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Category: Philadelphia News

  • A new trial is ordered for a man convicted in the slaying of Philly police officer in 2012

    A new trial is ordered for a man convicted in the slaying of Philly police officer in 2012

    A Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge on Monday ordered a new trial for a man serving a life sentence for the death of a police officer in 2012, reportedly citing the connection of disgraced ex-homicide detective Philip Nordo to the case.

    Court records show that Judge Jennifer Schultz vacated the 2014 murder conviction of Rafael Jones, who was sentenced the following year to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the fatal shooting of Officer Moses Walker during a street robbery after the end of his shift on Aug. 18, 2012.

    KYW Newsradio reported the judge cited the case’s connection to Nordo, who was convicted in 2022 of sexually abusing witnesses and suspects.

    During Nordo’s trial, one of his accusers was an informant in the Walker homicide investigation who said Nordo helped steer a $20,000 reward to the man and then, years later, raped him.

    Multiple cases involving Nordo, including murder convictions, have been overturned in recent years.

    District Attorney Larry Krasner said he would address the order for a new trial at a news conference Tuesday.

    Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said in a statement: “I am disappointed by today’s decision, particularly for the family of Officer Moses Walker and every member of this Department who continues to carry his loss.”

    Bethel added: “At the same time, we respect the court and the legal process. We remain confident in the evidence surrounding this case and believe that, when the process is complete, the individual responsible for Officer Walker’s murder will continue to be held accountable and will never again walk free.”

    Jones and Chancier McFarland were arrested during the homicide investigation. McFarland pleaded guilty and testified against Jones as part of a deal with prosecutors to avoid life in prison.

    A lawyer for Jones could not be reached for comment. According to court records Monday, Jones was being held at the State Correctional Institution in Chester City.

    Shortly before dawn on Aug. 18, 2012, the 40-year-old Walker left the 22nd District station at 17th Street and Montgomery Avenue in North Philadelphia dressed in civilian clothes — shorts, athletic jacket, and baseball cap — and carrying a backpack and wearing earphones.

    Walker was targeted, McFarland testified, because he looked like a student from nearby Temple University — “an easy mark.”

    McFarland testified that Jones shot Walker when the officer reached for a weapon.

    After Walker collapsed at Woodstock Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue, McFarland said, he grabbed the officer’s iPod and earphones before taking off.

  • After allegations of a ‘toxic climate’ at Frankford High, the school will have a new principal for the first time in a decade

    After allegations of a ‘toxic climate’ at Frankford High, the school will have a new principal for the first time in a decade

    For the first time in more than a decade, Frankford High is getting a new principal.

    Michael Calderone, who has served as Frankford’s principal since 2015, told the staff on Friday that he’s leaving to become the interim principal of Dobson Elementary in Manayunk.

    Calderone’s move comes after the district conducted an audit of what some staff said was a “toxic” climate at the school and serious allegations about Calderone, including that he struck a student and retaliated against teachers who spoke out against him.

    ‘Toxic’ climate at Frankford High prompts a Philadelphia School District probe

    District officials did not comment on the results of the climate audit, but typically do not discuss personnel matters.

    Calderone said, in a letter sent to Frankford staff and obtained by The Inquirer, that the move to Dobson “holds tremendous personal and professional significance for me” because he began his career there, as teacher and dean.

    “Returning to lead the school where I first developed my passion for educational leadership feels very much like a homecoming and has always been a dream of mine,” Calderone wrote.

    Noah Tennant, the interim associate superintendent for secondary schools, said in an email to Frankford staff that Calderone “is a school leader with a proven track record of improving student outcomes, leading school transformation, and building collaborative systems. His leadership and contributions to the Frankford High community will leave an indelible impact on all he served.”

    Mary Jackson, a retired Philadelphia principal who’s served as Frankford’s interim leader in the past, will be “guest principal” while the district searches for a replacement for Calderone, Tennant said in the letter.

    “In the coming months, the district will initiate a process to identify the next permanent principal who will continue the important work underway and ensure every student and staff member is supported,” Tennant wrote.

    A Frankford climate audit

    The first public hint of controversy happened in early 2026, when Frankford’s budget, like spending plans across the school system, was shrunk because of district-wide cuts. Calderone ordered a number of teachers’ jobs cut out of seniority order, a move that was protested by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, and ultimately overturned.

    The PFT and teachers say the targeted educators — whom Calderone said he moved to advance academic goals — were ones who had spoken out against him, they told The Inquirer.

    At the same time, a number of current and former Frankford staff raised allegations about significant culture issues at the school, and the district conducted the audit.

    Michael Calderone is shown in his office at Frankford High in this 2023 file photo.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer

    According statements from multiple staffers made to the district and PFT and obtained by The Inquirer, Calderone, who earned citywide recognition for his work at the comprehensive high school, was a volatile leader who forced out many capable staffers.

