The Eagles go back (and give back) to school: A+
Apparently, being an Eagle now comes with homework.
On Tuesday, Jalen Hurts showed up at Northeast High with $600,000 for air-conditioning, while Jalyx Hunt headed to Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls to announce three scholarships and an endowment.
Not a bad day for Philly schools. Hurts got involved three years ago after seeing a TV report that Philly schools were closing because they were too hot. He has since helped bring down the number of school with out AC, but 52 schools still lack full air-conditioning. His response this week: “Let’s get it to zero.”
Hunt, meanwhile, has basically been adopted by Little Flower. What started with a fundraiser for its basketball team during his rookie year has turned into basketball-game visits, Little Flower sweatshirts on Eagles road trips, and hundreds of students he calls his “little sisters.”
Philadelphia asks a lot of its Eagles — win football games, mainly. Air-condition the schools and help pay kids’ tuitions weren’t technically on the list, but please, keep going.
Stop bullying our airport: B
For the sixth year in a row, Philadelphia International Airport finished dead last among similarly sized airports in J.D. Power’s customer satisfaction survey.
The terminals are old. The waiting areas are cramped. There isn’t enough natural light. Even the people from J.D. Power basically said PHL needs a new building.
But last? Again? This is where Philadelphia must become defensive about an airport we complain about constantly ourselves.
PHL is easy to get around in without boarding some weird little airport train. And have these people eaten there lately? We’ve got Middle Child, Federal Donuts, Oyster House, and Elixr. The lounges are legitimately good, there’s local art everywhere, and you can find places for your dog to pee. Kiki Aranita made this entire case last year when PHL got snubbed from another airport ranking.
Yes, PHL needs work, and nearly $2 billion in upgrades are underway. But outsiders calling our airport the worst? Only we get to say that.
Rittenhouse shows up for Sue’s: A
Philadelphia is very good at mourning the places we love after they close, but this time, Rittenhouse is trying something different: keeping one open.
Sue’s Produce Market has been part of the neighborhood in one form or another since 1976, when Sue Shin started selling fruit from a cart at 18th and Walnut. Now, after falling behind on rent, the family-owned market needs $40,000 to avoid eviction.
The neighborhood apparently heard that as a challenge. A GoFundMe has already raised more than $25,000, with hundreds of people chipping in. Rittenhouse Row is rallying businesses, and Her Place Supper Club is planning an entire Korean-inspired dinner next month, with the proceeds going to Sue’s.
It makes sense once you hear how this place operates. Tina Shin, 63, gets up at 2 a.m. to make the kimchi and kimbap before spending the day behind the register. People have been buying their fruit and groceries from this family for generations, and Rittenhouse clearly can’t imagine 18th Street without Sue’s.
Phillies, please start hitting: C
Here we go again. The Phillies are approaching October, the pitching is doing its part, and everyone in Philadelphia is once again staring at a very expensive lineup and asking: Are you guys going to hit or what?
Jesús Luzardo is on the injured list with shoulder inflammation. The bullpen is an adventure. The defense and baserunning have provided their usual opportunities to yell at the television. And yet, the Phillies still have enough starting pitching to win. Zack Wheeler reminded everyone of that Wednesday, throwing seven scoreless innings against Washington.
The offense responded by drawing 13 walks, leaving 13 runners on base and scoring three runs. It was the most Phillies way imaginable to win 3-0.
Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, J.T. Realmuto, Alec Bohm, and Luis Arraez are making a combined $111.2 million this season. Nobody expects all six to be hot every night. But Phillies fans have watched some version of this movie for four straight Octobers: great pitching, enough chances, and a lineup that suddenly forgets how to score when the games matter most.
By the time you read this, maybe the bats have woken up (please!). Because the Phillies have the pitching to make another October run, it would just be nice if the guys holding the bats came along this time.
Philly’s 57-year-old typo: A
Philadelphia has a typo carved into a monument outside the Art Museum, and after 57 years, somebody is asking whether we should fix it, reported Billy Penn. Absolutely not.
The Eli Kirk Price Fountain, installed in 1969, honors the man whose “wisdom and dedication were responsible for the developement of the parkway and art museum.” Yes, developement.
The best part is that the Association for Public Art dug up a photo from the fountain’s 1969 unveiling showing men literally pointing at the mistake. The inscription approved two years earlier had “development” spelled correctly, but somewhere between paper and stone, an extra “e” slipped in.
Monument companies say fixing it would probably mean replacing the entire stone and it would be costly. So at this point, fixing the typo would be the mistake. Millions of people have walked past that fountain on their way to run up the Rocky Steps, and almost nobody noticed. Now it has a story.
Bomb Bomb gets a Best of: B-
Philadelphia has apparently reached the point where having only one of the best restaurants in America feels like a slight.
The New York Times released its annual best-restaurants list this week, and just one Philly spot made it: Bomb Bomb Bar, the nearly 90-year-old South Philly tavern that chef Joey Baldino took over and reopened last year.
Philly spent years demanding the rest of the country recognize how good our food scene is. Now we have Michelin stars, James Beard Awards, and enough national acclaim that one restaurant on the Times list suddenly feels stingy. We got two last year and three in 2023!
Bomb Bomb is a pretty great one, though. Baldino took a neighborhood bar that dates to 1936 — and was literally bombed twice in its early days — and made it better without scrubbing away what made people love it.
Congratulations to Bomb Bomb, and the rest of Philly will try to cope with the snub.
