You’d be forgiven if you walk into any 7th Street Burger and think that the burger chain has been around forever. Its spare, almost bare-bones menu of smash burgers and fries is more classic than innovative, but perhaps its austerity is part of what is fueling its growth.
The chain is growing at a breakneck pace. The New York-based chain opened its 35th location in Fishtown (1215 Frankford Ave.) earlier this week. It has three more Philly-area locations that are slated to open by the end of this year, in University City, Center City, and Conshohocken.
On a Wednesday at 4 p.m., squarely between regular lunch and dinner hours, it was packed with people of seemingly every demographic, waiting in line for burgers.
It was first opened on its namesake East 7th Street in New York’s East Village in May 2021 by entrepreneurs Kevin Rezvani and Paras Jain who “maxed out” their credit cards in order to do so. The burger joint took off. They quickly opened another location in Greenwich Village within a year. Venture capital firm Left Lane Capital invested in 7th Street Burger in 2023, and since then, the brand has been on an opening spree up and down the East Coast.
Philly’s first location took nearly a year to open, from when the chain first took possession of the previously empty space in October.
7th Street Burger at 1215 Frankford Ave.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
All 7th Street Burger locations serve the same menu (at the same prices) consisting of a cheeseburger ($6.50), double cheeseburger ($9.50), and crispy fries ($4.50). Cheeseburgers and double cheeseburgers can be made vegetarian with Impossible Meat for an additional $1.50 and $2, respectively. Only Coca-Cola, Sprite, and water are available as beverages. All burgers are served on Martin’s potato rolls with American cheese, grilled onions, a mayonnaise-based house sauce that manager Frank Perez declined to give any other ingredients of, and pickles. There is a secret menu of Cajun fries and loaded fries that isn’t posted at any of their restaurants, but is rather written with a Sharpie on a takeout box at the register. Loaded fries are topped with the same ingredients as the burgers, with options to make them spicy (with a ghost pepper sauce and jalapeños).
The loaded French fries at 7th Street Burger.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff PhotographerThe menu is limited and the same from location to location.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Hours will likely change, as 7th Street Burger learns the Philly market’s demands and that of their locations’ surrounding neighborhoods. “For late night, we’ll probably extend Friday and Saturday to be closer to our New York shops,” said Perez. In New York, the locations are open until 3 a.m.
Since opening, Philly’s 7th Street Burger has sold hundreds of burgers (Perez declined to state how many hundreds) but did note that they have sold far less Impossible Meat burgers here than in any other markets.
7th Street Burger is at 1215 Frankford Ave. 877-428-2693, 7thstreetburger.com. Hours: 11 a.m. to midnight every day. Hours may change depending on demand.
Since the beginning of 2025, nearly a dozen bagel shops have opened or leased space in Philadelphia and its suburbs, bringing new locations from local operators as well as fast-growing out-of-town brands that see the region as fertile ground for expansion.
Jacob and Alexandra Cohen, owners of Kismet Bagels, at their location on Girard Avenue in Fishtown in 2024.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Kismet Bagels has opened its fourth and fifth shops, in Manayunk and Collingswood. Bart’s Bagels, which has shops in West Philadelphia and Bella Vista, recently expanded to the founders’ hometown of Bala Cynwyd. PopUp Bagels, the Connecticut-born chain that built a following on social media, made its local debut in Ardmore this spring and has signed a lease for a Rittenhouse shop as part of a larger regional expansion.
And Washington, D.C.-based Call Your Mother is preparing three soon-to-open Philadelphia locations — in Fishtown (due first), Rittenhouse, and Washington Square West — committing to all three before serving its first Philadelphia bagel.
Call Your Mother bagel sandwich shops have a subtropical feel.Courtesy of Call Your Mother
That tally doesn’t include all of the stores that could follow. Florida-based Jeff’s Bagel Run has announced a 10-unit development agreement for Eastern and South Central Pennsylvania, while PopUp franchisee Brian Harrington is scouting additional territory in the Philadelphia suburbs.
All this raises an obvious question: How many bagels can Philadelphia eat?
Plenty, apparently — at least for now.
Jacob Cohen, who started Kismet six years ago with his wife, Alexandra, said the company has seen sales increase even as new bagel shops have entered the market. “I don’t think they’re just dividing the same customer base, because we’ve already had new shops open in Philadelphia and we haven’t seen a decrease in sales,” Cohen said.
But Cohen, who rapidly expanded Kismet before putting thebrakes on growth earlier this year, also sees a limit. “More is not always better,” he said. “I obviously don’t have a crystal ball, but I have a feeling that some of these private-equity bagel companies coming are going to learn that the hard way.”
Bagels are having a moment
Philadelphia is part of a much broader bagel boom. The U.S. bagel market generated an estimated $3.17 billion in revenue in 2025 and is projected to reach $4.51 billion by 2033, according to Grand View Research, a market-research firm. That represents annual growth of about 4.6%. Worldwide, the firm values the bagel market at $5.8 billion in 2025 and projects it will reach $8.6 billion by 2033.
Customers lining up for the grand opening of PopUp Bagels in Ardmore in March.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
Mike Kostyo, vice president of Menu Matters, a Vermont-based food-industry consulting firm, sees the current surge as the convergence of several trends rather than the sudden discovery of a new food. Artisan baked goods have been rising in popularity for years, he said, after the pandemic produced a generation of home bakers and pop-ups experimenting with sourdough and bagels. At the same time, café culture and the rise of the “little treat” have made consumers more willing to spend on premium versions of everyday foods.
“At its core, the bagel has always been a blank canvas for lots of flavors and toppings,” Kostyo said. “But now, instead of sesame seeds, you see them topped with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.”
The traditional formula — bagels by the dozen, cream cheese, lox, and coffee — also has evolved into something closer to a breakfast-and-lunch fast-casual restaurant.
The Ramen Thing bagel sandwich from Cleo Bagels in West Philadelphia.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Bagels become vehicles for egg sandwiches, smoked salmon, avocado, specialty cream cheeses, and elaborate combinations that can command substantially more than a plain bagel and schmear. And operators increasingly are looking beyond breakfast.
“The sandwich factor is so important,” Kostyo said. “You need something that you can sell across multiple occasions, not just to commuters in the morning.”
That versatility helps explain why investors have noticed.
“Investors are always looking for that next category that could blow up,” Kostyo said. “They want Call Your Mother or PopUp Bagels to be the next 7 Brew or Dutch Bros.”
From pandemic project to expansion vehicle
Some of the brands now expanding grew directly out of the pandemic.
The Cohens started Kismet as a pandemic project before turning it into a brick-and-mortar business and eventually growing to five locations — down from seven after the company shuttered a stand at Reading Terminal Market in 2025 and closed a shop in Ventnor earlier this year.
Jacob Cohen of Kismet Bagels holds an everything bagel.MONICA HERNDON / Staff Photographer
PopUp followed a similar trajectory. Founder Adam Goldberg began baking bagels at home during the pandemic and developed the idea into a business built around an unusually stripped-down concept: hot bagels and schmears, rather than the sprawling sandwich menus associated with many modern bagel shops.
Customers are encouraged to “grip, rip, and dip,” tearing apart the bagels and dipping them into containers of cream cheese.
The company’s first Philadelphia-area shop opened in the spring in Suburban Square in Ardmore. Harrington, the franchisee developing PopUp in this region, said sales have remained strong even through the summer.