    Some staff said the principal screamed at adults and students on multiple occasions. They also said he made improper requests, including asking teachers to provide grades for students in classes they did not teach.

    Others said he spoke openly about intentions to get rid of staff members who were not allies, to force out staff who he believed were opposed to him.

    Two staffers also told the district that Calderone punched a student who had assaulted multiple Frankford staffers. The staff did not report the assault when it happened because they were afraid for their jobs, they said.

    Other Frankford staffers agreed that there was widespread discord at the school, but say those who opposed Calderone contributed to the toxicity.

    Arthur Steinberg, PFT president, who had previously said that he did not believe Calderone was fit to run Frankford “or any school at all,” in a statement Monday commended the Frankford staff who brought concerns to the administration.

    “Thanks to their bravery and persistence, Frankford will be a healthier, more positive place to learn and work for all,” Steinberg said. “It is our hope that whoever is assigned to replace Dr. Calderone is able to reset the working environment for staff, so that Frankford is once again the warm, welcoming school community it was before he arrived.”

    ‘Thank you for your trust’

    Calderone, in his letter to Frankford staff, said he was particularly grateful for the community’s resilience during a tough time — the hulking main Frankford building was shut for multiple years because of asbestos issues, with students scattered between multiple buildings. He said he was also proud of Frankford’s aviation and hospitality programs, launched during his tenure at the school.

    “Thank you for your trust, your partnership, and the memories we have shared,” Calderone wrote. “I have every confidence that Frankford High School will continue to thrive and achieve great things. I wish you all the absolute best. Frankford will always be the ‘Home of Champions’. But never forget: every champion was once just a contender who refused to give up. I ask you to carry that relentless, unbroken spirit with you into every new day. Thank you for letting me walk this path alongside you.”

    Calderone will be moving to a very different school than the one he’s led for 11 years.

    Frankford educates about 900 students in its massive Oxford Avenue building. Dobson, a K-8 on Umbria Street, educates about 250, though both have large populations of students with disabilities.

    Dobson’s former principal, Khloe Williams-Lawani, accepted another job in the school system.

  • The final defendant was sentenced in the murder of a West Philly Parks and Recreation employee

    The final defendant was sentenced in the murder of a West Philly Parks and Recreation employee

    A third defendant has been sentenced in the death of Tiffany Fletcher, a Philadelphia Parks and Recreation employee who was struck by a stray bullet during a 2022 shooting in West Philly.

    Tevin Kee, 20, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, conspiracy, and gun charges in April. On Monday, he was sentenced to 12½ to 25 years in prison, according to Assistant District Attorney Jeff Hojnowski.

    Fletcher was sweeping outside the Mill Creek Recreation Center where she worked on a September afternoon, when two groups of youths began shooting at each other. Fletcher, caught in the crossfire at 47th and Brown Streets, was struck by a stray bullet in her torso and died. She was 41 years old, and a mother of three.

    The case sparked outrage, as Fletcher’s death came to represent how dangerous Philadelphia had become in the years immediately following the pandemic.

    Tiffany Fletcher (center, yellow tank top) was photographed with lifeguard Robin Borlandoe, 70, (immediate left), assistant recreation leader Charles McKnight (just above Tiffany) and other staff and volunteers at the Mill Creek Recreation Center pool in August 2022.ELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer

    Kee was the final defendant to be sentenced. Two others pleaded guilty to similar charges in the case. In 2024, Makie Jones was sentenced 10 to 20 years, and Malik Flegler was sentenced to 12½ to 25 years. Jones was arrested on the day of the shooting, and Flegler was arrested weeks later.

    But Kee, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, was not arrested until last year, at a traffic stop in Lower Pottsgrove Township. All three suspects were teenagers at the time of Fletcher’s death and charged as adults.

    Following Kee’s sentencing, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner made a point to say the legal process in each case was not over. He said each defendant would have parole board hearings once they had served their minimum sentences, and referenced statistics indicating most defendants typically serve greater time than their minimums.

    “Justice wasn’t done,” said Geraldine Fletcher, Tiffany’s mother. She said she wasn’t satisfied with any of the sentences, and said she hoped the three individuals suffered for eternity. Geraldine Fletcher said the family would participate in those parole hearings to share the pain of their loss.

    Until then, Fletcher’s family and community will continue to honor her memory. The Mill Creak Recreation Center and its pool was renamed for Fletcher in 2023, and in April, City Council adopted a resolution to rename the 4700 block of Brown Street, “Tiffany Fletcher Way — Gone But Never Forgotten.”

