One of the first things you notice as you walk in Jinxed, the new shop on the 4500 block of Baltimore Avenue, is a pair of nicely preserved small alligator (or crocodile or caiman) heads near the door. They kind of set the mood for the place. It’s one of those places that you want to come back to once in a while to see what they have found.

Photos by Mike Lyons/West Philly Local

Jinxed started in the 1990s as a t-shirt company and has since opened five retail locations in the city that sell all kinds of vintage and interesting stuff, everything from furniture and antiques to clothing and vintage lighters.

Located at 4521 Baltimore Ave., the shop is open 7 days a week from 11-7.

A big opening party is slated for Saturday, Dec. 12 from 12-8 p.m. The back of the store will be curated with art by Gush Gallery‘s Sarah Thielke and Stephanie Slate for the party.

And by the way, the reptile heads up front are $20 apiece. Not bad.

Photo courtesy of IHP

International House Philadelphia (37th and Chestnut) will host a free screening of an inspiring documentary film about two best friends and world-class acrobats from remote corners of the globe who share the same dream of bringing hope and change to their struggling communities through circus. Circus Without Borders follows performers Guillaume Saladin and Yamoussa Bangoura whose dream unfolds in the Canadian Arctic and Guinea, West Africa, where they help Inuit and Guinean youth achieve unimaginable success while confronting suicide, poverty and despair.

Seven years in the making, this tale of two circuses — Artcirq and Kalabante — is an inspiring story of resilience and joy. Both troupes use art and the power of dreams to transform themselves and their communities. Circus Without Borders was the opening film for the 2015 Margaret Mead Film Festival in New York City.

Saladin and Bangoura will attend the screening and treat the audiences to a special performance following the film. They will also participate in a Q&A session with director Susan Gray.

The screening begins at 7 p.m. Visit this page for more information and to RSVP.

There are tons of festive events happening in the area this weekend, including one of the biggest local shopping events of the year, a new restaurant grand opening party, a craft show opening, a big FREE holiday family event, a dance party supporting a local non-profit, and more. More information about these and other upcoming events is below. If you want to buy a Christmas tree or holiday wreaths, greens and decorations this weekend, check out this post. For local gift ideas and more holiday shopping opportunities, visit our “Buy Local for the Holidays” page.

Friday, Dec. 4

• University City Arts League Holiday Craft Show Opening Reception, 6 – 8 p.m., 4226 Spruce St.

Thirty local artists will present their wares—just in time for the holidays! This is a great opportunity to shop for hand-made gifts for you and the whole family, such as cards, pottery, soaps, t-shirts, and more! Complimentary drinks and eats will be offered while you shop during the opening reception this Friday. The Craft Show is open daily Dec. 4-20. Monday-Friday, 5-8 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 12-6 p.m. Closing reception will take place on Dec. 20, 4-6 p.m. The list of 2015 vendors is available here.

• Clarkville Grand Opening Party, 5 p.m., 43rd and Baltimore

New Baltimore Avenue bar and restaurant, Clarkville, is opening this Friday. The grand opening party kicks off at 5 p.m.

• West Philly jeweler Amy Neukrug presents her holiday collection at Hello World, 5 – 9 p.m., 3610 Sansom St.

• The Bald Soprano opens at Curio Theatre, 8 p.m., 48th and Baltimore  Continue Reading

From back row left to right: Aetna Gallagher, Ken Opdenaker, Maria Konstantinidis, Brandon Pierce, Rachel Gluck and CJ Keller (Photo by JR Blackwell)

The Curio Theatre Company will stage a play opening this Friday that should resonate deeply in our ever-connected, hyper-talkative social media saturated world, a place where everyone talks but few communicate.

The Bald Soprano, the first work by Romanian playwright Eugène Ionesco, makes us laugh at all of this absurd small talk run amok. Originally set in the London home of the fictional couple The Smiths, who are having their friends, The Martins, over for dinner, the play has been updated to include – through clever screen projections –  all of that online gibberish that we all know too well. The play’s script stays true to the original set in the 1950s, but works in modern takes on the non-sequitur.

“Every day we are trapped in the web (pardon the pun) and we argue, sell, cajole, entertain and most of all, cross our wires on the internet,” said director Charlotte Northeast. “This show has pieces of that layered in to illustrate that whether we are speaking in the 1950’s or today, we haven’t mastered this whole talking and REALLY communicating thing.”  Continue Reading

Shopping local is a way to keep more of your dollars in your own community. Our 2015 local holiday shopping guide, “Buy Local for the Holidays,” is here. Check out this page for information on holiday specials and events and for some great local gift ideas from a variety of West Philly businesses – bookstores, jewelers, gift shops, art galleries, bars, cafes and restaurants, and more!

This Week’s Holiday Specials include:

• Monday, Nov. 30: Cyber Monday? How about “Cider Monday” at Penn Book Center, 130 S. 34th Street. Enjoy hot cider and holiday treats as you spend a cozy Monday shopping locally. 25% off sale on select Random House titles kicks off today! The store is open until 6 p.m. Mon-Fri.

• Thursday, Dec. 3 – Saturday, Dec. 5: Holiday Kick-Off at Hello World, 3610 Sansom Street – Featuring jewelry designed by West Philly jeweler Amy Neukrug. Thursday and Friday: 5-9 p.m.; Saturday: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

• Friday, Dec. 4: Opening reception for the University City Arts League Annual Holiday Craft Show, 6-8 p.m., 4226 Spruce Street. The show features hand-crafted one-of-a-kind gifts by 30 local artists.

• Saturday, Dec. 5: The Baltimore-Lancaster Avenue Shoppers’ Trolley (BLAST), 12-5 p.m. Featuring: great gifts and discounts galore from dozens of local businesses and free trolley shuttle service between Baltimore Avenue and Lancaster Avenue. The event is organized by the Baltimore Avenue Business Association (BABA) and People’s Emergency Center Community Development Corporation (PEC-CDC).

For more information about these and other local holiday events and specials, visit: www.westphillylocal.com/buy-local-for-the-holidays-2015

A new mural was unveiled on Monday at 40th and Chestnut, a result of a year-long collaboration between the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program and the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS). The mural art project, titled Building Brotherhood: Engaging Males of Color, was designed to inspire males of color to build supportive relationships with one another as a mechanism for coping with – and overcoming – the hardships they face in society, often in regards to accessing education, jobs, and behavioral health services.

Building Brotherhood is the 27th mural created under the Porch Light program, an ongoing collaboration between the Mural Arts Program and DBHIDS. Porch Light public art projects, which focus specifically on mental health, are an expression of community resilience and a vehicle of personal and community healing. A new virtual tour of the Porch Light murals can be found here: www.porchlightvirtualtour.org.