In Bella Vista

In many neighborhoods across Philadelphia, community groups are the backbone of neighborhood volunteerism, organizing events, improving safety, coordinating cleanups, and so on. They've played an important role in development for many years as well, hosting meetings for projects requiring a variance and relaying neighborhood feedback for consideration by the ZBA.

The Italian Market is one of our favorite spots in town, a rare combination of tourist destination and amazing resource for people that live nearby. Whether you're seeking fresh meats, fresh pasta, mostly fresh produce, aged cheeses, or the best tortillas in the city, the Italian Market has you covered.

Cianfrani Park is great, isn't it? As we told you previously, two different stately school buildings once stood on this property at the northeast corner of 8th & Fitzwater, and while it would have been ideal for either to have been preserved, this little community park is a pretty terrific alternative.

If you're walking up 7th Street between Fitzwater and Bainbridge, you might notice an odd sight on the eastern side of the street. 715 S. 7th St. is a home with no front door. In fact, as far as you can tell from the street, it doesn't have any first floor at

We've had a soft spot in our heart for the 700 block of South Street for a long time. Right out of college, we had a friend that had a (much nicer than expected) apartment above the liquor store and another friend that lived in one of those weird fortress-like

Though the Italian Market Festival was as fun as ever this past weekend, we needed to catch our breath for a couple minutes so we ducked onto the 800 block of S. Percy Street. What we found was a little Bella Vista block with some rather unexpected green infrastructure.Back in 2011, the Water

Over a decade ago, before Mrs. Fox came into the picture, we occasionally found ourselves at spending some quality time at L'Etage to cap off a night on the town. We haven't been back there in a long time, though we do occasionally make our way to Beau Monde, its

Via Bicycle made its home at 606 S. 9th St. for about 20 years, but from the looks of the outside or the inside, you might have guessed they'd been there five times as long. But if you pass by this address today, you'll see that the shop is no

Fleisher Art Memorial is one of Philadelphia's hidden treasures, tucked away in a former church on the 700 block of Catharine Street. For those unfamiliar with this fabulous institution, Fleisher is one of the oldest non-profit community art schools in America and holds free and low cost classes and workshops

Every block has its quirks, but the 700 block of Carpenter Street may be one of the most unusual in Bella Vista. Back in 2011, we visited this block and wondered about a number of properties on the north side of the street. We assumed that 723-25 Carpenter St. was