    A sign at the renamed Tiffany Fletcher Recreation Center (formerly Mill Creek) in West Philadelphia in June 2023.Heather Khalifa / Staff Photographer
  • The Frank Rizzo statue is repaired, and the search for a new location is underway

    The Frank Rizzo statue is repaired, and the search for a new location is underway

    In the case of Frank Rizzo, out of sight does not always mean out of mind.

    The former mayor and police commissioner died 35 years ago. A 10-foot bronze statue reminded Philadelphians of his presence for decades, until civil rights protests in 2020 culminated in the monument’s removal from public display.

    It might have lost its prime spot outside the Municipal Services Building, across from City Hall. But, six years later, the statue remains a subject of interest, leaving reader JJ Cutuli to ask Curious Philly, The Inquirer’s forum for questions about the city: “Where is the Frank Rizzo statue, right now?”

    The short answer? Now that repairs have been made, the search for a new home is on. Here’s how we got here.

    » ASK US: Have something you’re wondering about the Philly region? Submit your Curious Philly question here.

    The last thing Cutuli heard on the Rizzo statue saga was that it was set to be returned to the Frank L. Rizzo Monument Committee, after a settlement was reached with the Philadelphia Art Commission last summer.

    “I am very much against the statue, against the man, against what it all represents,” Cutuli said. “But sweeping it under the rug or sending it to a scrap yard might take away the opportunity to deal with the issues that it represents.”

    Rizzo has long been a controversial figure. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was accused from different fronts in the city of having allowed police to function with little oversight, putting people of color in a vulnerable spot.

    Between 1970 and 1978, police shot civilians at a rate of one per week, according to an Inquirer investigation. That led critics to condemn Rizzo as a racist, and protesters even put a Ku Klux Klan hood on the statue’s head in 2016.

    “The statue is a deplorable monument to racism, bigotry, and police brutality for members of the Black community, the LGBTQ community, and many others. The treatment of these communities under Mr. Rizzo’s leadership was among the worst periods in Philadelphia’s history,” then-Mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement in 2020, when the city removed the statue overnight.

    For supporters, however, the South Philly native was a beacon of Italian American pride whose tough approach on crime could have been misunderstood.

    “He was a brute in some respects. But it wasn’t racist,” George Bochetto, an attorney for the Frank L. Rizzo Monument Committee, told The Inquirer in 2016. “It was law and order, it was crime, and I think he got a bad rap, frankly.”

    The agreement left the committee with an $80,000 payment from the city for damages caused to the statue during its removal.

    “They put it on the back of a flatbed truck and a piece of the base broke off so they had to replace that base,” Bochetto said. “There were also a lot of scratches and gouges on the body of the statue, which had to be repaired too.”

    The bronze Rizzo has been at a foundry undergoing “expensive five-figure repairs,” Bochetto said.

    Restorations are now done, according to the lawyer. The next frontier is finding a new home for the Rizzo statue.

    As part of the 2025 agreement, the statue should be displayed on private property, and in a way that makes it “not visible from the public right of way,” the agreement states.

    An exception can happen if the committee gets approval from Mayor Cherelle L. Parker or the managing director. Bochetto said that’s something the committee is working on. Bochetto did not describe locations being considered for the statue.

    The city did not reply to a request for information. So, the status of the monument’s home remains uncertain.

    Controversy aside, Bochetto said, it’s important to recognize that the statue is part of Philadelphia’s history.

    “People say that symbols like this from the past are a part of our history and that is true,” Cutuli said. “But as part of history perhaps these things do have a place in museums or perhaps they don’t, perhaps the story and the facts can exist without the statue.”

  • Flood warnings are up for parts of the Philly area, with the potential for 5 inches of rain

    Flood warnings are up for parts of the Philly area, with the potential for 5 inches of rain

    For the first time since, well, Tuesday, flood warnings have been posted in the Philly region and a flash flood watch remains until 11 p.m. Monday, with a potential for up to 5 inches of rain in and around the city.

    The National Weather Service flood warnings were in effect until midafternoon for a broad area along the I-95 corridor where “slow-moving thunderstorms” had generated up to 4 inches of rain

    The Pennypack Creek in Northeast Philly jumped 1.5 feet in just 15 minutes to go above flood stage, the weather service said. At least one water rescue occurred in Montgomery County, and flooding resulted in lane closures along Route 130 in Gloucester County, the weather service reported.

    Strong storms remain possible during the day Monday, but Sarah Johnson, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service office in Mount Holly, said “the bigger threat we are concerned about is heavy rain and flash flooding.“

    While the weather service’s flood watch was in effect from 8 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Monday, she cautioned that with computer models having their differences, the forecast had elements of “uncertainty.” (And when was the last time that happened?)

