-year hiatus.
Held for 30 years before it was canceled in 2016 due to lack of sponsorship, the race follows a 14.4-mile course from Center City to Manayunk, where cyclists must climb the “Manayunk Wall,” a stretch of Levering Street with a 17% gradient.
Women cyclists pedal up Levering Street, aka the “Manayunk Wall,” during the Liberty Classic TD Bank International Championship race in 2011. The race is returning this year as the Philadelphia International Cycling Classic.
Back in the day, people partied like it was Two Street on New Year’s along the route in Manayunk, particularly at the Wall. As bikers cycled through the course, spectators cycled through kegs and cowbells, with some folks on Levering Street charging admission to their house parties and others hanging beer banner ads on their porches for a fee.
Also slated in 2026, but dates remain unknown:
A conceptual rendering of FloatLab, set to be installed at Bartram’s Garden on the Schuylkill in 2026.
Opening of Mural Arts’ FloatLab: Located in the Schuylkill at Bartram’s Garden, FloatLab is a 75-foot installation and environmental center that will be “a convergence of art, architecture, and nature,” according to its creator, J. Meejin Yoon. The sloped, ADA-compliant circular platform, which allows visitors to look eye-level at the river while standing in it, will serve as both an educational and artistic space.
Gimme my Philly money: To mark the nation’s 250th, the U.S. Mint is releasing quarters with Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell on them this year and I’m going to need some of those for my piggy bank. Just to be clear, this does not change the fact that I’m still salty at the Mint for stopping penny production. What will people put in their loafers? How will Penny from Pee-Wee’s Playhouse see? It’s just cents-less.
This new design for the quarter commemorates the U.S. Constitution and depicts Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution were signed. The other side of this quarter has a depiction of President James Madison.
Rumored in 2026, but in no way confirmed:
From left: Thuso Mbedu (Aleah Clinton), Fabien Frankel (Anthony Grasso), Alison Oliver (Lizzie Stover), and Mark Ruffalo (Tom Brandis) in “Task.”
Task season 2: The Delco-set HBO thriller starring Mark Ruffalo was renewed for a second season and I’m hoping they start filming around Philly’s weirdest suburb this year (though creator Brad Ingelsby may have to write the script first). While it’s unclear if Ruffalo will reprise his role as FBI agent Tom Brandis, one of my resolutions this year is to frequent more local hoagie shops in the hopes of running into him, but also because I love hoagies.
Stranger Things spinoff?: Philly was named-dropped in the finale of the beloved sci-fi show, which got fans hypothesizing that the home of one of the greatest urban legends of all time — the Philadelphia Experiment — might be the setting for one of the confirmed spinoffs. Or it could just be subliminal advertising for Netflix House Philadelphia (which is actually in King of Prussia). An Instagram post from the show and Netflix on Wednesday only fueled rumors, with its caption: “meet me in philly.”
Adam Cesare knew by the third date that if he and his future wife were going to end up together, he was going to have to start calling sub sandwiches hoagies. “She’s a Philly lifer,” the New York-born, USA Today best-selling author said. Sure enough, after graduating from college in Boston, the couple relocated to Philadelphia, where Cesare threw himself into the city’s film and literary scenes. “I took to Philly like a fish to water,” Cesare said. That was 15 years ago.
Fast forward to today, and the former high school English teacher is an acclaimed local author with more than a dozen horror novels under his belt, including the popular Clown in a Cornfield series, the first of which was adapted for the big screen and released in theaters this past summer. Now, Cesare is gearing up to release Clown in a Cornfield 4: Lights! Camera! Frendo!
When he’s not busy editing his manuscript, Cesare still loves to explore Philly’s extensive film and lit scenes, roaming through used bookstores or catching a flick at PhilaMOCA.
Here’s how Adam Cesare would spend a perfect day in Philadelphia.
9 a.m.
First, I would make sure it’s not a Sunday because I want to go to Beiler’s Doughnuts in Reading Terminal, and it’s closed on Sundays.
11 a.m.
