Here’s a short update on Independence Charter School West (ICS-West), a new elementary school opening in September 2016. The school’s location will be at 56th and Chester, according to a recent announcement. The school also has a new website: www.icswest.org.

The school will initially be a K-3, mainly serving families from Southwest, West, and Overbrook areas. Applications will be accepted until February 1. More information sessions have been added this week for those families who are interested in applying:

Wednesday, Dec. 9, 6:00-7:00 p.m.
Lucien E. Blackwell/West Philadelphia Regional Library
125 S. 52nd Street

Thursday, Dec. 10, 3:30-5:30 p.m.
Woodland Academy Child Development Center
5401 Grays Avenue

Friday, Dec. 11, 10-11 a.m.
Blanche A. Nixon/Cobbs Creek library branch
5800 Cobbs Creek Parkway (59th/Baltimore Ave.)  Continue Reading

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.

Police are looking for a 17-year-old girl and another person who they say robbed a man near 45th and Larchwood on Sunday evening. Police identified the girl after she dropped her unlocked cell phone, which included her picture as the wallpaper, during a foot chase.

Police say the young woman and an unidentified person robbed the 25-year-old man while he was walking home at about 7:45 p.m. The man told police that a person approached him and hit him in the head with an unknown object, while someone else held his arms back. The suspects took the man’s iPhone and his backpack, containing a laptop among other things, and fled westbound on Larchwood Avenue.

Five minutes later a police officer spotted two people running east on the 4700 block of Cedar Avenue who fit the description of the robbers and started pursuing them on foot, but lost them in an alley, according to a police report.  Continue Reading

Photo courtesy SEPTA

Have you spotted or ridden on the Jolly Trolley yet? If so, consider yourself lucky. To put commuters in the seasonal spirit, SEPTA has again decorated several trolleys with tinsel, lights, bows and bells. This one was spotted on Baltimore Avenue last night:

The Jolly #Trolley! #happyholidays #merrychristmas #christmaslights #septa #Philadelphia #westphilly

A photo posted by VIX Emporium (@vix_emporium) on Dec 4, 2015 at 4:07pm PST

Photo courtesy Dock Street Brewery.

For years my father talked about the case of beer I bought him for Christmas in 1990. This was still mostly yellow beer days and my Dad was a devoted yellow beer drinker. But this was a case of Dock Street Amber Ale, the beer that for many in Philly back then provided our first taste of a locally brewed craft beer.

Twenty five years later Dock Street is back in the bottled beer business, just in time for the holidays. Between them, the new home brew place on Woodland Avenue and Local 44, there are plenty of opportunities to buy local for the beer lover on your list or to transform yourself into a good and proper beer snob.

Dock Street is bottling its Rye IPA, a 50th and Baltimore favorite, and is available by the case (about $40) or the 6-pack ($10) now in a number of shops and restaurants.  Continue Reading