“We anticipated a little bit of pullback with a lot of our core [teen] clientele getting jobs in Avalon and down the Shore, and with vacations and things like that,” Harrington said. “But it’s been very, very steady.”
In more than 25 years in the restaurant business, Harrington said, he has typically seen sales soften in late June, July, and early August. “We’ve not seen that,” he said.
PopUp has signed for the former Starbucks at 1709 Chestnut St. in Rittenhouse, as reported by the Philadelphia Business Journal. Harrington said he has a deal for a location in Lawrence Township, N.J., near Princeton, that is awaiting its permits. Another South Jersey deal is close, he said, and he sees additional potential in Montgomery County.
Despite the influx of bagel shops, Harrington said he believes PopUp occupies a somewhat different niche.
“We’re not making sandwiches,” he said. “So far, people have found us and enjoyed the way that we do it, and it doesn’t preclude them from going and getting a bacon, egg, and cheese somewhere else.”
Three stores before the first bagel
Call Your Mother is making an even larger initial bet on Philadelphia. Founded in Washington in 2018 by Andrew Dana and his wife, chef Daniela Moreira, the self-described “Jew-ish” deli has expanded beyond the Washington area as New York investment firm Invus acquired a majority stake in the company in January 2025.
Call Your Mother has signed three Philadelphia leases: 1500 Frankford Ave. in Fishtown, the former Metropolitan Bakery at 262 S. 19th St. near Rittenhouse Square, and 12th and Sansom Streets in Washington Square West. Dana said the decision to enter Philadelphia was considerably less scientific than the three-store commitment might suggest.
“My mom grew up there, my grandparents lived there, and I’ve been there so much visiting my friends,” Dana said. “I’ve been in Fishtown on a Sunday when it’s popping, and I’ve been in Rittenhouse Square when it’s super-crowded on the weekend and the market’s going. A lot of it is just gut and feel.”
Dana does not believe Philadelphia lacks good bagels. On a recent trip, he tried Bart’s and came away impressed.
“I think a lot of people are doing a great product in Philadelphia,” he said, “but there’s always room for a different bagel shop. At least I hope so.”
Dana also rejects the idea that taking investment inevitably leads to runaway growth or declining quality.
He described Invus as “patient capital” and said the investment agreement carries no requirement that Call Your Mother open a prescribed number of stores.
“We’re going to do what we can do while still keeping the quality of the food and the service top-notch,” Dana said. “And if that ever slips, we have the ability to hit the pause button.”
Local operators dig in
For some Philadelphia bagel operators, however, the arrival of heavily financed brands is cause for skepticism.
Cohen, at Kismet, is particularly wary.
“I think it’s the rare exception when private equity marries itself to a food brand and they continue to do good things,” he said. “I’d like to keep private equity out of bagels.”
He stressed that Kismet remains owned solely by him and Alexandra, financed through bank loans rather than outside investors.
David Fine, owner of Schmear Bagel Parlor, is also watching the expansion. Fine entered the business in 2013 with his Schmear It food truck and has since acquired the shops owned by Philly Bagels, giving the company eight locations in Philadelphia.
David Fine of Schmear with his son.Courtesy of David Fine
Fine said those stores have not appeared to steal business from one another.
He thinks part of the bagel’s appeal is almost mundane: It is familiar, relatively accessible, portable, and infinitely customizable.
“They’re comfort food at their very core, and they can really appeal to such a wide variety of customers,” he said.
He is less certain about the economics behind the rapid expansion of some competitors.
“The buildouts are expensive,” Fine said. “You have to be quite profitable for quite some time just to recoup that investment.”
Schmear is expanding, too, Fine said, renovating its original brick-and-mortar location at 36th and Market Streets. But he believes that being local gives the company an advantage as more national and regional shops arrive.
“There’s a keen allegiance to local brands,” Fine said.
Built for the feed
Bagels also have another quality particularly suited to the moment: They look good on a phone.
Kostyo points to the now-familiar image of a bagel sandwich sliced in half and held toward the camera, its fillings and schmear exposed.
“The visual factor is also so important in today’s social media age,” he said. “That picture … is the type of indulgent food that people go out of their way for today.”
The lines themselves become part of the marketing. A crowd outside a shop signals that the food is worth leaving home for, he said, while arguments over the proper density, crust, schmear, toppings, and even whether a respectable bagel can be made outside New York keep the category in the conversation.
“In the end, it’s all advertising and marketing,” Kostyo said.
But social media enthusiasm is fickle — witness the rise and fall of cookies and cupcakes — and Kostyo sees the flood of investment and expansion as carrying the seeds of an eventual shakeout.
“This is a pretty classic bubble where some of these brands that are doing a great job and really resonate with people will survive, but a lot will overexpand and shut down in the next few years,” he said.
Cohen, meanwhile, has decided not to test Kismet’s limits.
After years of opening shops, Kismet entered 2026 determined to improve what it already has rather than add more locations. The company is focusing on consistency, profitability, new products, employees, and customers, he said.
He is happy to see Philadelphia’s bagel culture growing and says he does not regard every new shop as a competitor. Years ago, Cohen recalled, Inquirer restaurant critic Craig LaBan told him that Philadelphia did not have enough bagels per capita.
“We might be starting to get there now,” Cohen said.
Two men were killed in separate shootings over the weekend in Philadelphia, police said, adding to the homicide toll in the city even as it continues to see a sharp decline in deadly violence.
The killings occurred within hours of each other late Saturday and early Sunday. Investigators have not publicly identified the victims or released a motive in either shooting. No arrests have been made.
Police continue to investigate, said Officer Shawn Ritchie, a police spokesperson.
The first shooting was reported shortly before midnight Saturday near Wakeling and Jackson Streets in the Frankford section of Northeast Philadelphia. Responding officers found a 64-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the face, police said.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officers detained a 39-year-old man for questioning and recovered two handguns at the scene, police said. The man had not been charged as of Monday afternoon, according to police.
Several hours later, shortly after 5 a.m., officers were called to the 3200 block of Kensington Avenue for a report of a person with a gun. When they arrived, police said, they found a 35-year-old man with multiple gunshot wounds to his back, chest, and right leg.
The man was taken to Temple University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
The Kensington shooting occurred along a stretch of the avenue that has long been associated with the city’s open-air drug trade, but police have not said whether the killing was connected to any activity in the area.
Despite the two weekend killings, Philadelphia’s homicide total remains significantly lower than in recent years. By the same time last year, the city had recorded 146 homicides, and 176 in 2024, according to police data. As of Sunday, the data show, the city has logged 117 homicides this year.
Both shootings remain under investigation, police said. Anyone with information about either killing is asked to contact the police department’s tip line at 215-686-8477 (TIPS). A reward of up to $20,000 is available for information leading to an arrest and conviction, police said.
You say you want a revolution? That’s not quite what SEPTA’s proposing. This weekend, the region’s transit agency will roll out the first phase of its New Bus Network, the bus system’s first significant update since the agency was formed in the 1960s.
Sound familiar? Once dubbed Bus Revolution, the project began in 2021 after transit agencies around the country saw massive declines in ridership. SEPTA’s Bus Revolution was set to launch in 2025 but faced significant community pushback and coincided with the state funding crisis that halted many planned transit initiatives. It was officially shelved in November 2024.
Later phases of the plan, which will roll out in 2027, will impact other neighborhoods. The number of bus routes in SEPTA’s system will drop from the current 124 to 106 when all four phases are complete.
