Puns Toys owner Paulette Kules during happier days in her Ardmore store.
After a long weekend with her mom, Paulette Kules came home Tuesday to a letter from hell.
And the year that began with her daughter’s suicide got unspeakably worse.
FedExed by her landlord’s attorney, the letter demands that Kules immediately close her beloved toy shop, Puns Toys, and turn over her keys. Her inventory, fixtures, furniture were hers no longer, the letter said.
“I am shocked. I don’t know which way to turn,” Kules tells SAVVY.
Like many retailers, Kules has struggled to pay rent during the pandemic. She tells us she paid in March and, per an agreement with her landlord, paid in August and has a cancelled check to prove it.
But this letter, sent on behalf of her landlord/developer Ryan Tobin, claims otherwise:
Puns is more than a livelihood for Kules. Call her old-fashioned but she doesn’t even sell online.
“I am the shop you come to for a personal experience,” she says. “I know the children by name, their birthdays. I know the moms and grandparents. Puns is not just about buying toys; it’s about community and family. ”
Kules tells us she’s applied for a Covid-relief grant from the Pa. Women’s Opportunity Resource Center but it hasn’t come through yet.
She also launched a Hail Mary GoFundMe in August.
And this morning, frantic, she made a desperate plea to PA Rep. Greg Vitale and to U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon. She also rushed to her shop on Rittenhouse Place to retrieve her files and computer, fearing the locks would be changed.
After consulting with our legal experts, we posed several questions to her landlord’s attorney, Marc Davidson. We asked, among other things, if Davidson had a court-ordered judgment for possession that would permit the landlord to legally change the locks and force her out. His letter seems to indicate he does not.
At press time, we had not heard back from Davidson.
Well, Hello, Rosalie! (You’re lookin’ swell…)
The Sala Grande at the new Rosalie in the Wayne Hotel. (Casey Robinson/RSC Visuals photo)
With restaurants dropping like fall leaves, no one would blame Rosalie, the long-awaited successor to Paramour at the Wayne Hotel, if she fluttered away, too. Another day, another Covid casualty.
But Rosalie has arrived – fashionably late, perhaps – but she’s here. And based on our two visits, we think she’ll stay a while.
To doubt Rosalie’s stylish arrival is to doubt the will – and skill – of the local family behind her.
Rosalie is Marty Grims’ tenth restaurant and his fourth on the Main Line – others are White Dog Cafés and Autograph Brasserie.
It’s also his most personal.
While Autograph celebrates his love of music and pop culture and White Dogs are paeans to pooches, Rosalie is an ode to mom – Marty’s mom, Rosalie Reda Grims, 2nd generation Italian immigrant, who passed from cancer when Marty was 14.
Sydney Grims, who leads business development for her father’s expanding restaurant group, Fearless Restaurants, never met her grandmother.
But she and her father have brought her lovingly back to life in Wayne.
Not as a “mom’s meatballs kind of place,” Sydney says. But as a refined yet homey hangout with “classic rustic” fare to match.
Designed by Fearless Restaurants’ usual conjurer, Barbara Balongue, the vibe is lively, even loud in places – like the best Italian families.
The trattoria-style bar with custom mural (above) and the Lobby Lounge (below). All of Rosalie’s artwork is original.
Exuberant wallpapers replace Paramour’s standoffish neutrals. Rolling pins, cutting-boards and lemons burst off walls. On the newly carpeted “Portico” (porch), sea-green woven chairs seem plucked from the Riviera.
The message: Forget the pandemic out there. Come celebrate LIFE.
Three faces you’ll see at Rosalie (or at least partially see these days): Fearless Restaurants Regional Director of Restaurants Ettore Ceraso, Director of Business Development Sydney Grims, and Rosalie Executive Chef Merick Devine. While some restaurateurs had understandably long faces, the Grimses stayed sunny in the face of Covid punches like delivery delays and staffing shortages.
But why put a third place in Wayne? When he approached Grims about taking over the first floor of his historic hotel, owner Steve Bajus was blunt: “Do you want to compete with yourself or with someone else?” Challenge accepted. They don’t call themselves “fearless” for nothin’.
Rosalie’s tagline is “Italian soul food.” To eat here is to set off on a gastronomic Giro d’Italia: from Friuli at the boot’s top to Sicily off its toe.
