Alumni from the Yale Russian Chorus, a storied all-male singing group that specializes in Russian and Slavic songs, will perform at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church (3916 Locust Walk) on the Penn campus on Saturday, April 18.

A small group of students studying Russian at Yale started the chorus in the 1950s, during the early days of the Cold War when more Americans were trying to understand the culture and people of the then Soviet Union. The group took its first of many trips to Russia in 1958 where members performed impromptu concerts on Moscow street corners. They were soon dubbed “Yale’s singing ambassadors.”

Under the musical direction of co-conductors Brock Holmes and Bruce Lieberman, Saturday’s concert will be a rare opportunity to enjoy seldom-performed Russian and Eastern European musical masterpieces for male-voice choir. “Expect powerful music, thrilling solos, exceptional ensembles, and top-notch musicianship,” according to a press release from the chorus.

The chorus sings folk and religious music in Russian, other Slavic and East European languages, and occasionally in English. Its repertoire includes works by Kastalsky, Rachmaninoff, and Tchaikovsky.  Continue Reading

Photo by Annamarya Scaccia / West Philly Local.

48th Street below Spruce is becoming a sort of culinary hub with a number of small and start-up artisan food businesses calling the block and its Dorrance H. Hamilton Center for Culinary Enterprises home.

The Enterprise Center, which supports local minority entrepreneurs, was already providing a helping hand for start-up businesses, but with the unique nature of the food industry and the lack of a kitchen facility at the initial site, there was a need to create a subsidiary. The Hamilton Center for Culinary Enterprises opened in 2012.

The businesses operating out of the Center or using its state-of-the-art shared-use commercial kitchen include:

48th Street Grille
Herban Quality Eats
Really Fresh Vegan
Red Fox Gourmet
Smackaroons
Sugar Philly
Taco Angeleno

“What we found was that there’s a particularly high threshold for food entry for food businesses in Philadelphia. It’s an expensive and complicated endeavor. An incubator kitchen lowers that threshold making it easier for food businesses to get their start in the city,” says Brett Heeger, Food System Director at The Enterprise Center.

The Culinary Center’s shared-use commercial kitchen (Photo from theenterprisecenter.com)

Heeger broke the process down to three steps: business development, product refining and access to capital. The Enterprise Center has been known for bringing in influential guest speakers and advisors over the years, which have inspired culinary entrepreneurs and many first time business owners. The products are refined with the help of a panel of scientists from the Drexel Culinary food sciences along with extensively trained chefs, using commercial grade equipment that they would not have had access to otherwise. Finally, the businesses are given access to grants and seed funding which is exclusive to small businesses that are a part of the program.

The Culinary Center is located at 310 S. 48th Street in the Garden Court neighborhood. The Center has improved the neighborhood through several ways: There were physical improvements to the area, the site where the center is currently located was originally an abandoned supermarket. There has also been financial empowerment within the neighborhood, as the center also tried to hire candidates from West Philadelphia. The idea is to increase community engagement and involvement.

On Tuesday, May 19, the Culinary Center will host the 2nd annual “Cooking Up Success!” culinary competition among local food entrepreneurs. The winners will be awarded up to $50,000. Early bird tickets ($75) are available until April 17. To buy tickets, go here.

– Rana Fayez

Get ready, get set, go! A bike package from Spruce Hill business Keswick Bikes (kids’ 20” bike, helmet, bell) is just one of the exciting auction items featured at the 11th annual Saint Mary’s Nursery School (SMNS) “Spring for Our School” Silent Auction & Cocktail Party Fundraiser. SMNS is a non-denominational, Reggio Emilia – inspired nursery school and afterschool program located at 3916 Locust Walk.

The fundraising event will include catered hors d’oeuvres, Yard’s beer, wine, great community, and an exciting silent auction to benefit the program. The after party will take place at City Tap House from 8:30-10:00 p.m. Proceeds will help SMNS make essential playground improvements including an organic “green” shade for the playground.  Continue Reading

On Saturday, April 11, thousands of people throughout the city will take to their neighborhood streets, parks or lots for the annual Philly Spring Cleanup. This will be the 8th Spring Cleanup organized by the city and supported by many local organizations. As always, there is an opportunity for everyone to participate in this important neighborhood cleaning and beautification event, and you can now choose and sign up for projects in your area (see map below) by visiting the Philly Spring Cleanup website.

Or just step outside your house or apartment building and pick up some litter, dead leaves and sticks!

There may be some progress in the ongoing efforts to re-open Squirrel Hill Falls Park, the enigmatic gated pocket park at 48th and Chester that has been locked for years. The Friends of Squirrel Hill Park community group have launched a new campaign that they hope will help give the park new life. The newest effort to reopen the park, which was designed and built in 1996 by West Philly artist Danielle Rousseau Hunter, comes after Friends Rehabilitation Program Inc., the organization that owns the lot, indicated that they are interested in an agreement about the park’s reopening. All earlier efforts seem to have fallen through (read our previous story about the park here).

Community support is essential in this process, and the Friends of Squirrel Hill Park are asking all interested residents to participate in a short survey and sign a petition titled “Let’s make progress at Squirrel Hill Park!”

“As a neighbor of the long blighted former park at 48th and Chester, I would like to see something positive at this corner. The park is waiting to once again become a great amenity to our neighborhood, and we are ready to join together to make it happen. We ask Friends Rehabilitation Program to work with the Friends of Squirrel Hill Park to help us bring new life to this unused community space,” the petition reads.

The survey includes such questions as what type of programming you would like to see at the park and how much help you can offer to the Friends of the park.

For more information and to access the survey please go to the Friends of Squirrel Hill Park website. You can also find more information about the neighbors working to reopen the park on the group’s Facebook page.

Just recently we reported a high number of car break-ins in the Cedar Park area and vicinity. On Friday, April 3, undercover cops from the 18th Police District arrested a man who was breaking into a van parked near 47th and Larchwood. The incident happened at around 12:45 p.m., according to a tweet by Joe Murray of the Southwest Detectives.

When the unidentified man was brought in for questioning he confessed to 10 more thefts from vehicles. The man has 26 prior arrests, including 16 for burglary and theft, according to Murray.

It is not known yet which car break-ins this person had a hand in. Over the past month, there have been at least 15 thefts from vehicles reported in the area between S. 48th and 51st Streets and Spruce St. and Baltimore Ave., according to Crime Reports. Also there were four car break-ins just south of Baltimore Ave between 46th and 48th.