Police are looking for leads in a recent series of gunpoint robberies at businesses in West Philadelphia.

The robbery spree began at about 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 13 at the Natural Coffee near 52nd Street and Baltimore Avenue when a man wearing a blue hoodie with white strings and a blue mask entered the store and demanded cash. The man fled with an undetermined amount of cash.

A man fitting the same description robbed the Cricket Mobile store at 5547 Baltimore Ave. at about 1 p.m. on Nov. 14. About an hour later, police say the same man robbed the Lucky 7 Food Market at 54 N. 57th St. Two more robberies were reported that day – one at about 7:20 at the Ace Cash Express near 52nd and one another 40 minutes later at Daslin Grocery at 700 S. 55th. The suspect in those robberies matched the previous ones, according to police.

A store employee at Ace Cash Express said the man entered the business at closing time and demanded cash. The employee pushed the “panic button” and after several attempts to open the cash register the suspect took $3 from the employee and fled.

Police describe the suspect as a black male, about 20 years old who was about 5 feet, 6 inches tall with a dark complexion.

To report a tip, do one of the following:

• To submit a tip via telephone, dial 215.686.TIPS (8477)
• Text a tip to PPD TIP or 773847.
• Use this electronic form to submit a tip anonymously.

This video of the suspect was posted on the  Philadelphia Police YouTube Channel.

SEPTA has unveiled a very cool subway car today – it is fully wrapped with a colorful mural! The project is a collaboration between SEPTA and the Philadelphia Mural Arts program. This moving mural is titled “We Are All Neurons” and was designed and created with the help of local students participating in the Mural Arts Local Emerging Artists Projects (LEAPs). The students worked with the mural artist Benjamin Volta to “visualize their own brains as interconnected idea machines.” They drew hundreds of neurons, and they worked together to design a colorful vinyl wrap for a subway car.

The car with the “moving mural” was launched this morning at 69th St Transportation Center and will be used on Market-Frankford line so we hope you’ll be lucky to see it and ride in it.

If the loop playing of Wham’s “Last Christmas” at CVS hasn’t given it away already, the holiday season is here, with Thanksgiving just around the corner.

For many locals, the holidays mean planning a vacation or taking a trip back home for family quality time. But for others, the season means staying put in West Philly, be it because of circumstance or because loved ones are coming to you.

Your holiday staycation doesn’t have to turn out boring, though. After all, with all the great restaurants in the area you can embark in a week-long foodie tour that will satisfy your hunger and help you taste new flavors. But our little notch of Philadelphia proper has many other great gems to keep you and/or your family entertained during the season—some popular and historic, others hidden and in need of discovery.

In order to help your staycation take flight, West Philly Local put together a short list of places to play and sleep to help you plan your local itinerary—and discover the unique personality of our neighborhood.

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A West Philly Local reader, Katie, spotted a tan & white female Pit Bull around 9:30 this morning trotting east on Spruce street and then turning south and heading down 46th street. “She had big half-perked up ears and had a power cord  knotted around her neck that it looked like she had chewed through to escape,” Katie writes. Another reader, Madeline, reports via our Facebook page that she saw the dog by the Shop N’ Bag at 44th St. at around 8:35 a.m.

If you have any information about this dog or if you see her, please post in the comments below.

Kalachakra (The Wheel of Life) colored sand mandala.

Don’t miss the chance to see the Tibetan artist, meditation teacher, and former Buddhist monk Losang Samten at the Philadelphia Folklore Project (735 South 50th St). He returns for his annual residency at PFP from Monday, Nov. 18 to Friday, Nov. 22 and will be working daily from 1 to 7 p.m., to create “The Wheel of Life” mandala in colored sand. All are welcome to stop by and observe Samten through the spiritual process of creating The Wheel of Life. The program is free. Please visit this page for more information about Samten and his project.

Play On, Philly! (POP), the acclaimed innovative educational music program which began in 2011 at West Philly’s St. Francis de Sales School, is inviting neighbors to their first collaborative concert tonight at 7 p.m. at West Catholic Preparatory High School (45th & Chestnut). Admission is FREE.

This season, POP has been focusing on collaboration, creativity and composition, as part of a new program, POP Creates. All of their concerts this season will be collaborations, including Orchestra 2001 and Anthony McGill, principal clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera, Messiah College, and Ranaan Meyer of Time for Three, to name a few. The impressive guest artist list includes: Trio Cavatina, Joseph Lin, Nokuthula Ngwenyama, the Takacs Quartet and Time for Three.

Tonight’s concert is a collaboration between St. Francis de Sales Firebird String Orchestra and Junior String Philharmonic of Lehigh Valley (JSP). The highlight of the concert will be a joint performance of Edvard Grieg’s Holberg Suite and selections from The Nutracker Suite. Pieces by Bach and Pachelbel will also be featured. The concert will be conducted by Kenneth Bean, Music Director/Conductor of JSP and Naomi Gonzalez, Conductor at POP.

To read more about Play On, Philly! and to check the schedule of their upcoming events, visit: http://www.playonphilly.org/

(Photo courtesy of Play On, Philly!)