“I’m perpetually fascinated by the hyper-regionality of Italian cuisine,” says Executive Chef Merick Devine, who wandered the countryside while he worked in Italian kitchens. “We’re going to hit it all.”
After learning Devine had come to White Dog from one of Colorado’s finest restaurants, the James Beard-honored Frasca in Boulder, the Grimses asked him to create a tasting for them.
Devine’s tasting blew them away so they built a restaurant around him.
On Rosalie’s all-day menu: “Stuzzichini” bites ($6 – $18), Pizza ($12 – $16), Antipasti ($13 – $18), pasta ($17 – $22), two Panini ($18 – $22) and Carne e Pesce Secondi ($28 – $36).
Standouts for us: Fig and speck pizza, the Fritti pork shank snack, the Pesce crudo rainbow trout, the baby octopus, the gnocchi (Rosalie makes its own pasta fresh daily), the chicken and the branzino. In short, almost everything we ordered. Portions are generally on the small side.
Our finale was especially sweet: moist olive oil cake with lemon curd and almond crème ($10) and espresso/banana caramel/salted crème fraiche budino ($10). So good.
At Rosalie, you can nosh a little – on pizza or a panini or apps. Or you can nosh a lot. Our table of four splurged on the four-course Quattro Piatti ($75).
Start the night with one of 20 signature cocktails and digestifs ($13-$14), many with aromatics like scented coasters and bruléed finishes. Also listed: 125 mostly Italian wines, 3 mocktails and assorted craft beers – and not a pedestrian Perroni in the place.
Our Covid safety score: B+ Fans and high ceilings on the oversized porch had air circulating. But on Rosalie’s Saturday night debut, all porch tables were seated and spacing was a tad closer than some might feel comfortable with. Indoor dining was less in demand and occupied seats were few and far between, per state guidelines.
Rosalie in the Wayne Hotel, 139 E. Lancaster Ave., Wayne, is open Monday – Thursday, 11 to 9; Friday 11 to 10, Sat. 10 to 10, Sunday 10 to 9. Weekend brunch 10 to 2:30. Sunday supper from 1 p.m. Happy Hour, weekdays 4 to 6. Live music in the Lobby Lounge Wed., Fri. and Sat. nights and Sundays from 11 a.m. Private events and whole restaurant buyouts available.
Victory gardens offer health and hope
Planting the fall crop on October 1 at the garden beside Bethel AME Church, Hayden Remick from Trellis for Tomorrow, Caroline Burchette, Michele Flamer, Community Garden Coordinator Khenti Pratt, Dori Olson, Bethel AME pastor Rev. Carolyn C. Cavaness and Princess Rahman. (Photo by M. Wroblewski/UIF Foundation)
Victory Gardens – nearly 40 of them – are springing up in Ardmore.
And we don’t mean manicured flower beds in the leafy north of town.
No, these gardens grow on the south side, on streets where insecurity abounds – job insecurity, housing insecurity, food insecurity and, now more than ever, health insecurity.
Inspired by the Victory Gardens of the First and Second World Wars, they’re purposeful, not pretty: boosting virus-weary spirits, building community, and above all, putting healthy food on Lower Merion tables.
The gardens sprout from the fertile brain of one Carolyn C. Cavaness after consulting with her can-do congregation. Reverend CC, as she’s called, is the first woman pastor at Bethel AME Church, tucked away on Sheldon Lane in South Ardmore for 125 years. The church’s bucolic tagline has become particularly fitting: “The Place Where Heaven and Earth Meet.”
Three years ago, Bethel AME turned the large empty lot adjacent to the church into a vegetable garden. The project would help feed its flock and nourish relationships.
“I’m from the school of thought that if you got a piece of land, you gotta grow something on it.” Reverend CC tells SAVVY.
But when Covid hit last spring, she dreamed even bigger.
She partnered with two nonprofits – Trellis for Tomorrow and Pa. Horticultural Society – and Montco’s Department of Health and Human Services, and began installing organic, raised-bed gardens in yards around town – 37 in three months.
Among Ardmore’s new Victory Gardens:
- A halfway house’s once barren garden now lush with life, giving fresh air, meaningful work and fresh food to the women who live there.
- Penn Valley Elementary School teacher Elaine Johnson’s backyard, planted to expand her family’s palates and try a new hobby.
- Tanya Gardner’s yard (below), where she tends the earth not for herself but to feed others.
