The average interest rate for the popular, fixed-rate 30-year mortgage shot up to 7.28% this week, the highest it’s been since November 2023.
Elevated mortgage rates and high home prices are making homebuyers cautious about entering the market in the Philly area and beyond.
“They’re not jumping in with two feet,” said Patrick Lopez, a Philadelphia-based mortgage banker at Quaint Oak Mortgage.
At the same time, some people need to move. They’re driven by personal factors such as job relocations, growing households, and plans for the future.
Mortgage ratesare unlikely to slide back down to pandemic-era levels of 3% or lower. And waiting for rates to drop significantly is often a losing game, Lopez said.
While interest rates fluctuate, home prices overall have historically moved in one direction: up.
“What I tell people is if you can afford it and you can buy, the least expensive the property is going to be 99% of the time was yesterday or today, because prices keep trending higher,” Lopez said.
When aspiring homebuyers tell him they are waiting for interest rates to drop into the 5% range, for example, he asks, “Do you also understand how many other people are waiting for that?”
A significant drop in rates would likely flood the market with buyers, increasing competition for properties.
Here’s what real estate pros are telling buyers now.
Don’t assume your rate
Individual mortgage rates depend on a bunch of factors, including credit scores and participation in homebuyer assistance programs.
“The good news is that people have more power over interest rates than they think they do,” said Matt Schulz, chief consumer finance analyst at LendingTree, an online loan marketplace.
Taking steps to get a lower rate, he said, “can make a really unaffordable situation a little less so.”
“People would be surprised how much difference there can be,” Schulz said. And even a slight difference in the interest rate can mean tens of thousands of dollars in savings over the life of a mortgage.
Buyers with higher credit scores get lower mortgage rates, so improving those scores can help a lot.
“There’s very little in life that’s more expensive than having crummy credit, and that’s especially true when you’re buying a home,” Schulz said.
Jeffrey Ruben, the Bryn Mawr-based president of WSFS Home Lending, said that “first and foremost,” homebuyers should make credit card payments on time. They also need to control their credit card debt, so they’re not carrying over large balances from month to month.
They should cap how much they spend on a card to maximize how much credit they have available at any given time. Keeping total outstanding charges under 30% of the card limit gives people better credit scores, Ruben said.
Do your homework
Before buyers start looking at homes, they should sit down with a professional to determine how much they’re comfortable spending up front and monthly, said Peter Buchsbaum, manager of the mortgage brokerage Good Cents Financial, which is based in Bucks County anddoes most of its business in Philadelphia.
“Start the process earlier than you want to,” he said. “And it should begin with the financial piece.”
Schulz said homebuyers should factor in elevated mortgage rates when they calculate “what they can afford and what sort of homes they should be looking at and whether they should be in the market, period.”
An increase in mortgage rate from 6.5% to 7% on a $300,000 home in Philadelphia would mean a monthly payment that grows by about $130, Buchsbaum said.
“If that’s stopping me from buying a house, I probably shouldn’t be shopping for houses,” he said.
Buyers should also look into assistance programs they may qualify for.
Households should go into home buying with a plan for making their down payment, which can include saving more of their own money or getting grants or loans from governments, lenders, and nonprofits.
“The down payment is a challenge for many buyers,” Ruben said. “There’s no question about that.”
But buyers who can make bigger down payments get lower mortgage rates.
Be flexible, if possible
Rates can vary by location, so buyers with more flexibility in where they live can get lower rates.
Rates also vary by property type. Condos and duplexes come with higher interest rates than single-family homes, Lopez said.
Be prepared to compromise
With mortgage rates elevated, buyers should also keep in mind that a home they purchase now might not be their forever home, Schulz said. They may need to dial back their expectations and their budget in order to purchase.
First-time buyers, especially, can get on the first rung of the market ladder and start building home equity with the understanding that they can buy another home later that checks all their boxes.
“Tough times require compromise sometimes,” Schulz said.
The rate doesn’t tell the whole story
Homebuyers shouldn’t jump on a low interest rate without question.
Recently, a homebuyer asked Buchsbaum whether he could match an interest rate of 6.5% for a mortgage the buyer saw online. But in the fine print, the buyer would have had to pay discount points, or up-front fees to a lender, to buy down the rate to that level.
The buyer didn’t know about that caveat.
Buyers can get mortgage rates down fairly low if they pay enough points, Buchsbaum said, but “the juice isn’t worth the squeeze” in many cases. Buyers have to weigh whether they’ll stay in their home long enough that savings will make up for the up-front expense.
You don’t have to be stuck with one rate
Buyers who purchase homes now and get an elevated mortgage rate can pay to refinance their mortgage later if rates drop.
Also, more borrowers now are opting for adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) to get into homes, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. These loans come with lower initial interest rates than fixed-rate loans. After a period of time, rates adjust up or down based on the market.
Ruben said seven-year ARMs for 30-year periods are currently popular among WSFS’s mortgage borrowers. The interest rate stays the same for seven years and can adjust twice a year after that.
There’s a reason borrowers get a better initial rate: “They are assuming the risk of potentially higher rates in the future,” Ruben said.
But Ruben said WSFS is hopeful that rates will drop over the next several years to pre-pandemic norms. Rates in the high-4% to low-5% range for 30-year fixed-rate loans weren’t uncommon, he said.
“It’s a really unfortunate situation because home buying was already really unaffordable for an awful lot of people,” Schulz said.
WSFS tells mortgage borrowers “there are things they can control and there’s things that they can’t,” Ruben said. They can change their financial standing to some extent, but they can’t change broader market forces.
Buyers have to be realistic about their financial situations and the rates they’re likely to get, he said.
A group of alumni and students called on Haverford College to “preserve the rights to free speech and academic freedom” after the college settled a lawsuit alleging it allowed antisemitic speech on campus and failed to support Jewish students amid a rising tide of anti-Israel rhetoric.
In an open letter, nearly 340 alumni and students of Haverford, Swarthmore, and Bryn Mawr Colleges voiced opposition to the settlement, writing it would ”abrogate the rights of all Haverford community members to academic freedom, free speech, and the thoughtful exchange of ideas.”
Concerned Jewish Faculty and Staff, a Massachusetts-based membership organization of Jewish university employees, published the Sept. 14 letter, which states that its signatories“affirm the necessity of combating antisemitism and all other forms of prejudice” while being “particularly mindful of the safety and rights of Palestinian students.” The letter references an act of violence against a Palestinian student in 2023. Kinnan Abdalhamid, a West Bank-born Haverford College student, was shotin Vermont that year.
The letter comes as the Trump administration has threatened sanctions and launched investigations into antisemitism on college campuses in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war and ensuing campus protests, actions that some advocacy groups say have suppressed pro-Palestinian speech on campus.
Haverford was sued in 2024 by a group of Jewish students, faculty, parents, and alumni represented by the Deborah Project, a pro-Israel legal group based in Merion Station that has filed suits against a number of schools and universities since the start of the war in 2023.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, said Haverfordstudents faced discrimination for supporting Israel, including not being allowed to speak during campus-wide gatherings and being disrupted by bullhorns and cowbells during a meeting about antisemitism.
Ally Landau, a plaintiff and a student at the time of the lawsuit,alleged she was pressured to cancel an event promoting antisemitism awareness as it would prove “too antagonistic to the pro-Palestinian students on campus.”
After the lawsuit was initially dismissed by a federal judge, the students filed an updated complaint, andthe college settled with the Deborah Project in August. Under the settlement terms, Haverford College president Wendy Raymond released a public letter affirming the college’s support of Jewish, Israeli, and Zionist students. The college confirmed that campus events hosted by Jewish or Israeli students would receive the same security as other campus programs and agreed to form an antisemitism committee and require annual antisemitism awareness training for students, faculty, and staff.
The alumni and students who signed the Sept. 14 letter say the settlement designates supporters of one particular political belief, Zionism, as a protected class, a move they describe as stifling legitimate political debate and misrepresenting the beliefs of many Jewish people. The group wrote that the settlement follows a larger trend “in which organizations like the Deborah Project, together with politically-motivated operatives in the Trump administration, have weaponized accusations of antisemitism in order to silence criticism of Israel on campus.”
Lori Lowenthal Marcus, the Deborah Project’s legal director, said in an email that accusing the organization of weaponizing antisemitism “evokes the rank racism of the pre-Civil Rights era when racists demanded the law not be used to shield Black Americans from harassment and other harms.”
The student and alumni group has no legal standing to make demands regarding the settlement,Lowenthal Marcus wrote. She added that they “could be subject to legal action if they insist on continuing on their path of tortious interference.”
