This summer, a strange spate of posts popped upin neighborhood Facebook groups:
“Found a parrot in south philly,” one post said, “… anyone missing it? Singing its little heart out.”
“Lost bird!” said another.
Then another: “Please get this parakeet back home!”
In the last few months, the number of these posts — alerting people to loose or lost exotic birds, like parrots, parakeets, or budgerigars, throughout Philadelphia — has seemingly, anecdotally, increased. One person on Reddit noticed this trend and wrote, “WTH is with all these lost birds around Philly? Did a pet store close and just let a bunch of birds loose?”
No official entity could confirm or quantify this phenomenon: The Pennsylvania Game Commission deferred questions to local animal welfare groups. The Animal Care and Control Team of Philly, which gets less than a dozen calls a year about pet birds, a spokesperson said, hasn’t noticed an uptick in those calls.
Nor had any other avian-related groups, like the Audubon Society, Bird Safe Philly, or the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, which all noted they primarily or exclusively deal with wild birds. No one had asked the Philadelphia Zoo to take in any surrendered or lost exotic birds, a spokesperson said. And multiple pet store chains did not respond to questions about whether they lost a flock of birds.
Susan Tyson, an avian veterinarian and owner of Avian & Exotic Philly Vet in Old City, said her clinic has treated four loose budgerigars, or “budgies,” so far this year, including at least two since July.
“We’ve always had people finding loose animals,” Tyson said, “but I’d probably say in the last maybe four years it’s increased.”
Is there a bird liberation movement?
This isn’t a captive bird mutiny. Tyson believes most of these birds inadvertently escaped from homes or pet stores. Navin Sasikumar, president of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club (DVOC), suggested some might have been intentionally abandoned by their owners.
“Probably other people who have pet birds saw [the posts] and thought, ‘Hey, these birds are being rescued — I have birds that I don’t want anymore, maybe they’ll be rescued too,’” Sasikumar said.
“Or it could just be extra attention,” he said. “There might have been other escaped birds around, but no one was really paying attention until one [post] caught on.”
Tyson agreed that social media might be feeding this perceivedproliferation. “It’s like monitoring for breast cancer,” she said. “We’re doing it more, so we’re seeing it more.”
In late September, one of these wayward fledglings found itself in George Armistead’s Upper Roxborough backyard. He was sitting on his porch about 5 p.m. on Sept. 22 when “this thing” — a baby-blue budgie — “dropped out of the sky.”
“I was just totally flabbergasted,” Armistead, 52, said. A lifelong birder and former president of the DVOC, Armistead said he’s seen only a couple non-native budgies and maybe a handful of other exotic birds loose on the streets of Philadelphia.
This budgie’s plumage seemed fresh and uniform, and it was banded with a small ring typically used for research, tracking, or breeding, which lead Armistead to think it wasn’t a house pet. Instead, he thought maybe “a crateful of these things got loose.” (Tyson said there have been cases of birds getting loose while being delivered or transported.)
On a recent September evening, “this thing” — a baby-blue budgie — “dropped out of the sky” and into George Armistead’s Upper Roxborough backyard.Courtesy of George Armistead
Armistead doesn’t support the caged bird trade — he called it “unnatural,” akin to keeping killer whales in aquariums — but he captured the creature, fearing for its own safety in the elements.
Think freeing pet birds is kind? Experts say it isn’t
The greatest risk these loose birds pose is to themselves, experts said: Tropical species will likely be picked off by raptors or killed by the Pennsylvania winter. And while releasing a caged bird might sound idyllic, “the reality is much more ugly,” said Victoria Sindlinger, a senior at the University of Pennsylvania and founder of its Quackers Bird Club.
“It’s just really not going to be suited for life outside or life in this climate, and it is going to die,” Sindlinger said, “and unfortunately, it’s probably going to not be the quickest death.”
Ultimately, rescuing and caring for these animals is up to “individual people’s goodwill,” Sasikumar said. Tyson advocates for all pet birds to be microchipped, like cats or dogs. Her military macaw, Suzy, is microchipped, she said. Sindlinger added that bird ownership should not be taken lightly.
Meanwhile, Armistead’s budgie — which he’s been calling “Pudgie” — has taken up a residence in his spare bedroom, away from the family’s very curious cat. He’s looking to find Pudgie a permanent, loving home.
For now, he said, “my wife has gotten rather attached to it.”
Memorial Hall, which now houses the Please Touch Museum, is pictured in West Fairmount Park in Philadelphia on Tuesday, April 23, 2019. The building is one of the few surviving structures from the 1876 Centennial Exhibition.Tim Tai / Staff Photographer
The Please Touch Museum turns 50 with two days of events for children and their caregivers.
Guests can enjoy toddler sing-alongs, juggling, music, dancing, art-making, story times, and an end-of-day parade on Saturday and Sunday.
While both days are currently sold out, museum organizers are taking walk-ins when possible.
Eastern State Penitentiary hosts Halloween Nights, a festival-like attraction with characters dressed as scary clowns, zombies, vampires and other ghouls — but not prisoners or prison guardsEastern State Penitentiary
🇺🇸 A trip to historical grounds:The Revolutionary Germantown Festival, which marks the devastating loss George Washington endured before retreating to Valley Forge in 1777, is happening this Saturday. The free event will feature living history interpreters, hands-on activities with craftspeople, tours of the Chew House, and other activities.
🎭 A Broadway classic: The Broadway classic, Mamma Mia!, is hitting the stage at the Academy of Music for a limited run. Make your way to the Center City theater before the final curtain call on Sunday.
🍺 Celebrate Oktoberfest in Northwest: Head to Roxborough on Saturday for the 14th annual Roxtoberfest street festival. Visitors can enjoy German-themed entertainment, including live music, a stein-holding competition, a scarecrow walk, and more.