    Once again the atmosphere likely will be playing a version of rain roulette across the region, as it did on Tuesday, said Marc Chenard, senior branch forecaster at the federal Weather Prediction Center, in College Park, Md. Waterfall-like downpours turned the Delaware River into a shade of flowing mocha north of Philadelphia, while less than an inch fell upon the city.

    Areas of heavy rain moved through the region Sunday nigh an Monday morning. And regardless of how it all plays out this time around, “it’s definitely going to affect the morning commute” said Bill Deger, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc., with rainfall rates of 1 to 2 inches an hour possible. Even if it’s not raining, he said, significant road flooding is possible.

    He said it’s likely that Philly and the surrounding area might be in the 2-to-4-inch bull’s-eye zone.

    When is likely timing for rain in the Philly region?

    “This is another setup where we have very moist air from the South,” said Deger.

    More rains were likely Monday morning, and again later in the afternoon with the approach of a cold front.

    That front could fire up strong thunderstorms, said Chenard, and it might take its good old time moving through the area.

    He added that as so often happens, the downpours “won’t be all that widespread, but where they do happen you usually get a flash flood.”

    The rains likely will shut off Monday night; however, the workweek is looking quite unsettled with shower chances every day.

    Will this end the drought in the Philadelphia area?

    While the drought warnings continue in New Jersey and Chester County, conditions have improved measurably in areas around the city, which was no longer in “severe” or “moderate” drought, in the latest interagency U.S. Drought Monitor update.

    Still, even in Philly conditions were listed as “abnormally dry” in the advisory issued Thursday, despite a July that was officially the wettest month in Philadelphia since March 2024.

    Philadelphia’s total, 7.03 inches, was 2.65 inches above normal. Over 8 inches was measured in Wilmington. However, as a testament to the randomness of summer rains, precipitation totals were significantly below normal in Atlantic City and Allentown, the weather service reported.

    And while downpours can trigger rapid rises on the local streams such as the Neshaminy Creek, in Bucks County, and the Frankford and Pennypack Creeks in Philly, they are less of a threat to the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, where water levels have remained relatively low.

    Those levels are the result of the longer-term dryness: July broke a 16-month streak of below-normal rainfall in Philadelphia.

    But Johnson said the region’s wetness trend has been showing some signs of staying power.

    Said Deger, “It’s been a long time coming.”

  • Covering 20 locales over 20 weekends, ‘Neighborhood Jawnts’ tour series highlights Philly’s diverse communities

    Covering 20 locales over 20 weekends, ‘Neighborhood Jawnts’ tour series highlights Philly’s diverse communities

    The tour bus heaved and weaved through the residential streets of Mount Airy, rolling over speed bumps, slowing for passing cars, and pulling over for the occasional gawking.

    “I invite you to look around,” tour guide Marianne Ruane said, gesturing out the window as her voice echoed from a transmitter microphone into the audiences’ earpieces. The attendees murmured as they admired the homes of the streetcar suburb.

    This was “Neighborhood Jawnts,” a free, hyper-localized tour running throughout a diverse swath of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods this summer and into the fall. The “jawnts” — get it? like “jaunts” but Philly-style — are an effort by the city’s tourism arm to engage every locale, from Africatown to the Far Northeast, during the Semiquincentennial.

    “Philadelphia’s a city of neighborhoods,” said Kathryn Ott Lovell, president and CEO of Philadelphia Visitor Center Corp. and Philadelphia250, the nonprofit in charge of planning the 250th celebrations. The series is a collaboration between Ott Lovell’s organizations, with sponsorships from the city and Fulton Bank, which allow the tours to be offered at no cost.

    “We wanted to make sure that people have the opportunity to get to know the whole city and to get to know the city through the neighborhoods and the diversity of our city — the cultures, the communities, the histories,” Ott Lovell said.

    The tours, which began in late May and will run until October, feature a different area weekly, totaling 20 neighborhoods in the series. The tours are offered once on Fridays and twice daily on Saturdays and Sundays, and launch from the Independence Visitor Center.

    Passengers board the PHLASH bus at the start of the “Neighborhood Jawnts” tour in Philadelphia on July 24.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    On a recent Friday in July, a commandeered PHLASH bus carted about 30 people around Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy. Each tour is led by a professional tour guide — someone who gives the “play by play” — and a community host — a resident who can add “color commentary” — Ott Lovell said.

    Attendees visited the French and English Villages; the country’s oldest country club, Philadelphia Cricket Club; and the Wissahickon Inn, and they tasted “midnight chocolate” ice cream from Mount Airy institution Zsa’s Ice Cream, all while learning about the area’s history and how architecture has shaped the community and its landscape.

    “I really love how Philadelphia 2026 has been about celebrating the city as a whole, not just Old City and downtown, but all of the neighborhoods that give Philadelphia its identity,” said Philip Dawson, community host and executive director of Mount Airy Community Development Corp.

