Although we’re seeing a little setback with the weather, here’s some great news: University City District began re-installing “parklets” (outdoor seating platforms), throughout the neighborhood. Yesterday, the UCD installed two of them – one by the Green Line Cafe on Baltimore Ave and another one by Little Baby’s Ice Cream in Cedar Park:

Today UCD crews installed 43rd St. (@GreenLineCafe) & 49th St.(@LittleBabysIC) Parklets! Enjoy them #UCDPARKLETS pic.twitter.com/QhGG7K4Hhd

— University City (@ucdphl) April 14, 2014

Overall, five parklets will be installed in the neighborhood, all near trendy local shops, cafes and restaurants (though, like parks, they are public spaces so you don’t have to buy anything to sit in them):

Parklet by Fu-Wah Market on S. 47th St. (archived photo).

• 4040 Locust St (hosted by Ramen Bar)
• 261 S. 44th St (hosted by Honest Tom’s Tacos and Lil’ Pop Shop)
• 4239 Baltimore Ave (hosted by Green Line Cafe)
• 810 S. 47th St (hosted by Fu-Wah Market)
• 4903 Catharine St (hosted by Little Baby’s Ice Cream and Hibiscus Cafe)

The city’s first parklet was installed on 43rd Street near Green Line Cafe in the summer of 2011. Parklets, which are a wood and metal platform with tables, chairs and planter boxes, usually pop up in April and remain through October or until the cold weather sets in. Although enjoyed by many, parklets have also received some criticism, since they take up parking spots, which are hard to find in our area.

Parklet at 45th and Walnut.

Three more parklets, public seating platforms that replace parking spots, are coming to the University City area this week. A new parklet was installed near Manakeesh Cafe on Walnut Street near 45th on Tuesday. Two parklets, with new design developed by Philadelphia’s Shift Space Design, are returning to their last year’s locations today and Thursday – on 44th Street near Spruce, across from Honest Tom’s and Lil’ Pop Shop, and on Locust Street near 40th, across from Ramen Bar and Keswick Cycle.

The parklets, those cool little curbside outdoor seating spots, are branching out. There is now one in front of Fu-Wah Mini Market and Deli, home to the best tofu hoagie in the city, near 47th and Baltimore.

The parklet is also back at the Green Line Café at 43rd and Baltimore. Others will return soon in front of Honest Tom’s Taco Shop/Lil’ Pop Shop on the 200 block of S. 44th Street and Ramen Bar at 4040 Locust St.

A reminder that the parklets are public, so no purchase is required to sit at them. Three new parklet locations, including Fu-Wah, are slated for this year. Parklets are cooperative effort between the city and the University City District. More details on the others coming soon.

Enjoying a banh mi from Fu-Wah at the new parklet. (Photo by our Twitter follower @deviantollam).

More parklets are popping out around the University City area. Just recently, the University City District installed one on 44th Street between Spruce and Locust. A third parklet, although a little smaller (with just three tables), has emerged right next to recently opened Ramen Bar (4040 Locust Street).

A crew from University City District is installing a “parklet” on 44th Street in front of Honest Tom’s Tacos and Lil’ Pop Shop. This is the second parklet in the University City area. The first parklet was installed last summer at the corner of 43rd and Baltimore in front of Green Line Cafe and returned this summer.

A parklet gives people a chance to sit and enjoy life in a space previously used by parked cars. The parklet at 43rd and Baltimore was removed last November, but this year UCD is exploring options to keep parklets warm during the cold months, Naked Philly reports.

This morning a crew from the University City District began installing the city’s first “parklet,” a wood and metal platform complete with tables, chairs and planter boxes at 43rd and Baltimore designed to reclaim parking spots for more leisure space.

The platform, which extends six feet into the street and is the length of two parking spots along 43rd Street in front of the Green Line Cafe, essentially widening the seating area of the cafe, although you won’t have to buy anything to sit there. Oddly, the spot chosen for the first parklet is about 50 feet from an actual park – Clark Park – which was recently renovated to add additional cafe-style seating.

The parklet will occupy a parking spot where a Philly Car Share vehicle was once parked. That spot will be moved up 43rd Street.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the parklet will be at 43rd and Baltimore at 1 p.m. on Thursday.

Parklets, which are designed to be temporary and portable, have become a fairly common site in many cities. They are designed to extend pedestrian space in busy urban neighborhoods and encourage people to drive less (presumably by making parking spots harder to find?) and slow down the spread of asphalt.

The parklet is a cooperative effort with the City of Philadelphia and the University City District and with money from a William Penn Foundation grant.