Reactionary

Some time ago I wrote a blog post entitled “10 Things I Hate About You”. and I always meant to write the companion piece. It’s not about a person, it’s about the city. Now that I’ve complained about what I hate, I have to laud what I like. Philadelphia’s having a rebirth of sorts that it needs to stay viable. It needs to get away from the blue collar Rocky city and into a place where hipsters and yuppies dwell since they’re the ones who keep the money coming in, childless and flush with rec cash. These ten things are how it’s doing it.

1. Reading Terminal Market: Fresh and local, it’s one of the city’s brightest jewels. The old terminal of the now defunct Reading Railroad is now filled with locally owned and operated food stands from restaurants, bakeries, candy makers, vegetable stands, ethnic food, and butchers. It’s a godsend.

2. La Colombe: Another local legend, this time for coffee. It’s a coffee roaster that sells to the areas finest restaurants but a cup can be had for $1.50 with discounted refills. The only place I’ve had better coffee is S. Eustachio’s in Rome. The coffee shop is hip and happening, too, it’s red walls hung up with a rotating collection of local art. I just wish it opened earlier and that they had more baked goods.

3. Di Bruno Brothers: It began in South Philly but its large gourmet store on Chestnut is where I do most of my shopping. Italian and French imports sell for high prices I don’t mind paying because you can’t get this stuff anywhere else: mozzarella di bufala straight from Campania, olives, olive oils, duck confit, foie gras, almond and date cakes, and the fabulous prepared food. And of course there’s the cheese cave in the back.

4. Rittenhouse Square: The stomping grounds of the have-mores who live in $3 million condos perched by the park, but anyone can sit there and it’s a new lease on life to sit there in the spring, sipping your La Colombe latte while the yuppies walk their chihuahuas.

5. Terme di Aroma: My spa! If it wouldn’t utterly destroy my face, I’d have a facial there every day. It’s a little lavender-scented nook of paradise in the city and a much needed opportunity for my mind to rest after another mad week at work. Independently-owned and filled with fabulous massage therapists and aestheticians who don’t push products.

6. Viv Pickle: New York, we had it first. Xanadu for all handbag lovers (and I really do have a bag fixation). You pick your bag, the fabric, the add-ons and then wait the gruesome 4 week period until your bag is done. Everyone asks me where I got the bags I got there and isn’t that one of the things we love most, girls? The fabric collection rotates so even if you tell people the truth, they won’t necessarily be able to have the same bag you do. Ever.

7. Fork: A lot of new restaurants have opened in the past few months many expensive, trendy, bizarre. Fork still beats them. Their specialty is New American with a touch of Mediterranean and it’s still comfortable, sophisticated, and fairly priced. Still my favorite even after I’ve seen the thousands of places getting more press right now. The service is also always great.

8. The Shakespeare Festival: It’s actually an acting company that puts on plays in the spring in a small theatre in the round inside an old church. The plays I’ve seen there have always been superlative and not everyone knows where it is.

9. The University of Pennsylvania: I don’t believe Ivy League education will make or break your life. You do that on your own. I went to an independent private school in the Midwest so why the affinity? Penn knows people, that’s why. It’s not about what you know but who you know and Penn knows all the right people. It’s thanks to these people that things like the King Tut exhibit coming to Philadelphia rather than New York happen. Penn knows people and one of those people is Zahi Hawass.

10. The Academy of Music: It’s the remnant of a bygone era of ladies and cavaliers and old money and art. I’ve seen two operas there and for both I was thankful they were held at this fabulous old hall rather than some new place like the Kimmel Center.

These ten things are all stuff I’d miss if I left. They keep me here in spite of the bad stuff. They keep me out of Manhattan.

February 4th, 2007 | Category: Life |  Print |  Send it | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL