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What's Happening in:  East Passyunk Crossing :  Passyunk Square 

Publisher’s Picks: East Passyunk Avenue Edition

By on January 13, 2019 0

Ten post-holiday treats – to give yourself!

On a cold, sunny January day, Passyunk Post publisher Joseph F. Marino and East Passyunk BID Executive Director Adam Leiter took a walk along East Passyunk Avenue to explore the shops now that the holiday rush has passed. “Having spent the past month buying gifts for family and friends, it’s the perfect time of year to buy a pick-me-up to speed along the gloomy winter days,” noted Marino.

Here are ten items that caught Marino’s eye, from the economical to the sublime, in no particular order.

1) This Wooden Wallet Card Holder, outfitted with an industrial strength band, is compact, strong, and holds your cards and cash securely. A perfect grab-and-run gift and an interesting alternative to a bulky wallet. Shoppers shouldn’t neglect the striking artisan watches for which their store is named, either. 

Analog Watch Company
1737 E. Passyunk Ave.
(484) 808-5831
Tuesday – Saturday 9am-5pm       

2) Beyond the sentiment, these Love and Home pillows make a bold statement in any room. They add a pop of color in contemporary and chic way. They’re also soft and comfortable – perfect when you’re settling down for a long (or short) winter’s nap.

Gypsy Rose
1514 East Passyunk Ave.
(267) 767-6475
Hours by appointment.

3) “Orange is my favorite color and these Zyl Frames by Philly Eyeworks jumped out at me as the sun set,” says Marino. “They can be filled as prescription eyeglasses or as sunwear.” Innervision also offers limited-edition cleaning cloths designed by Philadelphia artists. 

Innervision
1815 E Passyunk Ave.
(215) 575-5188
Monday – Saturday 10am-6pm

 

 

4) Paddywax Library Candles include different candle scents based on classic authors like Tolstoy and Dickens. The Oscar Wilde candle is cedar, thyme and basil. Perfect to light on cold winter nights as you pull a book off your shelf (or out of your electronic device). 

Occasionette
1825 E Passyunk Ave.
(215) 465-1704
Monday – Friday  11am-8pm;
Saturday 10am-8pm; Sunday 10am-6pm

 

 

5) Board and dice games, coupled with cocoa or coffee, are the perfect combination for snow-day fun! Tildie’s specializes in games that are educational, fun, and build community. Ticket to Ride is a favorite, as is the dice game Tenzi. 

Tildie’s Toy Box
1829 E Passyunk Ave.
(215) 334-9831
Monday – Saturday 10am-7pm; Sunday 10am-5pm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6) “I won’t buy anything that isn’t 100% cotton,” says Marino, “and this Cobalt Age of Wisdom Ready-to-Wear Cotton Quarter-Zip Sweater with leather accents fits my style and frame. Anything goes under it, and because it’s brown and blue it complements everything. The quality fabric won’t wear or fade prematurely.”

A Man’s Image
1841 E Passyunk Ave.
(215) 755-7100
9:30am daily. Check website for closing times.

 

 

 

7) Felt Creations based on the Little Mermaid or Noah’s ark are colorful, whimsical and a perfect way to accent a gray or otherwise dark bookshelf or settee with color. Sustainable, socially responsible and non-toxic. 

The Nesting House
1605 E Passyunk Ave.
(215) 755-1575
Monday – Saturday 10am-6pm; Sunday 10am-5pm

 

 

 

8) Grab-and-Go Bouquets will brighten up any home during the moribund days of January. Handcrafted bouquets of seasonal flowers are a reasonably-priced way to pick oneself up. These are a wonderful thing to give somebody else for any reason or no reason at all. Marino quips: “It’s like a non-edible tiramisu – that’s colloquial Italian for a pick-me-up.”

Creations by Coppola at Floral + Fauna
1724 E Passyunk Ave.
(215) 399-9754
Sunday – Thursday 10am-7pm;
Friday – Saturday 10am-9pm

 

9) This Shacket hides a multitude of holiday sins with a clean, linear look. A chic upturned collar gives a retro accent to a contemporary piece. It’s perfect for an early spring or late autumn day and wipes clean.

Metro Men’s Clothing
1600 E Passyunk Ave.
(267) 324-5172
Monday – Saturday 11:30am-8pm;
Sunday 11:30am-5pm.

 

 

 

 

10) The herbal Kosha Salt Scrub activates, stimulates and brings vitality to the skin, promotes healthy blood flow, and increases circulation. Rachel, the proprietor of Palo Santo, makes them herself. Not just for pre- and post-yoga replenishment – they’re unusual and perfect for someone who has everything. 

Palo Santo Wellness Boutique
1707 E Passyunk Ave.
(215) 952-0360
Open daily until 9pm

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Retail
What's Happening in:  Passyunk Square 

Ippolito’s Seafood: they’ve gone south for the winter

By on December 20, 2018

Need seven fishes? They’ve got that and much more at Ippolito’s wholesale cousin — Giuseppe’s Market at Samuels and Son

Every Christmas Eve, Lydia Sarson of Warnock Street maintains a family tradition. “I make fish stew from fresh red snapper while my husband makes clams. The stew is good. The clams are the best you’ll ever eat.” She buys locally whenever she can. “Ippolitos,” she says in a word.

