Dollar Strolls always bring huge crowds to Baltimore Avenue looking for $1 specials from neighborhood restaurants and other businesses, but last night was something absolutely crazy. Reader Marshall Ledger sent us this panoramic photo with the following commentary:
“Two lines to Desi [Village] (its tables of samosas, pakoras, and mango lassi on the left): one stretching to and past Melville, the other up toward 46th Street, past Renata’s Kitchen (tables of croissants, chocolate cookies, and sodas on the right).”
[photonav url=’/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/DesiVillage.jpg’]
Also check out photos by Bob Lannon:
Baltimore Ave #dollarstroll pic.twitter.com/EzIFRH5Exv
— Bob Lannon (@BobLannon) September 17, 2015
man, i love my neighborhood #dollarstroll pic.twitter.com/qjrr1BXWCt
— Bob Lannon (@BobLannon) September 17, 2015
September 18th, 2015 at 10:24 am
The Desi Village lines around 7 pm last night were INSANE. So glad we got there early! None of the lines we had to wait in were TOO bad. And so happy to see so much excitement around Renata’s reopening next week!
September 18th, 2015 at 11:21 am
I would love to see the city close off Baltimore Ave on these nights..make it truly a pedestrian area
September 18th, 2015 at 12:44 pm
If they close off Baltimore ave so hip people can show off their hipness how are the hard working people who commute to and from their jobs via the 34 suppose to get to and from work?
September 18th, 2015 at 1:25 pm
I think they should shut down Baltimore too. It’s not unprecedented. When Anthony Williams would throw his Baltimore Ave block party they would shut part of the street down. To answer Trip’s question, for the few hours its going on they could run a bus from the 40th street portal and simply bus people around the affected streets. I think characterizing it as hipsters is weird because its such a diverse crowd. More so than say, a typical Night Market crowd. I had fun people watching but didn’t stand in any of those lines! 🙂
September 18th, 2015 at 2:01 pm
Anthony Williams is a black guy from West Phila and most of his activities happened before the gentrification of the neighborhood. I think some of the people who have lived in Anthony Williams part of West Phila for most of their lives might resent their commute being inconvenienced by a sea of new white people that took over the neighborhood.
No trolley rider likes having to ride a shuttle bus or deal with any trolley diversion.
“I think characterizing it as hipsters is weird because its such a diverse crowd”.
As a long time resident I can say that the diversity is nowhere near what it once was. The diverse people that made the neighborhood great are not the same people stroll’n down Baltimore ave.
*Sorry if I sound cranky. I’m really not. I just want people to remember that West Phila and this area of Baltimore Ave has a far richer history that predates the Green Line Cafe and such.
September 18th, 2015 at 3:45 pm
Trip, were you actually at the dollar stroll last night? It doesn’t sound like it.
September 18th, 2015 at 3:47 pm
Just a thought regarding the generally anti-‘gentrification’/anti-‘hipster/anti-‘young people who have options to live other places and still live here’ sentiment found on this blog:
When young people with a bit of money and the ability to choose to live pick the suburbs, they are accused of perpetuating a history of middle class or white flight and a middle class or white ear of the city.
When young people with a bit of money and the ability to choose where to live pick the city, they are accused of being gentrifiers, and spoiling the amazing diversity and amenities that existed here just last Tuesday.
No matter what, it seems, mostly educated, progressive middle class people will complain about it, harkening back to some glory days.
I don’t know every aspect of west philly’s history, but ten years ago, this neighborhood was less attractive in terms of amenities. Dock Street, Gold Standard.
Pretending that the glory days were just last week doesn’t help anything. Undoing the most recent developments in our neighborhood is a recipe for a worse neighborhood, not a better one.
Yes, there are historic reasons for why neighborhoods with people of color are not doing well, and I’m more than willing to have that conversation, but at the same time, pretending like the neighborhood is going downhill, when it is anything but that, strikes me as disingenous.
September 18th, 2015 at 4:15 pm
The reason the Senator Williams’ N2N festival could shut down Baltimore Ave is that it took place on Labor Day weekend when most folks, of any race or SES, have off from work and SEPTA runs a limited holiday service anyway. It isn’t likely to happen during rush hour on a normal weekday.
September 18th, 2015 at 6:36 pm
I think that a compromise could be reached. Perhaps car traffic could be blocked off Baltimore Ave while allowing the trolley to keep running? Another option would be to continue allowing both car and trolley traffic, while asking residents to move their cars off Baltimore Ave for the evening–effectively doubling the width of the sidewalk into the parking lane!
I was out last night too–I would call the crowd diverse. It seemed pretty close to a 50/50 white/black racial split. I don’t see why we can’t better accommodate ALL the people who want or need to use Baltimore Ave during Dollar Days. That includes long-time residents, newcomers, Penn students coming out for the event, and commuters who need to get through this stretch of the Ave
September 18th, 2015 at 6:40 pm
Also a note: I live on Baltimore Ave along the Dollar Days route and have a car. I’d be happy to move my car to open up more walkable space for what’s been a consistently congested event.