“Thank them for supplying their names and affiliations, so we know how to reach them,” Lowenthal Marcus wrote.
Dominic Mercier, a spokesperson for Haverford College, wrote in an email that the college understands “that the settlement has evoked strong feelings from many community members, both positive and negative,” and that it is unable to share the settlement in its entirety.
The settlement did not change the college’s civil rights policy, nor did it change its official list of protected classes, which does not list Zionism, according to Mercier’s email. Community members are not prohibited from criticizing Israel or Zionist beliefs, but the college “prohibits conduct that crosses the line from protected speech into discrimination or harassment on the basis of a protected class,” Mercier wrote.
Academic freedom and freedom of expression “remain central to our shared experience and community expectations, and are not in tension with our continued commitment to be a campus free from acts of harassment and discrimination against any community members,” Mercier wrote.
Raymond, in her August letter, wrote that all students, including those who support Zionism, are “welcome and enjoy equal access to the College and all of its educational programs and activities” and that acts of discrimination against Jewish, Israeli, and Zionist students “violate College policy and are antithetical to Haverford’s mission, values, and standards.”
The alumni and student letter called on Haverford to declare that the college’s nondiscrimination and anti-harassment policies extend to Palestinian students. It also included demands that the college include material related to Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism in its annual Title VI training and ensure that antisemitism training does not “equate Jewishness with support for Israel, nor erase the existence of Palestinians.”
The letter also asked Haverford to affirm that members of a newly established antisemitism committee would not include individuals unaffiliated with the college.
The committee, whose members were announced the same day the letter was published, includes two Haverford professors; a member of the college’s board of managers; a student; the college’s director of interfaith life and practice; the director of the Rohr Center for Jewish Life; and a Haverford alumnus.
It will also include two members not directly affiliated with Haverford: Michael Balaban, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, and Jeremy Winaker, a rabbi and the executive director of the Greater Philly Hillel Network, which serves Haverford’s Jewish Student Union.
Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify that Haverford College and The Deborah Project settled an updated complaint after an initial complaint was dismissed.
Fifteen years ago, Chris Pieretti was just trying to get people to come around on compost.
Now, the Upper Darby resident and compost aficionado spends his days traversing the region in his truck, collecting a potpourri of food scraps in green buckets, and turning eggshells, banana peels, and coffee grounds intoa nutrient-rich, soil-like product.
Pieretti is behind Kitchen Harvest, which collects compostable materials and processes them on a five-acre site at Linvilla Orchards in Delaware County. Kitchen Harvest is, in Pieretti’s words, part of “a better, more sustainable future of a full-circle food system.”
It is part of a growing network of providers and composters across the Philadelphia region who are working to reduce waste and improve food system circularity, where scraps of food once grown in the Earth can return to it, fertilizing soil for new crops.
With Haverford Township debuting its municipal compost program this summer, joining Media and Swarthmore, among other municipalities, compost purveyors say the practice is breaking out of its crunchy origins and becoming a key part of the region’s waste management strategy.
Chris Pieretti holds a compost bag at Kitchen Harvest in Delaware County. Pieretti is working with local homes and municipalities to compost food scraps and yard waste. Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
What is composting?
Composting is the process of recycling organic materials like food scraps and yard waste, breaking them down into a brown, soil-like material called compost, and using that material in farms and gardens to enrich other plants and crops.
The composting process happens on micro and macro scales — in small home gardens and at multi-acre sites like Kitchen Harvest’s.
Compost advocates tout both its environmental and agricultural benefits. In the U.S., food is the single most common material sent to landfills, where it is responsible for 58% of methane emissions, a powerful greenhouse gas, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Adding compost to soil increases its nutrient content, conserves water by helping retain moisture, and reduces reliance on chemical fertilizers, the EPA says.
“Food is only wasted when we throw it in the trash. It’s our choice to dispose of it in that method, but we don’t have to,” said Gwenn Nolan, founder of Mother Compost, a company that collects compost material throughout the Philly suburbs and brings it to the Kitchen Harvest site at Linvilla.
Going from ‘crunchy’ to ‘waste management strategy’
Many compost enthusiasts have a similar story: What started as a backyard experiment grew, through trial and error, into a way of life and, for some, a career.
Nolan, of Mother Compost, got her start asking 10 friends on the Main Line to try composting so she could test demand for a compost collection service. She bought a small truck, picking up the bins of food scraps early in the morning before heading to her job in financial services. After the pandemic, residential demand ballooned, and Nolan made Mother Compost her full-time job. Now, the company serves around 1,500 homes; schools including Bryn Mawr College and Villanova University; culinary institutions including Reading Terminal Market; and corporate offices.
Nolan collects compost in her truck and carts it out to Pieretti, whom she calls “the master mixologist,” for processing.
“It’s really exciting to see the commercial side and the institutional side coming online as well,” Nolan said. “It’s becoming more a piece of the waste management strategy than just this kind of crunchy, environmental practice that I think people thought about it before.”
Kate Jacoby, who runs Center City vegan restaurant Vedge with her husband, Rich Landau, is one of Nolan’s loyal customers. Jacoby began composting in her small Philadelphia backyard during the pandemic, expanding her home compost operation when the couple moved to Chester County in 2021 and, eventually, bringing composting to the Vedge kitchen.
“I get such a satisfaction knowing that it’s going to go into the soil and it’s not going to sit in a landfill,” Jacoby said.
Foods scraps like banana peels, onion skins, and lemons are turned into compost. JESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer
An expanding suburban compost network
As compost accessibility grows, so, too, does the number of municipal governments offering compost services to residents.
“The community at-large really supported the idea, and the participation was really high,” Pieretti said of Media.
Many suburban programs have followed in the footsteps of Bennett Compost, which has been serving the city of Philadelphia since 2009.
Lower Merion in 2025 debuted both a community drop-off and a curbside pickup pilot program through Mother Compost and Bennett Compost. Swarthmore Borough launched a curbside compost program through EZComposting in January.
When Haverford Township launched its Kitchen Harvest partnership this summer, Pieretti felt like he had “won the compost championship.”
In July, Haverford Township collected 162 tons of organic material, an increase of 111 tons from last July, according to township manager Dave Burman, who called the program “pretty successful.” The township also collected 141 fewer tons of trash this July than the year prior.
Haverford Township’s program is optional, with no additional cost or registration process for residents.
“We’ve tried to make it as easy as we could for people to participate, and so far, so good,” Burman said.
Buckets of finished compost at the Kitchen Harvest site at Linvilla Orchards. Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
At its best, proponents say, compost creates a circular system. Much of Kitchen Harvest’s compost product is used by Linvilla Orchards to feed the crops, and composters can buy back bags of the finished product at a discounted rate.
Sarah Linvill, team member at Linvilla, said the farm is grateful to work with Kitchen Harvest and to “be hosts for that kind of work.”
Composting services are “just invaluable to the community,” Linvill said.
Nolan called Linvilla “a tremendous resource for the region” when it comes to compost.
Composters like Jacoby, of Vedge, say they now cannot imagine a world where they simply toss an apple core into the trash.
“If you really, really dig down and want to get kind of philosophical about it,” Jacoby said, “when your soil is healthy and it’s full of nutrients, you’re going to have better-tasting food for yourself to consume.”
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Davina Neuson has been haunted for years by questions about the killing of her son Armand Hayes, who was fatally shot outside a West Philadelphia bar in 2022.
She never understood how the fight that ended her 30-year-old son’s life escalated into murder.
Now, finally, she may get an answer.
Lawrence Cary, 44, was arrested in late August and charged with murder and related crimes in connection with Hayes’ killing after the men got into a bar fight the evening of Aug. 15, 2022, according to court documents. He is set to appear Monday before Judge Gregory O. Yorgey-Girdy for a preliminary hearing.
“I don’t know how to put it into words,” Neuson said. “I’ve waited four years for this moment.”
Hayes, known by many as “Ace,” was a father of two daughters and beloved by his family, Neuson said.
He attended Strayer University and Philadelphia Community College and had been working as a compressor operator for Philadelphia Gas Works when he was killed.
“Ace was a genuinely good person, he had a personality that could light up a room,” Neuson said. “A smile of his was unforgettable.”
Neuson said she never has been able to stop wondering about his last moments.
Police investigators said Cary and Hayes got into a physical altercation around 11:45 p.m. in the Asmara Lounge on Haverford Avenue, not far from where Hayes was found laying in the street with multiple gunshot wounds through his body.
He was taken to nearby Lankenau Hospital and pronounced dead shortly after his arrival.
A photo of Armand Hayes.Davina Neuson
Surveillance footage showed Cary leaving the bar after the altercation and driving in the area of 64th and Vine streets, near where Hayes was found wounded, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.