After Beiler’s, I’d pop over to Old City to go to The Book Trader. I could name-drop all the current new bookstores, but there’s something about used bookstores that I really like. I’d swing by the comics shop, Brave New Worlds, because it’s right next door, then I’d head to Mostly Books on Bainbridge. I love that place. It’s great because they have a pretty decent VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray selection too, so I’ll get a few movies.
I might also pop into the Philly AIDS Thrift. It’s fun to walk around. They have a good book section. It’s mostly general fiction. I like their physical media section too. You can get the DVD or VHS of every television series that’s been kicked off Netflix.
1 p.m.
For lunch, I’m definitely going to Monster Vegan. It is what it sounds like. It is a really good vegan restaurant themed on monsters. They play clips from Count Yorga and stuff on the walls. They do events, too. I once saw Lloyd Kaufman present Class of Nuke ‘Em High.
3 p.m.
After lunch, I might drive over to Manayunk to check out Thrillerdelphia. It’s a new bookstore that exclusively sells horror and thrillers. They just opened two months ago, and I did one of their first events. They’re really nice people, and they have a great selection.
5 p.m.
It’s time to beam back down to South Street for dinner and a movie. On a perfect day, I’m going to Royal Izakaya, a Japanese restaurant I like to go to on my birthday. Since money is no object on my perfect day, I’ll order the omakase. Let the chef decide.
7 p.m.
There are so many good places to see a movie in Philly. There’s the Philadelphia Film Society. There’s also PhilaMOCA. It’s probably my favorite place to go. They work closely with Exhumed Films, which is a group of film fans who screen 35mm and 16mm films from their private collection in local theaters. They do a lot of work with The Colonial in Phoenixville as well.
The last time I went to PhilaMOCA, I saw Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and John Cameron Mitchell was there doing a live commentary, which was sick. They do really cool stuff like that all the time.
The American colonies in the autumn of 1775, then under the thumb of King George III and his sprawling British Empire, were divided on the prospect of independence.
Revolutionary ideas start in refined quarters, but they must spread to the masses to surge into action.
And the 13 colonies were divided in threes: those who favored independence from English rule, those who opposed it, and those who wished to remain neutral.
And then the spark arrived as a pamphlet.
On Jan. 10, 1776, in a small publishing house at Third and Walnut Streets in present-day Old City, Englishman Thomas Paine published his 47-page document. It promoted the cause of American independence, and stoked the fires of revolution.
This pamphlet, titled “Common Sense,” was first printed anonymously.
But the colonists knew who wrote it.
An original English printing of “Common Sense,” the pamphlet written by Thomas Paine, combined with a rebuke entitled “Plain Truth” by James Chalmers, a British Loyalist officer. The two pamphlets were reprinted together in a book in London in 1776.
Paine was a self-educated rabble-rouser who had found little success making corsets or collecting taxes.
And who, upon meeting Benjamin Franklin after giving a speech in London,opted to join the upstart colonists and move to America in 1774.
After following Franklin to Philadelphia, he followed him into journalism, writing and editing for Pennsylvania Magazine.
It’s where he displayed a knack for speaking to the common people through essays denouncing slavery, promoting women’s rights, and dumping on English rule.
And again he took from Franklin, turning his pamphlet into a lightning rod.
In it he laid out his arguments in plain language.
An island, he argued, should not rule a continent.
“Every thing that is right or natural pleads for separation,” he wrote.
More than 500,000 copies circulated the colonies, convincing the commoners, the people who would actually take up arms against the Royal military,to support a war against Great Britain.
Despite his outsized role in lighting the fires of rebellion, Paine’s services would go unrecognized for a generation.
Hetemporarily returned to Europe after the war, and his later denouncing of Christianity did him no favors on either side of the Atlantic. He died in poverty in New York in 1809 at age 72.
It wouldn’t be until the mid-1970s for historians to recognize the enduring power of Paine’s pamphlet, which now holds a place of honor a step below Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence.
The new pedestrian bridge extension coming to Society Hill and Queen Village, which will better connect the neighborhoods to the Delaware River waterfront, is reaching a milestone.