👻 Frightening nights: Visit the haunting cell blocks and frightening attractions at Eastern State Penitentiary during Halloween Nights. The month-long experience kicks off Friday, likely giving even the bravest of guests a scare or two.
📅 My calendar picks this week: Philadelphia Regatta Cup, Proximity: A Street Photography Exhibition, In Community Exhibition. Here’s our full list for the week.
Philadelphia Parallel Parking Association Championship
A sign advertising the 2026 Philadelphia Parallel Parking Association Championship is affixed to a pole across from some fine examples of parallel parking in the city.Courtesy of Adam Wodka
Fifteen competing drivers will test their skills across three events. The first gives drivers a chance to park as close to the curb as possible. The second challenges drivers to navigate a tight squeeze while making the fewest maneuvers. The third will test how well drivers can park under duress.
The free event will take place from 1-4 p.m. on Saturday. It will also be livestreamed for those unable to attend.
Tanelsa Franklin-Phillips outside the Film Society Center, in Philadelphia, Oct. 5, 2025.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
🎥 A reel movie fan’s dream: Experience classic movies in 35mm for the 35th anniversary of the Philadelphia Film Festival and the 25th anniversary of the Philadelphia Film Society. Screenings for REEL October are happening at the Film Society Center and running through Oct. 11.
🎨 Builders and makers: Street art and architecture collide at the 22nd Design Philadelphia Festival starting Thursday. The nearly two-week festival will feature lectures, panel discussions, and installations for emerging and seasoned designers.
🎃 Pumpkin patch at Liberty Point: Make your way to Liberty Point this Saturday for pumpkin picking, carnival games, a photo booth, and other fall-themed activities through Nov. 1.
Staffer picks
The Jonas Brothers perform during halftime of an NFL football game between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, in Melbourne, Australia. (AP Photo/Scott Barbour)Scott Barbour
Here’s a list of the best concerts this weekend.
🎤 Thursday: Rapper Logic will hit the Highmark Mann stage alongside Memphis legend Juicy J and Bay Area native G-Eazy for a supreme rap show.
🎸 Friday: The Jonas Brothers are dropping into South Philly to perform at Xfinity Mobile Arena, with support from singer-songwriter Magnus Ferrell and DJ Deleasa.
🔊 Saturday: South Korean rock band Wave to Earth will grace the Met Philadelphia stage with their lo-fi, indie surf-rock jams as part of their “Pieces Tour.”
🎤 Monday:Stanley Simmons, whose music floats between folk and indie-rock, is set to headline at World Cafe Live on Monday.
❓Pop quiz
Where did the Please Touch Museum originally open its doors?
A) Memorial Hall
B) Academy of Natural Sciences
C) Franklin Institute
D) Parkway Central Library
Here’s the answer to last week’s question: What year was the first Concilio’s Annual Puerto Rican Day Parade in Philadelphia? Answer: 1964
Ask Earl anything
Many of you have questions about each week’s listings, and others about Philly’s arts, culture, and entertainment scene.
I have you covered. Have a question? Email me for a chance to have it answered in an upcoming newsletter.
That’s all folks! Enjoy your weekend, and feel free to sharpen up your parking skills if you feel so inclined. This writer here will certainly appreciate it.
– Earl Hopkins
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
A gray plastic tote shook outside the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education every few minutes Tuesday afternoon, proof that patient 718 was ready to fly.
A crowd gathered on the lawn beside it, adjusting shutter speeds to capture the world’s fastest animal. Just after 1 p.m., Sydney Glisan, director of the center’s wildlife clinic, unfastened the bungee cord, removed the lid, and offered the male peregrine falcon a few words of encouragement.
“All right, buddy,” Glisan said. “Today’s the day.”
Video: Peregrine falcon released into the wild after healing from lead poisoning
Like a feathered fighter jet, the bird burst from the tote and bolted for the big trees in Roxborough, letting out a few raucous shrieks as it disappeared.
Patient 718 — animals are rarely named at the Schuylkill Center — arrived thin and sickly on June 4, suffering from high levels of lead poisoning. The bird was found near the entrance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art earlier that day, far below the nest its parents built there.
“He was just kind of sitting there,” Glisan said of 718.
A sibling, who had lower levels of lead poisoning, was also discovered at the museum the same day. That falcon, also a male, was treated at the clinic and released into the wild on July 1.
Glisan said most raptors in the region would test positive for lead, but 718’s levels were “off the charts.” Lead can be found in the soil, she said, from bullets, lead-poisoned prey, and even fishing gear.
At the clinic, 718 received chelation therapy, where a medication binds to the lead in the bloodstream and is then passed by the bird. The falcon received four rounds of chelation over the summer, with recovery breaks.
“It’s hard on the body,” Glisan said, “but he was a real trouper.”
After chelation, the falcon was taken to an aviary, where he practiced flying through an obstacle course that included pool noodles. He aced the test.
“It was fascinating,” she said. “They move so fast.”
Peregrines mostly hunt other birds from high perches and can reach speeds of over 200 mph when dive-bombing on prey.
Sydney Glisan, director of the wildlife clinic at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, cares for a red-tailed hawk who was brought into the clinic on Tuesday.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Glisan said 718 would probably find his own territory and not return to the art museum. She said there are at least three active peregrine nests in Philadelphia, including one at City Hall.
Sydney Glisan, director of the wildlife clinic at The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, cares for a red-tailed hawk who was brought into the clinic Tuesday.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Schuylkill Center has treated 1,775 animals this year, including numerous species of birds, gray squirrels, and rabbits. More were coming in by the minute, including a red-tailed hawk with an injured talon and a baby squirrel that tangled with a dog.
Many animals that come in don’t survive long, Glisan said, and some, like Buttercup, the mostly blind-but-friendly opossum with frostbitten ears, are unable to be released due to their injuries. They are used for education and, on occasion, cuddling.
“I do love you, Butter,” Glisan said, cradling the opossum.
