Along with offering art classes for adults, Queen Village Art Center also provides a bevy of classes to teach the little ones to think outside the box.With four studios outfitted for sculpture, ceramics, painting, and more, Queen Village Art Center is a wonderland of art-making. The hallways double as gallery spaces, showing off students’ work.
MoreEnviama Spa owner Penny Ordway turned her passion for promoting human wellness and eco-living into the city’s first green spaPenny Ordway faced a dilemma: She was passionate about her human wellness work, but the spa where she was employed regularly used processes and products she found questionable. She wanted to be a good employee, but
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Firehouse Bicycles, which is co-owned by Monica Pasquinelli, above, and Sam Davis, primarily sells refurbished bikes—keeping them out of landfills.Every neighborhood deserves a great bike shop—one with grimy, committed mechanics, affordable new and used bikes, and fast service. Firehouse Bicycles, at 50th Street and Baltimore Avenue, has been West Philly’s bike shop since 2001. Monica
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Valerie Erwin, who owns GeeChee Girl Rice Cafe, wanted a restaurant that offered something distinct, so she chose a staple from her Southern background.A veteran of notable Philadelphia restaurants such as the Commissary, La Terrasse, Roller’s and Jamey’s, Valerie Erwin had long thought about opening a restaurant, especially in her own neighborhood. But 10 years
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Bull Gervasi, Mariposa's expansion project manager, at the new co-op location.Food co-ops are hardwired to work with others—other co-ops, other businesses, their neighbors. It’s part of their founding principles, their bylaws and their DNA. When Mariposa Co-op expanded to a nearby location after 40 years in business at 4726 Baltimore Ave., they quintupled in square
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The Night Kitchen has been an institution in Chestnut Hill for 30 years, but not always the same one. When Amy Beth Edelman bought the business in 2000, it had a core of enthusiastic customers and a reputation for hearty, seedy breads and signature challah. Edelman wanted to make changes, but she knew to tread
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After the popularity of Urban Jungle, owner Curt Alexander found an ever-growing demand for his green thumb.East passyunk avenue was in the midst of a retail renaissance in 2010 when Curt Alexander opened Urban Jungle, selling plants and self-watering planters, window boxes and green wall systems. That change has accelerated, and Urban Jungle
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Some of Little Baby's non-traditional scoops.Philadelphia’s ice-cream history just keeps getting richer. Already home to Bassett’s, America’s oldest ice cream company, and the birthplace of “Philadelphia Style” (an ice cream that does not contain eggs), our city boasts two unique, independent businesses that are philosphically similar, yet quite distinct from each other. Little Baby’s Ice
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Philadelphia City Council passing the benchmarking regulations. The first rule of energy efficiency is a simple one: To reduce energy consumption, you need to know how much you are using. That’s why this past June, Philadelphia became the sixth city in the country to enact an energy benchmarking law, which requires owners and operators of
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Story by Samantha Wittchen, Illustrations by Miguel CoThough it runs perfectly, Ric Temple’s Nissan Leaf can make him late. His electric-powered car rouses so much curiosity that Temple is regularly interrogated by passersby outside his South Philadelphia home. People take pictures of his car, as well as the charging station to which it’s attached. But
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