SEPTA says the changes are needed to modernize the system and make it easier to use.
To help you navigate the changes that will impact how you navigate the city, we’re here to breakdown down all 30 impacted routes.
This route remains the same but with reduced service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 16-25 minutes
Every 30 minutes
Saturdays
8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 22-25 minutes
Every 30 minutes
6
Cheltenham-Ogontz to Olney Transportation Center
On weekdays, route 6 will have increased service during peak hours, but a reduced service otherwise.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 11-13 minutes
Every 10 minutes
Weekdays
9 p.m. to midnight
Every 20 minutes
Every 30 minutes
Weekdays
midnight to 4 a.m.
Every 30-40 minutes
Every 60 minutes
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
17
Front-Market to 20th-Johnston
Route 17 will be shortened and no longer operate on its old route from 20th Street and Johnston Street down to the stadium complex or the Navy Yard. SEPTA recommends Navy Yard commuters take route 45 instead.
This route will also operate with reduced service overnight.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
midnight to 5 a.m.
Every 30 minutes
Every 60 minutes
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
25
Frankford Transportation Center to Front-Spring Garden
Route 25 is essentially being cut in half. The old route ran down Delaware Avenue to Columbus Commons. The new route will terminate at the Spring Garden Market-Frankford Line station. The old route from Spring Garden to Columbus Commons will be serviced by the new route 76.
Route 25 will now operate for 24 hours a day, as part of SEPTA’s late-night OWL network.
This route will also have increased service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 20-30 minutes
Every 15 minutes
Weekends
6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 30 minutes
Every 20 minutes
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
32
Broad-Carpenter to Ridge-Lyceum
Route 32 will have slightly reduced service with fewer buses overall. All route 32 buses will terminate at Manayunk, as opposed to the previous schedule where half would terminate at 33rd Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue. There’s also a slight route extension into Roxborough for school service.
35
Manayunk Roxborough Loop
Route 35 will be discontinued on Aug. 23. SEPTA recommends riders take route 61.
According to SEPTA’s operation statistics, route 35 is the seventh most expensive bus based on the average cost per passenger.
39
Richmond-Cumberland to 33rd-Dauphin
Route 39 will remain the same but with reduced service on weekdays and slightly increased service on Saturday evenings..
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 20-30 minutes
Every 30 minutes
Saturday
5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 40-60 minutes
Every 30 minutes
44
Front-Market to Ardmore
Route 44 will no longer run along its old route that would sometimes terminate at Gladwyne. Beginning Aug. 23, all 44 buses will run to Ardmore, with select trips stopping at Narberth.
This route will also have reduced service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Every 15-30 minutes
Every 60 minutes
Weekends
6 a.m. to midnight
Every 30 minutes
Every 60 minutes
45
Navy Yard/Broad-Oregon to 12th-Noble
Route 45 will be extended to the Navy Yard to cover for the changes to route 17.
After 9 p.m. the route will have reduced service on weekdays.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
9 p.m. to midnight
Every 20 minutes
Every 30 minutes
46
58th-Baltimore to 63rd-Malvern
Route 46 will have increased service on weekdays.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Saturdays
9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Every 20 minutes
Every 15 minutes
Sundays
9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Every 30 minutes
Every 20 minutes
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
47
Whitman Plaza to 5th-Godfrey
Route 47 will merge with route 47M and have increased service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 8-9 minutes
Every 7-8 minutes
All days
Midnight. to 5 a.m.
Every 45 minutes
Every 30 minutes
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
47M
Whitman Plaza to 7th-Spring Garden via 9th
Route 47M has been discontinued and will now be served by a more frequent route 47.
The merger of these two routes includes a realignment so that the northbound 47 runs on Seventh Street, as opposed to Ninth Street. Southbound buses will still run on Eighth Street.
49
33rd-Dauphin to 40th-Baltimore
Route 49 will look very different from its old route. It will no longer serve Gray’s Ferry. SEPTA recommends riders take route 79 instead.
Route 49 will also operate on many different roads. The most notable change is taking 33rd Street instead of 29th Street. in Strawberry Mansion and Brewerytown.
These changes are paired with generally reduced service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Every 18-22 minutes
Every 30 minutes
Saturdays
8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 22 minutes
Every 30 minutes
Sundays
9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Every 22 minutes
Every 30 minutes
52
49th-Woodland to Wissahickon Transportation Center/50th-Parkside
Route 52 will no longer follow its old route to Gladwyne. SEPTA cites low ridership and doesn’t offer an alternative route.
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
53
Carpenter Station to Richmond-Westmoreland
Buses on route 53 will no longer follow the old route that terminated at Sedgwick Street and Wayne Avenue. Instead, service will end at Carpenter Regional Rail station. There are additionally a bunch of small differences across the route. For example, route 53 will now serve Roosevelt Boulevard. on the western side of Hunting Park.
The 53 will also continue past G Street and extend into Port Richmond.
54
Richmond-Cambria to 33rd-Dauphin
Buses on route 54 will have reduced service during weekdays and increased service during evenings.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Every 15-18 minutes
Every 20 minutes
All days
9 p.m. to midnight
Every 45 minutes
Every 30 minutes
57
Whitman Plaza to Fern Rock Transportation Center
The old route 57 occasionally would terminate at Packer Marine Terminal, that service will be discontinued.
During weekends the route 57 will run at a reduced service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekends
All day
Every 10-12 minutes
Every 15 minutes
Service along Crescentville and Cheltenham Avenues will be reduced to every hour.
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
60
Wissahickon Transportation Center/35th-Allegheny to Richmond-Westmoreland
Most of route 60 will continue to go down Allegheny Avenue, but it will not follow its old route where some buses stopped on Delaware Avenue and Lewis Street.
The 60 will occasionally take an extended route and continue to the Wissahickon Transportation Center. The schedule is roughly split 50:50 whether a bus will continue to this new terminus or stop early at 35th Street and Allegheny Avenue.
Route 60 will also see increased service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Every 10-15 minutes
Every 10 minutes
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
61
9th-Market to Ridge-Summit
Route 61 will be extended to Upper Roxborough. This is primarily to cover for the discontinued route 35.
62
9th-Market to Andorra
Route 62 will be discontinued. SEPTA recommends riders take routes 9, 27, or 61 as an alternative. According to SEPTA, route 62 was the fourth most expensive route to operate, costing an average of $45 per passenger.
64
50th-Parkside to Pier 70
Previously, route 64 would occasionally terminate at 49th Street and Woodland Avenue. Under the new network, all trips will terminate at Parkside Loop. The 64 will also no longer take the old route’s detour into Grays Ferry.
Route 64 will operate at a increased service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
All days
6 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Every 12-18 minutes
Every 12 minutes
All days
9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 20 minutes
Every 15 minutes
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
72
Cedarbrook Plaza to Frankford Transportation Center
72 is a brand new route that mostly operates on Cheltenham Avenue and will run every 30 minutes.
73
Frankford Transportation Center to Richmond-Westmoreland
Route 73 will now run at a reduced service from every 20-25 minutes to every 30 minutes.
Additionally the route 73 will no longer be part of the OWL network, ending 24-hour service on the line. SEPTA recommends riders take route 25 for overnight buses.
76
Rising Sun-Olney to Columbus Commons
Route 76 is a brand new route that will mostly run along Delaware and Frankford Avenues every 30 minutes. This route replaces service removed from the newly aligned route 25.