Sydney Glisan, director of the wildlife clinic at The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, shown here with Buttercup, the mostly blind-but-friendly opossuma who is a permanent resident at the clinic.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
Erin Mooney, the Schuylkill Center’s executive director, said the facility does not charge to take in and treat animals. She also said the center needs a new clinic building because theirs is 31 years old, and too small.
While the Schuylkill Center receives money from outside agencies on occasion, Mooney said they rely heavily on donors.
“In order for the work at the clinic and the Schuylkill Center itself to continue, we need people to give,” Mooney said.
Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal’s new second-in-command has left the job — three months after he arrived.
Undersheriff George Gossett Jr., whom Bilal hired in June as part of what she had described as a major “reorganization and modernization” initiative, confirmed Monday that he had resigned from the job effective last Friday.
Gossett said through a spokesperson that he is “excited to pursue opportunities in the private sector” but provided no other explanation for his short tenure.
Bilal’s office has been hit with three court orders since 2024 seeking to correct alleged mismanagement, most recently in May over delays in processing deeds of properties won at auction.
Gossett, a Roxborough-based lawyer and former assistant district attorney, was tapped in June at an annual salary of $185,000, weeks after a Common Pleas Court judge ordered Bilal to fix the sheriff sale process or face consequences.
According to a news release Bilal issued that month, Gossett was to “oversee daily operations, strategic planning initiatives, personnel management, and operational coordination across the agency.”
“This reorganization is about building a stronger organization for the future,” Bilal said at the time.
It is unclear where that plan now stands, with the new undersheriff having already departed.
Gossett is the fourth undersheriff to serve Bilal since she took office in 2020. Bilal and her spokesperson, Teresa Lundy, declined to provide any details about why her top deputy would leave so soon after taking the job.
Sources in the office said that the pair did not see eye-to-eye, and that Gossett was said to have made a remark about Bilal’s “anger management” issues, which may have escalated the situation.
Separately, Bilal last week fired Mark Wilson, the office’s codirector of real estate. Wilson declined to comment.
Gossett’s predecessors also had rocky terms in the sheriff’s office.
In August 2020, seven months into the job, Undersheriff Sommer Miller resigned after she said she faced retaliation for reporting alleged theft in the advertising department, unauthorized spending of public funds, and instances of extreme sexual harassment. She later claimed in a whistleblower lawsuit that Bilal had been “reading and monitoring her emails in real time.”
Miller’s replacement, Undersheriff Curtis Douglas, left in May 2021, about a week after reports that Bilal’s office had botched a contract meant to move sheriff sales to an online platform. A spokesperson at the time described Douglas’ departure as a planned retirement.
In May 2026, Undersheriff Tariq El-Shabazz, a criminal defense attorney who came to personally oversee the handling of deeds related to sheriff sales, also retired. He left one day after the most recent court order dropped.
Under Bilal, who was elected as a reformer in 2019, sales of foreclosed and tax-delinquent properties have been mired in post-auction delays, with winning bidders waiting a year or more to get their deeds.
Many auctions were halted altogether between 2021 and 2024. Court security and inmate transportation, two other key functions of the office, have also been recurring problems, with judges saying they have felt unsafe.
In addition to Gossett, Bilal recently hired William A. Brownlee Sr. as part of the office restructuring earlier this year.
Brownlee, a West Philadelphia pastor, a motivational speaker, a real estate investor, and an entrepreneur with a checkered financial history, has previously described himself on his website and social media as the office’s “Deputy Chief Financial Officer.” His website has since gone dark, and Bilal’s office said Brownlee currently serves as project manager. Payroll records show he is being paid $95,000 a year.
Another new hire, Steven A. Wakefield, is a former Philadelphia Law Department attorney serving as Bilal’s deputy undersheriff in charge of deed compliance. He is being paid $120,000 a year.
Wakefield took the stand last month and told Common Pleas Court Judge Paula Patrick, supervisor of the court’s commerce division, that the office had previously misplaced records and lost track of the distribution of some auction proceeds. Wakefield blamed the situation on a since-terminated employee who allegedly concealed the problem from Bilal.
Bilal did not testify at the hearing. Her city-appointed lawyer had filed a motion seeking to keep her off the stand, saying the sheriff had “limited personal knowledge” of how sheriff sales work.
Wakefield said he had enacted operational reforms, speeding the deed issuance process while largely clearing out a backlog of deeds from earlier sales.
Even so, Patrick took the rare step of imposing six months of outside supervision of sheriff sales.
The dining tables were already inside the East Norriton building where the owners of White Yak Restaurant planned a second location when a fire ripped through the roof earlier this month.
Chef-owner Treley Parshingtsang’s husband, a contractor by trade, made the tables by hand. The couple was about six weeks from opening what would have been Montgomery County’s only Tibetan restaurant.
“I have so many packages that my brother shipped all the way from Tibet for the decorations,” she said through tears.
White Yak Restaurant’s Roxborough location has drawn a loyal following and criticalacclaim for its spicy momo dumplings, hand-ripped noodles, and house-made sausage. It’s been a regular on The Inquirer’s 76 best restaurants in the region.
Co-owners Tsering Parshingtsang (left) and Treley Parshingtsang spoon out Thenthuk soup with beef and hand-ripped noodles at White Yak, the Himalayan Tibetan restaurant in Roxborough Nov. 26, 2019.TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Opening the first restaurant, at 6118 Ridge Ave., took six and a half years of work, Parshingtsang said, and her family had been working on the East Norriton location for four. The couple bought the building in 2021, property records show.
The fire broke out Sept. 5 at the 123 W.Germantown Pike building, White Yak Restaurant wrote on social media last week. Images show flames pouring from the roof of the 6,000-square-foot structure across from Friendly’s.
Though insurance and fire inspectors have surveyed the damage, the cause of the fire is still unknown, Parshingtsang said in an interview. The electricity wasn’t turned on, and the doors were locked.