The South Street Pedestrian Bridge expansion will extendthe existing redbrick footbridge constructed in the mid-1990s with a longer and more distinctive suspended archway bridge, as part of the long-planned I-95 capping project. Construction begins this spring, but the bridge will not be open to the public until 2027, a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokesperson said.
A rendering of the South Street Pedestrian Bridge extension that will better connect South Street to the Delaware River waterfront. Construction will begin in Spring 2026 and go through 2027, when the bridge will open to pedestrians and cyclists.
The 250-foot-long bridge will allow pedestrians to cross over Columbus Boulevard and I-95 with entrances at South Street and Lombard Circle that have more accessible walkways for people with disabilities. Pedestrian access to the waterfront is crucial for people on South Street visiting attractions like Penn’s Landing, Cherry Street Pier, and Spruce Street Harbor Park.
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Construction will use an installation method in which the archways are built at a nearby location and then rolled into place, instead of being built on-site.
“The contractor was able to eliminate long-term lane closures and full closures on Columbus Boulevard,” PennDot spokesperson Brad Rudolph said. “While this method is fairly common, it is the first time PennDot has performed it in [Southeastern Pennsylvania] with this type of pedestrian structure.”
An aerial view of the construction site where the South Street Pedestrian Bridge extension will take place. A rendering of the archways in a nearby parking lot show where the bridge structure will be assembled and then later rolled into place where a red line marks its installation site. Construction begins in Spring 2026, with the bridge open to the public in 2027.
The bridge structure will be assembled for about two months in a parking lot near the installation site this spring. The new structure will then be rolled into place by mid-2026, according to PennDot. Additional work, including pouring the bridge deck, will take an additional year, with the span expected to open to pedestrians and cyclists in 2027.
Sitting 258 feet long and 100 feet from the ground to its highest arch, the footbridge will feature 14-foot-wide walkways with lit archways and handrail lighting. The entrance at Lombard Circle will have a spiraling ramp to allow for cyclists to stay on their bikes and to provide easier wheelchair and mobility access.
A rendering of the mass timber building planned for the Penn’s Landing park.
The pedestrian bridge is only a small part of PennDot’s $329 million project to build a cap over I-95 at Penn’s Landing, which will house a 12-acre Penn’s Landing Park with green spaces, playgrounds, and an amphitheater. Construction on the cap is nearly 30% complete as of this month.
Nearby, Old City is getting a revamp of Market Street, where the road will be shrunk and more pedestrian thoroughfares will be added, with the new Tamanend Square plaza at Second and Market Streets to serve as the centerpiece.
The buyers: Casie Girvin, 30, performer and voice teacher; Steve Crino, 32, musician
The house: A 984-square-foot rowhouse in Point Breeze with three bedrooms and one bath, built in 1923.
The price: Listed and purchased for $305,000
The agent: Benjamin Camp, Elfant Wissahickon
The ask: For Casey Girvin and Steve Crino, the home-buying journey began long before they opened Zillow. “We always knew that we wanted to be homeowners,” said Girvin. “It’s something we were saving for a long time.”
Both musicians, they spent years learning what did and did not work for their lifestyles. They started in a one-bedroom, which didn’t work because their practice sessions often overlapped, creating a cacophony of noise. Eventually, they moved into a bi-level apartment where they had room to work.
That experience shaped their home-buying wish list. That meant they needed at least three bedrooms — one for sleeping and two for music studios — and a layout that let two musicians practice without driving each other mad. “We needed it to be either like a bi-level space, or we needed a buffer room between the two of us,” Girvin said.
They also wanted a backyard. “We learned during COVID that having an outdoor space was really important to us,” she added. So was being close to the Broad Street SEPTA line. Fixer-uppers were a nonstarter.
Upon entering the house, the couple immediately fell in love with the staircase, especially its architectural detailing.
The search: The couple intentionally waited until winter to search, hoping for lower prices. They saw 21 houses in Point Breeze and liked a lot of what they saw, but tried to be ruthless when it came to making an offer. “That was a very informative part of the process, Crino said, “because when you’re contemplating actually putting an offer down, your preferences emerge.”
