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Suspect sought after Chestnut St. restaurant robbery at gunpoint

May 20, 2016

Police are looking for a male suspect who they say robbed a local restaurant at gunpoint on Sunday, May 15. The robbery took place shortly after midnight on Sunday when an unknown man, wearing a mask and armed with a handgun, entered the Falafel restaurant on the 4400 block of Chestnut and demanded money and phones from people inside. Police say four people were robbed inside the restaurant.

After taking cash and iPhones from the victims the suspect, described as a tall (6 feet 4 inches) black male wearing a blue jacket, gray pants and a black mask, fled toward Market Street. No one was injured in the robbery, according to police.

One cell phone was tracked by the victims to 400 Busti St. in the main driveway, however the suspect or phones were not located.  Continue Reading

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CVS thief pulls a gun on store manager when confronted at the door (updated with video)

May 18, 2016

UPDATE (5/20/2016): Police released surveillance video from the CVS store where the robbery took place:

(5/18/2016, 17:17 p.m.): Police are looking for the man who they say stole some items at CVS at 43rd and Locust and then pulled a gun at the store manager when he tried to stop him at the entrance door. The incident, which is classified as an armed robbery, happened on Sunday night, shortly after 8 p.m.

The manager told police that he had observed the suspect placing merchandise into a black drawstring bag, and then confronted him at the entrance door and tried to retrieve the items. The suspect then pulled out a small black handgun. After seeing the gun the manager backed off and the suspect fled the store on foot, according to police. The manager followed the suspect on Locust St. toward 44th. The suspect turned south on 44th Street and walked away. Police say the robber took a hair straightener and some other unknown merchandise from the store.  Continue Reading

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Amazon opens first Pennsylvania location on Penn’s campus

May 18, 2016

Amazon has opened its first Pennsylvania physical site on the University of Pennsylvania campus, at 1920 Commons, 3800 Locust Walk. The facility, which is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 12 to 9 p.m. on weekends, can be used by Penn students and residents alike.

Amazon at Penn will offer more than two million items for same-day pickup for Amazon Student and Prime members and will also accept returns, according to a report by Philadelphia Business Journal.

 

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Taiwanese dessert shop coming to 40th and Ludlow

May 16, 2016

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When walking down South 40th Street over the weekend, we noticed a new sign in the window next door to The Green Line Cafe. A Taiwanese dessert shop is in the works for 32 S. 40th St., the storefront formerly occupied by Dr. Wyatt’s University Herbs. According to the Office of Licences and Inspections records, work is currently underway on the first floor of the three-story building, still owned by University Herbs, to re-fit the space for the new shop, which will include a non-commercial use kitchen and some seating (less than 20 seats).

The business owner, Xia Yang, lives in Chinatown, according to L & I records. We’ll post more information about this new shop when it becomes available.

And we hope that the store has a lot of this stuff when it opens.

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Early morning water main break at 43rd and Market floods fire house

May 16, 2016

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Water gushes under the 4200 block of Market Street (Photo by West Philly Local).

An early morning water main break on the 4200 block of Market Street shut down this section of the street and affected some nearby buildings, according to reports. The break, which happened at around 4 a.m., flooded the basement of the fire house on the 4200 block of Market St. (Engine 5/Ladder 6) and also affected service at FMC Dialysis center due to interrupted water supply.

About five feet of water accumulated in the fire house basement, and firefighters were working this morning on pumping it out. The fire house equipment was not affected by the flooding, and it remains on active duty, 6ABC reports.

The water department crews are currently working to repair the break. The 4200 block of Market remained closed as of 10:15 a.m. on Monday.

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Chimney collapse on S. 42nd Street

May 15, 2016

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A tall elegant chimney on this Victorian twin at 424 S. 42nd St. collapsed into a heap of bricks on Saturday, at about 11 a.m. Neighbors said the chimney had been leaning for a while.

The three-story 7-bedroom single-family house was sold in February for $410,000 to a property developer.

Here’s an earlier photo of the house pulled out from Google Street View:

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