    Dawson added: “This tour really helped to highlight Mount Airy’s history, its housing and architecture, its businesses, its people, its diversity. It was really meaningful.”

    Surprisingly, Ott Lovell said, Philadelphians — not out-of-towners — have capitalized on the tours. The majority of July 24 attendees were from the Philly area and most had already gone on a “jawnt.”

    Here are the 20 neighborhood street festivals celebrating America’s 250th

    It was Janice Rudd’s fourth such tour. The 60-year-old recently moved from Houston to South Philadelphia and has been using the series as a way to familiarize herself with her new home city.

    “I’m learning so much,” Rudd said. “It’s such a big city, there’s much to do downtown, in South Philly, out to the [Philadelphia Museum of Art] … but people just never go beyond there. … It’s nice to see real neighborhoods.”

    While ambitious, “Neighborhood Jawnts” is paying off: Forthcoming tours are nearly full or completely sold out with a waiting list to join, according to organizers. Ott Lovell said they are brainstorming ways to keep low-cost and affordable tours going past the summer of the Semiquincentennial.

    “We are a city of neighborhoods and it’s something we should celebrate as much as we celebrate our history,” she said.

    The “Neighborhood Jawnts” series runs until Oct. 25. Tours start at 2 p.m. on Fridays and at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Tours are free, but online registration is required.

  • South Philly will soon have a new path to the Delaware with the Washington Avenue Connector

    South Philly will soon have a new path to the Delaware with the Washington Avenue Connector

    A new pedestrian and bicycle route connecting Jefferson Square Park to the Delaware River is expected to be completed this month, with the asphalt median largely in place and other construction continuing.

    Along portions of the unfinished route, new plantings soften the expanse of pavement, offering an early glimpse of the connection planners hope to create: a path that makes the river feel less like the far side of a highway and more like part of the neighborhood.

    For now, the stretch of Washington Avenue between the South Philadelphia neighborhood park and Columbus Boulevard remains an overwhelming landscape of asphalt and concrete, with a multilane roadway separating pedestrians from the riverfront trail to the east.

    The Washington Avenue Connector is intended to change that. Plans from the Delaware River Waterfront Corp. and the City of Philadelphia call for a tree-lined route planted with seasonal flowers, a curb-separated shared-use path, and safer crossings to guide pedestrians and cyclists from Fourth Street to the Delaware River Trail. The $9.5 million project — funded by the city, the state, and grants provided to the waterfront corporation — is one piece of an ambitious plan to revitalize Philadelphia’s riverfront by making it more accessible to pedestrians and cyclists and encouraging investment by nearby businesses.

    Bicyclists ride along the Washington Avenue Connector heading westbound near Jefferson Square Park in South Philadelphia on Thursday, July 30, 2026.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    The connector is “meant to bridge this gap of the physical and psychological connection that I-95 created when it was built and sort of cut off certain neighborhoods from the waterfront,” said Joe Forkin, president and CEO of the Delaware River Waterfront Corp.

    Although waterfront connector projects often extend only about a block, the Washington Avenue Connector will reach four blocks inland, extending to Jefferson Square Park and connecting the waterfront with nearby South Philadelphia homes and businesses.

    The project is designed to transform the area not only aesthetically, but also by making it safer and easier to navigate on foot or by bicycle, said Lizzie Woods, senior vice president for strategic planning and real estate development at the Delaware River Waterfront Corp.

    Designers had to contend with what Forkin described as “a crazy tangle of transportation infrastructure.”

    From Race Street to Walnut Street, the highway creates a physical divide between the waterfront and Old City. Farther south, the barrier is less absolute but still discourages people from approaching the river.

    “That’s where there’s more of a psychological barrier,” Forkin said. “You can get through it, you can approach the neighborhood and you can approach the waterfront, but it’s not always very welcoming to do so.”

    Forkin pointed to the Race Street Connector, completed in 2016, as an example of how a redesigned route can change the way people move between a neighborhood and the river. He said he once rarely saw people turn to walk to the river. Today, he said, there is a steady flow of pedestrians between Old City and the waterfront.

    A walker strolls westbound using the Washington Avenue Connector in South Philadelphia on Thursday, July 30, 2026.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    The Washington Avenue project will create a curb-separated path along the south side of the road, running from Fourth Street to Columbus Boulevard and connecting directly with the Delaware River Trail. On the north side, a parking-protected bicycle lane will carry cyclists westbound and connect with improvements the city previously installed west of Fourth Street.

    At Jefferson Square Park, the slip lane between Third and Fourth Streets will be closed and converted into a plaza intended to function as a “front porch” for the park. The project also includes curb extensions and pedestrian islands designed to shorten street crossings and give people a protected place to pause. By forcing turning vehicles to travel more slowly and make wider turns, planners say, the changes should improve pedestrian safety.