The top floor of 123 W. Germantown Pike, razed by fire on Sept. 5, 2026.Tsering Parshingtsang
Parshingtsang is hopeful they can save the basement and first floor, but she’s worried about the rain pouring in from the open roof.
“That building is very special for us,” she said. “We have a lot of memories.”
The news drew messages of support, including from Montgomery County Commissioner Neil Makhija.
“[I] was so excited to welcome the White Yak Restaurant,” Makhija wrote on social media. “Their Roxborough restaurant is a favorite for our family.”
It’s too early to tell when White Yak will be ready to resume expansion plans, Parshingtsang said, but her family wrote in a statement on the restaurant’s social media page that they’re determined to move forward: “The building may be gone, but our dream is not.”
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With temperatures expected to get close to 90 degrees later this week, some Philadelphia schools will dismiss early Tuesday.
Fifty-two schools still lack air-conditioning.
“The Philadelphia region is experiencing higher-than-normal temperatures, and while the district has made significant progress toward ensuring our schools are adequately cooled to provide safe and comfortable learning environments, some schools still have inadequate cooling systems,” Oz Hill, the deputy superintendent of operations, wrote in a letter sent to families Monday.
The Philadelphia School District’s extreme-weather protocol means that if temperatures are forecast to reach or exceed 85 degrees by noon, those schools dismiss early; if it hits 85 degrees by 9 a.m., the call is for remote learning.
That means an unequal experience for students across the system, with students in some schools not missing any instructional time when it’s hot, and those in a quarter of schools subject to interrupted schedules.
“While we know that in-person learning is the best environment for students, the safety and well-being of our students, staff, and families remains our top priority,” Hill wrote. “Thank you for your flexibility and partnership. Please take care, stay cool, and stay safe.”
The holdup in air-conditioning all district schools is not related to the cost of air-conditioning units, but rather upgrading old electrical systems in the 52 schools.
Such upgrades are tricky. An HVAC project at Kensington High went awry this summer, triggering asbestos issues that forced students and staff to relocate for the rest of the calendar year.
School officials said in 2022 they aimed to have all district schools fully air-conditioned by 2027. But on the cusp of that cutoff, that goal seems unlikely.
Which schools will dismiss early?
The 52 schools that will have a half day Tuesday are:
If you have ever considered giving up your car, now is the time.
There’s the price of gasoline, which has shot up by more than 35% since President DonaldTrump launched the war against Iran in February. Even if you never start the ignition, simply owning a car will now set you back an average of $8,000 a year in insurance, maintenance, and loan payments.
And those are just the immediate costs. As a major source of greenhouse gases, cars contribute significantly to climate change, which is already pushing up the price of food and everyday purchases.
So, let’s say you’re ready to ditch your money pit on wheels. Then what?
I’ve been struggling with this question since I moderated a panel this spring with Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon, the duo from the popular podcast The War on Cars, who just published a rousing call to arms, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile. The event, held at the capacious Resurrection Philadelphia church in Center City, was sponsored by Philly Bike Action and 5th Square Advocacy, two groups dedicated to promoting alternatives to driving.
Resurrection’s sanctuary was packed — with the converted. When Goodyear and Gordon asked the audience who had traveled to the event by car, only a few sheepish hands went up.
While their bookdoes a great job of detailing the ways cars “ruin everything,” there is little in it to help the car-dependent kick the habit. The problem is, most people have no idea where to start.
Even in the Philadelphia region, which has better-than-average transit and cycling infrastructure, the prospect of living without a car can seem a little like trying to swim without arms and legs. How will you take the kids to sporting events, look after elderly parents, and buy groceries without a vehicle? Our local transit services — SEPTA, NJ Transit, and PATCO — don’t serve every nook and cranny of the region and don’t run as frequently as they should.
Like everything else in America these days, the debate over the role of cars in our daily lives tends toward extremes. Philadelphia urbanists can sometimes come off as unsympathetic, as if they expect people to go cold turkey and swap their vehicles for bikes and SEPTA. Meanwhile, the pro-car lobby keeps insisting, against the evidence, that the car-free life is not practical outside a few transit-rich neighborhoods, like Center City.
But who says it has to be all or nothing?
‘Habituate walking’
My advice: Keep your car — for now, at least — but look for opportunities to get around by other means. Walk to the grocery store. Ride a bike to dinner at a nearby restaurant. Think of these excursions as a trial run. Once you feel comfortable, take the train or bus to work. You may never give up your car permanently, but you will save a bundle on gas and maintenance, reduce congestion, and boost your step count.
That’s how Jane Murray started weaning herself from the car. The Ardmore resident, who now runs a popular Instagram account called @Janewalksardmore, first began taking long walks as a way toexperience her Main Line town on a deeper level. To give shape to her Instagram project, she decided to visit every block in Ardmore and document her travels.
Jane Murray walks along Lancaster Avenue in downtown Ardmore, as part of a project to to walk every street in the Main Line town.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
The more she walked, the more comfortable she felt leaving her car at home. She now wheels a “granny cart” to Trader Joe’s, a 15-minute walk from her house. Not long ago, she hopped a SEPTA bus to meet friends for quizzo in a pub a few towns away. At the end of the night, she took an Uber home.
Murray’s kids still have to take a bus the four miles to their middle school and she drives them to distant sporting events, but makes a conscious effort to “habituate walking” into her routine. Before leaving the house, she checks her transit apps to see if she can get to her destination without driving. Sometimes, she mixes it up: When she’s running errands, she’ll drive part of the way, then walk the last few blocks. Her Instagram has inspired her neighbors, who pepper her for tips about safe walking routes.
A mobility menu
Living in America without a car is often portrayed as a hardship, something that people on the margins are forced to endure. But, for me, living without a car has been a joy.