78
Express from Cornwells Heights to Center City
Route 78 will be discontinued due to lower ridership. SEPTA does not recommend an alternative bus.
According to SEPTA figures, the 78 was the most expensive bus to operate in their network. It has an average of 2.4 passengers per hour, costing the agency $394 per rider.
79
Columbus Commons to 29th-Snyder/40th-Market
Route 79 will occasionally be extended into West Philadelphia. Roughly every other bus will continue to 40th and Market Streets, instead of the current terminus of 29th Street and Synder Avenue.
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
80
Express from Horsham to Olney Transit Center
Route 80 will be discontinued. SEPTA stated that “ridership has declined significantly since 2019 and the same connection can be made with a transfer on local routes 22, 51, and 310.”
According to SEPTA data, route 80 was the third most expensive route to run, costing the agency $50 per passenger.
89
Front-Dauphin to Arrott Transit Center
Route 89 will be discontinued. SEPTA says route 89 is “duplicative of other routes,” and offers “routes 3, 5, 25, 39, 41, 43, 53, 56, 75, 76, and K as alternatives.”
105
Paoli/Rosemont to 69th Street Transit Center
Route 105 will extend to Paoli for roughly every other bus, essentially merging with the now discontinued route 106.
The old route that serviced Suburban Square will no longer operate. There are also minor alignment changes in Overbrook.
Route 105 will operate at a increased service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
All day
Every 30-60 minutes
Every 30 minutes
Weekends
All day
Every 60 minutes
Every 30 minutes
These changes will take effect on Aug. 24.
106
Paoli to 69th Street Transit Center
Route 106 will be discontinued on Aug. 24.
Do you still have questions about the changes to SEPTA’s bus network? Read our Q&A guide for details on how to contact SEPTA, information about future alterations in 2027, and much more.
Methodology
The animating buses on the diagram are an approximation of the number of buses active at 9 a.m. on a weekday schedule.
Old routes are accurate to SEPTA’s bus network on Aug. 4.
For simplicity, if a route can have different terminuses, we show all possible paths the bus operates on.
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Staff Contributors
Design, Development, and Data: Sam Morris
Reporting: Sam Morris and Erica Palan
Editing: Cynthia Henry
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You can eat quite well at the nearby Pizzeria Beddia, Liguria, Marina’s, Shackamaxon, D’Oliva, Scusi, Rustica, Urban Village, and Bar1010. But no other pizzeria in Fishtown offers pies topped with oxtail and collard greens, Cajun shrimp with broccoli and grits, or jerk chicken with pineapple and mango glaze.
The Bottom (jerk chicken, mozzarella, pineapple, and mango glaze) at In Crust We Trust.Michael Klein / Staff
In Crust We Trust, which opened Aug. 1 in the former Vince’s Pizzeria at Frankford Avenue and Richmond Street, across from the Fillmore, is the first solo restaurant from Anyae Wilson-Worley, 25.
Though she grew up around restaurants and learned the business from her mother, restaurateur Felicia Wilson, Wilson-Worley is emphatic that In Crust We Trust is distinctly her own.
Pizzaiolo Jose Maria worked with Wilson-Worley on intentional menu combinations for the New York-style pies. She said she wanted to bring Black culture into the recipes while creating a dining room that reflects it. “When people walk in, I want them to feel like a story is being told — taking them back to a Harlem Renaissance type of thing,” she said.
Corner store wings, topped with cayenne pepper and peri peri, at In Crust We Trust on Aug. 2.Michael Klein / Staff
The roughly 80-seat restaurant offers table service as well as a takeout counter and delivery. Beyond pizza, the menu includes wings, two salads, cheesy collard greens, and desserts (including a chocolate chip-oatmeal raisin-sugar cookie baked in a cast-iron skillet and topped with vanilla gelato) — all made with halal ingredients.
Wilson-Worley is the oldest of Felicia Wilson’s three children. Her mother owns Amina, Avana, Fia, First Daughter Oyster & Co., and BlackHen. “She’s been much more than a role model,” Wilson-Worley said. “I definitely wouldn’t be in this position without my mother.”
Still, restaurants were not part of Wilson-Worley’s original plan.
She attended the University of Miami, where she majored in health sciences on the pre-med track. She said she was lucky enough to come out of school with no debt. “I took that as an opportunity to seize what was around me,” she said. “At the time [four years ago], my mom was in the height of opening all of her restaurants.”
Anyae Wilson-Worley (right) with her mother, Felicia Wilson, at In Crust We Trust on Aug. 2.Michael Klein / Staff
While finishing school, she regularly flew back to Philadelphia to help with the expanding restaurant group. Eventually, she decided to stay to help her mother run the business.
“Anyone who knows me can tell you that ever since my mom opened the restaurant, I always said, ‘This is not what I want to do. I don’t want to be here,’” Wilson-Worley said. “But now this has become my life.”
Her mother provided the example and the education, but Wilson-Worley said the concept, menu, and identity of In Crust We Trust reflect her own perspective.
Wilson-Worley describes Philadelphia as a city whose Black culture is foundational but not always fully recognized. Through the restaurant, she hopes to celebrate that culture while encouraging others to pursue their own ambitions.
Dining room at In Crust We Trust.Michael Klein / Staff
“I hope to create a pathway for other Black people like myself to get involved,” she said. “Not only through food, but through anything.”
The menu draws from years spent observing professional kitchens.
“I’ve learned a lot from being around the chefs,” she said. “Watching them, listening to them, and working alongside them has expanded my culinary knowledge. I took everything I learned from them and applied it to create a menu that I’m really proud of.”
Wilson-Worley also sees common ground with Down North Pizza, the Black-owned North Philadelphia pizzeria known for hiring formerly incarcerated employees. Both restaurants emphasize community engagement, though she said she does not view them as competitors.
“I’m all about Black empowerment and working with other people like myself in this industry to contribute to the greater good of hospitality,” she said.
Ultimately, she said, her goal is more immediate than making a statement with every slice.
“I want people to feel loved and appreciated,” Wilson-Worley said. “When someone dines here, I want them to walk away thinking, ‘I’ve never had pizza like this before.’”
In Crust We Trust, 965 Frankford Ave. Hours: 11 a.m. to midnight Monday to Thursday, 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 11 p.m. Sunday.
For nearly a dozen years, Vito Maglio’s family has agonized over who could have shot him in the head and neck, torched his SUV, then dumped his body into the Schuylkill.
“I said to myself, maybe I’ll die before I know,” his wife of 40 years, Maria, 75, said from her Bustleton home.
Then, this week, Philadelphia police arrested a 30-year-old woman in connection with Maglio’s death, saying she and others robbed him of his gold ring, phone, and a small amount of cash, then killed him and tossed his body into the river in December 2014.
Melanie Morat was taken into custody at her East Frankford home Tuesday afternoon and is expected to be charged with murder, robbery, arson, and related crimes, police said. Detectives are investigating whether at least two other people were involved in the crime, law enforcement sources said.
The arrest comes as Philadelphia homicide detectives, with more time and resources amid a striking decline in violence, continue to work through a backlog of unsolved cases — a combination of the hundreds of killings from the pandemic-era spike in shootings and higher-profile cases from years past that ran cold.
The killing of Maglio, 69, was among the latter, a disappearance and death that shocked his family and community, and left police struggling to amass enough evidence to make an arrest.