They ended up making only one other offer on a house they nicknamed “the Grandma house” because of its funky carpeting and wallpaper. The seller verbally accepted it but eventually pulled it from the market.
“Ultimately, we’re happy with what happened,” said Girvin.
Girvin and Crino love all the natural light pouring through the living room windows.
The appeal: Girvin had a good feeling about the house when she saw it online. “I was like, ‘Wow, that looks exactly like where we want to be, at a price point that was quite exciting,’” she said. Even better, it had central air, beautiful hardwood floors, and matched the couple’s aesthetic. But the couple panicked when they saw an open house the next day. They called their agent and secured a same-day viewing.
Inside, the house aligned almost perfectly with what they had been searching for. What they weren’t expecting, though, were interesting artistic details, like the sunflower etched into the banister and the mural in the backyard. They loved the staircase, the amount of natural light pouring through the living room windows, and the view from their bedroom window of a church they admired. “The house is on a nice, little, cute side street,” Cirsi said. And crucially: “It’s so close to the subway.”
The second floorsealed the deal. The layout was perfect: a bathroom between the two smaller bedrooms. A built-in sound buffer for their future studios. “Most Philly rowhomes, you go up the stairs, it’s like a bathroom right at the top, and then the three bedrooms in a row,” Girvin explained. “But this one has bedroom, bathroom, bedroom, bedroom. That was ultimately one of the main reasons we bought the house.”
Crino’s studio is separated from Girvin’s by a bathroom, allowing the couple to practice music at the same time without disrupting each other.
The deal: The couple made an offer that evening. They offered the listing price — $305,000. “We felt that the house was worth what it was asking,” Girvin said. The sellers accepted right away.
The inspection revealed two issues. First, the oven needed to be replaced. The sellers issued the couple a credit to buy a new one.
The bigger issue was the HVAC system. The breaker tripped during the inspection. “We watched it go boop,” Crino said. The fix required electrical work, and they insisted it be completed and certified before closing. “That was the right decision because it definitely was pricier than they thought it was going to be,” Crino said.
The money: Girvin and Crino had been saving for almost a decade. Every month, they set aside a portion of their earnings in a separate account. They also had money saved for a wedding that they decided to put toward their house instead. “At one point we thought about having a really big wedding,” Girvin said, “but we decided to do the whole micro wedding, DIY backyard thing.”
The small side street the couple lives on was no sweat for their movers, Old City Moving Co.
Between their life savings and the wedding savings, plus generous gifts from wedding guests, Girvin and Crino had “$80,000-ish” to spend. They put 20% down, which was $61,000, and spent the rest on closing costs, which were $27,000. “That was the $80K right there,” Girvin said. Their mortgage is a little less than $1,800, which is exactly what they had been paying in rent.
The move: The couple moved in mid-March, one month after they closed. “Moving was relatively painless,” Girvin said. “We hired Old City Moving Co., and they were really great.” They navigated getting a giant moving truck down a tiny side street like pros, backing in so that they could get out more easily.
Any reservations? None worth mentioning. The only thing they’d add is a second bathroom — another half bath someday, maybe in the basement. But that feels like a future luxury, not a present problem. “Most days we’re like, I love this house,” Girvin said.
Girvin and Crino purchased a new oven with help from a seller’s credit.
Life after close: Their first major purchase was a new oven. “When people come to the house, I’m like, ‘You know, we bought that oven,’” Crino said, laughing. Decorating has been slow and thoughtful. The most sentimental change is the three-teardrop lamp from Steve’s grandmother, now hanging from their ceiling — something they never would have installed in a rental. The backyard is next.
Tourists arriving in Philadelphia next year may find it easier and far more inviting to stroll through what is now a tucked-away stretch of Old City.
On Wednesday, the city launched construction on what officials call the Commerce Connector, a pedestrian path designed to guide visitors from the Independence Visitor Center to Carpenters Hall along a brick‑lined walkway adorned with seating and ornamental plantings, while bypassing a congested area.
The city has allocated $2.7 million toward the project.
