In a city as old and strange as Philly, there’s some history in every 100-plus-year-old brick rowhome and tiny colonial alley. While it’s fun to make up stories about what happened where (I like to think that my block was where Ben Franklin invented freedom soda), it’s also great to know the actual history and
MorePermanent housing for the homeless uses green designby Will DeanWhen the pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church in Center City approached Angelo Sgro, executive director of the Bethesda Project, with an empty building to use for their homelessness efforts, he didn’t have to think before answering.
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Saving rainwater for your own usesby Will DeanTo comply with federal regulations governing combined storm water and sewage overflow (where lots of rain can wash sewage into local watersheds), the Philadelphia Water Department is trying something new.
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Upscale vegan eats warm your stomach and conscienceby Will DeanWith the rush towards eating locally, it’s surprisingly easy to forget about the original “ethical” eating choice that for hundreds of years has attracted people like Ben Franklin, Charlotte Bronte, Albert Einstein and, of course, me. While Kate Jacoby, co-owner and pastry chef of upscale vegan
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Southwark offers a connection to local foodby Will Dean and Ashley JeromeWhen you walk in the front door of Southwark, it feels a little like you’re going back in time, which makes sense. Southwark got its name from an 18th century district of the city and it fits because preserving history, including a tangible connection
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Philly returns to its beer making pastby Will Dean When Schmidt’s brewery closed in June 1987 after being bought by Wisconsin brewer G. Heileman, Philly officially switched from a beer-producing to merely a beer-drinking city. Although Schmidt’s wasn’t a taste explosion (my dad used to refer to it by a similar sounding expletive), the demise
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North Philly changes before our eyes by Will Dean with additional reporting by Dana Henry When you think about a sustainable city, what does it look like? Whether it’s a futuristic, shiny sci-fi wonderland or a green treehouse-like Ewok village, you probably don’t think of North Philly. With it’s abandoned industrial buildings and bad
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How to make an old-time Philly brewby Will Dean
Winter might seem like a time for shutting down and hibernating, but it’s also a perfect time for making a little something to help pass the cold months more easily. Here’s a simple recipe for a porter—a dark, malty beer that has a long tradition in Philly
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When Greg Salisbury opened Rx restaurant in University City, almost no one in the Philly restaurant industry was thinking local. “When we started in ’01 there was only one other restaurant doing this,” says the laidback and laconic Salisbury. “My first exposure to a CSA [Community Supported Agriculture] in 1997, at 17th and South, caused
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New legislation could mean Pennsylvania is finally turning around its energy policy
by Will DeanPennsylvania has long lagged behind other parts of the country in terms of supporting alternative energy and energy conservation. Perhaps because of our massive coal resources, the Keystone State has kept its thinking about energy production firmly in the past. In 2008,
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