The Pa. Horticultural Society provided seedlings and starters and Chesco-based Trellis for Tomorrow provided expertise. All Trellis requires is that its community partners donate half their harvest to local food banks.
No problem, said the good Reverend.
Bethel AME’s victory veggies have gone to the food pantry at nearby St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, to Eldernet in Bryn Mawr, to the Narberth Food Bank, to Ardmore’s new Neighbors Helping Neighbors group, and to hungry folks in Southwest and West Philly.
While pantries have their place, Reverend Cavaness fears their bags aren’t especially nutritious. She worries they might cause health problems for her congregants down the line. Recent studies show Blacks are twice as likely as whites to die prematurely from treatable conditions like diabetes and heart disease and three times as likely to get Covid-19.
“Food justice is racial justice,” the Reverend says. “To be able to take charge of your food source and not be reliant upon a benefit program is critical. It’s empowering and the greatest gift you can give someone and it’s being passed to the next generation.”
Indeed, for young and old, gardening is a socially-distanced, safe, outdoor stress reliever that teaches healthy eating and gardening skills that last a lifetime.
Princess Rahman planting fall crops.
The Victory Gardens are helping to bridge South Ardmore’s racial and income divides, too, Cavaness says.
White folks fleeing tight spaces in Philly have been moving in, plumping up property values but pricing out folks who’d hoped to grow old in the place many families have called home for 100 years.
For “a community that’s rapidly changed overnight … there’s a sense of loss here,” she says.
But the verdant spaces bring hope, inspire civic pride and draw unlikely folks together: Master Gardeners awed by the church’s bountiful tomatoes, Haverford and Villanova students intrigued by the gardens’ sustainable planting and irrigation techniques, and neighbors seeking home gardening advice – newly minted suburbanites and long-timers alike.
Covid will go one day but the Victory Gardens of South Ardmore are here to stay, Cavaness says. “They’re a game changer. In the midst of death and all that we’ve lost the last six months, they’re visual reminders of growth and life. We need that.”
Bethel AME Victory Gardens of Ardmore gratefully accepts donations of money, time, planting materials and gardening tools.
Aren’t we above this?
Another election cycle, another rash of political lawn sign thefts.
Tredyffrin Township Democrats tell us Biden signs are disappearing left and right, at least once by a pickup truck wiping out whole streets.
Tredyffrin Republicans report multiple sign losses, too, telling us the reason we see so few Trump signs around town is because so many are being stolen.
So, we checked with the police – in Tredyffrin and beyond.
Tredyffrin Police Chief Mike Beaty counts 12 reported sign thefts from 8/1 to 9/14, but according to one party leader who’s keeping tabs, actual thefts are up to 40 or 50. “The most recent wave has been Biden signs,” Chief Beaty said. “But we did have Trump signs taken previously in a different community.” Since August, signs reported stolen were posted on Anthony Wayne (the same home twice), Walker, Kynlyn, Woodcrest, Upper Gulph, Valley Forge Rd., Fox Hill Lane and N. Wayne Ave.
Radnor Police have been reporting numerous thefts of political signs (including Wyldhaven, Jefferson and Sproul Rds.) but decline to describe the signs.
Lower Merion Police Superintendent Mike McGrath reports thefts from Bryn Mawr Presbyterian – Black Lives Matter (BLM) sign; Sutton Rd. in Ardmore – We Support Lower Merion Police sign; Booth Lane, Haverford – BLM sign; Grays Lane, Haverford – Biden signs; N. Ithan Ave. – Trump sign, St. Mary’s Church Ardmore – BLM signs (but in July).
Leaders of both parties condemn the thefts. Every upset homeowner we interviewed – among them Pearl Nudy, Amy Terlecki and Karen Vader – has either replaced their signs or have new ones on order.
Note to would-be thieves and their parents: This is no innocent prank. Homes have surveillance cameras and folks are recording license plates. Police tell us they won’t hesitate to prosecute. As Radnor police put it: “Stealing property from a home is a crime even if the item taken expresses a personal political affiliation.” Yup.
SPONSORED
Bring Tasty Table home this fall
Proprietor George McLoughlin outside his new market in Berwyn.
Life as George McLoughlin knew it ended in March.
Corporate America and Main Street went dark, and along with them, Tasty Table Catering. No need to feed 1,400 each month at Vanguard or 1,000 at the Linc. No more meal deliveries to area offices. No weddings. No funerals. Nada.
