Letters

Brothers of Sons of Ben, more bars boosters, and Ridge Avenue reconsidered.

Franklin’s Court

To Steven Wells on last week’s cover story about the Sons of Ben:

You rock! What a great article on the SOB. I’ve been with them since about July or August ’07, and you’ve captured the essence, descriptions and events incredibly well.

You sound like an embed—are you one of us?

What Ales Your List

On PW’s recent cover story on the city’s 50 best bars:

Here are five bars that are better than 80 percent of your list:

1) The Khyber: Philly’s venerable rock ’n’ roll bar. Did you see the Smashing Pumpkins play here? How about the Strokes? Stars? Scissor Sisters? Clap Your Hands Say Yeah? Well, then you don’t spend enough time at the Khyber. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that they have an excellent selection of beers on tap.

2) Tria: a mecca to fermentation. Maybe the staff is a bit too knowledgeable and eager, but the enjoyment of sitting and eating perfect cheese, paired with the perfect beer more than makes up for it. And it’s pretty good if you like wine also.

3) Bar Ferdinand: showing that you can mix beautiful style with interesting food and avoid being pretentious. Bar Ferdinand is the best place in Philly that makes you feel like you’re in a corner bar in Europe. And don’t worry about the conversion rate between euros and dollars, because this “European bar” comes in at a remarkably reasonable price.

4) 700 Club: one of the city's best bar lounges. There’s no food and no pretense—just good DJs, great bartenders and a laid-back atmosphere for either hanging out or for shaking your booty.

5) Cantina Los Caballitos: the best margaritas in the city and the best tequila selection, bar none (much better than Xochitl). The outdoor seating and good food are just bonuses.

Grace Tavern isn’t even the best bar in the city owned by a guy named Fergie.

HOA LEE
Bella Vista

Thanks for advising me on the qualities of the best Philly bars. Now I know to look for a real “dive” with dirty bathrooms. I won’t be fooled by those fake dives where they simply spray artificial piss odor around the urinals.

Extra points if the place is “ramshackle” and “dingy,” with “tight quarters.” Perhaps a “grime-encrusted” lounge area with “ratty couches.” Top it off with the lovely scent of that natural air freshener: “the brown ick of a few decades of tobacco smoke.”

Rox and a Hard Place

On recent features by Erica S. Brath about the revitalization of Ridge Avenue:

I grew up in bucolic Roxborough in the ’60s. My father, and grandfather before him, had a luncheonette on the Ridge next to (and ultimately part of) the Dodge dealership. The people a few houses down had a small turkey farm, and the gas station a little farther down (now closed) had a sheep farm in the back.

There were large stone houses maybe 50 yards apart up to the county line. Roxborough was suburban and white collar, and the Democratic political machine punished Roxborough first by putting a public trash incinerator in upper Roxborough. Then came the zoning variances that allowed the stone houses to be torn down. The coup de grace was the new owner of the Dodge dealership tearing down more houses (and even a church!) to put car storage lots on the Ridge.

Now, of course, the dealership is closed and there are empty lots. Between all that and the wage tax, many old-time residents left. Revitalize the Ridge? It may be too little, too late.

BILL JOHNSTON
Delaware County

Enough with articles about repairing neighborhoods such as Roxborough, Manayunk, etc. When are places like West Kensington going to get some development? This neighborhood is 15 minutes from Center City and it has scads of land. And yet it’s wasted.

This neighborhood needs development, unlike other neighborhoods you write about.

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