Visit beautiful Garden Court homes and dine on gourmet meals on Saturday, Oct. 3.

This is a great chance to visit and learn more about one of the most beautiful West Philly neighborhoods and meet many of its wonderful residents. On Saturday, Oct. 3, everyone is invited to the annual Garden Court Community Association’s Progressive Dinner. Recently, three Garden Court blocks made it to the top 25 of the most beautiful streets in Philadelphia, and you can visit some of these homes during this event and dine on gourmet international meals. In addition, you can dance the night away at Take The Lead Dance Studio.

The event supports community projects (here‘s just one of the programs GCCA volunteers do in the area). You don’t have to be a GCCA member to attend; however members receive a perk of a discounted ticket price.  Continue Reading

This weekend, the city of Philadelphia will greet Pope Francis, an exciting time for Philadelphians and guests, but also stressful for many local residents. Here’s our summary on various closures, restrictions and cancellations associated with the papal visit. The schedule of events and activities during the Papal visit on Sept. 26 & 27 is available here. Also check out these useful links: Papal Visit Playbook, Philly Pope Map, Papal Visit FAQs. There will also be live streaming of events from the World Meeting of Families and the Papal visit stream (click here).

We will update this post as more information becomes available. Feel free to post comments or email us (editor-at-westphillylocal.com) if you know of any closures or cancellations not included in this post.

Highway Closures, Traffic Restrictions (“Traffic Boxes”)

Some road closures and parking restrictions have already begun ahead of the visit, but major highway closures and traffic restrictions will start on Friday night. Mayor Michael Nutter has announced Papal “traffic boxes” for parts of Center City and West Philadelphia, beginning on Friday, Sept. 25 at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. respectively. Vehicles will be allowed to exit the traffic box area, but will not be allowed to re-enter it (except for emergency vehicles). There will be no SEPTA bus or trolley service within the boundaries of the traffic box, but there will be no restrictions to bicycle and pedestrian traffic. Here are the boundaries for the West Philadelphia Traffic Box:  Continue Reading

LCA members in 2014 (Facebook photo).

The Life Center Association (LCA), a community land trust in West Philadelphia, which owns several properties, is seeking a community of people – a group, a family, or families – to live in one of its houses on the 4800 block of Springfield Avenue. The house has seven bedrooms, two bathrooms, front and back yards, and a modern kitchen.

The LCA is a non-profit membership organization with a cooperative tenant management structure, where members share control of the housing as well as the responsibility for maintaining the houses. “Our goal is to acquire and hold houses permanently in order to secure access to long-term housing for community residents on a break-even basis,” reads the LCA’s announcement.  Continue Reading

Mosaic Community Church, 123 S. 51st St.

West Philly organizations and community groups have a chance to receive grants of up to $6,000 for their projects. Three years ago, as part of a capital campaign to raise money to renovate their new property at 51st and Sansom, Mosaic Community Church committed to give away 10 percent of all of the money raised to organizations who are doing good work in West Philly neighborhoods. This commitment turned into the Building It Together (BIT) Grant Program. This year, Mosaic’s BIT Grant Program has $26,000 to give away and invites local nonprofits and community organizations to apply.

The BIT Grant Program is comprised of two distinct funding opportunities:  Continue Reading

Photo courtesy UCD.

This year’s second and final Baltimore Avenue Dollar Stroll, the bi-annual event showcasing neighborhood businesses, is happening this Thursday from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. from 43rd to 51st street. As always, there will be tons of $1 specials – all kinds of food, drinks, sweet treats, merchandise, tickets, special memberships, mini lessons and much more! In addition, the event will feature live music performances, jugglers and Polynesian dancers.

The event is presented by the University City District (UCD) and Baltimore Avenue Business Association (BABA).

For more information on participating businesses and their offerings check out the map below or click here.

Click to enlarge

On Wednesday, Sept. 16, the Committee on Historic Designation of the city’s Historical Commission will review some West Philadelphia buildings for nominations – at 4300-02 Osage Ave/4304-06 Osage Ave and 3600-3630 Lancaster Avenue. Historic designation will help prevent demolition of the buildings and new development on the sites. The Advisory Committee meeting will be held in Room 578 in City Hall, starting at 9:30 a.m., and public support of the nominations is encouraged. Here’s more information on the buildings:

Satterlee Heights – 4300-02/4304-06 Osage Avenue

The three-story five-bedroom Victorian home at 4300-02 was purchased by Osage Realty Investment for $725,000 in May, 2015. The property has a large yard sloping down toward 43rd St. and that preservation advocates fear will become a building site if it is not saved by the city. The Committee on Historic Designation will consider for nomination this house and the adjoining twin at 4304-06 Osage Ave.

Lancaster Mews – 3600-30 Lancaster Avenue

Demolition of Lancaster Mews, a group of historic red-brick apartment buildings on the 3600 block of Lancaster Avenue, has already been proposed. As was reported in May, the owner, AP Construction, was preparing to sell the block-long row of buildings and was interviewing demolition contractors. A community meeting hosted by Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell was also held in May to discuss the future of the block. Residents and business owners who gathered at the meeting vowed to save the historic block from demolition (read more about the meeting here). The buildings at 3600-30 Lancaster Ave date back to 1870’s and also host neighborhood businesses.