Lucky for him, he’s owned his building on Leopard Road since 2016. But how to get dollars in the door and keep at least some of his staff of 14 employed?
“Why don’t you open a retail shop so we can enjoy your food throughout the week?” clients had long wondered.
Truth be told, McLoughlin had been eyeing DiBruno Bros. and Carlino’s for years. Hmmm. We have a loyal client base and a great chef [Jose Gaytan for 17 years]. Maybe we can do this, too, he thought. Some day.
With time on his hands (thank you, pandemic), some day became today. He installed new awnings, fresh paint and giant eye-catching food images in the windows to beckon passersby. “We’re off the beaten track so we knew it had to have curb appeal,” McLoughlin says.
He found a designer – Brandywine Antiques’ owner Lisa Vonderstuck – and despite Covid-caused contractor delays, turned his front rooms into a pickup food and meal market and cozy eating space.
In late July, Tasty Table Catering officially became Tasty Table Market & Catering.
Tasty Table’s grab-and-go freezer and pantry are stocked with house-made foods and specialty items for quick meals and home parties, including homemade tortilla and potato chips.
To get folks talking, TT ran grand-opening specials for 45 days: buy-one-get-one entrées on Tuesdays and $5 (about half price) sandwiches every day. We’re not talking basic BLTs either, but trendy Chicken Pickle Brioche Sandwiches and Boar’s Head Roast Beef Specials on LeBus rolls.
Also on the menu: Made-to-order entrée salads ($14 – $18) like Jamaican Jerk Chicken with mango and mixed greens, and hot entrée meals ($12 – $14) like the ever-popular Chicken Parm and Maryland crab cakes. Plus, vegan, keto and gluten-free options.
As a rule, Tasty Table doesn’t like to stray too far afield.
“There’s a lot of value in doing something well and sticking with it,” says McLoughlin. “When I go to a restaurant I know what I’m going to order when I walk in the door.” Like, say, the chicken at Estia in Radnor. He orders it – and ends up having to share it with dining companions – every time.
Prices are relatively low – in line with what Tasty Table charged businesses. “You can’t sell a $16 burger to Vanguard,” McLoughlin says. “But we have the same high-quality meats and rolls … We’re giving the Main Line an alternative to costly meal packages and takeout.“
The gourmet market and prepared food cases are a work in progress, he says. “We’re constantly tweaking it and rearranging things.”
in addition to made-to-order sandwiches and fresh salads, Tasty Table offers its signature tried-and-true dishes.
As its takeaway market takes off, Tasty Table’s catering business is coming back, fueled by backyard weddings and micro-gatherings. McLoughlin is up to nine staffers and, fingers crossed, will be back at pre-pandemic strength by November.
The hope is that his two businesses feed off each other – that his catering clients come in for takeout and his market customers remember him for graduation, birthday and holiday parties. “Small events can be done in these socially distant times,” McLoughlin says. “You just have to follow the guidelines.”
Tasty Table Market & Catering, 10 Leopard Rd. Berwyn, (610) 251-0265, offers in-store, curbside pickup and delivery and catering. Market is open Mon. – Fri. 10 to 7, Sat. 9 to 4. Closed Sundays.
Another month, another round of small-business closures. Sorry to see you go…
- BellaDONNA Gifts, formerly Beethoven’s Wraps, is wrapping up its time in downtown Wayne and moving entirely to the Wayne Farmer’s Market up the street. Owner Donna Martelli says she still has the machinery to personalize items and create gift baskets. A huge moving sale is in progress.
- Millennium Hair & Day Spa in Wynnewood closed abruptly last weekend.
- Folks will no longer be falling into The Gap, which is leaving in downtown Wayne and thousands of other spots.
- Kelly’s Pub, a Nova Nation institution, is staying closed until further notice (but plans to reopen).
- The Living Room, the cozy, micro-concert venue near Ardmore Music Hall, isn’t reopening. “It breaks my heart,” says owner/singer Laura Mann, who’s scouting space more conducive to social distancing and has been staging sold-out outdoor concerts.
- Neither Harvest Seasonal Grill nor Philadelphia Sports Club will reopen in Radnor, leaving sizable holes of 8,000 sq. ft and 42,000 sq. ft. near Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse.
- The longest running tenant at Wynnewood Shopping Center, John Troncelliti’s Barber Shop, goes dark Sept. 26. The on-call barber for Pope Francis during his Philly visit, Troncelliti, 68, has cut the hair of Walter Annenberg, Richie Ashburn, Walt Hunter and countless dad and sons over the years. He told his Facebook followers he’s taking his scissors on the road to client’s homes and hopes to travel more.