Maglio, a father of six, was a mechanic who owned several gas stations and ran a social club, the Napoli Association in Rhawnhurst, for many years before selling the businesses and retiring in November 2014.
Maria and Vito Maglio had been married for 40 years.
But on Dec. 14, 2014, he did not return to his Bustleton home, and his family reported him missing. Several days later, police found his GMC Yukon in East Germantown, charred and windowless, with a bullet casing inside and a pool of blood beneath the driver’s seat, police said.
His remains were not recovered from the Schuylkill until late March. He was identified by his pacemaker.
The investigation was challenging from the start, officials said, in part because homicide detectives did not take over the case until his body was recovered months after his disappearance. The assigned detective, Gregory Santamala, said in a 2016 interview that police did not know where Maglio was killed because his phone records showed that he was in various neighborhoods on the night he disappeared, and there were no surveillance cameras in the area where his car was burned.
Detectives suspected he had been set up in a robbery that went awry, he said. An early tip led investigators to interview two women in the Northeast, and both failed polygraph tests. But the women immediately hired lawyers and stopped talking, officials said.
Santamala retired in 2022, and the case went cold.
Then, this summer, the case was reassigned to Detectives Joseph Cremen and Robert Daly, who began reviewing phone records and the more than a dozen interviews their colleagues held with suspects and witnesses over the years.
Investigators told Maglio’s family it was not necessarily new evidence that allowed them to make an arrest this week — but a new style of building cases. Years ago, they said, prosecutors had less experience making cases from cell phone location data and circumstantial evidence. Now, they said, law enforcement has greater expertise in understanding those records, which, alongside the witness statements, allowed prosecutors to conclude there was sufficient evidence to charge Morat with murder.
Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore said using today’s technology to solve older cases is the crux of cold case review.
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office declined to comment.
Maglio’s family said the developments came as a welcome surprise after a decade of fleeting hope. Sitting in the green-walled living room of their parents’ home Tuesday night, Maglio’s children said they were grateful for an arrest and eager for the court process to begin.
“I’m just glad it didn’t fall through the cracks,” said daughter-in-law Sandra Maglio, 50. “It was our biggest fear. We live in a city where people die every day, sadly. … So I’m just glad that, you know, someone took the initiative to say, ‘Hey, let’s look at this again.’”
They were also struck by the timing. Maglio’s brother-in-law died Monday. And his son, Donato, died three years ago this month at the age of 47.
They imagine them all together now.
“It gives us some kind of closure,” said daughter Lucia Thrasher, 37. “But we already got the outcome we didn’t want to 12 years ago.”
Thrasher’s eyes welled with tears as she looked at her 6-year-old twins, Charles and Thomas, who never got to meet their grandfather. Charles, bouncing in the doorway, asked why everyone was in the living room.
“Nonno,” she told him.
“You know, Nonno,” she said, as he looked away bashfully. “Where’s Nonno?”
He pointed toward a gold-flecked picture frame in the corner of the room.
Vito Maglio, 69, was a father of six.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
High Street Hospitality founder and James Beard Award winner Ellen Yin is just about ready to hit Rittenhouse with Bar Cicci, an all-day drop-in for espresso and pastries by morning, sandwiches by day, and spritzes, cicchetti, and small plates by night. Join Beatrice Forman on Sansom Street for your first look.
Shore season isn’t done yet, and neither are farmers markets, which have seen an uptick in business locally in the midst of a cyclospora outbreak. Hira Qureshi maps out where you can buy local produce, baked goods, and more at markets down the Shore.
Besides Bar Cicci, a half-dozen new restaurants are on tap this month, including Recipe Philly in Center City, Cecilia in Bridgeport, and Mixteca in East Kensington, where the red, white, and green of la bandera figures into the signature cocktail.
Lancaster Avenue in Ardmore, one of the Main Line’s busiest commercial strips, is now home to two new dessert shops. Denali Sagner explains that one specializes in tea, cakes, and buns, while the other celebrates the mango.
Canned-cocktail brand Top Dog is setting up listening rooms in Kennett Square and Fishtown, embracing the Japanese jazz kissa model — a music cafe or bar that’s focused on listening to vinyl records. Brooke Schultz chatted up Top Dog’s Ken Smukler, who aims to deliver an “analog feel in a digital world.” The Fishtown location is tiny. It used to be an ATM.
The handmade tarts from Market Day Canelé layer summer tomatoes over a corn custard with cremini and button mushrooms, herb-roasted cotto ham, eggs, and Gruyère in a flaky crust. Kiki Aranita says you have to act fast to snap one up.
Scoops
Two chefshave made big professional strides from their roots in Roxborough, and now they’re coming home to Manayunk to take over the Winnie’s space with a “punk French” eatery.
Aldar Bistro in Bala Cynwyd is giving way after 34 years to a white-tablecloth Southern Italian restaurant called Bruzi.
Does a spateof restaurant-closing announcements — such as Hiroki, Federal Donuts & Chicken,and the Lodge by Two Robbers — portend industry doom? No, and I’ll explain why not.
Restaurant report
Gabriella’s Vietnam in South Philadelphia is counting down to closing in mid-December as the new owner of her building is planning a restaurant of their own. Chef-owner Thanh Nguyen told Kiki Aranita that she is looking for a new spot.
Side Eye, the Queen Village bistro, gets a bit of side eye from critic Craig LaBan, who likes the vibe and pricing but thinks the execution could be sharper.
New drive-thru coffee option: The syndicated 7 Brew has opened at 4000 Woodhaven Rd. in Northeast Philadelphia’s Knights Road Shopping Center.
More bagels are coming round: Central Florida-based Jeff’s Bagel Run — schmeared with private-equity investment — has cinched a franchisee for 10 stores from the Harrisburg area east through Reading and the Lehigh Valley to suburban Philadelphia. No leases have been signed, the company announced in a press release.
Briefly noted
Cantina la Martina’s fourth annual Cemita Festival returns from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday at the Garden Center across from Mural City Cellars (1825 Frankford Ave). Six restaurants will each serve interpretations of Puebla’s iconic cemita sandwich for $16: Cantina la Martina, Gilda, Bolo, Vientiane Bistro, Cinteotl Tamalli, and Los Cuatro Soles Restaurant. Also: beverages from Mural City Cellars, DJ Cali Rumba, dance performances by Danza Tonantzin Cultura, face painting, and artisan vendors. It’s pay-as-you-go. Some cemita vendors are cash only.
Post Haste in East Kensington will become Philadelphia’s only participant in the inaugural Global Pay What You Can Day on Aug. 26, joining restaurants from Mexico City to Mumbai in a one-day effort to make dining more accessible. Guests can order whatever they’d like and pay what they can (excluding alcohol), building on chef Ari Miller’s weekly pay-what-you-can program launched earlier this year. (Miller is married to Inquirer staff writer Kiki Aranita.)
The Fishtown Pickle Project is taking its annual pickle-themed dinner outside of Fishtown for the first time. The Aug. 27 edition will have founders Niki Toscani and Mike Sicinski in Rittenhouse to collaborate with Uchi on a nine-course, pickle-centric tasting menu (e.g. oysters with giardiniera, yellowtail with pickled peach, salmon with pickled enoki, and a dessert featuring pickle jam). Seatings: 6 and 8:30 p.m. Tickets: $125 per person, plus tax and gratuity.