I didn’t know what to expect when I impulsively decided to get rid of my aging clunker 30 years ago after being presented with an expensive repair bill. Before then, I had rarely taken taxis or splurged on Amtrak to visit family in New York. Since I would no longer have to pay for car insurance, I promised to allow myself those indulgences. My husband and I were living in Center City, which certainly made our experiment more doable. (I should mention that I was pregnant at the time. I took a taxi to and from the hospital.)
Besides saving a lot of money, not having a car has liberated me in ways I never could have imagined. Bike lanes were virtually nonexistent in Philadelphia in the ’90s; today my bicycle is my main form of transportation. Thanks to the city’s mostly flat terrain, I can easily cycle to interviews and events in far-flung neighborhoods. My ride is equipped with side baskets, allowing me to do my grocery shopping by bike. When my destination is beyond biking distance, or when I have to look presentable, I’ll take SEPTA or reserve a Zipcar from the local car-sharing company. In a pinch, I can always summon an Uber, a Lyft, or a taxi. I still walk a lot, and it’s no exaggeration to say I run into people I know on every outing.
The key here is to think of mobility as a menu of options, rather than a car/no-car binary. While low-speed electric bikes have made it easier to cover long distances, not everyone can, or wants to, bike. Even transit can be daunting for a novice. The fear of crime also deters some people from using SEPTA, even though serious incidents have fallen dramatically in the last decade.
In 2022, Councilmember Mark Squilla (center), former Eagle Connor Barwin, Councilmember Kendra Brooks, and Councilmember Helen Gym took part in a Bike to Work Day event sponsored by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia to promote cycling as a means of transportation.JESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer
Eden MacDougall vividly remembers his trepidation when he started commuting from Langhorne, in Bucks County, to Temple University on SEPTA’s Regional Rail. “I kept thinking, how will I know it’s my stop?”
By the time MacDougall graduated in 2022, he was a super-commuter. To get to his new job at Mastery Charter School, where he is an AmeriCorps reading instructor, he had to use three forms of transportation: He started his day by biking two miles from his home to the Langhorne station. After taking a SEPTA train to Fern Rock, he changed to the Broad Street subway, getting off at Erie. The trip took an hour and 45 minutes, but MacDougall, who never learned to drive, loved it. “I’d open up my book and read the whole way.”
Stephen Bronskill, coalition manager for Transit Forward Philadelphia, shows incoming Temple University students how to navigate SEPTA during a tour organized at the start of the new semester. Bastiaan Slabbers / For The Inquirer
Now he lives in Philadelphia and volunteers as an instructor for Transit Forward Philadelphia and the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, which run Saturday tours to help people feel more confident riding SEPTA. Although the events provide practical advice, like how to use a transit app, they’re intended to be fun excursions. MacDougall recently shepherded a group from Roxborough to the Clark Park farmers market, showing them how to change from the Route 9 bus to a West Philadelphia trolley. Along the way, the group got to see SEPTA’s efficient new Wissahickon Transit Center on Ridge Avenue, where 11 bus routes converge.
The two groups, which have been lobbying the state legislature to help SEPTA secure much-needed state funding, started the Saturday tours as an extension of their advocacy work. They believe the exposure to SEPTA’s system can help reset public perceptions.
SEPTA’s new Wissahickon Transportation Center on Ridge Avenue in Manayunk is a major upgrade for the city’s bus riders. The sprawling, $50 million station opened in January 2026 and allows 5,000 passengers a day to switch between 11 bus lines. (photographeed Aug. 2026)Inga Saffron / For The Inquirer
“People had a lot of negative experiences during the pandemic,” Julio Rodriguez, the Bicycle Coalition’s policy director, told me. So, when SEPTA announced it was implementing its long-awaited schedule changes this summer, the transit advocates saw a chance to change the conversation.
Helping SEPTA boost ridership isn’t their only goal, however. Because they believe fewer cars will make Philadelphia a safer, more livable city, they’re organizing similar outings to get people comfortable with bike commuting.
Changing habits
Even while these advocates are gaining adherents, many skeptics remain convinced people will never give up their cars.
But the public’s cheerful response to this summer’s car-free celebrations around Philadelphia suggests that habits can change. Almost 600,000 people converged for World Cup watch parties at Lemon Hill in Fairmount Park during the 39-day FIFA Fan Festival — even though parking was banned. After the games ended, I saw hundreds of people streaming along the Schuylkill River Trail to 30th Street Station, a distance of 1.5 miles. Thousands took transit, rode bikes, or walked to the Ben Franklin Bridge to celebrate its centennial in July.
Thousands of people took transit, biked, or walked on July 11 to parade across the Ben Franklin Bridge to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its opening.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
For people who switch to alternative forms of transportation, the payback is immediate. But Philadelphia and the region also have much to gain from having fewer cars racing through the streets: cleaner air, less noise, more casual social encounters with neighbors, and less wear-and-tear on infrastructure
The impact on climate change is a different story. Individual actions can only do so much to slow the dramatic shifts in global weather. It’s also a frustrating chicken-and-egg situation. People won’t see car-free living as truly feasible until there is intensive government investment in transit, bike infrastructure, and pedestrian safety.
Until that happens, carry a fare card, sign up for car-share, install a transit app on your phone — and don’t forget to wear ahelmet.
The seeded roll is a staple of Sarcone’s Bakery.Michael Klein / Staff
The seeded-roll question is part of the crowded field of never-settled cheesesteak disputes: Which cheese is correct? How finely should the beef be chopped? Should the onions be diced, sliced, or chopped?
Tourists vs. locals
Earlier this month, Jim’s began offering seeded rolls as an option for the first time since it opened in 1976. Pat’s, which made news in February when it began offering them after 96 years of plain rolls, abandoned the experiment after only a few weeks.
Seeded rolls tend to be crustier, and the toasted sesame adds a faintly nutty flavor. Plain rolls are generally softer and milder, putting more emphasis on the beef and cheese.
At Jim’s, owner Ken Silver said he added seeded rolls to his Liscio’s bread order to give customers a choice. “For the most part, it’s a tourist thing,” Silver said. “Our local base is almost all plain.”