Lydia Sarson makes her fish stew

Sarson’s story is like that of many families who live in South Philadelphia, but in July Ippolito’s Seafood – the venerable seafood purveyor at 13th and Dickinson – closed for renovations. Owners expected a late-2018 re-opening. When construction continued through the fall, customers and neighbors questioned the fate of the hundred-year-old family-owned business.

Bill Bradford, marketing and communications manager at Ippolito’s, reports the retailer is fine – it will return in 2019. In the meantime, customers who depend on Ippolito’s for their holiday table have an exceptional alternative in Giuseppe’s Market at Samuels and Son Seafood, 3400 S. Lawrence Street.

“Giuseppe’s has all the customer favorites from Ippolito’s, but on a bigger scale,” says Bradford. “And, we have a huge parking lot.”

Bill Bradford holds tube squid at Giuseppe’s Market. 

For those unfamiliar with the Philadelphia store, it began in 1919 when Giuseppe Ippolito started a pushcart seafood sales business with his father-in-law. By 1934, Ippolito was the sole proprietor. He replaced his pushcarts with horse-drawn wagons. In 1945, he opened Ippolito’s – a business that expanded through the ‘50s and ‘60s under the helm of his daughter and her son, Rose and Samuel D’Angelo. In 1989, the family opened Samuels and Son and entered the wholesale and commercial market. They now have 400 employees and handle 400 million pounds of seafood yearly. Continue Reading →

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What's Happening in:  East Passyunk Crossing :  Passyunk Square 

2018 East Passyunk Avenue Tree Lighting

By on November 19, 2018

On Thursday, November 29 from 5 to 7 p.m. the East Passyunk Avenue Business Improvement District (EPABID) and Passyunk Avenue Revitalization Corporation (PARC) will host the annual tree lighting party at the Singing Fountain, Tasker St. and East Passyunk Avenue. The event is free and families are welcome.
The celebration will include live music, carolers, holiday treats from Avenue businesses, shopping, and a visit from Santa Claus.

The 2017 tree at the Singing Fountain. Photo courtesy East Passyunk BID.

“We’re very excited to have CBS 3 joining to us to emcee the event once again,” said Adam Leiter, executive director of EPABID, “along with our neighborhood youth from Alphabet Academy and the Andrew Jackson School’s HOME Band to ring in the season with festive performances. Meteorologist Lauren Casey will collect unwrapped toys for the Toy Fest holiday toy drive sponsored by CBS 3 and CW Philly 57.”
After the party, revelers can strut down the Avenue with the Pennsport String Band for extended shopping hours as the Deck the Ave campaign kicks off with shopping, sales, and other festivities which will run through December.
“The tree lighting began in 2011 as a way to celebrate with the neighborhood in partnership with PARC, EPABID, East Passyunk Crossing Civic Association and Passyunk Square Civic Association,” said Leiter. “Originally it brought the neighborhood together around a decorated “tree” version of the Singing Fountain, though this will be the second year we will decorate a live tree at the fountain area.”
According to Bryan Fenstermaker, executive director of PARC, this year’s tree will be a 16-foot Frasier Fir born-and-raised in North Carolina. Urban Jungle at 1526 East Passyunk will deliver the tree on November 21. PARC hires John McClenny of Yes Dear! to install the lights and decorations in the days leading up to the event.
“The transition from the tree over the Singing Fountain to the stand-alone live tree has received positive feedback,” says Fenstermaker. “It’s a welcome change for our diligent cleaning crew. The old tree left lots of needles inside the fountain and caused the potential for drainage issues in the spring. It’s now much easier to keep the fountain clean during the holiday season.”
Fenstermaker says he’s gained experience in maintaining an outdoor tree in the past years. “At home you don’t have to tether ornaments to the tree, or keep dogs from using it as a bathroom post. In the wild it’s one thing, but we don’t want it to happen at this gathering spot.”
You can donate $10 to the CBS 3 and CW 57 Philly Toy Fest toy drive by texting JOY to 41444. EPABID and PARC would also like to thank their sponsor, Univest.

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Retail
What's Happening in:  Bella Vista :  Passyunk Square 

Doing their BID-ding

By on November 6, 2018

Community leaders are advocating for a business improvement district that would have the South 9th Street Italian Market as its hub.

By Joseph Myers

In 2016, a proposal to create a business improvement district (BID) for the South 9th Street Italian Market failed to acquire the mandatory two-thirds vote to move forward.  A renewed effort to establish the “South Philly Market Improvement District” has supportive community leaders hoping that sufficient advocacy will help advance a project eight years in the making. You can hear more about the plans at this evening’s Passyunk Square Civic Association general meeting.  