Investigators later learned that Cary, seated in the driver’s seat of his Chevrolet Trailblazer, fired multiple shots from a handgun out his passenger window when he encountered Hayes, the document says.
Earlier in the evening, Hayes had told a bartender that Cary had bitten him during the scuffle, according to the document.
Investigators soon identified Cary using eyewitnesses, surveillance footage, and receipts from the bar marked with his name.
And in 2023, they learned that a week after the killing, Cary’s Trailblazer had been given a new title and gifted to another man who registered the vehicle in the name of a Bryn Mawr woman. The man asked the woman to do that for insurance purposes, according to the affidavit.
Neuson, Hayes’ mother, said she did not believe that Cary and her son knew each other before the incident.
She still cannot comprehend why her son’s life was taken.
“What hurts the most is knowing his life was taken so suddenly,” she said. “He had so much more life to live, so many more memories to make, so many people who loved him.”
Many of those people will be present in court as Cary’s case works through the system, Neuson added.
Cary is being held at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility and was denied bail.
September is concert season. Summer tours are still going, while fall tours are just getting started. This week in Philly music features both Charli XCX and Rod Wave launching tours in South Philly, plus Lil Wayne in Camden, John Fogerty and Steve Winwood in Atlantic City, Iron Maiden in Hershey, and Margo Price in King of Prussia.
Friday, Sept. 11
Charli XCX
“Yeah, we’re on to the next, I think the dance floor is dead,” Charli XCX sings on the opening track of her new album. “So now we’re making rock music.” The pivot isn’t quite radical for the woman behind the Brat summer of 2024. There is still music you can dance to on Music, Fashion, Film, the whip-smart British pop star’s eighth album, which represents its three titular disciplines with a photo of John Cale, Marc Jacobs, and Martin Scorsese on the cover. What will this tour look and sound like? I can hardly wait to find out. 8 p.m. Xfinity Mobile Arena, 3601 S. Broad St., xfinitymobilearena.com.
Rapper Lil Wayne performs during the Roots Picnic Philadelphia at The Mann in Fairmount Park on Sunday, June 2, 2024.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne has released 14 albums since making his debut in 1999 with Tha Block Is Hot. Six of those releases have been Tha Carter iterations, most recently with Tha Carter VI in 2025. (The New Orleans rapper’s given name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr.) Wayne is calling this concert trek, which has 2 Chainz as the opening act, the “Carter Classics Tour,” meaning he will focus on selections from those six albums, no doubt including cuts like “A Milli,” “Lollipop,” “Mrs. Officer,” and “Money on My Mind.” 8 p.m., Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, 1 Harbour Blvd., Camden, freedommortgagepavilion.com.
Mdou Moctar
Nigerien Tuareg guitar hero Mdou Moctar comes to Bryn Mawr for an outdoor show under a gazebo. This solo show is likely to draw from Tears of Injustice, Moctar’s 2025 reworking of his 2024 electric album Funeral for Injustice. Always intriguing Philly guitarist Tim Motzer opens. 7 p.m., Bryn Mawr Twilight Concerts, 9 S. Bryn Mawr Ave., Bryn Mawr, brynmawrtwilightconcerts.com.
John Fogerty & Steve Winwood
Last year, John Fogerty released Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years, an album of new versions of his old songs. That might have seemed cheesy coming from another artist, but Fogerty spent decades battling to regain control of his music, finally winning ownership of his songs in 2023. For the “Legacy Tour,” the “Proud Mary” and “Fortunate Son” songwriter is teaming up with his late-1960s contemporary Steve Winwood, who has his own legacy with the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, and his “Higher Love” solo career. 8 p.m., Ovation Hall, Ocean Resort, 500 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, theoceanac.com.
Jeff Bradshaw plays the National Anthem before Sixers play Game 6 against the Celtics in a first-round NBA playoffs basketball series Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Philadelphia. Bradshaw will perform as part of the Atlantic City Jazz Festival this weekend.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Friday, Sept. 11 to Sunday, Sept. 13
Atlantic City Jazzfest
This smooth jazz weekend takes place at Sound Waves at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City. On Friday, Memphis sax player Kirk Whalum headlines a show hosted by Patty Jackson. Saturday, Philly trombonist Jeff Bradshaw tops the bill, and on Sunday morning, sax man Reggie E. Harris makes a jazz brunch go down easy. 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 11 a.m. Sunday at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, 1000 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, theatlanticcityjazzfest.com.
Margo Price plays Concerts Under the Stars in King of Prussia on Saturday.Yana Yatsuk
Saturday, Sept. 12
Ray LaMontagne
Last week at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Ray LaMontagne collapsed on stage, leaving audience members fearing for his life. But no worries: The cause apparently was dehydration, and the New Hampshire-born rustic rock songwriter, who is on tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of his Trouble album, was back on stage the next night in Louisville. Tara Lindeman’s environmentally conscious Canadian folk-rock band the Weather Station opens. 8 p.m., Met Philly, 858 N. Broad St., themetphilly.com.
Spring Garden Sunflower Fest
This third annual free fest — on Fairmount Avenue, not Spring Garden Street — will feature a full day of bands and DJs. Rising indie songwriter Maxwell Stern & the Good Light Band headline, and the lineup includes Celtic folk and Americana group the John Byrne Band, salsa group Un Toque de Cache, and a performance by the youngsters of Rock to the Future. Noon, Fairmount Avenue between 17th and 19th Sts., springgardensunflowerfest.com.
Margo Price
Margo Price got back to her country roots on Hard-Headed Woman, her 2025 album that includes a George Jones cover called “I Just Don’t Give a Damn.” It also offers some life advice with “Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down,”which was written with her husband, Jeremy Ivey, and Rodney Crowell, plus a posthumous Kris Kristofferson credit. Price is calling this her “Wild at Heart Tour,” and Ivey opens the show. 7 p.m., Concerts Under the Stars, King of Prussia, 175 W. Valley Forge Road, King of Prussia, concertsunderthestarskop.com.
Saturday, Sept. 12 and Monday, Sept. 14
Rod Wave
Trap-soul rapper and singer Rod Wave — born Rodarius Green — has been rising so high of late it’s no wonder he’s titled his new album and tour “Don’t Look Down.” The St. Petersburg, Fla., native cites Tupac Shakur and Kanye West as influences on one hand, and Ed Sheeran and Adele on the other. He last played an arena show in South Philly in December, and now is back for two more to kick off the tour in support of the 24-track Don’t Look Down, which came out last month. Philly hip-hop singer Francis Leblanc — better known as Friday — is the opener. 8 p.m., Xfinity Mobile Arena, 3601 S. Broad St., xfinitymobilearena.com.
FILE – Sandra Denton, left, and Cheryl James, of Salt-N-Pepa, perform at the IHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles on March 26, 2026. Salt-N-Pepa play the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion on Sunday. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)Chris Pizzello
Sunday, Sept. 13
TLC, Salt-N-Pepa & En Vogue
This triple bill — dubbed the “It’s Iconic Tour” — teams up three acts that were standout women in hip-hop and R&B beginning in the 1980s and into the 2000s. In their prime, TLC included Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, who grew up in the Logan section of Philadelphia and died in a car crash in Honduras in 2002. Some dates on the tour so far have not included TLC’s Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and have gone on with only Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas because Watkins has been ill with what the band’s manager called “a sickle cell crisis.” Hip-hop heroines Salt-N-Pepa, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2025, are co-headliners. Vocal group En Vogue opens. 7:30 p.m., Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, 1 Harbour Blvd, Camden, FreedomMortgagePavilion.com.
Canadian musician Rufus Wainwright returns after speaking to broadcasters outside Christ Church Cathedral for the National Commemorative Ceremony in honour of Queen Elizabeth II, in Ottawa, Ontario, on Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. He plays three nights at City Winery Philadelphia next week. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)Justin Tang / AP
Tuesday, Sept. 15
Iron Maiden
British heavy metallers Iron Maiden was formed in East London in 1975. Now the Bruce Dickinson-fronted band is on its 50th-anniversary “Run for Your Lives World Tour,” which kicked off last year and makes its way to Hershey on Tuesday. Megadeth opens. 7:15 p.m., Hersheypark Stadium, 100 W. Hersheypark Drive, Hershey, hersheyentertainment.com.