Silver said Jim’s made the change “for the same reason we added chicken and Cooper Sharp [cheese]. People expect it from what they see on social media.” Overall so far, he said, seeded is outselling unseeded, 6 to 1.
At Pat’s, those expectations did not translate into sales.
A cheesesteak on an unseeded roll at Jim’s South Street.Matt Rourke
Owner Frank Olivieri began offering seeded rolls in February, shortly after the death of his father, Frank P. Olivieri, who had resisted changes. The younger Olivieri initially said the limited-time offering would likely be permanent.
It lasted a month.
“If I got in 400 [seeded rolls] a day, by the end of the day, I was throwing out 390 of them,” Olivieri said. “Not that I’m the barometer to judge everybody else by or what influencers think you should eat, [but] not everybody who comes to Pat’s Steaks wants the [seeded] rolls.”
How the old guard rolls
Pat’s recently switched its bread supplier from Aversa to Corropolese, and offers plain rolls only now.
Geno’s Steaks, across Passyunk Avenue, also has been firmly seedless since Joey Vento opened the shop in 1966. “It’s never crossed my mind,” said Geno Vento, who took over after his father’s passing in 2011. “We have our customer base, and I don’t feel that we need to change the roll [baked by Liscio]. I feel like it’s more of a trend right now. And they might put [cheesesteaks] on rye bread next. You never know.”
Geno’s concession to the new generation is Cooper Sharp, which the shop buys in sauce form and heats up — as an option.
At the old-school Dalessandro’s in Roxborough, owner Steve Kotridis said he began offering seeded rolls a few years ago “when it became a fad,” though he estimated that only 3% of customers order them. Dalessandro’s uses a softer Amoroso roll for cheesesteaks and a sturdier, seeded Aversa for hoagies, both with and without seeds.
For newer cheesesteak shops, however, the seeded roll has become all but de rigueur — a style that predates social media but has been amplified by it. Famously, Donkey’s Place in Camden has served its distinctive cheesesteaks on poppy-seeded round rolls for more than 80 years.
Louis Sarcone Jr. at the century-old Sarcone’s Bakery credits Bobby Toner of the now-closed JR’s Deli with helping establish seeded bread as a hoagie standard in the 1980s, after Toner began buying Sarcone’s seeded loaves.
Sarcone said Primo Hoagies, founded in South Philadelphia in 1992, spread the style widely as it expanded into a 120-unit chain. Sarcone supplied Primo for years before it started using parbaked rolls supplied by another bakery.
By 2024, Sarcone said, 90% of the rolls he baked were seeded, up from 75% a decade earlier.
John Bucci Jr. said John’s Roast Pork began serving cheesesteaks on seeded rolls in 1987, after its supplier, Vilotti, went out of business. Bucci’s father, who was terminally ill, left the choice of a new bakery to his son. “JR’s had started making their hoagies on seeded bread, so, I figured, why not try [it] on a cheesesteak?” Bucci said.
John’s initially bought its seeded rolls from Carangi and later switched to Sarcone’s.
Now a cheesesteak roll
The seeded roll’s rise as a defining feature of the modern Philadelphia cheesesteak came later, accelerated by Angelo’s Pizzeria.
Owner Danny DiGiampietro, whose wife is Louis Sarcone’s niece, used Sarcone’s seeded rolls when he opened the first Angelo’s in Haddonfield in 2013. After moving Angelo’s to Ninth and Fitzwater in 2019, DiGiampietro began baking his own bread.
As Angelo’s fame grew, its crusty, sesame-seeded rolls — an image widely broadcast on social media and emulated by other shops — helped define the newer-generation cheesesteak.
Del Rossi’s cheesesteak is served on a house-baked seeded roll.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
At Del Rossi’s, owner Nish Patel said cheesesteak orders were roughly split between plain and seeded rolls when he took over in 2020. Since he began baking his own rolls in 2024, virtually all have gone out on seeded bread.
“We barely get any requests for unseeded,” Patel said.
The contrast with Pat’s could hardly be sharper. There, Olivieri said, almost nobody wanted the seeded option.
Jim’s now finds itself somewhere in between — offering the roll that has come to signify a Philadelphia cheesesteak to many, while continuing to sell mostly plain rolls to its longtime clientele.
“People expect it from what they see on social media,” Silver said.
Restaurateur Bruce Cooper is big on dates. He opened Jake’s in Manayunk on Oct. 19, 1987 — Black Monday, the day the stock market crashed.
He’ll close it on Oct. 19, 2026, the start of its 40th year on Main Street.
In between was another financial crisis, an expansion that reflected changing tastes, a devastating flood, a pandemic — and nearly four decades in which Jake’s evolved along with Manayunk itself.
Cooper, 72, is selling the side-by-side Main Street properties that house what is now Jake’s & Cooper’s Wine Bar. Before the final night, he plans to turn the wind-down into a reunion. Past employees will get a 50% discount on Sundays and Mondays, and the restaurant will extend its September restaurant week (Sept. 14-20) pricing through the final day. On Oct. 19, a party will empty the bar and kitchen, with proceeds going to a local charity.
“I just wanted to get to [the start of] 40 years,” said Cooper. “I wanted to get out two years ago.”
Bruce Cooper with his son, Bruce Joseph Cooper II, inside the wine bar at Jake’s & Cooper’s Wine Bar.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
Cooper, a Culinary Institute of America graduate from Upstate New York, had spent a decade as executive chef at Lankenau Hospital before deciding that he wanted a restaurant of his own. He took business courses at Community College of Philadelphia and St. Joseph’s University and spent years looking at properties before a real estate agent showed him a former print shop in Manayunk in early 1987.
Cooper didn’t commission traffic studies. While walking along Main Street, he noticed Jaguars and other expensive cars rolling up to a posh restaurant called Jamey’s, which had opened a year and a half before. Otherwise, as he remembers it, “there were practically tumbleweeds floating down the street. You could find parking on a Saturday.”
