From left to right: Danielle Coulter, Ross Scofield, and Tim Blair. (Photo West Philly Local)
The three young restaurateurs who run Rx The Farmacy (45th and Spruce) have big plans for the Third World Lounge, the bar and dance club with a checkered history, at 49th and Catharine.
Tonight they will talk through those plans, which include a new bar that will feature live music and a wide selection of beer, wine and spirits, at the monthly meeting of Cedar Park Neighbors, which runs from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Calvary Center (48th and Baltimore).
Ross Scofield, Danielle Coulter – the owners of The Farmacy – and chef Tim Blair have been quietly renovating the Third World Lounge since striking a deal with building owner Noel Karasanyi, who will retain ownership of the building and rent it to the trio. The new place will likely be called The Bar(n) to reflect the connection with The Farmacy and its rustic, farm-fresh cuisine, but also to sidestep any airs of pretension. The name, craft beer on tap and plans for a daily rotating $2 draft special signal a place that will appeal to a wide spectrum of clientele.
“A melting pot,” Blair said of the crowd the trio hopes to attract. A place for beer connoisseurs and “the friend who is broke,” said Scofield.
Karasanyi, who fled Idi Amin’s Uganda in the early 1970s, opened the Third World in 1986 as an establishment aimed at African and Caribbean immigrants. The establishment has had several brushes with city inspectors, tax collectors and police in recent years, which, along with changes in neighborhood demographics, have prompted Karasanyi to close it down. Earlier this year he sold the Watusi II (45th and Locust), which recently reopened under new ownership as the New Tavern.
Scofield said the building’s interior has been thoroughly rehabbed and will include several large flat screens and a dance floor. Local bands interested in playing have already approached the trio. Future plans include possibly adding sit-down dining on the second floor. Scofield said he doesn’t expect to need any zoning variances to get the operation going.
The Bar(n) looks set to open next month.
– Mike Lyons
November 17th, 2014 at 10:06 am
This could be epic.
November 17th, 2014 at 10:17 am
I already get supper annoyed with their cutesy spelling of Farmacy; that ridiculous parenthesis in “The Bar(n)” is really going to drive me over the edge.
November 17th, 2014 at 11:07 am
GX you know what bothers me more than the name? the smell of urine, the unkempt corner as it stands, and the general unsavoryness that the 3rd world space currently brings to this corner. I hope they keep it simple, clean, and accessible to entire neighborhood. If they do that they could name it Ass clown and it would still be an upgrade.
November 17th, 2014 at 11:19 am
The folks who run the Farmacy seem well-meaning and nice and all, but I wish the space were being taken over by some other group. The Farmacy has “meh” food, and the service is excruciatingly slow. I’m not a princess, but for the price point it was ridiculous. After three tries with no improvement, I gave up on it. Also, every day I walk by there and grimace at the terrible lime green paint job they gave that cute little space. While I’m sure the Bar(n)– totally with you on that shudder-worthy name there, GX– will not be a nuisance bar, shouldn’t we be setting our sights a little higher?
November 17th, 2014 at 11:59 am
I went to the Farmacy for the first time about a week ago. We loved it and thought it was a very reasonable price. I’m happy they’re replacing the old place and wish them well. Don’t listen to the haters.
November 17th, 2014 at 12:17 pm
I went The Farmacy the other day for brunch and it was good. Are these youngins the best in the city for this kind of place? Probably not. Is Fette Sau ever going to move in the neighborhood? No. Do I wish we had a Standard Tap, or a Monk’s or a Johnny Brenda’s type vibey place move here? Yes. But I’ll take any upgrade as a good thing. Best of luck to these guys.
November 17th, 2014 at 12:27 pm
This sounds fantastic. I think this is going to fit in well with Cedar Park, and add to the neighborhood. Personally, I like the name and the concept, and think these three have the right idea. Great work on this!
November 17th, 2014 at 12:52 pm
This is great news. The neighborhood needs a live music venue. Hopefully this place has a laid back neighborhood bar vibe like Standard tap or Johnny Brenda’s without the pretentiousness of places like Local 44. Hoping this place opens soon.