September 18th, 2015 at 7:23 pm
Did you ever get that not so fresh feeling?
September 18th, 2015 at 10:59 pm
I went to last year’s dollar day and thought the crowd was quite diverse. I am a long term resident who thinks the restaurants, coffee shops and other amenities were a welcome addition. Remember the glory days of out of control crime when all of U City lost almost grad students to Center City? If you want to work on an issue, it might be affordable housing. That is how to ensure diversity. Mixed income housing. I am glad to see diversity all around me…students from foreign countries, communities from Africa and racial diversity.
September 21st, 2015 at 6:51 am
This was a very diverse event. Probably the most diverse I’ve ever seen it. Reminder, diverse means black, white, Asian, Latinx, and also wealthy, poor, middle class, gay, straight, whatever. Diverse does not just mean black people where there.
Lots of happy people out there. I normally don’t care for the event as it usually only brings out these young hipster kids you all complain about, but this time it was different. It felt way more inclusive and I think it’s in part due to the vendors. There were way more black vendors than there have been in the past.
November 15th, 2015 at 10:29 pm
For anyone listening, I would love to hear about this neighborhood in the glory days.
What was it that made this neighborhood great before the Green Line? This is a serious question. My impression is that crime was actually a lot higher, much fewer amenities. Sure, it was affordable, but for someone who pulls in a decent income, why would you want to live here? Or is part of the argument that having a bad neighborhood is sort of awesome?
Seriously, what year did the neighborhood peak?
I moved here in 2006, when my friends were terrified for me being on 49th St, and these businesses did NOT exist:
Gold Standard
Dock St Pizza and Brewery
Babies Ice Cream
The game store (Red Hat?)
The Bar(n)
Cedar Park Cafe
The food coop (technically it was here before, but it was a massive upgrade in terms of user experience)
Hibiscus
Milk and Honey
Desi Village
Renata’s Cafe/Kitchen
Vietnam Cafe
Local 44
Aksum
Honest Tom’s
Mood Cafe
Taco Angeleno
VIX
That’s a huge change in nine years. What, precisely, did 2006 have for it that 2015 is lacking? Other than some kind of amorphous, slippery “diversity”? What kind of diversity? Color? Political thought?
In every example I cite above, I find the amenity better than whatever it replaced – and given the changing numbers and demographics of people I see walking around, many folks seem to agree with me.
I would love to know from someone what existed in the past that comes anywhere close to this list. I’m sort of tired of “the glory days” argument unless someone can say when it was, and when it was.
November 16th, 2015 at 1:40 pm
I tend to agree with you 49th St., but I think for the people who lament the changing neighborhood in the WPL comment sections, those are not positive changes for the neighborhood. I think they tend to see the neighborhood as becoming increasingly high-income and that amenities such as the stores you list do not cater to them.
November 16th, 2015 at 1:50 pm
Anon, fair enough. More interest in a neighborhood rarely, if ever, helps people who are lower income. Are people just saying, “I preferred it when my neighborhood was more affordable, despite (what seems to me), much fewer amenities and higher crime?” I’m just trying to understand exactly what the glory days had going for them.
November 17th, 2015 at 10:33 am
I’ve lived here since the early 80’s. I’ve never felt less safe. Lots petty crime, and several neighbors have had to deal with daytime robberies. My child’s bike was stolen this week by 10 year olds… not to mention folks coming in from South Philly to to do stick up jobs because they think this is where rich people live.
Worst of all is my longtime neighbors who are largely middle class- can’t stand the new neighbors. Because they think they’re better than everyone else. Their attitude is that they made all of West Philly better and those of us who’ve been here all the while, were part of the problem. Fewer amenities, yes, absolutely.
Community, kinship, was common. Less so today. I still love it here but it’s not the same. Particularly the political slant has changes. Progressive liberals, versus fake liberals as some have put it. Melting pot all the same, I guess.
November 19th, 2015 at 10:32 am
Fair enough.
It’s hard to tell if this little crime spree that we have been seeing is a blip or a long term trend…and it’s tough to know how to respond. I remember a while ago, seeing two kids riding on one bike (doubled up), heading in one direction. 20 minutes later, I saw them going back in the other direction, but with two bikes! The kid that was doubled up was now riding a bright pink “banana style” bike with tassels…for some reason, I felt 90% sure that was a stolen girls’ bike.
The “we are all a neighborhood” in me wanted to say something, but are some ten year old kids going to listen to a grumpy old who doesn’t know their parents and isn’t in their community? Certainly when I was ten, any adult disciplining me was taken very seriously…but the kids on the street these days seem to have such a “nothing to lose attitude” – and I recognize if I were in poverty, I would be the exact same way.
And I didn’t want to call the police either – I’m uncomfortable with a ten year old kid having contact with LE so early.
I can see amenities – it’s tougher to see community and kinship. No less valuable, though – it’s just not what drives home prices, I suppose.