Rufus Wainwright
Rufus Wainwright is always up to something interesting. There’s Hadrian, his opera about the last day of a Roman emperor, Dream Requiem, the singer and pianist’s work based on a text by Lord Byron, and recent albums like Unfollow the Rules in 2020 and Folkocracy in 2023, as well as projects like Rufus Does Judy (Garland), Rufus Does (Kurt) Weill. (How about Rufus does Kurt Vile? Now there’s an idea.) On Tuesday, Wainwright begins a three-night stand in which he can do whatever he wants. 7:30 p.m., City Winery Philadelphia, 990 Filbert St., citywinery.com/philadelphia.
This fall’s restaurant openings reflect an industry hedging its bets: established operators expanding into the suburbs and repurposing familiar spaces, and newcomers pursuing narrowly drawn concepts built around omakase, caviar, Korean barbecue, cocktails, and live-fire cooking.
I count about five dozen restaurants in the region’s pipeline, with Italian concepts (no surprise), all-day service, and experience-driven dining recurring throughout the list. In addition to 60 restaurants opening between now and late December, two other restaurants are expanding: Lovat Square in Chestnut Hill is adding dinners and Palm Vintage across from City Hall is adding nighttime sushi service.
By comparison, last year’s fall roundup covered 53 restaurants. All of those opened except for three that are now a full year behind schedule: Adda in Fishtown is shooting for October, Ayat near Rittenhouse Square is aiming for November, and Brunch Bulls in Point Breeze is targeted for December. (Although this year has seen its share of closings, especially among longstanding restaurants, each of last fall’s restaurants is still open.)
Brand new and notable
Aogami (4343 Main St.): Underground sushi is coming to Manayunk as chef Tom LoMonte joins chef Moon Krapukthong to offer a 16-course omakase in a 20-seat BYOB setting beneath Krapukthong’s Yanako and neighboring Chabaa Thai Bistro, starting Sept. 25. LoMonte — a veteran of Zama, Izakaya by Yanaga, Pod, and Yanaga Kappo Izakaya — will lead the omakases at 6 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; reserved sushi-bar seatings will run Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays alongside hand rolls and à la carte service. LoMonte describes the atmosphere as energetic and less formal than typical omakase counters. Upstairs, Yanako will continue serving rolls, sushi platters, udon, tempura, and yakitori.
The Buttery (1099 Germantown Ave.): Malvern-based bakery and cafe the Buttery is preparing a Philadelphia location at Piazza Alta in Northern Liberties, near Scusi and Terra Grill. It recently opened a Bryn Mawr location and expanded its original Malvern operation into dinner service with Neapolitan pizza and shareable plates. An opening date has not yet been shared.
Nick & Nora’s Oyster Dive (560 Stokes Rd., Medford): Michael and Jeniphur Pasquarello (La Chinesca, Piccolina) are bringing a raw bar and American kitchen to a corner space with a large deck at Ironstone Village. The broader menu will include steak frites, burgers, fish, vegetables, and small plates, says Michael Pasquarello, who hopes to open in 60 to 90 days.
Chef Chaz Brown (left) is partnered with his brother Clifford Brown (center) and John Skeele in Rumblefish, 1700 N. Third St.Mike Prince
Rumblefish(1700 N. Third St.): Chef Chaz Brown is targeting November for this 900-square-foot, fast-casual Caribbean fish-fry restaurant at Third Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue. Brown — a Trinidadian American chef whose resumé includes Nobu, Le Bec-Fin, Fatty Crab, and television’s Top Chef — will focus on invasive species such as lionfish, snakehead, green crab, and Chesapeake Bay blue catfish when available. (The catfish turned heads at the recent Oxtail Exchange at Forman Arts Initiative.) Brown uses gluten-free corn flour with Trinidadian spice blends and serves the fish on po’boy-style rolls baked by Angelo’s Bakery in Conshohocken. The mostly takeout operation will have counter seating, a 25-seat covered patio, slaws, fries, sea-moss drinks, and Solo Kola Champagne.
Pennsylvania suburbs
Alessandro’s Enoteca (915 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr): Alex Fiorello’s third restaurant will bring a bar-focused Italian concept to the former Enoteca Tredici space in Bryn Mawr Village in mid-to-late October. Fiorello and culinary director Matt Arcomone, whose resumé includes Osteria, Vetri, and Palladino’s, are planning house-made pastas, wood-fired pizzas, live-fire cooking, and dry-aged meats. It’s intended to have a stronger evening and bar scene than Fiorello’s Wayne restaurants.
Bruzi (281 Montgomery Ave., Bala Cynwyd): Two couples with Calabrian roots plan to open this Southern Italian restaurant in the former Aldar Bistro in late fall. Expect house-made pastas and Calabrian dishes such as fusilli with slow-cooked meat sauce, baked lamb, and grilled tuna, plus cocktails and an opening list of about 100 Italian wines.
Capperini (137 S. Easton Rd., Glenside): Eastern Montco will get an upscale Italian-Mediterranean destination with a liquor license from Ilya Vorobey and partners including members of the team behind Capri in Queen Village. Vorobey is aiming for October or November.
Casa de Fehu, 482 Jacksonville Rd., Hatboro.Michael Klein / Staff
Casa de Fehu (482 Jacksonville Rd., Hatboro): Hatboro couple Anthony Shalamov and Anastasia De Roy are developing this polished restaurant with European-inspired cooking and an upscale atmosphere, possibly with a tie-in to a local brewery that would allow alcoholic drinks. Shalamov is targeting an October soft opening.
Cecilia (266 E. Fourth St., Bridgeport): The team behind Blue Bell Inn and the Copper Crow is just about ready to open this contemporary American bar-restaurant in the extensively renovated former Taphouse 23. The roomy property includes a large patio and a wood-burning oven. The menu emphasizes familiar American dishes, positioning this as an all-purpose neighborhood destination.
Donatelli’s (1 Washington Ave., Newtown): Restaurateur Habib Troudi, who owns Panache and Ristorante Castelloin Blue Bell, is behind a top-to-bottom overhaul of the former Rocco’s at the Brick in downtown Newtown. He said he is hoping to open the Italian steakhouse in October.
Rendering of the Garden by Pieri Winery, 127 E. Elm St., in Conshohocken.Courtesy of Christina Pieri
The Garden by Pieri Winery (127 E. Elm St., Conshohocken): Winery owner Christina Pieri and restaurateur Brian Pieri (StoneRose, Bar Lucca, Cerdo) are targeting a mid-October opening of their year-round indoor-outdoor restaurant beside the Schuylkill River Trail, an offshoot of Christina’s Coopersburg winery. A wood-fired kitchen will serve seasonal American food, including brick-oven pizzas, focaccia sandwiches, salads, steaks, and fish, at lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday. The property will include a covered patio, fire tables, a turf area, and pickleball and bocce courts.
The Hungry Hub (11 S. Orange St., Media): Media native Cassidy Moretti and her mother, Glenda, are taking over the former Rivalry Cafe with a family-run breakfast and lunch operation. The Hungry Hub also plans later hours and a late-night menu, broadening its role beyond that of a conventional daytime cafe. An Oct. 1 opening has been announced.
The Iron Oven (58 S. York Rd., Hatboro): Alex Nalbandian’s Southampton bar-restaurant — known for an expansive American menu, cocktails, craft beer, brunch, and dishes ranging from wings and burgers to flatbreads and entrees — is adding a second location in eastern Montco: the former Ross & Co. He’s aiming at November.
Lazy Dog(160 N. Gulph Rd., King of Prussia): The California-based bar, known for Rocky Mountain lodge imagery and a broad American menu, is targeting late 2026 at the King of Prussia Mall.
Luna (129 E. Butler Ave., Ambler): FineLine Hospitality, which recently opened Academy Grill in Fort Washington, is behind a stylish revamp of Dettera in downtown Ambler. Chef Marie Lavizzo-Mourey will base her menu on the 20-plus countries bordering the Mediterranean. The project is on track for fall.
Martini & Roz(523 W. Lancaster Ave., Wayne): Fearless Restaurants is turning Wayne’s former Bertucci’s into an ambitious, 300-seat Southern Italian restaurant named for founder Marty Grims’ parents, Martin and Roslyn. Menu will include crudo, oysters, steaks and chops, wood-fired pizzas, house-made pastas, and charcuterie. It will feature two open kitchens, a cheese cave, a tasting counter, and extensive outdoor seating.
Maru (2922 Conestoga Rd., Glenmoore): David Backhus and the team behind the former Oori restaurants are in the early days of a fast-casual Korean-inspired restaurant at their former Collective Coffee & Bakery. Think Korean fried chicken sandwiches, wings, and tenders, supplemented by mochi doughnuts and specialty Collective coffee.
Nudy’s Cafe (122 Park Ave., Willow Grove): Prolific suburban breakfast-and-lunch operator Ray Nudy hopes for late September for his latest diner, across from Marshalls in Willow Grove.