    New traffic signals have been installed but are not yet operational between Fourth Street and Columbus Boulevard on Washington Avenue. The improvements are intended to make crossings clearer and safer while keeping vehicle traffic moving at a more consistent speed. A dedicated left-turn lane at Front Street and Washington Avenue will also address a longstanding request from the Pennsport community.

    At Washington Avenue and Columbus Boulevard, another under-construction plaza will mark the entrance to the waterfront. Trees, flowers, and other plantings are meant to signal the transition from the city street to the river’s network of parks and trails.

  • Do recent Philadelphia restaurant closings signal trouble for the industry?

    Do recent Philadelphia restaurant closings signal trouble for the industry?

    Philadelphia restaurants Hiroki, La Calaca Feliz, and the Lodge by Two Robbers have announced their departures in the last week.

    The latest announcement was Hiroki, sushi chef Hiroki Fujiyama’s serene omakase room behind Wm. Mulherin’s Sons in Fishtown, which posted Friday that Aug. 8 would be its last service.

    In an interview with The Inquirer, David Grasso, a principal in owner Method Co., called the closing “a strategic repositioning rather than a retreat from fine dining” and added that the decision was driven by a desire to stay ahead of customer preferences and culinary trends, not by problems with the restaurant or a broader pullback from fine dining. Method is planning to open a new concept — so far undetermined — in the space on Lee Street next year.

    Method also has several new fine-dining concepts planned for other markets. Fujiyama, former head sushi chef at Morimoto, remains involved with Method, including a Detroit project called Hiroki-San, Grasso said.

    La Calaca Feliz’s last day at 2321 Fairmount Ave. in Fairmount was Saturday. Owner Brian Sirhal, who opened the Mexican cantina 15 years ago with fellow Garces alumnus Tim Spinner, said its lease expired. Sirhal owns Cantina Feliz in Ambler, while Spinner’s holdings are Taqueria Amor and Riptide Tavern, side by side in Manayunk.

    The Lodge by Two Robbers Spirits Co. is the second tasting room/restaurant concept from the Philadelphia-based hard seltzer-turned-vodka soda maker.Jenn Ladd / Staff

    The Lodge, the Bella Vista offshoot of Fishtown’s Two Robbers at 11th and Fitzwater Streets, announced on social media Thursday that its last call would be Aug. 9 after barely a year. The post said it would operate as a pop-up and private-event space “for a period of time.” Vivek Nayar, who founded Two Robbers as a hard-seltzer business with his twin brother, Vikram, said they decided to focus on scaling their wholesale beverage line and running their Fishtown location.

    These closings do not necessarily point to an industry in retreat. More often, such changes reflect the constant reshuffling of a business in which closures and openings tend to move in tandem. Many of these addresses already have suitors or redevelopment plans, and there is never a shortage of projects in the pipeline.

    Latin mainstay Mixto in Washington Square West closed July 12 after 24 years. Lori Penrose, owner of the former South Philadelphia sports bar Toll Man Joe’s, purchased the property at 1141 Pine St. She hopes it will open in late August.

    Besides falafel, Goldie is known for tehina shakes.TIM TAI / Staff Photographer

    Four Center City Federal Donuts & Chicken locations and three Goldie falafel eateries are bowing out, as founders Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook announced July 14. In the city, only the FedNuts shop at Seventh Street and Fairmount Avenue remains, as well as the Goldie at 1911 Sansom St.

    Pita Pocket Eatery in Cheltenham Village wrapped a 15-year run on July 23.

    The Langhorne Hotel, a landmark bar and restaurant in Langhorne Borough, closed July 18 after 54 years under the Asta family. New owners Joe and Megan Kontz told the Bucks County Courier Times that they plan to spruce it up, change the name to honor the town’s original name (Four Lanes End), and open late this year.

    A series of chain restaurants have shut down recently, including the Perkins in Drexel Hill, the Cracker Barrel in Downingtown, the Miller’s Ale House in Springfield, Delaware County, and the Brio Italian Grille locations in Marlton and Cherry Hill.

  • New Barber’s Hall, a cornerstone of Philadelphia’s Black heritage, celebrates its historic run before saying goodbye

    New Barber’s Hall, a cornerstone of Philadelphia’s Black heritage, celebrates its historic run before saying goodbye

    It will soon be closing time for New Barber’s Hall, an iconic Black cultural space that has brought jazz, revelry, and community to North Philadelphia for nearly 50 years.

    On Saturday, the combination music venue, restaurant, and ballroom on the 1400 block of West Oxford Street celebrated what will be one of its last hurrahs — the longtime owner, Jake Adams, has sold the building.

