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Longform

City Life

Leslie Richards’s Bold Vision for a Better SEPTA

On a pleasant morning in mid-May, SEPTA general manager Leslie Richards and I are standing on a train platform in Kensington, smack in the middle […]

Foobooz

Reviving the “Unsexy” Food of Pennsylvania’s Past

An archeologist recites a paean to shad before a couple dozen people who fill Elwood’s rowhouse dining room one Sunday afternoon in May. “Tender as […]

City Life

Why Are 30,000 People Studying Poetry Online With This Guy?

Last summer, bleary, disheartened, and often angry from more than two years of seemingly nonstop doomscrolling, I decided it was time for a big change. […]

Foobooz

The Semi-Secret Dinner Parties Reimagining Philly’s Restaurant Scene

“I made you paella arancini,” Liz Grothe says to me with the matter-of-factness of a lunch lady divvying up peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. As if what she’s […]

Property

Apartment Construction Is Booming. How Will That Change Philly?

The first week of November 2022 wasn’t all that different from most weeks on the construction front in Philadelphia lately. On Wednesday, November 2nd, developer […]

City Life

How Angela Val Plans to Bring Tourists Back to Philadelphia

Visit Philadelphia. These are two words that until recently made a lot of sense together — a sonorous duet, if you will. A simple truism. […]

Foobooz

The Joy of Burning It All Down: Alexandra Holt’s Insurgent Experiment in Fine Dining

Retirement Planning (2 days after dinner service) On the phone, chef Alexandra Holt and I are talking about the future. For the 24-seat BYO named […]

City Life

Philly’s Biotech Scene Needs More Local Money — Now

Around every corner, the gizmos sound like something cooked up by a mad scientist in the movies: a 24-way-robot-controlled bio-reactor, a “viral positive” room, a […]

76ers sixers erving
City Life

The Year We Won It All: A Behind-the-Scenes Oral History of the 76ers’ Epic 1983 Championship

Philadelphia’s status as a tortured sports city isn’t a permanent designation. Zoom past the days of Connie Mack. Brake before the Philly Special. Turn off […]

City Life

The Amazing Story of How Philly Cheesesteaks Became Huge in Lahore, Pakistan

Sometime in the fall of 2021, a man from Philadelphia came to meet Mazhar Hussain, a chef based in Lahore, Pakistan. Hussain was shown a […]

City Life

Rob Thomson’s Wild Ride

The line for dinner service at the St. Francis Inn in Kensington started forming just before 5 p.m., with folks traveling from across the neighborhood […]

pennsylvania pa license plates
City Life

Other States Have Cool License Plates. Why Can’t Pennsylvania?

“Oooh, mom, look! Nevada!” I’m driving the family Honda, but traffic has slowed on 20th Street, so I flick my eyes to the right to […]

Property

The Philly Suburbs Are Bigger Than Ever — Literally

To get from Philadelphia to Allentown, you have two highways to choose from: the Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension or Route 309. Anne Mosher is familiar […]

City Life

Why Is Adulting So Freaking Hard These Days?

I subscribe to and read a lot of magazines. This is because I enjoy magazines — the paper versions — and want them to continue […]

City Life

Jeff Marrazzo’s Big, Bold Philly Gene Therapy Vision

The calls kept coming in, and she let them go straight to voicemail. Venture capital investors weren’t her cup of tea. She was a scientist. […]