Results tagged “bellavista”

Walking down Catharine Street in Bella Vista, you might not even notice the small park tucked in next to the Fleisher Art Memorial. Palumbo Park is located smack in the middle of the block, with an iron fence setting it off from the rest of the street so that it does not appear at first to be a public park. Once inside the park, the air is peaceful and mostly silent. Birds chirped in the trees when I visited and traffic sounds from Catharine were hushed.

This week, we present another small park: Bardascino Park, at 10th and Carpenter Streets in Bella Vista. Bardascino was built on the site of the former Community Hospital in 1977. It was dedicated in 1978 and named for Guiseppe Bardascino, who formed the Philadelphia Brass Band in 1912. The park's condition deteriorated for some twenty years, until residents of the area took action. They began holding clean-ups and meeting with the Dept. of Recreation to map out the future of the park. A Friends of Bardascino Park organization was ultimately formed, giving the residents a voice in the park's future. Over the years, the Friends planted various plants, removed dead trees, repaired benches and raised funds through bake sales and bocce tournaments.

We first discovered Final Vinyl at the Washington Township location of Ott's because Ross's mother's dentist plays the drums for the band (he's the one not wearing leather in the photo above). We were a little skeptical of a D.D.S.-helmed classic rock cover band, but ended up having a blast watching the band blaze through a setlist containing everything from Clapton to Petty—and watching their Jersey-riffic fans (seriously, we're not hating on the state, just the people who embody the stereotypes about it) dance rather inappropriately to the music.

The relationship between artist and model has more than once dipped into sexy waters (Picasso, every Pre-Raphaelite painter ever, Lee Miller, Man Ray...) and Dr. Sketchy's is bringing this brand of artistic awesomeness to the masses. If you've ever wondered what it would be like to draw and lust, or maybe if you remember fighting down that Deadly Sin as a freshman artist the first time the model mounted the platform...

Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican Independence Day. Hell, it's not even a holiday celebrated in all of Mexico. (Wikipedia actually has a decent explanation here.) But, here in America, we like to use the holiday as an excuse to get wasted anyway. (It's like St. Patrick's Day, but with tequila.)

It seems kind of strange to be talking about parks and spending time outdoors, looking at the foliage, when there is once again snow on the ground, but never fear, spring will be here soon. And in honor of that, this week's park is Cianfrani, a park that is in the springtime of its life.

At this point, I guess most of you readers out there know that I don't eat to live – I live to eat. So it stands to reason that I've had a few dining experiences this year that have been especially memorable. Some of them appeared on Phillyist, and others did not. But gourmets and gourmands alike rejoice: they're all here, in all their mouth drooling glory.