November 17th, 2014 at 1:09 pm
Somebody stop with these twee names…
November 17th, 2014 at 1:24 pm
I will agree that the names are kind of cheesy.
November 17th, 2014 at 2:01 pm
Hooray. It might not be perfect, but it is much better. Windows, people! Windows!
November 17th, 2014 at 3:18 pm
I eat at The Farmacy all the time! At least once a week. I feel as if the food at this restaurant gets better each time I go. The service there is absolutely fantastic, the servers are very kind and prompt. Even the chef, Ross came out and asked if my meal was to my liking. Everything there was so delicious as usual. I am so excited for them to open this place. If they run this bar anything like they run “The Farmacy” than congrats to them! I hope everything goes well for them all. Keep up the good work.
November 17th, 2014 at 5:58 pm
Horray!!! I’m so excited to finally have a place to go to kick back after work. I think these kids are on the right track. They seem to have a great back ground education wise, because The Farmacy is wonderful. I’ve been there several times and I had a great experience.I wish them a lot of luck and hope it brings excitement to the neighborhood, it certainly needs it.
November 17th, 2014 at 11:20 pm
This is great news! Any idea when they are hoping to open? I hope they take advantage of the dance floor. This area could really use a nice place to go dancing. Personally, I’ll be crossing my fingers for Latin music nights, though I doubt that will happen.
November 18th, 2014 at 1:36 am
I just want to say “Yay!”
(But apparently that is too short, so I added this)
November 18th, 2014 at 7:07 am
Well the players gonna play play play play play and the haters gone hate hate hate hate hate hate. The barn is gona shake shake shake shake shake shake shake it off shake it off. Haters just prove that you’re on their minds.
November 18th, 2014 at 4:24 pm
I look forward to the new restaurant since it’s close to my house.
November 19th, 2014 at 6:48 am
They should have named it (S)melting Pot if they were serious about diversity.
November 19th, 2014 at 11:35 am
The problem is that with Noel still being their landlord, his old L&I code violations could come back and bite them by getting them closed down right after they open.
Its vital they get him to get that building up to code before they sink money into opening a new business.
November 19th, 2014 at 10:17 pm
Very very excited for this place to open–but this name is so bad, ugh. Only worse restaurant name I can think of is the short-lived YOLO in center city.
November 20th, 2014 at 12:34 pm
a very successful sidestepping of any airs of pretension
November 22nd, 2014 at 8:05 pm
What should be the name then?! What color should the walls be? This is an honest questions, it’s hard to believe you guys are so bent over a name. Is just supporting a business a hard thing to do? If the whole are cool, who cares what it’s named?
November 22nd, 2014 at 8:07 pm
I meant to say if the whole crew were cool people.
November 30th, 2014 at 1:38 am
Walked by last night and it looked like the 3rd world lounge was open as usual and no evidence of any work having happened inside the place. Is this story some weird hoax?
December 1st, 2014 at 2:57 pm
Not a hoax, article is incorrect that the bar has shut down – N3WL is still open on Fridays and Saturdays.
December 1st, 2014 at 3:28 pm
So maybe they still have time to re-think the name: http://nymag.com/listings/bar/flatbush-barn/
December 1st, 2014 at 4:19 pm
Ha, maybe they could use http://www.laurenhallden.com/namemybar/ to find a new one.
I got “Turkey & Moose”
December 2nd, 2014 at 9:23 am
@TheDude – it’s just funny for the owners to be so oblivious and say they’re trying not to be pretentious and then choose a name that’s silly and full of hipster tropes (wordplay, unnecessary punctuation, allusions to farming/rural life, etc.). I agree with you that whatever the name is doesn’t matter much…look forward to trying them out once the place is up and running.
December 16th, 2014 at 2:23 pm
has anyone heard any updates on this? I don’t see a whole lot of anything going on at that building.