Chef Chaz Brown, in partnership with Forman Arts Initiative, will present the third annual Oxtail Collective from 1-5 p.m. Aug. 30 at the Substation in Kensington. Titled “The Hercules Posey Celebration” — after George Washington’s enslaved chef — the event will bring together Black chefs, historians, artists, and entrepreneurs to explore the intersections of food, culture, business, and history while serving as an early public introduction to Forman’s future 100,000-square-foot arts campus. Participating chefs include Chad Williams of Friday Saturday Sunday, Omar Tate and Cybille St. Aude-Tate of Honeysuckle, and Shola Olunloyo of Studiokitchen. PBS NewsHour’s Geoff Bennett will moderate panels, and the program also includes tastings from 15 chefs, cooking demos, and a marketplace featuring Black-owned businesses. Tickets ($92.55, including fees) are on sale.
Delicious City Philly Podcast’ssecond annual Hoagie Throwdown has a date: Sept. 27, from noon-4 p.m., at Other Half Brewing in Fishtown, drawing 20 chefs, restaurants, delis, and sandwich makers to compete. There will be unlimited hoagie samples, beer/soft drinks, and pro wrestlers grappling. (Last year’s outing was a scene: The Inquirer’s Craig LaBan, in a Zorro mask and big hat, went through hoagie-making boot camp.) The podcast has made 500 tickets available and early pricing starts at $55.
❓Pop quiz
Which Pennsylvania farm crop is in the crosshairs of the U.S. Department of Commerce?
What is going on at 117 Chestnut St.? The restaurant 117 is closed already and it just opened. — Chris D.
Old City restaurant 117, which opened only last November, posted a note on Instragram last week that it had closed “due to circumstances beyond our control.” According to Philadelphia court records, the restaurant was evicted over back rent.
The space’s previous occupant, the Avery, also had a very short run last year. Previous occupants had better luck: 2nd Story Brewing Co. closed in 2024 after a decade and was the last to use the brewing equipment installed by Triumph Brewing Co. for its own run from 2007 to 2014.
Adding intrigue now is the liquor license application that was filed at 117 Chestnut St. last week in the name “Finish Your Champagne LLC.” Finish Your Champagne is the name of the long-in-the-works Columbus Boulevard cocktail bar project from Kevin Dolce, owner of Center City’s Taste Cheesesteak Bar and Savù. Dolce declined comment.
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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.
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 significantculture 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 agreedthat 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.
Philly music this week features Connor Barwin’s Make the World Better Concert Weekend at the Dell, four nights with Jill Scott at the Met, Tim McGraw in Camden, Shakira in Atlantic City, the Disco Biscuits in King of Prussia, and Shinedown in South Philly. And more.
Thursday, July 23
Man Man
Philly-born and Los Angeles-based experimental rock band Man Man — fronted by Ryan Kattner, who performs as Honus Honus — is playing a hometown show. Man Man’s most recent album, Carrot on Strings, came out in 2024, but the band has a new single, “So It Goes,” that found its audience through the video game Cyberpunk 2077. Also, Kattner — who has two children with Crazy Rich Asians actress Constance Wu — plays an undead bass player in the AMC series The Vampire Chronicles. Death Valley Girls opens. 8:30 p.m., Underground Arts, 1200 Callowhill St., undergroundarts.org
Tim McGraw is playing the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden on Thursday.Courtesy of the Artist
Tim McGraw
Did Tim McGraw perform at Taylor Swift’s wedding? And if he did, did he sing “Tim McGraw”? We don’t know because, remarkably, the omertà code of silence remains intact about what happened during the Swift-Travis Kelce nuptials. We do know, however, that the country star will be singing in Camden, and along with including his recent singles “Pawn Shop Guitar” and “Song for America,” he will probably wear a Phillies jersey in honor of his famous father, Tug. 8 p.m., Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, 1 Harbour Place, Camden, freedommortgagepavilion.com.
Brent Smith and Zach Meyers of Shinedown perform during the Pierre Robert Show of Life concert on Dec. 17, 2025, at the Fillmore. (Photo by William Thomas Cain/CAIN IMAGES for WMMR)William Thomas Cain/CAIN IMAGES for WMMR
Shinedown
Shinedown singer Brent Smith and guitarist Zach Myers performed as a duo in December at the Fillmore memorial concert for Pierre Robert. So now that they’re coming back with their bandmates Barry Kerch and Eric Bass on tour for their new album, Eight, expect a tribute to the beloved Philly DJ. Coheed and Cambria, From Ashes to New, and DJ Rock Feed open. 8 p.m., Xfinity Mobile Arena, 3601 S. Broad St., xfinitymobilearena.com
Anthony Hamilton
Before the Make the World Better Concert Weekend rolls in to the Dell, one of the highlights of the Strawberry Mansion venue’s R&B series arrives. Rough-and-ready North Carolina vocalist Anthony Hamilton was raised in the Black church and has brought spiritual ardor to his secular music over a 30-year career. Joe and Jon B open. 7 p.m., Dell Music Center, 2400 Strawberry Mansion Drive, dellmusiccenter.com
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Under the direction of Philly-connected sousaphonist Ben Jaffe, New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Jazz Band brings the bon temps while always respecting Crescent City tradition. Expect this show to be a lively tribute to Ronell Johnson, the band’s trombonist who died in June at age 49. Meters bassist George Porter & the Runnin’ Pardners and John Papa Gros opening. 6 p.m., Concerts Under the Stars, 175 W. Valley Forge Road, King of Prussia, concertsunderthestarskop.com
Hannah Cohen plays Free at Noon on Friday at World Stage and 118 North in Wayne that evening.Courtesy of the Aritist
Friday, July 24
Corey Hanson
The singer of the Los Angeles psychedelic rock band Wand has moved away from garage rock to a piano and strings sound on his not-entirely-tongue-in-cheek titled fourth solo album, I Love People. Microgoblet opens. 8 p.m., Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., JohnnyBrendas.com
Hannah Cohen
Earthstar Mountain, Hannah Cohen’s 2025 album, is a dreamy, pastoral collection that conjures 1970s Fleetwood Mac dreams with a touch of Brazilian bossa nova, and Sufjan Stevens and Clairo as guests. Emily Moales, the pianist and songwriter who records as Star Moles and is part of the South Philly-based Historic New Jersey collective, is the opening act. 118 North, 118 N. Wayne Ave., Wayne, 118NorthWayne.com.