Passyunk Square Civic president Sarah Anton considers the market “a gem.” But, she stresses, “There’s still plenty of work to be done. The whole corridor…including areas just beyond it, deserve intensive attention.”

The proposed BID would stretch from Eighth to 10th streets and from Federal to Fitzwater streets. Parts of Washington Avenue and Christian Street would also be included. Under the plan, commercial properties in this area would pay an additional property assessment. BIDs receive taxing authority from the State and must garner approval from City Council. The proposed operating expenses for the service area total $281,636.

If approved, those revenues would help the BID tackle boarded-up and graffiti-covered spaces, fences, vacant storefronts, and old or damaged vendor stands. Area residents would benefit from the BID’s greening and beautification efforts, lighting and infrastructure work, safety  improvements, and litter removal. The BID would serve as a complement to the one established on East Passyunk Avenue in 2002.

Anton explained that the BID’s management team, outreach staff, and legal/professional services would help improve the entire service area: “Commercial landlords could attract and retain more clients, businesses could have improved prospects for success, and residents and visitors could be a more integral part of the community.”

Eugene Desyatnik, president of the Bella Vista Neighbors Association (BVNA), cautions that the proposed BID may not meet with universal approval. “When businesses hear that they can receive help, yet will  need to contribute to that via assessments, it’s not unusual for them to wonder if anything is really wrong with staying on the present course.”

The BVNA hosted a meeting on October 22, in conjunction with the South Philly Market District organizers. That meeting served as a kickstarter to secure the votes needed in City Council, specifically 1st District Councilman Mark Squilla, to advance the plan.

Photo courtesy Vern Anastasio

The BIDs’ proponents feel confident the organization, if approved, will help keep the Market competitive with other area commercial enterprises and attract new tenants and visitors. “Along with valuing the past,” Desyatnik said, “we have to make apparent what we can do to improve the present and the future” of the market.

Anton concluded, “I’m eager to keep pushing for this BID. Simply put, the community needs and deserves it.”

Read the proposal details here.

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Around Here
What's Happening in:  Passyunk Square 

Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar Turns 80!

By on October 10, 2018

By Sandy Smith for the Passyunk Post

Happy birthday!

That’s how patrons who walk into Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar have been greeted for decades.  And why not? It’s somebody’s birthday somewhere every day.

On Saturday, October 6, the birthday was the bar’s own. And from 3:30 in the afternoon on into the night, regulars and friends from all over came to say “Happy Birthday” to the legendary establishment at East Passyunk Avenue and Federal Street.

Lou Anne Capozzoli, daughter of owner Lou and member of the third generation of Capozzolis involved with the bar, explained how the bar got its name.

“Ray was my grandfather,” she said. “When he owned it, and people came into the bar, instead of saying ‘Hello,’ he’d say ‘Happy birthday.’”

Lou himself is more likely to crack jokes when patrons enter, but the tradition continues: whenever the bartender rings a bell behind the bar, everyone in it shouts out “Happy birthday!”

“The bell rings maybe 10 times a day, easy,” said Lou, who grew up with the bar.

“My father bought it in 1938,” he said. “I was born in 1939, and we moved here in 1940.”

Over the seven years after Prohibition ended in 1933, the bar had had three different owners. It’s remained in the Capozzoli family ever since, and Lou does his level best to run the bar as his father did.

Owner Lou Capozzoli at the 80th birthday celebration. Photo: Sandy Smith.

Which means everyone’s welcome. “Everybody came here. Jewish people, Italian people, black people – my father was friends with everybody,” he said. “He was one of the nicest people you ever met. He treated everybody equally.

“And I teach my son in the same way: ‘If someone comes in and shakes your hand, say Happy Birthday to them.’”

Vintage photo shows Lou (back row, left), and Ray (back row, center, with glasses). Photo courtesy Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar.

Lou’s son Anthony, who was behind the bar at the party, didn’t have time or room to shake hands that afternoon, for the bar was packed to the gills with well-wishers who came out to have a good time and listen to live music. Continue Reading →

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Education
What's Happening in:  Passyunk Square 

Kirkbride School Celebrates New Playground & APPT Model

By on October 1, 2018

By Tim Gibbon for the Passyunk Post

On Thursday, September 20, 2018, Eliza B. Kirkbride School celebrated Back to School Night with a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for their new playground, and the kickoff of their Academic Parent-Teacher Team model for grades K-3. The lively event was celebrated with a terrific turnout from Kirkbride families, community partners, and Councilman Mark Squilla. Breakdance and zumba performances, music, and food trucks contributed to a community festival atmosphere.

During the 2018-2019 school year, parents and teachers in grades K-3 will redefine the traditional parent-teacher relationship with the Academic Parent-Teacher Team (ATPP) model. The APTT model raises the bar on the traditional parent conferences by expanding opportunities for families and teachers to collaborate. The APTT model is grounded in the notion that schools thrive when families and teachers work together as genuine partners.

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