Living in East Passyunk: A Neighborhood Guide
The neighborhood “in the valley” has become the city’s culinary mecca.
East Passyunk’s beloved Singing Fountain / Photograph by Jeff Fusco
East Passyunk’s Italian roots still show quite plainly, both on “the Ave” — East Passyunk Avenue, the area’s main drag — and off it. But new immigrants have managed to weave a coat of many colors for this place “in the valley,” the English translation of the Lenape word for the neighborhood.
“I really love the business density and diversity of the neighborhood,” says East Passyunk Avenue Business Improvement District executive director Katie Hanford.
Octopus at Mish Mish / Photograph courtesy of Mish Mish
This diversity has also cemented East Passyunk’s reputation as a food paradise. From the southern end of the Italian Market, where many of the curb stands and shops now have Hispanic proprietors, to the Ave itself, where there are more than 70 restaurants and purveyors, cooks and diners can find just about anything they want. Old-school Italian classics like Marra’s sit on the Ave with more recent (and acclaimed) arrivals such as Supérette and Mish Mish, on opposite sides of the Singing Fountain. And there’s plenty more great grub on the surrounding streets, including James Beard Award finalist El Chingon.
The Ave is also lined with shops that cover all the bases. Got kids? Tildie’s Toy Box will make them happy. Want your tunes on vinyl? Stop by Latchkey. Have no idea what to buy your friend? Get inspired at Occasionette. Plus, about 75 percent of the businesses are independently owned, according to Hanford.
Sabbatical Beauty in the Bok Building / Photograph by R. Rabena for Visit Philly
Then, nearby, there’s the Bok Building, the vo-tech high school–turned–community business hub, with restaurants and a rooftop bar. It may be the best example in one place of another thing Hanford loves about East Passyunk: its residents’ creativity. “You run into artists, musicians, creators of all types all of the time,” she says.
Of course, traditional rowhouses dominate East Passyunk. But you can also find some striking new and renovated ones, along with rental apartments. And the prices mean you will be able to enjoy everything the enclave has to offer even after you’ve made your mortgage payment.
Food Shopping in East Passyunk
Italian Market: The southern half of Philadelphia’s legendary curb market on South 9th Street lies in Passyunk Square and terminates at Cheesesteak Corner. The neighborhood shares the market with Bella Vista to its north.
Supermarkets: Acme, 10th and Reed streets; Sprouts Farmers Market, 1100 South Broad Street, Giant, 1001-29 South Broad Street.
Specialty grocers: Hung Vuong Supermarket (Asian specialty supermarket), 1132-38 Washington Avenue; First Oriental Market Inc. (Asian specialty market), 1111 South 6th Street.
Public domain image via Wikimedia Commons
Did You Know?
Passyunk Square was once home to Philadelphia’s second county prison. The New County, later Moyamensing, Prison sat at East Passyunk Avenue and Reed Street from its opening in 1838 until its demolition in 1968. One of its unusual features was a separate “Debtor’s Apartment” (the Egyptian Revival building in the 1838 lithograph above). Intended for use as a debtors’ prison, it never served that purpose, as a change in the law just before the prison opened ended the jailing of debtors as a punishment.
Adjacent to the prison was Wharton Field, a baseball field where 19th-century civil rights leader Octavius V. Catto’s baseball team played.
The neighborhood’s Acme supermarket now occupies the site where both once stood.
Published as “Living in East Passyunk” in the August 2025 issue of Philadelphia magazine.