    Adams and his wife, Sarah, said they plan to keep the joint open for as long as they see fit, though at some point the buyer — neighboring Temple University — will take over the property to enact plans not yet revealed.

    Before curtains are called, local leaders and hundreds of loyal patrons gathered to celebrate decades of good times and cultural milestones that took place at New Barber’s Hall, a three-story brick building that dates to the 1800s and was once a social hub for the city’s Black barbers.

    While there was plenty of talk about icons who had once played gigs or simply passed through — from Miles Davis and John Coltrane to Patti LaBelle and Boyz II Men — the afternoon’s focus was largely on Adams, who has diligently played host since purchasing the building in the late 1970s.

    New Barber’s Hall owners Jake and Sarah Adams hold a street sign in their honor during a Barber’s Hall community legacy celebration, a daylong celebration of music, history, and community in North Philadelphia on Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    To honor the duo, the celebration included the unveiling of Philadelphia’s newest street sign, designating that portion of West Oxford Street as “Jake and Sarah Adams Way.”

    “For almost 50 years being a business leader here in the city, Jake has given back numerous times,” said City Councilmember Jeffery Young, whose district covers much of North Philadelphia, as he announced the new placard.

    “When we announced we were doing this, people said, ‘Oh, my God, I had my baby shower there, my wedding reception there, I met my spouse there.’” Young said. “That’s what this place is.”

    Adams, who in addition to owning New Barber’s Hall was a Democratic leader of the city’s 14th Ward, gave bittersweet remarks as he thanked the crowd for years of support.

    “I tried to fix the building. I tried to make sure that everybody had a great time,” he said.

    New Barber’s Hall owners Jake (second right) and Sarah Adams receive a street sign in their honor presented by 5th District Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr., (left) during a Barber’s Hall community legacy celebration, a daylong celebration of music, history, and community in North Philadelphia on Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    The sale is the latest development in the building’s lengthy history.

    Constructed in the 1860s, it evolved over the decades to house various civic and fraternal organizations such as the National Council for Jewish Women and the Quaker City Wheelmen, and in the early 20th century it spent time as a bicycle factory.

    The Barber’s Hall name came about when Black barbers pooled their money to purchase the building in 1949. It soon became a hub for the city’s growing Black community, and musicians staying at the nearby Chesterfield Hotel — listed in the Jim Crow-era “Green Book” — often stopped by to play.

    Adams and his older brother purchased the building in 1978, running it as a jazz venue and soul food restaurant.

    In addition to LaBelle, greats like Isaac Hayes, Grover Washington Jr., and Robert “Bootsie” Barnes graced the room (in an oft-repeated tale, a teenage Jill Scott was turned away because she was underage).

    Guests attend the New Barber’s Hall community legacy celebration, a daylong celebration of music, history, and community in North Philadelphia on Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    The building was set to receive a historic designation from the Philadelphia Historical Commission in 2024 that would have safeguarded it from demolition. But at the last minute, Adams had a change of heart about the nomination, saying he did not want his children to inherit a building with strict restrictions for potential buyers.

    Temple, seeking to expand its footprint under president John Fry, quietly snatched up the building earlier this year for $2.3 million. The school will “explore further uses for the property, specifically related to how it might support the soon-to-be-completed campus development plan,” Temple said in a statement, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.

    In the meantime, Adams told revelers Saturday that the true coda for New Barber’s Hall won’t come until he says so, adding that Temple had agreed to the arrangement.

    For those like Lisa Sanders, who grew up around the corner from the venue, that day will mark the end of an era.

    “It’s been a part of our family history,” said Sanders, 58, recounting countless birthday parties and platters of shrimp and chicken at the hall.

    “It’s definitely been a pleasure, and [Jake and Sarah] deserve it,” she said. “I’ll really miss Barber’s Hall — but as long as I can still go, I’ll be happy about that.”

  • 6abc’s Cecily Tynan discusses her surprise retirement, sealed after a brief bout with vertigo

    6abc’s Cecily Tynan discusses her surprise retirement, sealed after a brief bout with vertigo

    Viewers across the Philadelphia area were shocked when longtime 6abc meteorologist Cecily Tynan announced her retirement.

    But her Action News colleagues weren’t.

    Tynan knew she wanted to retire back in 2020, when she signed her last contract with the station, which will end next month just as her youngest daughter heads off to college.

    Since then, it had been something of an open secret inside the 6abc newsroom that Tynan’s time at the station was coming to an end. Any chance of her extending her contract ended a few years ago, when she experienced a short but intense bout of vertigo.

    “For most of the day I couldn’t do anything, and I thought this must be what it’s like to be really old and infirm,” Tynan said. “I didn’t want to work all the way up to get to that stage, so it kind of sealed the deal.