- Lord & Taylor is closing all stores and selling off merchandise in King of Prussia and Bala Cynwyd. All sales are final.
- We’ve been meaning to tell you for weeks that Le Pain Quotidien in Wayne never reopened. The chain has filed for bankruptcy.
EA alum brings plant-based, gluten-free noshing to Ardmore
Newtown Square resident FJ Leto, in his new café. The founder of the Juice Dr., he learned mindful eating and juicing when he lived in a high llama’s house at a Buddhist center in Berkeley, Calif.
He started with fresh juices delivered to your door.
Now FJ Leto hopes you’ll stop by his door: the new Blue Pearl Café on Rittenhouse Place. You’ll find Leto’s own Juice Dr. cold-pressed juices and wellness shots along with organic bowls, noodles, salads and smoothies, plus specialty coffees and teas.
We flipped for BP’s ultra-fresh Alchemy green juice ($8), the Kale Waldorf salad ($12) and the Pad Thai made, believe it or not, with zero-calorie kelp noodles ($14).
An Episcopal Academy ’04 alum, Leto says he did his homework for five years prior to launch, creating a café that blends earthy basics with high tech.
He discovered medicinal mushrooms: Lion’s Mane for cognitive performance, reishi for immunity, and turkey tail to fight cancer.
He grew a tabletop wheatgrass garden for wheatgrass wellness shots.
He sourced a reverse osmosis filter that would purify his water-based beverages at the molecular level.
He installed a state-of-the-art temperature-controlled salad crisper.
And he found coffee partners, Rival Bros. and Valley Forge Coffee Reserve, that are as nerdy about coffee and cold brew as he is about juice. (Beer geeks at nearby Tired Hands already use his juices for brews and kombucha.)
The model here is grab-and-go or quick-serve at a plexiglass-shielded counter. There are a smattering of seats inside and out.
The café may be named for a rare gem, but Leto wants Blue Pearls to dot the ‘burbs some day. It’s a “bricks to clicks” marketing strategy for his Juice Dr. business: customers try his potables in person and meet their maker, then go home juiced to subscribe online.
Blue Pearl Café, 44 Rittenhouse Place, Ardmore, 484-414-4122, is open daily 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Order online and in person.
The local real estate market is hot hot hot…
…because inventory and mortgage rates are low low low.
The boom is fueled by city slickers seeking greener pastures and suburbanites looking for more space to work from home, workout and play outside. Especially scorching: homes in $400K to $500K range.
To win bidding wars, some buyers are waiving finance and contingencies but buyers, beware – such waivers can be risky, warns Berkshire Hathaway Devon realtor Beth Mulholland.
Realtor Sue McNamara has advice for sellers. She says homes that folks fight over tend to be move-in ready. “Any money you spend to improve your home’s appeal is money well spent,” McNamara says.
Smaller homes may be sailing off shelves, but the big boys, not so much.
That’s why, after more than two years on the market, Andrea Kantor is auctioning off her Villanova jaw-dropper (above), an 18,600 sq. ft. Georgian mansion once occupied by the Ludens cough drop family.
The home has eight bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, six fountains and a greenhouse and sits on five acres on Spring Mill Ave. Primo stuff.
So if you really want to spread out and have a chunk of change to spare, the bidding opens at 4 p.m. Oct. 6.
Who’s the richest of them all?
Forbes’ mirror named five locals to its Forbes 400 list of Richest People in America in 2020:
- #72 Newtown Square candy heiress Victoria Mars, 63, net worth of $7.2 billion.
- #213 Campbell’s Soup heiress Mary Alice Dorrance Malone of Coatesville, 70, net worth $3.7 billion.
- #228 Bryn Mawr’s Michael Rubin, majority owner/CEO of Kynetic, net worth of $3.5 billion, good for a 60-spot jump in the rankings over last year.
- #238 John Middleton, 65, also of Bryn Mawr, former tobacco baron and Phillies’ half owner, net worth $3.4 billion.
- #319 Jeffrey Lurie, 69, of Wynnewood, Eagles owner and former professor, net worth $2.9 billion.
