The restaurant business is incredibly tough and impossibly cruel. If we had a nickel for every restaurant that opened and closed in this town over the last forty years... we'd have a staggering number of nickels. Bridget Foy's, located at the southwest corner of 2nd & South, was the exception

We're not telling you anything you don't already know when we say that Fishtown is one of the most desirable neighborhoods that ring Center City. Because so many people want to live in Fishtown, it's getting to a point that the neighborhood isn't nearly as affordable as it once was. Hence, we've

We don't know much about the history of the building of 2207 Chestnut St., but we do know that we walked, biked, or drove past it on dozens of occasions without paying it any mind. In other words, it's not the kind of building that grabs your attention by any

The footprint of the University of Pennsylvania has slowly but surely expanded over the decades, pushing out to a western boundary of 40th Street in the late 1960s and a bit more recently, to a hazy northern border at Chestnut Street. Though the formal campus of the university probably isn't

Just north of Girard Avenue, several blocks of Ridge Avenue have been sitting vacant for as many years as we can remember. This is quite a change from the scene on these blocks in the middle of the 20th century, when this section of Ridge was an African American entertainment

We've complained on numerous occasions in this space that college kids have it way better at present than we did back in the day. Most of our kvetching has come on the subject of student housing. Back when we were in school, dorm rooms didn't have air conditioning, and one year,

By and large, it's working out for all of us that we live in a free country. But freedom for some can present frustration and aggravation for others. See, there's a large vacant lot on the north side of the 2600 block of Poplar Street, and many neighbors would surely love

You've probably never paid any mind to the 1400 block of Clymer Street, a little street that dead-ends before it even gets to Broad Street. And you can be forgiven for not paying much attention to this block, as it has been historically home to a row of half a

We don't think that anybody would describe the 2400 block of Federal Street as a prime location, as its western end terminates at the 25th Street viaduct. Nevertheless, it's experiencing a major change, with a row of duplexes under construction right at that end of the block. We last checked in

We've somehow found our way to the 1800 block of N. 6th St. a couple times over the years. First, we showed you early construction photos of a combination photo studio and residence at the corner of 6th & Berks for a Temple art professor. Much more recently, we mentioned plans for