Old Friend (166 E. Lancaster Ave., Wayne): Childhood friends Larry Kagan and Chas McFeely are behind this contemporary American grill, with former Fork executive chef Sam Henzy leading the kitchen. The 86-seat restaurant will center on live-fire cooking in a Josper oven, with dry-aged fish, poultry, and larger proteins intended for sharing. Its compact wine list will be closely tied to the food. A late-fall opening is planned in the Apartments at Wayne Station.
Opus (201 Birch St., Kennett Square): Square Roots Collective will open this 125-seat New American restaurant Sept. 11 in the former temporary home of Hank’s Place, next to the Artelo hotel. Executive chef Matthew Anderson, formerly of Longwood Gardens and Winterthur, plans seasonal dishes, such as Kennett Square mushroom bisque, butternut squash agnolotti, herb gnocchi, and dayboat scallops. The two-story space includes a cocktail lounge, terraces, and work by local artists. Profits will support community projects and nonprofits.
Salt (840 W. Lancaster Ave., Devon): Rich Kim of North Wales’ acclaimed Salt predicts late December for his redevelopment of Devon’s former La Jonquille and Shiraz property into a second Korean barbecue concept, followed in 2027 by Yugo, a carousel sushi restaurant, upstairs.
The Still on State (18 W. State St., Doylestown): Only days open at the Doylestown Inn, this Irish pub-inspired bar/restaurant fills the former Hattery Stove & Still space; it’s paired with an on-site microdistillery called the Tilted Brim.
Taco Heart (120 Coulter Ave., Ardmore): Nano Wheedan is bringing his South Philadelphia breakfast-taco shop to the Ardmore Farmers Market, its first expansion beyond its East Passyunk-area home. Expect Austin-style flour tortillas and breakfast tacos built around eggs, potatoes, beans, bacon, brisket, and house salsas. Opening is set for Oct. 5.
Top Dog Cocktails (110 E. State St., Kennett Square, and 2012 Frankford Ave., Fishtown): Ken Smuckler’s cocktail company plans two vinyl listening rooms this fall inspired by Japanese jazz kissas. Kennett Square’s 750-square-foot space partners with local music venue Kennett Flash, while Fishtown’s 350-square-foot flagship — arguably the neighborhood’s smallest bar — will feature a 15-seat bar, two-turntable DJ station, and retail.
Tusk (50 N. Main St., Doylestown): Mike and Joy Grafenstine, owners of Roberts Block in Glenside and Bonnet Lane Family Restaurant in Abington, are taking over the former Water’s Edge wine bar, combining the martini-and-wine-bar airs of Roberts Block with approachable upscale American comfort food. Target is October.
Vintner’s Table (24 Cricket Ave., Ardmore): Andrea and Marco Folino, behind Kutztown’s Folino Estate Winery, are opening a third location of their Italian-inspired wine bar, salumeria, and lifestyle boutique in downtown Ardmore in October.
New Jersey suburbs
Akira 70 Omakase (249 Marlton Pike, Cherry Hill): Ming “Frank” Zheng is expanding his Japanese holdings — he owns Akira Sushi in Voorhees and Moorestown — with an omakase experience in a former fur salon.
Banjara Indian Bistro (687-689 Berlin-Cross Keys Rd., Sicklerville): Vaneet Chopra, whose family operates Cross Culture in Haddonfield and previously ran Banjara in Chestnut Hill, is bringing the Banjara name to Sicklerville; its dine-in starts Thursday.
Freckled Jawn Brewing(1003 N. Evergreen Ave., Woodbury): Woodbury residents John Wagner and Colleen Gibson are taking over the former Eight & Sand Beer Co., which closed in June after 10 years. Targeting the first week of October, the brewery will introduce new branding and a fresh lineup of approachable beers, emphasizing natural and locally sourced ingredients when possible.
Irishtown Steaks (155 S. Burlington St., Gloucester City): Donkey’s Placealumnus Dave Murphy is targeting Halloween for his steak shop, joining recent Gloucester City entries Lillo’s and Pudge’s Pub. Murphy will use rolls from Boaggio’s, which has a bakery in town.
Penny’s Bagels (212 Kings Highway East, Haddonfield): Chris Fetfatzes and the Happy Monday Hospitality Group (Wine Dive, Grace & Proper) are developing this long-delayed bagel shop in downtown Haddonfield, now with an October target.
Pizzeria Cusumano (872 Haddon Ave., Collingswood): Announced back in September 2021, this passion project from South Jersey’s Sal Cusumano is finally about to start offering his Roman-inspired squares and neo-New York rounds, but “I don’t want to box myself into a certain style.” Cusumano, a third-generation pizzaiolo, is planning a small shop with limited seating. This week, he said it will open in October for sure.
Philadelphia
Adda (1700 Frankford Ave.): New York’s Unapologetic Foods — behind Dhamaka, Semma, and the original Adda — is bringing its energetic Indian cooking to Fishtown, across from the 19125 post office. Expect regional dishes in an informal setting, continuing the restaurant group’s practice of pushing beyond familiar Indian American standards. Originally expected in fall 2025, the Philadelphia location is now targeting an October opening.
Ayat (2021 Sansom St.): Abdul Elenani’s New York-based Palestinian restaurant — first announced in spring 2024 — is looking at a November opening in the former Roxy Theater near Rittenhouse Square. Ayat is known for generous portions of mansaf, maklouba, mezze, grilled meats, and other homestyle Palestinian dishes.
The bar at Bar Caviar, 256 S. 16th St.Kenneth Schutz
Bar Caviar (256 S. 16th St.): Opening in early October in the Dwight D Hotel in Rittenhouse, this bar will pair caviar and seafood with 50 varieties of Champagne and a full wine program in a setting that’s more neighborhood than hushed luxury lounge. Executive chef Greg Vassos’ contemporary American menu, informed by classical French technique and Japanese precision, will feature raw-bar selections, caviar-focused dishes, and seasonal small plates. The restaurant also will operate Parallel, a caviar program emphasizing careful sourcing and extended maturation. In 2027, Vassos plans to follow with Fall Line, a Mid-Atlantic-focused tasting-menu restaurant.
Brunch Bulls (1638 W. Passyunk Ave.): Brothers Derrick “Dee” Long and Jarrick “Jakk” Long are behind this all-day brunch/dinner/dessert restaurant in Point Breeze. They say they’ll be open by December.
Call Your Mother (262 S. 19th St., 1500 Frankford Ave., 12th and Sansom Streets): The lively, Washington-based “Jew-ish” bagel chain is making a three-location push into Philadelphia, starting this week with its Fishtown debut. Menu includes bagel sandwiches, schmears, latkes, coffee, and deli-inspired specials.
Carolyn’s Modern Vietnamese (2015 Walnut St.): This week, chef Carolyn Nguyen opens her deeply personal successor to Revolution Taco, which she co-owned in the space for a decade. Her menu brings together her family’s Vietnamese cooking, the seafood boils and Southern food of her Louisiana childhood, French culinary technique, and the freewheeling flavor combinations that defined her earlier ventures. The 33-seat restaurant serves dinner, and alcohol, in a spare, contemporary dining room.
Corte (1175 Ludlow St.):Corio partners Ryan Mulholland, chef David Feola, and James Smith are taking over the former Mulherin’s Pizzeria at East Market, between Iron Hill Brewery and Mi Vida. Feola will lead a menu built around house-made pastas plus proteins, vegetables, and small plates cooked in the large Mugnaini wood-burning oven. Mulholland will oversee daily operations and oversee an Old World-leaning wine list and cocktails inspired partly by forgotten recipes from century-old books. The dark-wood, earth-toned restaurant is targeting a fall opening.
DiDi (3748 Lancaster Ave.): DanDan owners Kevin and Catherina “Cat” Huang say they are “within a month or two” of opening their fast-casual pan-Asian concept at the Triad apartment building in Powelton Village. DiDi will join Kabobeesh, Karak Cha House, Shibam Coffee, Two Locals Brewing, and other businesses in the growing complex at 38th and Lancaster.
Divers Club (733 S. Fourth St.): Queen Village is in line to get a neighborhood wine bar from Susan Freeman, Chris Fetfatzes, and Heather Annechiarico (Grace & Proper, Wine Dive) in a former hair salon that sits on the same stretch as Famous 4th Street, Southwark, Ambra, and Fitz on 4th. Fetfatzes describes the mood as “dark, scrappy, and European — somewhere between a Paris backstreet wine bar and a graffitied Berlin hangout.”