    “I’m 57, which is relatively young, I guess, for retiring,” Tynan added. “But I wanted to retire while I’m healthy and active.”

    So rather than stick around 6abc or move up the national ladder, Tynan and her husband, Greg, plan to split time between their homes in Delaware County and Florida after her last day, Aug. 31. She even turned down a chance to come back to host Philadelphia’s Thanksgiving Day parade, something she has done for close to 25 years. But the idea of being able to cook Thanksgiving dinner for her family for the first time won out.

    “My children have never spent the night before Thanksgiving in their own home. We’ve always been in a hotel by the parade route, and I’ve never actually cooked,” Tynan said. “I’ve always picked it up from Whole Foods and reheated it.”

    Tynan discussed her decision to retire, what’s next, and the best and worst weather events she has covered in her three decades at 6abc. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

    How do you plan on filling your retirement? Is it just going to be water-skiing and enjoying life?

    That sounds pretty great!

    That’s definitely a big part of it. That and visiting and watching all my daughters’ cross-country and track meets. I do want to stay active in animal rescue. … I’ve been really active with Providence Animal Center. I’m not sure exactly how I’ll do it, but I would definitely still want to be involved in that.

    And I’d like to be able to go to bed at a decent hour.

    What do you make of the reaction to your decision to retire?

    I’ve been talking about it for months with my personal friends and they’d be like, “Philadelphia’s gonna freak,” and I’m like, “No, everyone’s gonna be fine.” I get it because I’ve been here for almost 31 years, so for a lot of people it seems like they’ve been watching me their whole lifetime. I think that Philadelphians have a special relationship with Action News that you don’t see in a lot of other cities or stations.

    Are there any on-air memories that stand out?

    One fun moment was when my earring fell off, and Jim Gardner got up. I saw him stand up and take off his microphone, and there was a frenzy behind the scenes, like, “Jim’s on the move. Traveler’s on the move.”

    I tried to ignore it, and then I saw this white thing go behind my head, which I thought was a cloud animation. Then I realized it was his hair. It was hilarious and then it went viral — it was on Live With Regis and Kelly the next day and stuff, and that was fun.

    Another one was when I was on the morning show with Monica [Malpass] and Rick [Williams], I would always try to crack them up by dancing off camera.

    One time Rick told the director, “Record Cecily when she’s dancing.” I dance like Elaine from Seinfeld, but worse. And so they aired that.

    Is there a reason you stayed in Philadelphia vs. moving to national television?

    I was born and raised in Newtown, Conn., so I always watched the New York stations.

    I thought I would work here a few years and then go to New York. Then I had I had some opportunities early in my career to go up. I filled in on Good Morning America for a full week with Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer, which was a great experience. Gibson gave me a bottle of champagne when the week was over.

    I talked about going to New York with Tom Kane, who was the general manager of WABC and was the GM when I came to Channel 6. … But then I spent the rest of my week there and was like, “Man, I want to get back to Philadelphia.”

    Philadelphia felt like home. … Even when I walked in for my interview, I felt really at home with everyone and they were all nice and welcoming. No backstabbing at all.

    Also, once you have children, that really grounds you. Your children are growing up in a community, and you don’t want to uproot them and leave.

    What are the best weather events to cover, and what are the worst?

    Snowstorms are the best, because everybody gets excited. I was here only a few months and we had the blizzard of 1996, the biggest snowstorm in Philadelphia’s history.

    The worst are tornado warnings because we get a lot of those nowadays, because we have more advanced radar … and we do have a warmer climate. But tornado warnings freak people out, because I’m telling them to get in their basement.

    I was at the airport back in the spring … and the people in front of me recognized me and thanked me. They live in Mullica Hill, and they were there when they had the tornado warning and I told them to get in their basement. They said they got their kids and their pets down there … and when they got out of the basement, their house was destroyed. But they were OK. … That really hit home about the importance of our job. I kind of teared up.

    I’m sure you hear the other side, too, when the weather shifts and your forecast might be off.

    Oh, yeah. The whole saying, “Oh, I wish I had a job where I could be wrong 90% of the time and still keep my job.” I get that all the time. Anybody who says that doesn’t really understand the complexities of the atmosphere. … But I feel like when you’re in the public eye, you do have to grow a thick skin. Especially in Philly. They’re going to tell you what they really think, so they’re not going to sugarcoat it.

    Is there a weather thing people still get confused by?

    One thing I think people really don’t understand is tornado watch vs. warning.

    When a tornado watch is issued, it usually means there’s like a 2% chance of a tornado happening in your neighborhood. It’s pretty low.

    I think a lot of people think when there’s a tornado watch it means warning, which it doesn’t. It just means heads up. The warning is when you have to go to your basement.