Case counts and positive test rates ticking up
Montgomery County’s 14-day count is trending upward. (See above.) As of Monday, Montco has had 11.445 cases, with its second highest counts and deaths to date recorded in Lower Merion. Norristown was first in cases, Springfield was first in deaths. Average age of those affected in Montco: 49.
And Chester County’s positivity rate nearly doubled in the last few weeks. It was 3.5% in the seven-day period Aug. 28 to Sept. 3 and jumped to 6.5% from Sept. 4 to 10. The state categorizes positivity rates over 5% as “concerning.” (The positivity rate in Delco was 4.4% last week and Montco’s positivity rate rose from 3.1% to 3.3%.)
Devereux plans safety audit after bombshell abuse story
After the Inquirer’s big story about the sexual abuse of children in its care, Devereux has brought in a big gun.
The Villanova-based nonprofit has hired former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to lead an independent child safety audit of its facilities. Lynch, 61, was the country’s first Black AG and now works for op NYC law firm Paul Weiss, advising clients on government and internal investigations.
Last month, the Inquirer reported 41 instances of child rape or sexual assault in Devereux facilities in eight states in the last 25 years. Devereux has called the abuse an “industry-wide program” and says it began beefing up staff monitoring, employee screenings and paychecks in 2018.
Closer to home, Devereux has an indefinite extension on its application for an Easttown zoning variance that would allow it to house migrant children in Devon (above).
Stephanie McAlaine, who lives across from Devereux’ Devon facility, Stone & Gables, and leads neighbors opposed to the shelter plan, tells SAVVY that the Inky’s abuse story reinforces her point. Devereux should not be in the business of caring for immigrant children, she says.
Keeping Covid off campus
The Commons at Villanova U.
Nova students living off campus have been getting knocks on their doors on Friday and Saturday nights – and not just from Grubhub.
With Covid counts rising on campuses across the country, Nova officials and police were going door to door reading the Riot Act of 2020, i.e. don’t party in groups.
The school also uses contact tracing and maintains an online covid dashboard, which tracks cases and quarantine bed usage. And last week, the University began random “surveillance testing” to identify asymptomatic cases and monitor community spread. This Thursday, Nova will Zoom with neighbors. Click here to register and submit questions. Seems to us that if things go south on Nova’s campus, it will not have been for lack of trying.
Haverford College moved to Level 2 of its mitigation plan after “large student gatherings and parties” last weekend, the college’s newspaper reports.
An e-mail from a college dean with the subject line “LAST NIGHT!” hit students’ inboxes Sept. 12 and referred to students not social distancing or wearing masks, according to the paper. Multiple students were also treated for alcohol poisoning, the paper said.
In Level 2, Haverford’s library is closed and in-person student dining is suspended. All indoor gatherings – except for in-person classes – are banned and outdoor groups can be no larger than 10.
This and That
RIP Radnor Raider but perhaps don’t get too comfy. A week after the Radnor School Board voted 8 to 1 to retire the mascot, senior Hunny Witthoeft started a petition to bring the Raider back that, at press time, had more than 1,400 signatures. Witthoeft argues that the Raider is a point of school pride, particularly during an isolating pandemic, and can be successfully disassociated from Native American imagery, citing Ocean City High School’s red bird Raider and the Oakland Raiders as examples.
Sure, some parents are going AWOL – arranging learning pods, hiring their own full-time teachers, and enrolling kids in vacation-town schools – or frankly, any school with in-person learning. (Witness the wait lists at less pricey Main Line parochial schools.) But the vast majority of families are staying put and trying to make the best of it.
A new flashpoint: On-site childcare at public schools. Some parents are upset that school buildings deemed unsafe for in-person learning are considered safe enough to rent to childcare providers. But the providers have strictly limited numbers. And guess who’s using them? Often, school administrators and teachers, many of whom need someone to monitor their own children’s virtual learning while they work in the building. For the record, Lower Merion’s childcare provider, Right at School, operates out of the district’s administration building and can accept only 60 students.
Lower Merion is still tinkering with plans to resume in-person school. The district is revisiting an option to have half the students attend school in the morning and the other half in the afternoon, according to Superintendent Copeland’s latest letter. The idea would be for everyone to spend at least part of every day at school but eat lunch at home.
One way to make the most of spare rooms: open an E-Learning Center – precisely what resourceful gym owner Chris Somers did at Purenergy Studio in Paoli. Purenergy’s program includes a full-day of virtual learning supervision with a midday, get-the-willies-out workout. Registration is limited to eight.