Philly alt-rock star Kurt Vile outside Silk City Diner on May 24, 2026, in Philadelphia.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Friday, July 24 and Saturday, July 25
Connor Barwin’s Make the World Better Concert Weekend
The former All-Pro Eagle’s fundraising concerts for the MTWB foundation, which rebuilds Philly parks and rec centers, are back at the Dell after one year in FDR Park. Slanted and Enchanted Stephen Malkmus-led indie avatars Pavement — the subject of Bryn Mawr native Alex Ross Perry’s 2024 meta movie Pavements — headlines Friday, with Ratboys opening. Local heroes Kurt Vile & the Violators top the bill Saturday, with They Are Gutting a Body of Water and Twisted Teens. 7:30 p.m., Dell Music Center, 2400 Strawberry Mansion Drive, dellmusiccenter.com
Friday, July 24; Saturday, July 25; Monday, July 27; and Wednesday, July 29
Jill Scott takes to the stage for One Philly: Unity Concert for America on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on July 4, 2026. The first of her four shows at the Met Philly is Friday.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Jill Scott
Jill Scott performed her entire set at the July 4 One Philly: Unity Concert for America on the Ben Franklin Parkway before the skies opened and caused a four-hour delay. For her festival-length set, she was in fine form and her band sounded fantastic. Now it’s time for four full-length shows at the Met in support of her new album, To Whom This May Concern. 7:30 p.m., Met Philly, 858 N. Broad St., themetphilly.com
Saturday, July 25
Shakira
Shakira and New Jersey: Perfect together. Last weekend, the Colombian superstar performed her global hit “Dai Dai” with Burna Boy at the FIFA World Cup final at Met Life Stadium. On Saturday, she’ll be in Atlantic City in a room that’s smaller than the vast venues she’s accustomed to playing around the world. 8:30 p.m., Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, 2301 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, boardwalkhall.com
Dave P. at the Making Waves festival on the Atlantic City beach in August 2025.Dan DeLuca
Making Waves
The big Making Time ∞ blowout happens at Fort Mifflin in September, but the prelude will be staged this weekend in Atlantic City. Now in its second year, electronic music impresario David Pianka’s Making Waves day at the beach runs from 2 to 11 p.m. on the Atlantic Ocean side on the boardwalk at New York Avenue with DJ sets by VTSS, Detroit in Effect, Baalti, DJ Python, Fundido, and Universal Cave, then moves inside for an Anchor Rock Club after-party, with Curses, ADAAB, Jewelsea, and Dave. P himself. 2 p.m., Anchor Rock Club, 247 S. New York Ave., Atlantic City, makingtimeisrad.com/making-waves
Saturday, July 25 and Sunday, July 26
Disco Biscuits
University of Pennsylvania-born electronic jam band Disco Biscuits is doing two nights in King of Prussia. Longtime drummer Allen Aucoin and the band parted ways last fall after more than 20 years, and these shows will be with new drummer Marlon B. Lewis. DJ Marb Menthols of Goose opens both shows, with Eggy playing the first night and Lespecial the second. Note the early start. 4:30 p.m., Heuser Park, 694 West Beidler Road, King of Prussia, concertsunderthestarskop.com
Sunday, July 26
Toto, Christopher Cross & the Romantics
1980s nostalgia in full effect. Toto guitarist Steve Lukather has been a regular visitor to Philly stages in recent years, singing his band’s hits “Africa” and “Hold the Line” on dates with Ringo Starr’s All Star Band. Now he gets to do it with his own band. Christopher Cross is iconic in Yacht Rock circles for his hit “Sailing,” which came out in 1979. He’s also a great storyteller, as evident on a recent episode of The Questlove Show podcast. The Romantics have at least two songs you know in “What I Like About You” and “Talking in Your Sleep.” 6:45 p.m., TD Pavilion at the Highmark Mann, 5201 Parkside Ave., highmarkmann.org
Bruce Hornsby performs during the Bourbon and Beyond music festival in Louisville, Ky., on Sept. 20, 2024. He plays Ocean City Music Pier on Monday. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP, File)Amy Harris
Monday, July 27
Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers
Fun facts about piano-playing “The Way It Is” hitmaker Bruce Hornsby: He’s toured with the Grateful Dead, I once saw him play accordion and sing Christmas songs with Bruce Springsteen, and the 6-foot-4 Virginian once beat his friend Allen Iverson in a game of one-on-one. He also has a freewheeling new album called Indigo Park that features guest appearances from Bonnie Raitt, Ezra Koenig, and the late Bob Weir. 7 p.m., Ocean City Music Pier, 825 Boardwalk, Ocean City, N.J., ocnj.us.
Kurt Vile’s love of Philly — and Philadelphia’s affection for Kurt Vile — has never been in question.
For the cover of Constant Hitmaker, the 2008 album that announced his arrival, Vile posed in front of a blown out wall “that looks like a Rauschenberg painting” at the corner of Frankford and Norris, he recalls. “That stuff’s beautiful, you know?”
Since 2012, a Steve “ESPO” Powers mural that doubles as the cover for Vile’s 2013 album Wakin On A Pretty Daze has adorned a wall at Front and Master Streets in Northern Liberties, visible to travelers headed north on the Market-Frankford El.
With his signature mane and quizzical expression, Vile, who grew up in Lansdowne in Delaware County, has been the face of Philly’s reign as the capital city of 21st century indie rock.
Kurt Vile stands in front of a mural by Steve “ESPO” Powers on March 27, 2013. Michael S. Wirtz / Staff Photographer
The city is embedded in Vile’s music at every turn, from the “I park for free!” boast on the 2018 song “Loading Zones” to the cover of 2022’s Watch My Moves, which pictures the Dad rock king wearing a crocodile mask in Wissahickon Valley Park, flanked by daughters Awilda and Delphine.
But Vile has never repped his hometown so hard as on his new album, Philadelphia’s Been Good To Me, released in May. It includes shout-outs to Lincoln Drive, the Schuylkill, and Sun Ra, and an infectious single “Chance to Bleed” that features Philadelphia gangsta rap pioneer Schoolly D in a video shot at Kung Fu Necktie.
Philadelphia’s Been Good To Me even includes a playful taunt at two of Vile’s classic rock favorites who dared to record songs with the word Philadelphia in the title.
“A couple of my heroes wrote a song,” Vile talk-sings in “You Don’t Know Cuz It’s My Life.” “But that ain’t where they’re from, so hey you don’t know / But I still love you, Neil and the Boss.”
Working in the wee hours in his basement OKV studio — which stands for “Overnight Kurt Vile” — in his fieldstone house in Mount Airy, Vile recalls, “I was singing along to this keyboard track I had laid down, and that thought came to me.”
Kurt Vile in his basement studio at his home in Mount Airy June 13, 2022, with his daughter Delphine.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Vile, who had (legally) parked his Prius in a nearby loading zone, was talking at the Silk City Diner on the Sunday night of Memorial Day weekend where he would realize a long-held ambition: sitting in with centenarian saxophonist Marshall Allen and members of the Sun Ra Arkestra.
Vile — who was wearing a Tammy Wynette T-shirt and MF Doom trucker’s hat, with his 1965 Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst in the booth beside him (without a case) — explainedhis unique position in Philadelphia music history while dining on an Impossible Burger and Korean fried cauliflower.
“Springsteen wrote the song ‘Streets of Philadelphia’ and Neil wrote ‘Philadelphia,’ and they’re both on the soundtrack to Philadelphia, right?” he says, referring to Jonathan Demme’s 1993 AIDS drama.
“I get where they’re coming from, but it’s still an assignment. They’re singing about a city they don’t know that well. I’m proud of the city that I’m from, and I’m also lucky that I’m from here.
“It’s like my friend Mary Lattimore, who plays the harp.” (And has given lessons to Vile’s daughters, who also both play guitar.) “She’s not from Philly, but she lived here forever, so it feels like home to her, even though she’s in LA now.”
The album cover of Kurt Vile’s ‘Philadelphia’s Been Good To Me,’ which features a photo by Memphis photographer William Eggleston.Verve
Adam Granduciel of the War on Drugs, with whom Vile frequently teamed up when both were aspiring artists in the 2000s, also grew up elsewhere and now lives in Los Angeles.
“They’re two of my oldest friends that were in the Philly scene forever, but they don’t have the extended history that I do.”
Kurt Vile with his father, Charlie, and his daughters Delphine (left) and Awilda, who posed with him on the cover of his latest album, at his home in Mount Airy on June 13, 2022.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The Philly fixture
Vile — who is the oldest boy among the 10 children of his SEPTA train operator father Charlie and stay-at-home mother Donna — is Philly-area born and bred.
