If you’ve lived in Philly for a minute, you’ve come to realize the wealth of dive bars that we possess in this fine town of ours. South Philly has a good but shrinking selection, with luminaries such as Ray’s and Bonnie’s Capistrano Bar heading a group of dimly lit, often smoky watering holes where you can probably get good and toasty for less than fifteen bucks. But we don’t know that we’ve yet encountered a divier locale than the Dolphin Tavern, located at Broad & Tasker.

The bar

Unfortunately, this landmark, which featured ladies in pasties as well as billiards, closed its doors back in August. Last month, Passyunk Post reported that Avram Hornik, of Lucy’s, Drinker’s, Noche, etc. had entered into an agreement to take over the Dolphin, and was planning to…

Everybody loves a good limoncello. And in an age where farmer’s markets are all the rage, microbrews are commonplace, and artisanal goat meat is something that people actually buy, why not locally distilled limoncello? And after a successful presentation to the East Passyunk Crossing Zoning Committee last week, it seems that’s exactly what will soon be making an appearance on Passyunk Avenue.

The building

Presuming everything goes ok with the application to the LCB, and at the ZBA (which will be much easier with the support of the neighborhood), Pollyodd Limoncello will soon be opening a retail location at

Perhaps you’ve never heard of Act 135, passed in PA in 2009, which provides communities with one more tool to fight blight in their neighborhoods. In short, this act allows residents, businesses, or non-profits to take conservatorship over a blighted property, fix it up, and sell it off. One non-profit that’s been fairly active in leveraging this Act to improve neighborhoods is Scioli Turco.

One of their first success stories is the conversion of the old Scioli Turco VFW post near 8th & Catharine. Looking at the transformation here, you can tell that these guys do good work.

In the past

Today

Currently, Scioli Turco is in the process of renovating two long vacant residential properties in South Philly, both near Passyunk Avenue. 1331 Alder St. is located…

You may recall, we’ve been keeping you abreast of the efforts of the Passyunk Avenue Revitalization Corporation, revitalizing buildings on Passyunk Avenue (‘natch). Back in March, we checked in on 1911 E Passyunk Ave., a property that was early in the stages of renovation at that point. This storefront had looked terrible as recently as the beginning of this year. Now, through the efforts of PARC, the building looks one-hundred percent better, and a new tenant will be opening up shop in just a couple of days.

In January

Already better by March

Recent shot

According to Michael Klein, Will BYOB will be opening at 1911 E Passyunk Ave. on August 24th. The modern French establishment will attempt to use mostly local ingredients, certainly a…

The transformation of East Passyunk Avenue over the past decade has been well documented, with numerous new businesses of all shapes and sizes coming to the Avenue. At the very southern end of the Avenue, however, at 1934 E Passyunk Ave., Colombo’s looms as one of the properties that has not really changed too much as the street has evolved.

A structure that sits on a 2,500 sqft, awkwardly shaped lot, Colombo’s has a restaurant set up inside with a liquor license, as well as permanent outdoor seating. With a well-marketed, properly conceived concept, we could imagine a business finding considerable success at this location. Meanwhile, it’s sat barely used in recent years, offered for sale to anyone willing to meet the owner, Maurice Pisano’s price.

In the past

The property was listed for sale back in 2004 for…

Last month, the East Passyunk Crossing zoning committee heard a presentation for the conversion of 1646-8 S 12th St., the longtime home of Artisan Boulanger Patissier, from a pastry shop into a full-fledged restaurant with a liquor license and possible outdoor seating. Though this address is on 12th Street, the building is basically on Passyunk Avenue, on the same block as El Zarape and Cantina Los Caballitos.

New place coming

A couple of days ago, a report from Foobooz confirmed exactly what’s in store for this space. Chris Scarduzio, of the tasty Table 31, will be taking over this space in short order. The concept is casual Italian (unheard of on the Avenue!) with a seafood angle. As expected, outdoor seating and booze will be part…