That spring, Cooper bought 4365 Main St. and assembled a group of investors to open Jake’s, his then-wife Helena’s nickname.
Jake’s was conspicuously ambitious: white tablecloths, contemporary artwork, an extensive wine list, and Cooper’s refined cooking, including pastas from scratch. Dishes included crab cakes with raspberry butter, scallops with red pepper and papaya sauces, and duck breast with tangerine sauce.
The restaurant’s whimsical facade depicted an oversize table setting, with food spilling from a plate and wine pouring into a glass, surrounded by flowers, flatware, linen, and crystal — designed to suggest both fine dining and a sense of fun.
The exterior of Jake’s & Cooper’s Wine Bar in Manayunk on Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. The bar is closing after 39 years.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
Many early customers came from the Main Line, crossing the Schuylkill over the Green Lane Bridge into the former mill town.
Business grew quickly. When Cooper had put together his business plan, his accountant told him his projected sales were impossible for a 65-seat restaurant. Jake’s reached the projection in its second year, Cooper said.
By the 1990s, Main Street was crowded with boutiques and similarly high-aiming restaurants like Sonoma and Kansas City Prime.
In a 1998 review, Inquirer restaurant critic Craig LaBan described a room of cushioned banquettes, contemporary design, and a stylish but unstuffy clientele. He called out the veal dumplings with caramelized ginger, seared tuna with sticky rice, foie gras with grilled mango, and the barbecued salmon — a signature.
Craig LaBan’s first review of Jake’s, from July 1998.Newspapers.com
And then there were the mashed potatoes. One version paired Yukon gold potatoes with buttermilk and roasted corn. Another, served beneath medallions of veal, was infused with lobster and cream. Patrons, LaBan reported, had taken to calling the latter “sex on a plate.”
LaBan awarded Jake’s three out of four Liberty Bells, the rating system he used at the time. “That’s when it really started to take off,” Cooper said.
Manayunk’s overall success brought its own problems. Friction between residents and the expanding restaurant and bar scene in the late 1990s led then-City Councilmember Michael Nutter to push for a five-year moratorium on new restaurants in the district.
Julia Child with Bruce Cooper at an event in 1996.Courtesy of Bruce Cooper
Cooper, who later served as president of the Manayunk Development Corp., believes that the moratorium lasted too long and helped push Main Street toward nightlife. He later helped develop agreements among restaurateurs, landlords, the business association, and neighborhood groups that placed operating restrictions on new restaurants.
Meanwhile, the style of dining that had made Jake’s successful was changing. White tablecloths were giving way to small-plate menus.
Which leads to another consequential date: March 14, 2008, on the eve of another financial crisis, when Cooper bought the former clothing store next door at 4367 Main St. and opened Cooper’s Brick Oven Wine Bar. Cooper’s is a markedly different restaurant, drawing a younger crowd and serving pizza, small plates, craft beer, and less expensive wines.
The dividing line quickly blurred, Cooper said. Customers at Cooper’s wanted food from Jake’s, and Jake’s customers wanted dishes from Cooper’s. The restaurants shared a kitchen, and Cooper eventually merged their menus and identities as Jake’s & Cooper’s Wine Bar.
Head bartender Carrie Hice chatting with patrons at Cooper’s Wine Bar in 2023.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Then came July 17, 2016.
Cooper got a middle-of-the-night phone call that a city water main had ruptured outside the restaurant, sending water through the building and destroying the kitchen and the apartments above. He gutted and rebuilt, with business-interruption insurance helping carry the restaurant through a six-month closure.
The experience changed the way Cooper thought about the business.
“When you stop a business and then restart it, there are people who had been coming every week, and then they stopped,” he said. “They got into another routine. They went elsewhere.”
Even months after Jake’s reopened, Cooper said, customers would walk in surprised to discover it had reopened. “That’s when I started looking at things differently,” he said.
Cooper considered selling, but a real estate adviser urged him to wait as residential development accelerated in Manayunk and Roxborough. Three years later came the pandemic. His extended time at home spoiled him, he said.
Chris Campana (left), with help from Bruce Joseph Cooper II, choosing a wine from the wall in 2023.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
Three years ago, Cooper moved to Delaware. His son, Bruce Joseph Cooper II, 37, now manages the restaurant day to day, while the senior Cooper comes north once or twice a week to handle scheduling, wine orders, and other duties.
In June, Cooper put the properties, including four upper-level apartments, on the market for an undisclosed asking price. Cooper said he wants a clean break rather than passing the restaurant to his son, though neither rules out working together on another project someday.
The closing will end one of the longest remaining restaurant runs from the era that transformed Manayunk. Pitchers Pub (1987) and Zesty’s (1993) are still at it; U.S. Hotel Bar & Grill has been open irregularly since Bill Green, the former mayor and congressman, reopened it in 1986.
For Cooper, that history encompasses more than the people who ate there. “When you look back, you think about the generations of customers —in a lot of cases, we’re talking about three generations,” he said. “But it’s not just the customers. It’s all the people behind the scenes: the banker, the produce person, all those people who helped you get through things.”
Bruce Joseph Cooper II, then 11, helps chef Bill Murphy carry food from Jake’s basement to be loaded into a truck for a 1999 holiday dinner by Philabundance. Vicki Valerio / Staff Photographer
Cooper’s son grew up at Jake’s, handing out cookies at holiday meals his father helped organize through North Light Community Center. He joined the restaurant full-time during the pandemic, starting as a food runner and eventually taking over management.
Purveyors and other restaurateurs have approached Cooper Jr. with potential job offers, he said, and he would consider working with whoever buys the properties. He once imagined taking over Jake’s himself but is no longer certain that is what he wants.
His father understands.