Eggcetera Haus (625 S. Sixth St.): Husband-and-wife team Rey Tamaka and Vina Kencana soon will turn the former Redcrest Kitchen into an all-day bar-restaurant. Tamaka, previously the chef at an Old City brunch restaurant, plans breakfast, lunch, and dinner, moving from specialty coffee and morning dishes into pastas, steaks, cocktails, and comfort food at night. The couple expects daily service, giving the Queen Village-Bella Vista border another full-day neighborhood option.
Field Day (923 N. Second St.): James Beard Award-winning bartender and author Danny Childs and his wife, Katie, have a fall opening targeted for their casual regional cocktail bar in Northern Liberties, next to Cescaphe Ballroom. Childs’ drinks will use locally farmed, foraged, and fermented ingredients. Executive chef Melissa McGrath, known for her work at the idled Sweet Amalia Market & Kitchen, will offer Pennsylvania Dutch-inspired snacks, sandwiches, and tomato pies. Highballs, house-made sodas, boozy gelati, and walk-in seating will help keep the mood informal.
Habibi Supper Club (1515 E. Passyunk Ave.): Miled Finianos is giving his itinerant Lebanese dinner series a permanent home on East Passyunk — possibly by the end of year — serving late breakfast and lunch before he offers ticketed, multicourse suppers.
HYO (1222 Walnut St.): Nightlife veteran Justin Jordan plans an October opening for this Korean tabletop barbecue restaurant behind Hearsay, his indoor-outdoor sidewalk bar and listening lounge. Guests will enter HYO through a phone booth inside Hearsay. The restaurant is part of Jordan’s multilevel entertainment complex, which also includes Celine and the forthcoming Chancellor Room event space and karaoke lounge.
Jean (161 W. Girard Ave.): Emmett chef Evan Snyder and partner Julian van der Tak are going upstairs with a 15-seat tasting menu restaurant opening this fall. Snyder and chef de cuisine Antonio Pizzo will prepare a 12-course menu centered on a 7-foot wood-burning hearth, drawing on Algeria, Tunisia, coastal Morocco, and the southern Mediterranean for culinary influences. A tagine will roast throughout dinner before being served family-style.
Kato (1832 Frankford Ave.): Mei Meichef-owner Jay Ho is taking over the former Izakaya Fishtown space for a restaurant inspired by his Taiwanese father and the food Ho grew up eating. Influences from Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese cooking will broaden the menu. Ho, who hopes to open in late fall, plans to retain the front bar while replacing the rear sushi counter with additional seating that can double as a private dining area.
Lovat Square(184 E. Evergreen Ave.): Former Four Seasons sommelier Damien Graef and journalist Robyn Semien opened this Chestnut Hill wine shop and tasting room in February, offering small-production bottles, wines by the glass, and light fare. The couple, who also own Brooklyn’s Bibber & Bell wine shop, will debut a full dinner menu by the end of September.
Macaluso’s (3101 S. 13th St.): Realtor Joel Gruenke and restaurateur Mark D’Andrea, long-ago roommates at Valley Forge Military Academy, are looking at an early October opening of this white-tablecloth Italian restaurant at 13th Street and Packer Avenue, near the sports complex. D’Andrea’s family owns RoadHouse in Staten Island, N.Y. Gruenke says the moderately priced menu will stick to traditional Italian cooking and offer a full bar. Parking will be available across the street.
Mylar Bar (1636-38 S. Ninth St.): Hospitality veterans Liv Arterbridge and Gina Piccari are turning the former Dino’s Party Center into a festive neighborhood bar inspired by the building’s history. They promise something nostalgic, playful, and deliberately unserious. Drinks will include martinis, punches, classics, and draft beer. Chef Colin White, formerly of Sally and Emmett, will oversee shareable “party snacks,” larger plates, and desserts available late.
Nippy’s on South (1312 South St.): Nurse and first-time restaurateur Nikia Peterson has purchased the former Ms. Tootsie’s building for an ambitious restaurant and bar. Peterson plans a polished setting with seafood towers, steaks, Asian and Caribbean influences, a substantial happy hour, and weekend brunch. The project will revive a prominent South Street property that had remained closed since restaurateur KeVen Parker’s death in 2021.
O’Morrey’s (1720 Sansom St.): Chefs Biff Gottehrer and Kenjiro Omori are developing a cocktail bar on the former site of Genji, the Japanese restaurant created by Omori’s father. The name is a cheeky rendering of the Omori family name. Plans call for a comfortable neighborhood bar in the spirit of the Ripplewood, where both chefs work, with cocktails and a serious food component. Their second joint project, Tako Taco, is months away at the former Bing Bing Dim Sum in South Philadelphia.
Palm Vintage (1414 S. Penn Square): Houston Yang and Mike Beja, who opened this day-to-night cafe and cocktail bar across from City Hall in the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, are close to expanding into a nighttime scene with cocktails, sushi, oysters, caviar, and light food in a lush, tropical-inspired room meant to offer an escape from Center City.
Panco (2300 S. Croskey St.): Chef Ryo Igarashi, whose background includes Tokio Global and Maru Global (noted for its takoyaki balls), is behind a corner shop in West Passyunk whose menu will focus on Japanese cutlets. He says it’s opening soon.
Philly Curio (2240 Frankford Ave.): Tattoo Arts Convention founder Troy Timpel is creating an intimate Kensington restaurant-bar around his private collection of curiosities (think tribal masks, skeletal displays, taxidermy, and glass-topped tables containing preserved animals). Inspired partly by Savannah’s Alligator Soul, Timpel has discussed a Cajun-Creole menu with small plates and unconventional proteins such as rattlesnake. Drinks are expected to include cocktails, wine, bottled beer, and limited drafts. Target is November.
Philly Po’Boy (102 W. Berks St.): Brothers Chris and Greg Lynch are bringing a taste of New Orleans to the storefront beneath the Berks station of the Market-Frankford Line. Chris spent years cooking in New Orleans, while Greg’s Philadelphia background includes Starr Restaurants and LMNO. Plans call for classic powdered-sugar-dusted beignets, gumbo, and a mix of classic and specialty po’boys like fried shrimp, oysters and roast beef “debris,” plus fries, Creole potato salad, and café au lait from coffee roasted by Applied Arts in New Orleans.
Santé Social(1546 E. Passyunk Ave.): Sommelier Daniel Solway is giving his roving dinner series a permanent home across from the Singing Fountain. The approximately 30-seat space will function less like a conventional restaurant than a flexible hospitality venue, hosting wine dinners, tastings, classes, collaborations, private events, and some walk-in service. Cocktails are being developed with Danny Childs of Slow Drinks and Field Day, while changing chefs and collaborators may shape the food programming.
Somedays Bakery (1601 Walnut St.): Hand-laminated croissants are the foundation of this Queens-rooted bakery, which deals in sandwiches, salads, soft serve, and coffee. It’s targeting the end of the month.
Thalassa (918 N. 28th St.): Matt Maltepes is looking at late October or early November for his Greek-inspired cafe in Fairmount that will serve baklava, croissants, and house-made ice cream in flavors that change weekly. Savory offerings will include small plates such as feta grilled cheese with honey, avocado toast, and bagels with cream cheese. The drinks menu will feature European-style coffee preparations, including frappes and Freddo espresso.
Looking ahead
Two major projects are now on the docket for January, as the owners don’t want to compete with the holiday-season madness:the Pelican Club, Stephen Starr’s flashy Greek-themed restaurant taking shape in the former Devon Seafood Grill on Rittenhouse Square, and the yet-to-be-named “punk French” restaurantthat chefs Justin Bogle and Arthur Cavaliere are creating at the former Winnie’s Manayunk.
The long-closed Mermaid Bar in Mount Airy will retain its name under the new ownership of pizzaiolo Dan Gutter and business partner Alex Carbonell of Circles & Squares and Pizza Plus. The project, announced earlier this year, is aiming at a summer 2027 rollout.
Some romantic rendezvous end in heartbreak, others in a $400 million lawsuit.
But that’s the fall out from the breakup between Oona Sperr, the daughter of the Please Touch Museum founder and a prominent Philadelphia architect, and an oil-tycoon from Texas.
In a tell-all lawsuit, Sperr, 64, accused billionaire Sid Bass of breaking financial promises he made to her throughout their relationship.
The New York City-based interior designer and Bass “lived together in a loving, committed relationship” since 2014 and “were very happy as a couple,” the suit says. The oil scion, has a net worth of $4.4 billion, promised Sperr that she would always be cared for financially and would receive ownership interest in his properties, according to the complaint.
The 84-year-old began declining physically and cognitively in 2023, the suit says. He previously suffered three mini-strokes, signs of Parkinson’s disease appeared in a brain scan, and his excessive drinking worsened his tremors, the complaint says.