December 16th, 2014 at 2:34 pm
@TheDude – The thing about opening a bar/restaurant is that part of what you’re selling is an experience. The color of the walls and the name are part of that experience, and they’re important. Otherwise we would all just drink at home.
I do support neighborhood businesses and I am looking forward to having something new in this space, I just want them to be as great as possible.
@foodog – Yeah, me either. hrmmmm
January 3rd, 2015 at 12:21 am
I’m sad the concept of 3rd world is gone…..I feel like folks are coming into our nieborhood and sterilizing it and say they scubing all the color away! And say this is good! Our hood is loved because the flavor and culture. You came here for that now it seems….it’s being takin out …. This place will honor/rep the color ,culture and flavor of the hoody they use the rich resource of talent that grown and live in this hood. We have many…the band- Joe Jordan Experience , Matthew Law DJ just to name a few……
January 3rd, 2015 at 2:21 pm
I should point out Noel Karasanyi didn’t just decide to shut his bar down, he went down fighting, for a number of years “young, predominantly white students and professionals who moved into West Philadelphia, and who he said are targeting his bars instead of patronizing them.” I live between two of his properties and they’ve been a big headache since I moved here in the 1990’s that I’m happier without, but we shouldn’t try and gloss over the systematic targeting of certain types of businesses. Gentrification’s inevitable but it would be nice if we weren’t so smug and didn’t ignore the fact that someone lost their livelihood in exchange for the tofu omelette & craft beer bar.
http://articles.philly.com/2013-09-17/news/42117415_1_three-bars-west-philly-west-philadelphia
January 3rd, 2015 at 2:32 pm
@ everyone.
Why are people nostalgic for this bar, or accusing anyone of racism?
I don’t know the full history, but here is what I have seen at Third World Lounge
1) patron fights, police involvement, very classy!
2) no windows
3) back taxes owed
4) loud outdoor motorcycle crowd at night
5) generally unwelcoming exterior
6) not having proper licenses
Is there a suggestion that Noel was targeted because of his skin color? Because I think we should stop defending bad bar owners of all colors.
if dock street had the problems above, you know I would target that as a nuisance bar.
Queen of Sheba, Gojjo and Dahlak and the other bars are run by non-white/people of color, and they are patronized by a mix of people, and not targeted.
January 3rd, 2015 at 6:05 pm
When the owner of a building and business hires a group to rebrand his space to help him raise the property value of his property is not gentrification. Seems like no matter what anyone does with the space, some of you will something to say. Some of you need a hobby..
January 5th, 2015 at 12:34 pm
update – I went to the opening on saturday:
good mix of reasonably priced beer (everything was $4-$6).
friendly bar service. not at all pretentious.
crowd leaned white and mostly gentrification. lots of hipsters, with lots of representation from the two prominent hipster communities in the area (known as the “assymetrical haircut militia” mafia, and the “big glasses, working hard to appear poor” crowd). I’m not complaining about the crowd.
no fights/shootings/police involvement, from what I can tell.
overall: quite satisfied, given the prices. so far, I’m going to call it a big win for that corner, which has needed help for ages.
Another comment – the plain layout is better as a straight up bar and social space, compared to Dock St.
January 5th, 2015 at 4:23 pm
Kyle, Noel sold Watusi II for a quarter a million dollars – an astonishing price for anyone familiar with the structural condition of the building and the tarnished liquor license that came with it. He continues to own New Third World even as it operates as Barn. Not seeing any livelihood lost here.
Over the years, Noel managed to run afoul of his mortgage companies, PLCB, Philadelphia Police, L&I, Health Department, School District of Philadelphia, the Department of Revenue, and more. Tommie St. Hill, Noel’s “spokesman” for the Philly.com article linked, is one of the most politically juiced people in the city and ran a collections company with Lucien fer chrissakes. The idea that complaining neighbors forced the sale of the Watusi II and the reinvention of the New Third World as Barn condescendingly robs Noel of having any agency of his own, and ignores the extensive public record of his legal and financial problems, which he finally seems to be making some headway against.
February 22nd, 2015 at 9:13 pm
next to fsll to the aliens is cedar park