The restaurant business, the senior Cooper said, demands long hours and constant attention. One lesson he would give a new restaurateur is the one that helped him survive both the flood and the pandemic: Own the real estate if you can.
“If I didn’t own this real estate during COVID, I would have owed the landlord,” he said.
Cooper has begun informally advising other restaurateurs about the economics of getting into, staying in, and getting out of the business. After nearly four decades, he said, he is ready to find out what comes next.
His son thinks about Jake’s in more personal terms.
“Even in my almost five years working as a manager here, I’ve seen kids go from being in the womb to toddlers, and they know me as Uncle Bruce,” the younger Cooper said. “That’s one of the greatest feelings in the world — being able to say, ‘I knew you before you were born, little one.’”
Bruce Joseph Cooper II (left), general manager, and Bruce Cooper (right), owner, inside Jake’s & Cooper’s Wine Bar in Manayunk.Allie Ippolito / For The Inquirer
For years, Graduate Hospital — the Center City neighborhood roughly bounded by South Street and Washington Avenue, and Broad Street and the Schuylkill — has been sorely lacking in places to stop in for a snack, pastry, or ice cream cone.
It didn’t seem to matter: Rittenhouse was so close that residents’ desires for little treats were generally met by walking a couple blocks north, where “little treats,” the culture of which has been surging worldwide, abound. On the 200 block of 20th Street alone, between Walnut and Spruce, you’ll find 1-900-Ice-Cream, which opened in 2022 and sees relentless lines down the block; All Aboard Candy, which opened last year and is one of two places you can buy adorable gummy candies; and Biederman’s, a seafood-centric “appetizing” shop that opened earlier this year.
Now, Grad Hospital is seeing its own treat boom. In recent months, the neighborhood has seen an influx of treat sellers that shows no sign of stopping.
The openings have been concentrated on South Street between 15th and 17th Streets, but other parts of the neighborhood are changing as well.
Winners Ice Cream, Ange Branca’s jacket potato and creamsicle-driven operation Mod Spuds, Sandpiper Cafe (where you can get trendy matcha lattes), and Sweet Mousse (which sells even fancier beverages and mousse cakes) all opened within two blocks of one another on South Street between May and July this year. They are all Asian-owned — a notable aspect of little treat culture, as Asian flavors like matcha and ube have been extremely popular at little treat retailers. (Demand for both ingredients has been so high, both have seen global supply chain shortages.)
The market for little treats, also known as treatonomics, is propelled by Gen Z but not at all restricted to that generation, as spending on “pick-me-ups” generally increases in recessions and in uncertain economic conditions, economists have found.
Cookies and cream dream in a waffle cone at Winners Ice Cream in Graduate Hospital.Kiki Aranita
The Grad Hospital boom is powered by nimble operators with no need for the ventilation systems required at most full-service restaurants. Thus, they are able to launch after footing comparatively light construction costs.
“We’re two months in and it’s been awesome,” said Anh Nguyen, the owner of Winners. “Many are saying Grad Hospital needed an ice cream shop, so I’m happy we opened here.”
Nguyen’s clientele consists mostly of neighborhood residents and families. He hopes to attract more customers from outside the area. “My aim is to win the block, then win the city. I love being the neighborhood ice cream parlor — somewhere for families to go celebrate and make memories.”
Though Nguyen currently lives in Roxborough, he hopes to move. “I’ve fallen in love with Grad Hospital since being here and everyone I’ve met has been so welcoming and encouraging.”
The dark chocolate banana mousse cake from Sweet Mousse in Graduate Hospital.Kiki Aranita / Staff /
Little treats are massively impacting a neighborhood that, until this year, was stalled in gentrification. Once primarily home to working-class Black residents, Grad Hospital fell into disrepair when the manufacturing industry declined in Philadelphia. The neighborhood gentrified rapidly between the late 1990s and early 2010s due to city tax abatements and proximity to University City and Center City. According to a study by Pew Charitable Trusts, Graduate Hospital experienced the most dramatic changes in racial composition in Philadelphia in the early aughts: “[Graduate Hospital’s] total Black population fell from 7,793 in 2000 to 3,450 in 2014. During the same period, the number of white residents more than tripled in the neighborhood.”
The wave of redevelopment, new construction, and gentrification brought comparatively few small businesses and restaurants. Unlike South Philly and Fishtown, Grad Hospital has no established restaurant corridor.
A Malaysian spud from Mod Spuds.Courtesy of Mod Spuds
“Mod Spuds [on the 1400 block of South Street] needed a place that is a fine balance between good traffic, neighborhood-y, and affordable,” said Branca, who said that the location was perfect despite (or even because of) being a “less desirable block.” Its limited kitchen space, which does not allow for an exhaust hood, kept her rent down. It was only after Mod Spuds opened that Branca realized she was right on Grad Hospital residents’ commute home from jobs in Center City.
The neighborhood has also beckoned “empanada queen” Jezabel Careaga, who had left as a business owner, but not as a resident, in 2018. Technically, Careaga’s original Argentine bakery, Jezabel’s, was in Fitler Square, but now she is reopening it at 617 S. 24th St., right on the cusp of Grad Hospital. Careaga’s empanadas and alfajores helped define Philly’s little treat scene long before the culture acquired its tagline.
“Graduate Hospital has changed so much since I first came to this neighborhood, but what is really special to me is seeing the generations grow up here,” said Careaga, who has lived in the neighborhood since 2010. “It feels like I’m creating a little piece of the memory I had with my grandmother, right here in my own neighborhood.”
Assorted dishes from Jezabel Careaga, including empanadas, medialunas, escabeche, ricotta cake, facturas, olive oil crackers and preserved lemon labneh.Lucas Careaga / Innprodev Agency
The same children who would stop at her bakery after school are now grown up — some have even asked her for jobs. “And now I’m seeing them with children of their own, stopping by our bake sales with their little ones,” said Careaga. “It makes me so happy to think that the traditions we started years ago can continue with another generation.”