Charlestown Playhouse in Chester County seems to have this Covid thing figured out. It’s gone 100 percent outside, using newly built outdoor shelters. Like they say, there’s no such thing as bad weather; just bad clothes.
Remember those Covid antibody tests that Chester County breathlessly announced it had purchased last spring, hoping to test all Delco and Chesco residents so everyone could get back to work? Well, never mind. According to the Inquirer, Chesco spent $13 million in federal pandemic relief money on the new, non-refundable antibody tests, then, oops, quietly shelved the program after a wave of false positives.
The Inky weaves a tangled tale – involving tests bought from a 26-year-old’s company, his politically connected father, and a former Chesco public health physician allegedly muzzled. Chesco officials said they’d answer what they claim are inaccuracies in the Inky’s report, but at press time, nothing had been published.
A viral twist on this year’s American Red Cross blood drive at The Saturday Club in Wayne: Donors also get bonus Covid-19 antibody tests. Sign up online now for the daylong drive on Oct. 13.
A win for folks fighting the Mariner East 2 natural gas pipeline. The PA DEP ordered Sunoco to reroute part of the pipeline away from Upper Uchlan in Chester County. You may recall the huge spill into Marsh Creek last month. Sunoco can appeal the ruling, but either way, it looks like pipeline construction will, at the very least, be delayed.
Make ’em an offer. It’s still open but Valley Forge’s beloved greasy spoon, The G Lodge is for sale. The pandemic pushed owner Dennis Dreilbelbis, 71, to speed up his retirement plans.
Big deal at Walter J. Cook Jeweler in Paoli. In lieu of his cancelled spring sale, owner Michael Cook is taking 20 percent off purchases over $250 through year’s end. Rather sporting of him, don’t ya think? Tell them you saw the deal in SAVVY and start your holiday shopping early. Or wander on in, then slip your wish list to your honey.
Happy Retirement to florist Bernadette Dougherty, who’s hanging up her clippers after 48 years. Proprietor of Edgemont Flowers in Media, her work has been featured at The Flower Show and at countless weddings, proms, births and funerals over the years.
Still stumped by the 2020 Menace of the Year (after Covid, of course) – the fiendish Spotted Lantern Fly? You’re not alone. That’s why the good folks at Lower Merion Conservancy have compiled a simple but comprehensive guide for homeowners.
Latest late-model vehicles to grace Suburban Square’s parking lot: Soul Cycle spin bikes. Bet the Square never envisioned fitness classes – like the Tiktok dance ride that Lauren Stevis is leading below – would commandeer the garage’s third floor.
And finally, a suggested fall activity: Stargazing at the shore. You might just bump into Bradley Cooper. Although, by now, he may be tired of us. Coop was spotted in OC, NJ a few times this summer and dined at Catch in Longport and Steve & Cookie’s in Margate over Labor Day weekend. (Although we were minutes away, our intel comes from Philly’s paparazzo-in-chief Hugh E. Dillon.) Coop has been hanging at a rented home in Fairfield, Conn. since spring, but likes to bring his daughter downashore to visit her grandmom in Brigantine and walk the boards. Aw.
I will pray for Paulette!
It’s a shame about what has happened to Paulette and other small business owners in ou hoer area. While I do not know the specifics of her rent problem, I would bet it has to do with the fact that her business, and many others, were needlessly shut down by Gov. Wolf’s arbitrary shut-down policies, some of which have been held to be unconstitutional. According to the Media, 60% of small businesses closed due the pandemic will not be re-opening. These are largely unnecessary losses. I truly hope Punn;s Toys is able to re-open.
Thanks for your comment, Andrew. I share your sorry about Paulette’s situation and yes, we are reporting far too many closures these days with many, many more to come. We will provide an update on Pun’s in our next issue.
I’m sure Paulette appreciates any and all prayers and intercessions on her behalf. Thank you for caring, Marita.
As a travel agency owner since 1976 ( 44 yrs ) most of my nationwide colleagues have had no income for the entire year/hopefully this will all end soon.. however we are NEVER mentioned as an industry that is suffering…strange it is!
it is always, restaurants, airlines , and today fashion designers…..hopefully we will get back to the way things were, but it will not be early 2021..that is for sure!!Just to let you know we are suffering too !
You are 100 percent correct, Jan. Your industry has been neglected – but we can remedy that at least here at SAVVY. We’ll be in touch.