The project is spearheaded by the nonprofit Independence Historical Trust in collaboration with the city; Old City Green, a neighborhood beautification group; and Old City District, a business support organization.
Bill Marrazzo, chair of Independence Historical Trust, called the connector “an important step forward.”
“The Commerce Connector enhances the visitor journey between some of Philadelphia’s most treasured sites while also improving everyday walkability for residents and workers,” he said in a statement.
A rendering of a new connector pathway planned in Old City.
The bigger picture
The connector is part of a larger effort by the city and nonprofits, led by Independence Historical Trust, to craft a broader vision for the city’s historical area. Some will be complete by the Semiquincentennial, and others might not.
That vision, which could take $100 million to implement, calls for more walkable and bike-friendly streets, new plazas, additional green spaces, and easier navigation to cultivate a sense of cohesiveness they say is lacking.
The Historical Philadelphia Vision Framework plan aims to create ways for people to “wayfind” easy-to-follow, less car-centric routes through Independence National Historical Park, Old City, and other historic or local neighborhoods.
The current redo of Market Street in Old City, now under construction, is part of that. It will include a new Tamanend Plaza at Second and Market Streets, and a “road diet” to accommodate bike lanes. Workers were busy Thursday putting down blocks for the new plaza.
Work is also underway by the National Park Service at the Declaration House at Seventh and Market Streets, where Thomas Jefferson stayed while he wrote the famed document, and at the Benjamin Franklin Museum off Chestnut Street, both part of Independence National Historical Park. Also, the 25,000-square-foot, Greek Revival-style First Bank of the United States is undergoing $27 million in work, timed to reopen as a new park attraction for the Semiquincentennial.
What’s the route?
The roughly 2,000-foot-long Commerce Street foot path will lead travelers from the edge of the visitor center’s lawn at Fifth Street, east across Market Street, and onto Commerce Street, now an unmarked alley that runs parallel to Market Street. From there, they will continue east before turning right onto another alley, which leads to Market Street.
A 2024 view of Commerce Street, an alley that starts on Fifth Street, midway between Arch and Market Streets. Commerce Street would become a way to connect Independence Visitor Center with Carpenters Hall under a plan led by Independence Historical Trust.
After crossing Market, they will cut through Franklin Court, cross Chestnut Street, and arrive at Carpenters Hall.
Once at the hall, visitors can branch out into the wider Independence National Historical Park and other notable areas.
Officials emphasize that the connector will deliver a mostly traffic‑free passage to Carpenters Hall in time for an anticipated surge in tourism tied to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Carpenters Hall was the site of the first Continental Congress in 1774.
A rendering of a new connector walking path being built in Old City.Commerce Connector pedestrian route through Old City.
Other enhancements
Officials say existing paving, benches, lighting, and plantings are all in poor condition.
The redesigned corridor will get new furnishings, better lighting for security, ornamental trees and bushes, and other enhancements to make it more inviting. It would include a “gathering area” and new entrances.
To slow traffic for pedestrians, a speed bump mid-block on Fifth Street would connect Independence Visitor Center and the alley. Another mid-block bump on Fourth Street would help pedestrians cross Market Street to Franklin Court.
Fourth Street would get a bike lane.
New signs would note area history.
The path would also help connect people to Christ Church Burial Ground, Commodore Uriah Phillips Levy Park, and the Faith and Liberty Discovery Center.
Construction is expected to be complete before July Fourth, ahead of the nation’s Semiquincentennial.
Carpenters Hall.
“The Commerce Connector reflects our commitment to making Old City safer and easier to navigate for everyone,” said City Councilmember Mark Squilla, who helped secure funding.
Job Itzkowitz, executive director of Old City District, said the connector “strengthens the backbone of Old City by transforming an underused passageway into a vibrant, welcoming public space” that will make it easier for residents and tourists to move between iconic city sites.
Old City Green launched the early planning efforts for the corridor and will continue to help maintain the path.
“By introducing new plantings, shade, and thoughtfully designed landscape elements, we’re creating a greener and more accessible environment for everyone who walks through this historic neighborhood,” said Joe Schiavo, vice president of Old City Green.
