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Thu
Aug 16
2012

Tonight, A Sneak Preview of OCF Coffee House

Over a year ago, we told you about plans for a second OCF Coffee House at the corner of 20th & Federal, in Point Breeze. And tonight, after several delays, the cafe will finally be opening its doors. In case you don’t know anything about this building’s history, here are some photos from the past few years.

Three years ago

Year and a half ago

Earlier today

Tonight, from 6pm til 9pm, the new cafe will host a special event, giving neighbors a preview of the establishment that’s set to officially open on Monday, while raising money for the 17th Police District’s Family Fun and Safety Day. There’s a $20 recommended donation at the door (though you can give what you want), which gets you tasty treats from local Sweet Life Bakery, scrumptious snacks from Rex 1516, delicious beer from the American Sardine Bar, and some creative Green Street coffee cocktails (coffee plus booze) from your future neighborhood baristas.

You can also take a look at the new garden space that’s located immediately behind the new cafe. Though it’s still a work in progress, it’s a tremendous improvement over what this lot has looked like for the past decade or so. At last count, there were twenty tons of debris removed from the lot, not including the nearly-indestructible jersey barriers.

A few years ago. There's a mound of debris under the grass in this photo.

Earlier today. There's even been progress since.

See you tonight? Word is, there’s gonna be tiki torches.

Full disclosure: OCF Coffee House is owned by OCF Realty, the parent company of Naked Philly.

23
COMMENTS
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Posted in Point Breeze | Tagged , , , , , , , | 23 Comments
  • thegreengrass

    I know this is gonna sound weird, but, is that a new font on the Federal Street sign? Is that a mistake or is the city really switching street sign fonts? Check out the one on the 1900 block, it’s in all uppercase. http://goo.gl/maps/n8hyA

    What’s up? Did you guys put this up yourself?! (ha)

  • veggie

    gotta take down those bandit signs…

  • Clank

    Yes, it is a new font. It’s called Clearview and it’s becoming the new standard for street signs. You may notice it on large green higway signs as well. It’s supposed to be easier to read. Just when you thought it didn’t get any nerdier…

  • Clank

    Yes, it is a new font called Clearview. It’s becoming the industry standard for street signs – supposedly it’s easier to read. You’ll start to notice it more on large green highway signs as well.

  • Clank

    I hate when you write a reply a second time because it didn’t appear to upload…then it does. So then there are two slightly different replies saying the same thing. Duh. I’ll shut up now.

  • thegreengrass

    Ha. No problem. Gotcha, I knew they were using it for highways, but I didn’t realize the city’d be using it for street signs.

    There’s an entire world of things to be nerdy about :)

  • Clank

    I know, right? It’s really kinda overwhelming.

  • AceHighFlush

    Ori covered this in a previous comment section; they wanted and tried to save the brickwork, but it was too far gone from previous neglect to save. Such a shame.

  • http://planphilly.com/eyesonthestreet/2012/08/17/hawthornes-transformation-demo-for-historic-banks-climate-change-ed-sugarhouse-expansion-scale-ocf-coffee-for-point-breeze/ Hawthorne’s transformation | demo for historic banks | climate change ed | SugarHouse expansion scale | OCF Coffee for Point Breeze

    [...] Remember the OCF coffee shop saga at 20th and Federal? After a long road, the new coffee shop is set…. Naked Philly (the blog affiliated with OCF Realty) reported that the OCF Coffee House opened up for a preview party on Thursday night, taking donations for the 17th Police District’s Family Fun and Safety Day and offering sweet and boozy treats. [...]

  • punch

    why not keep the previous brick! It looked delicious! And why not have flashier signs like the deli!

  • _dan

    The place looks great, I hear it was a great turnout, congrats. My only qualm with the building is the stone veneer…reminds me of suburbia.

  • http://twitter.com/F1rstCitizen First Citizen

    I don’t know about it being too far gone to save. I was surprised how good it looked when they cleaned off the paint. The back wall was a mess of course, but they’re generally lower quality brick and get stuccoed anyway.

    A good masonry restoration contractor could have refaced the red patched-in sections and consolidated spalling brick. A discerning eye could pick out the repairs, but who cares, it’s probably a century old building, it’s going to have its imperfections. Of course that would have been far more expensive than stucco and peel & stick stone. That cost could have been the difference between opening the cafe there or not.

  • Anonymous

    The initial party hired to strip the paint did more harm than good. He stripped the paint at great cost to the integrity of the brick. The exterior yellow brick was also significantly detached from the rest of the property as a result of tree growth in between the two courses of bricks. Honestly, we hate the aesthetic of stucco but it was the best option here.

  • Steve V.

    The stucco isn’t great, either. That was beautiful brick. Oh well.

  • Steve V.

    Thanks Ori. We all know it’s a shame that it’s gone but not your fault. It’s years of neglect.

  • Chris

    This is amazing, point breeze is such a great neighborhood this rejuvenation will bring tons of people down!!! Now we just need more BYO’s !! Great job OCF

  • Point Breeze Homeowner

    The change on this corner is the best thing to happen to the immediate area in ages. You think most neighbors living nearby care about stucco vs. brick? Please! It’s real easy to complain about aesthetics when you haven’t actually shoveled piles of trash off this back lot so it doesn’t blow down your street; now it’s a corner transformed. Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen. Your perseverance is truly appreciated!

  • http://twitter.com/F1rstCitizen First Citizen

    Well it’s always easier to criticize something behind the anonymity of the neighborhood, so that’s part of it, but the fact that people care enough to make value judgments over finish materials is a sign that Point Breeze has already come a long way. People are no longer happy just to see any old kind of development, they want the highest and best development and that’s a good thing.

    When the renovations on this building started I remember thinking, “who the hell is investing in this dump at 20th and Federal?” But since that started a lot has changed in the immediate vicinity on Federal and Ellsworth and it looks quite prescient now. Now if only the City/RDA/PHDC/PHA morass that is the 1100 block of 20th gets redeveloped this will be a booming corner.

  • http://twitter.com/phillyrealty Christopher Somers

    Congrats guys! And congrats to Point Breeze as well to have another commercial establishment (one at a time).

  • richguy

    to bad point breeze is a total dump! cesspool at it’s finest!

  • Anonymous

    Any plans for bike parking racks?

  • Mighty Mike

    point breeze is a cesspool, who would live in this crappy place!

  • http://nakedphilly.com/rittenhouse/new-rittenhouse-starbucks-nearly-ready-for-prime-time-or-the-pre-7am-equivalent/ New Rittenhouse Starbucks Nearly Ready for Prime Time (Or the Pre-7am Equivalent) | NakedPhilly

    [...] is apparently only a few days away from opening. While we’re not exactly Starbucks fanatics (for somewhat obvious reasons), we’re still very impressed with the job that this new tenant has done, sprucing up a [...]

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