Around that time, Althea Viafora Kress entered the picture.
Viafora Kress pursued Bass since late 2022 under the pretext that she needed advice on how to invest money she inherited, the suit says.
“Unbeknownst to Oona, Viafora Kress began grooming Sid and, at some point, achieved her goal of a coercive relationship with him, with devastating consequences for Oona and Sid’s partnership,” the complaint says.
After breakfast in September 2024, the suit says, Bass broke up with Sperr with two sentences: “I want a separation. You are to pack and leave.”
Sperr suspected that there was another woman, and in the following weeks she came to learn about Bass’ relationship with Viafora Kress.
Immediately after the breakup, the suit says, Bass promised his former paramour a lump-sum payment of $50 million, the smallest of their New York homes, another property of her choosing, continued staff support, and care for her mother, the 96-year-old founder of the Please Touch Museum, Portia Sperr.
These terms were less than Bass originally promised her, the complaint says. But in the following months, the commitment narrowed further.
Sperr received a “maintenance agreement” via email from Bass’ lawyer in January 2025 that included a commitment for annual payments of $5 million for 10 years, denied her ownership of any home, and declined to pay for her mother’s care, among other things, the suit says. The agreement was also accompanied with a nondisclosure agreement.
“In other words, what Sid was now proposing was that Oona … should be forced to depend entirely on Sid’s increasingly unpredictable whims, or, even more troubling, on the preferences of Viafora Kress,” the lawsuit says.
The Inquirer was unable to reach Bass and Viafora Kress, who are both named defendants in the lawsuit, which was filed in the Southern District of New York.
While a $400 million breakup is more than most could wrap their head around, it’s par for the course for Bass, the suit says.
The billionaire previously had two extremely expensive divorces.
Bass divorced his first wife, Anne Hendricks Bass, in 1988, leading to settlement that cost him $200 million to $500 million, the suit says. And in 2011 he divorced Mercedes Bass in an agreement that would allow her to sustain an “ultraluxury lifestyle,” according to the complaint.
“This is a case about broken promises,” Roberta Kaplan, Sperr’s attorney, said in a statement. “Oona is the woman who spent a decade making Sid’s life convenient — abandoning her career, managing their shared homes and affairs, caring for him through his serious illnesses — all because Sid agreed that he would take care of her and her 96-year-old mother no matter what.”
While Sperr comes from a more modest upbringing relative to the son of an oil dynasty, her family has a legacy of its own in Philadelphia.
Her father, Otto Sperr, was a prominent Rittenhouse Square architect. He died in 1998.
Portia Sperr was a Montessori educator who still lives in Philadelphia, the suit says.
Oona Sperr moved to Philadelphia when she was 2, and went on to graduate from the Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr. She then moved to New York to study architecture and embarked on a career as an interior designer.
But she abandoned that career after meeting Bass, opting to take care of him, their homes, and daily obligations because of a promise that she would never need to support herself or her mother independently.
“Sid has breached his promises by refusing to provide Oona with the property interests and financial support he agreed she would receive,” the suit says, “in exchange for her years of devotion to their partnership and her enormous contributions to the life they built together.”
Before you can understand Abington Township’s historically African American unincorporated community of Crestmont, you have to understand Willow Grove Park.
Not the mall with that name, but the Willow Grove Park that predates it: One of the largest and most famous amusement parks on the East Coast.
It opened in 1896, built by the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Co. It had roller coasters, a lake, restaurants, concerts, a massive music pavilion, and crowds pouring in.
It shaped the entire local economy and brought thousands of people out to the suburbs every week. A place like that needed labor. Real labor. Constant labor. And that’s where Crestmont’s story begins.
The “Welcome to Crestmont” sign sits directly across from the Willow Grove Mall.DJ Atkins
I didn’t grow up in Glenside or Willow Grove. I came out here for work, almost 15 years ago, and eventually I moved here. Eight years living in these suburbs gives you time to notice things, to ask questions, to wonder about the layout of the place. And one question kept coming back to me: Why is Crestmont, a mostly Black community, sitting right in the middle of overwhelmingly white suburbs?
If you know the area, you know exactly what I mean. Roslyn, Glenside, Willow Grove, Abington … they’re all majority white, and have been that way for generations.
Then suddenly, right next to the Willow Grove Mall parking lot, there’s Crestmont.
Houses closer together. A different feel. A different history. A different story.
Crestmont’s density, the layout, the architecture, the vibe, the community identity — all of it comes from early working‑class development, limited access to loans, limited access to improvements, township decisions, generational continuity, racial boundaries, economic exclusion, and the strength of the people who lived there, writes DJ Atkins.DJ Atkins
I started talking about Crestmont to people who grew up here. I started learning about Willow Grove Park, looking at the geography, thinking about the era, and the truth became impossible to ignore.
It’s a truth all of us need to hear, because it shows exactly how racism shapes the places we live.
Willow Grove Park opened only 31 years after slavery ended. That was the same year Plessy v. Ferguson legalized segregation. Old newspaper coverage, township references, and public history written about the park all describe a large-scale operation with ties to the trolley company, township officials, police, contractors, and local business owners.
A machine like that needed workers who could show up every day, early, late, and in all seasons. Black workers came to fill Willow Grove Park jobs and stayed because the work kept coming. In line with what the public record shows, people with long family histories in Crestmont talked to me about how common it was for their relatives and neighbors to all work at the park.
A vintage postcard showing the Willow Grove Park midway. Willow Grove Park opened in 1896; it was closed in 1975 and demolished a year later.Courtesy of D.J. Atkins
But many of those workers didn’t have cars, and walking through certain neighborhoods wasn’t safe. Black people weren’t welcome. Renting was restricted, and loans for home purchases were denied. Still, the workers needed to live close. Close to the park, close to the trolley line, close to the commercial strip that fed the park.
Exactly where Crestmont is.
Once a few Black families moved in, the neighborhood took shape. Word spread. More families followed. White buyers stayed away. Black buyers were directed toward the same area. The lots stayed small. The houses stayed close. The community grew through necessity, connection, and resilience.
People who grew up here remember the tensions between high schoolers. They remember buying packaged goods in Crestmont because they couldn’t get them elsewhere. They remember the social boundaries. They remember how Crestmont stood out from the surrounding suburbs. None of that is random. It’s the long-term result of how the neighborhood began.
Crestmont exists because Willow Grove Park existed. Segregation created the boundary. The park created the need. Together, they created the neighborhood.
One of the homes in Crestmont, photographed in 2026.DJ Atkins
Crestmont isn’t unique.
Across the country, Black neighborhoods formed near major employers because segregation blocked housing everywhere else.
In Ardmore, Black families lived near the railroad and the estates they worked in. In Bryn Mawr, the Black neighborhood grew beside the service corridors of the Main Line mansions. In Atlantic City, Black workers lived near the Boardwalk hotels they kept running. In Pittsburgh’s Hill District, Black families settled near the steel mills and rail yards. In Baltimore, Black neighborhoods formed beside the shipyards and factories.
Wherever a big employer needed labor, and wherever white neighborhoods refused to open their doors, a Black community formed in the one pocket where the pressure made it possible — and they look the way they do today because of their origins.
One of the homes in Crestmont, an unincorporated community in Abington Township that owes its existence to Willow Grove Park and to housing segregation in the surrounding communities.DJ Atkins
Crestmont’s density, the layout, the architecture, the vibe, the community identity — all of it comes from early working‑class development, limited access to loans, limited access to improvements, township decisions, generational continuity, racial boundaries, economic exclusion, and the strength of the people who lived there.
It’s not a mystery. It’s not random. It’s not accidental. It’s a product of American racism and Black survival.
People around here know Crestmont. But they don’t necessarily know its origin or see in it an example of how racism shapes geography and how Black communities build life anyway.
Once you see that, you can’t unsee it.
DJ Atkins is a Philly‑area DJ, radio host, and cultural writer. He also works in poetry, blending storytelling, music, and community history in his creative work.
Joan E. Lynaugh, 90, of Gwynedd, Montgomery County, pioneering primary care nurse practitioner, award-winning professor emerita of nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, historian, mentor, author, birdwatcher, and “living legend,” died Friday, July 10, of age-associated decline at Foulkeways at Gwynedd retirement community.
Reared on a dairy farm in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, Dr. Lynaugh became a pioneering international expert on primary care nursing and nurse practitioner policies, education, and history. For decades, from the early 1960s through her retirement in the late 1990s, she treated patients, taught students, researched history, and joined colleagues in defining and expanding the role of nurses in modern healthcare.