“I’m the OG,” he says. “That’s what I’m proud about. It’s like Questlove, or something,” though for all the Philly repping the Roots drummer does, he doesn’t live here either.
Vile, by contrast, is a Philadelphia fixture. When artists like country rebel Margo Price, Australian rocker Courtney Barnett, and North African desert blues band Tinariwen have come to town, there was one way to know for sure they were in Philadelphia: Kurt Vile was standing next to them onstage.
Vile plays the Dell Music Center with his band the Violators on July 25 as part of Connor Barwin’s Make The World Better Concert Weekend. He played Barwin’s first MTWB Foundation benefit in 2014, which raised money to build playgrounds and rec centers throughout the city.
“I don’t follow football and I didn’t know who he was,” Vile says, recalling meeting Barwin at a show. “He walked in and he looked amazing. He was so tall, like a [expletive] Eagle. He was just a genuine fan. I love reconnecting with Connor and watching him do his thing.”
Vile’s July 25 show is the second of two MTWB nights at the Dell. The first-night headliners are 1990s alt-rock heroes Pavement.
“Pavement was my gateway drug to indie rock,” Vile says. “Stephen Malkmus was my hero. I got my first job as a busboy at the Blue Comet on Baltimore Pike and I would spend all my money on Pavement CDs.”
Now, Vile is friends with Malkmus, and was stoked when he found out they were both playing the MTWB weekend — until he realized that he has a gig in Boston the night Pavement is playing. “I’m missing Pavement by a day,” he says. “Which I’m not happy about.”
Vile, 46, has spent his entire life living in the Philly area, save for 2002-03 when he followed his wife Suzanne Lang to Boston while she got a master’s degree at Emerson College.
Philly alt-rock star Kurt Vile outside the Silk City Diner on Sunday, May 24, 2026 in Philadelphia.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
He worked as a forklift operator for an air freight company. “The most ball bustin’ blue-collar job there is,” he says. Before he mastered the machinery, “I got made fun of a lot my first year. But then I got really good at it.”
Returning to Philly and moving to Northern Liberties, he went to work for Philadelphia Brewing Company, where he was hired by future pizza sensei Joe Beddia who was roommates with Granduciel. “They were all blown away by my forklift skills,” recalls Vile. “And that’s how I met Adam.”
At PBC, Vile met Jack Rose, the late Philadelphia guitarist who, like Vile, was a fan of influential American Primitive guitarist John Fahey.
Asked to name his top five Philadelphia artists, Vile starts with Rose. He then adds Purling Hiss guitarist Mike Polizze, and psychedelic folk singer Meg Baird, Petty Bunco label head and singer Richie Charles, along with Schoolly D.
“Is that five?” It is, but Vile has a couple more: Marshall Allen-slash-Sun Ra, and rockin’ country band Florry. “They’re so fun and excitable and young,” Vile says.
Kurt Vile in the music room in his home in Mt. Airy June 13, 2022 (this is not the basement studio)TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
“I love Mount Airy and Germantown,” he says. “There’s still so much old-school Philly in Germantown. And Mount Airy really saved my life. I love that there’s forest, and I have room to think.
Kurt Vile at his home in Mount Airy June 13, 2022, with his daughters Awilda (left) and Delphine, who posed with him on the cover of his latest album.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
“But I can still go to the city any time, and it’s so quick,” driving his Prius down Lincoln and Kelly Drives. “You go in through the Art Museum, and it’s a classy way to go in, you know?”
Over 10 albums, Vile has continued to develop a raw, unhurried signature sound. He often seems to be talking to himself in a bemused drawl over patient jams that turn out to be transfixing.
What country star Keith Urban once said of Vile’s 2015 hit “Pretty Pimpin’” in naming it as one of five songs he wished he’d written applies to Vile’s songwriting in general: “I don’t know how he wrote it, but it sounds like pure stream of consciousness.”
Philly alt-rock star Kurt Vile walking outside the Silk City Diner on Sunday, May 24, 2026 in Philadelphia.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
‘Philadelphia’s Been Good To Me’
On Philadelphia’s Been Good To Me — whose cover features a photo by Memphis photographer William Eggleston — that deft, uncanny approach is evident on tracks like “99th Song,” an ode to a loop pedal that turns out to be a paean to domestic bliss.
“Stoned on music, well, the best kind of high,” he sings. “Got love in my life, and three girls by my side.” Later, the album includes a more straightforward love song: “Every Time I Look At You,” which begins: “Every time I look at you, sparks fly from my eyes.”
At Allen’s birthday party, Vile took a seat next to guitarist DM Hotep at the rear of the stage. “I was playing spacey, bendy Sonic Youth-hybrid leads,” he said afterward. “I felt really calm up there.”
A few days after that party, Vile celebrated the release of Philadelphia’s Been Good To Me at the Triangle Tavern in South Philly, where 200-plus fans lined up to purchase the album and receive a free vegan cheesesteak as a bonus.
Vile headed out with the Violators in June, and checked inbefore a sold-out show at San Francisco’s Castro Theatre this month.
“I’m a little discombobulated today,” he says, ordering a late afternoon large coffee and glazed doughnut. “It was a late night.”
The night before, Vile enjoyed a day off at Festa, a beloved San Fran karaoke bar closing this year he wanted to visit one last time. “I’m shy at first, but then everybody sings and I get up, too.” His go-to is “Stand Back” by Stevie Nicks.
The tour, Vile says, “is going good, man.” This trek has made him rethink the streaming era. He’s a fan of physical media, and feels “the past was more simple and honest.”
Philly alt-rock star Kurt Vile at the Silk City Diner on Sunday, May 24, 2026 in Philadelphia. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
“But now the way people can consume your catalog from streaming, the younger people can binge my catalog like Netflix, and I can tell that they know all of my music. I just feel that people are connected.
“This is my 10th record, and I’ve accumulated all these songs that have emotional qualities combined with a dreamy, pretty, hypnotic thing, and then it rocks live with my electric guitar. It just keeps evolving. The songs are simple enough, but the possibilities are endless.”
On the bus, Vile has been keeping Philly — and Delco — close to his heart.
Kurt Vile in concert at the Union Transfer, Friday, June 3, 2022Steven M. Falk / Staff Photographer
“I’m watching Mare of Easttown,” he says. “I never saw it, and now I’m obsessed, just watching all the Delaware County locations and hearing Kate Winslet say a sentence half-Delco, half-British.” He slips into a Winslet impression: “I’m hoping for an an-swer,” and chuckles to himself.
“But it’s my favorite show in a long time,” says Vile, who has Task cued up next. “And it’s got Mannequin Pussy in it. Does the director not know who I am?” he wonders. “I guess I’ve got to get in touch.”
“The timing is interesting, ‘cause I’ve been spending a lot of time in Delco lately,” says Vile, who’s been hanging with his parents and recently dropped in at his old haunt Paul Revere Pizza in Lansdowne. “Now I’m traveling, and I’m touring my Philly record, and I’m loving it. I’m loving being somewhere else and not in Philly every night. But I’m watching Mare of Easttown. And I know I’m gonna love it when I come home.”
Kurt Vile & the Violators with They Are Gutting A Body of Water and Twisted Teens at the Dell Music Center, 2400 Strawberry Mansion Dr. at 7:30 p.m. July 25th, dellmusiccenter.com.