During her career, the benefits of home care, the importance of critical care, and the need for nursing history education were hot topics in healthcare. “As a historian,” she told The Inquirer in 1997, “I take great interest in this shift from the intense emphasis on hospitals to the more balanced emphasis on other kinds of care.”
Dr. Lynaugh joined Penn’s School of Nursing in 1980. She took charge of the school’s new primary care nursing unit and went on to be director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation primary care nurse practitioner program and associate director of the foundation’s teaching nursing home project.
Dr. Lynaugh (front center) and her family celebrate her 2005 award as a “living legend.”Courtesy of the family
She was also the nursing school’s associate dean and director of graduate studies from 1993 to 1996, and chair of the nursing, history, and healthcare department from 1994 to 2000. In a tribute, colleagues at Penn Nursing said: “Dr. Lynaugh was a visionary leader, a prolific scholar, and a dedicated mentor whose extraordinary career left an indelible mark on Penn Nursing and the global nursing profession.”
In 2000, she told writer Suzanne Gordon: “We know we can’t get into the hospital without a doctor. That’s no surprise. We are, however, surprised to discover that we can’t get out of the hospital without a nurse.”
This story and photo of Dr. Lynaugh appeared in The Inquirer in 1997.Newspapers.com
In 2018, the center named its archives the Joan E. Lynaugh Archives and Special Collections. Before Penn, Dr. Lynaugh practiced and taught nursing at the University of Rochester and the old Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C.
She was a fellow at the American Academy of Nursing, board chair of the Visiting Nurse Association of Greater Philadelphia, and active with the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, and other groups. She cowrote Critical Care Nursing: A History with Penn colleague Julie Fairman in 1998, and coedited the award-winning textbook Enduring Issues in American Nursing in 2000.
Colleagues at the American Association for the History of Nursing said in a tribute: “Joan’s intellectual curiosity, generosity as a mentor, commitment to excellence, and passion for nursing history left an indelible mark on the nursing profession worldwide.”
A friend on Facebook called her “one of the smartest, kindest scholars I ever had the honor and pleasure to be mentored by.”
Dr. Lynaugh (center) enjoyed time with her family.Courtesy of the family
Joan Estelle Lynaugh was born Aug. 30, 1935, in Canandaigua, N.Y., about 28 miles southeast of Rochester. She studied nursing at St. Mary’s Hospital School of Nursing in Rochester and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing at the University of Rochester, and a doctorate in history at the University of Kansas in 1982.
Her whole life, she enjoyed traveling, bird-watching, camping, and hiking. She was an engaging host and liked to read mysteries and newspapers.
She was a longtime colleague and personal partner of fellow medical professional Barbara Bates, and they lived in Bryn Mawr for years. Bates died in 2002, and Dr. Lynaugh moved to Gwynedd a few years later.
“Joan will always be remembered for her generous spirit, wonderful sense of humor, persistent intellectual curiosity, and a sincere commitment to making the world a better place,” her family said in a tribute.
Dr. Lynaugh grew up in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.Courtesy of the family
Her niece Mary Clare Hamlin said: “She was understated, humble, practical, and scientifically minded. She always wanted to help others.”
In addition to her niece, Dr. Lynaugh is survived by other relatives. Two brothers and a sister died earlier.
A celebration of her life is to be held at 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, at Penn’s Claire M. Fagin Hall, Room 316, Third Floor front, 418 Curie Blvd., Philadelphia, Pa. 19104.
Donations in her name may be made to the Joan Lynaugh Founders Fund at Penn’s Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing, Office of Institutional Advancement, Claire M. Fagin Hall, 418 Curie Blvd., Suite 445, Philadelphia, Pa. 19104.
Dr. Lynaugh “was understated, humble, practical, and scientifically minded,” her niece said. Courtesy of the family
If you spent the summer out of town (or off the grid), you may have missed a busy few months on the restaurant scene. Philadelphia-area newcomers include a Milan-inspired aperitivo bar in Rittenhouse, Japanese barbecue on the Main Line, and two corner bars in Point Breeze.
Here are 12 noteworthy restaurants that opened in the last few months.
Academy Grill (424 S. Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington): This white-tablecloth restaurant in the former Cantina Feliz near Germantown Academy serves house-made pastas, seafood, steaks, and contemporary American dishes in a polished, decidedly grown-up setting.
Bánh xèo at Anh Em, 1252 S. 21st St.Michael Klein / Staff
Anh Em (1252 S. 21st St.): Pho, bánh xèo, and 24 local beers meet at Anh Em, a Vietnamese bar-restaurant at 21st and Titan Streets in Point Breeze from Victor Nguyen and Anna Huynh. Nguyen draws on dishes the husband-and-wife team grew up eating, while the 20-seat bar gives the neighborhood spot an unusually deep commitment to locally brewed beer.
Bar Cicci (1620 Sansom St.): Ellen Yin’s 30-seat, Milan-inspired spot starts with espresso and Italian pastries, moves into sandwiches at lunch, then shifts to spritzes, wine, cicchetti, and small plates at night. The Rittenhouse newcomer is High Street Hospitality’s take on northern Italy’s all-day aperitivo culture.
Bluebird Distilling in Phoenixville.Photos courtesy of Ed Newton
Bluebird Distilling & Dough House (100 Bridge St., Phoenixville): A $2.2 million investment turned Bluebird’s Bridge Street distillery into a full-fledged restaurant. Executive chef Devon Migeot, whose resumé includes Zahav and Laser Wolf, centers the expanded food program on naturally fermented neo-Neapolitan pizzas, house-baked breads, shareable plates, and, naturally, Bluebird cocktails.
Silenia and John Rhoads, owners of the Buttery in Bryn Mawr.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
The Buttery (836 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr): John and Silenia Rhoads’ third location is an 82-seat bakery-cafe on Lancaster Avenue, where the Malvern-incepted operation’s sourdough breads and house-made pastries share the menu with breakfast dishes, sandwiches, and seasonal fare from its all-day scratch kitchen.
Known Associates at 10th and Spruce Streets.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
Known Associates ( 941 Spruce St.): Chef Christopher Kearse’s Washington Square West cocktail bar does not treat the food as an afterthought. The former Varga Bar at 10th and Spruce is a 40-seat room where cocktails accompany a concise, European-influenced menu of a dozen savory dishes.
Lillian’s at 19th and Mifflin Streets.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Lillian’s (1900 S. 19th St.): Even the chef isn’t permanent at Sam Ahern’s parlorlike cocktail bar/bistro at 19th and Mifflin Streets, whose kitchen rotates among guest chefs. The residency model gives each cook a temporary restaurant within the restaurant — and gives this Point Breeze newcomer an ever-changing menu.
Saif Manna works on a pavlova at Manna Bakery.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Manna Bakery (110 W. Berks St.): Five years and countless farmers market appearances later, Saif Manna’s Temple dorm room project has moved into the former Essen Bakery in Kensington. Manna draws on his Palestinian heritage for Levantine pastries and savory dishes in a comfy cafe setting.
Mr. Edison in the Bellevue Hotel.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Mr. Edison (1400 Walnut St.): There’s a Ferris wheel carrying liquor behind the bar at Mr. Edison, which gives some idea of the production. Veteran restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow’s Philadelphia debut is a theatrical Bellevue supper club where chef Matt Levin’s cooking shares a two-story room with live music, dramatic lighting, and plenty of visual spectacle.
Ogyu Japanese BBQ in Ardmore.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
Ogyu Japanese BBQ (60 Greenfield Ave., Ardmore): Sam Li turned Ardmore’s former Iron Hill Brewery into a sprawling yakiniku restaurant built around the grill at each table. Diners cook wagyu and other meats themselves — or enlist a server — choosing among fixed-price packages and à la carte options in a dramatically remodeled space with private dining rooms and a full bar.
The latke, egg, and cheese sandwich at Schmaltz.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
Schmaltz (1300 S. 18th St.): This Jewish-inspired breakfast-and-lunch cafe serves latkes, cheese blintzes, egg sandwiches — and no bagels. Jeremy Asch and Abby Armstrong opened the Point Breeze corner spot with chef Sam Chertock, whose deliberately compact menu includes latke, egg, and cheese sandwiches on house-baked English muffins.
Outdoor dining at Soufiane at the Morris.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Soufiane at the Morris (225 S. Eighth St.): The 1787 Morris House provides a peaceful backdrop for Soufiane Boutliliss’ French-Moroccan cooking, served in a secluded stone courtyard shaded by magnolias and dogwoods in Washington Square West. This is the second restaurant from the Moroccan-raised Boutliliss and husband Christophe Mathon of Sofi Corner Cafe.
