Radnor School Board debates a motion to restore books during Tuesday night’s marathon meeting.
Gender Queer, Blankets and Fun Home – three graphic novels removed from the Radnor High School library after a parent challenged them as pornographic – are back on the shelves.
After 23 residents pleaded for immediate action at Tuesday night’s board meeting and deliberations stretched past 11 p.m., the vote was taken.
Six school board directors voted to reinstate the books and three – Liz Duffy, Clare Girton and Lon Rosenblum – abstained. Not because they didn’t want the books restored but because they wanted to wait until after the board revises its book-challenge policy.
The three books’ surprise removal in late February by an ad hoc committee that, per policy, had worked in secret, ignited a firestorm, rivaled only, perhaps, by the tumult over Radnor High School’s mascot change in 2021.
The school board got an earful over the last six weeks – from students, parents, alumni and teachers. Many considered the books’ removal “book banning,” some called it censorship, many said it alienated already vulnerable LGBTQ students and violated Radnor’s stated mission of “belonging.” Others said it set a dangerous precedent and almost everyone agreed the district’s book-challenge policy – which hadn’t been revisited since 2008 – was deeply flawed and in dire need of an overhaul. Of those who supported the books’ removal, only the parent complainant weighed in publicly – at a curriculum committee meeting last week.
For the first time, the tables were turned Tuesday night. Time for the school board to weigh in.
In an extraordinary moment during a meeting full of them, the school board director who sat on that ad hoc committee and voted to remove the books revealed himself and begged students and parents to forgive him.
“I regret and am sorry for the unintentional harm that I may have caused any child in this community,” said school board director Dr. Andrew Babson (above), an education professor at Penn. “The last thing I wanted to do is make a child in this community feel unwelcome and that they don’t belong.”
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Seeing his “mistake as an opportunity to learn,” Babson said he reached out to a trans friend. That friend helped him see his “blind spot as a white, cisgender male” and taught him that books like Blankets help people “not feel ashamed.” She helped him understand that school libraries are vital, safe spaces for struggling teens.
Board President Sarah Dunn (below) also offered an apology.
“If having this policy in place has created a situation that has harmed anyone in this community, I’m sorry,” Dunn said. “I’m sorry I sat on a board that knew this policy was in place and trusted that it would work.”
Dunn said she had viewed each and every public comment and thanked students, in particular, for coming forward.
“We live in a time where, even for adults, it can be really difficult to speak truth to people in authority, to ask for what you want, and to admit that you’re different … Some of your comments have made me cry.”
Directors had been asked to read the three books before the meeting. Every one of them said they found value in them, especially for students grappling with gender, sexuality, alienation and abuse.
The three titles are displayed on Main Point Books banned bookshelf. The Wayne bookseller had to re-order them due to public demand.
Director Jannie Lau called them “extraordinary works of art… I don’t see how anyone could come to the conclusion that they lacked artistic merit.”
Director Lydia Solomon called them “memoirs by courageous people willing to tell their coming-of-age stories … To me the complex topics in these books outweigh any distastefulness of the images.” Solomon also noted that students gravitate to controversial books. Seemingly addressing the absent parent challenger, she said: “If your goal was to keep this away from people, you failed. You made these books #1 on the Radnor reading list.”
Director Susan Stern said she trusted the librarians’ judgement about the age-appropriateness of books. “I’m not going to be the person who thinks I know better than our professionals,” she declared. “Books that make you uncomfortable grow your empathy.” Holding up her cell phone, she added, “Books are not the problem with our children; their 24-hour access to the internet is.”
A school board director for 12 years, Stern was ready to take action: “We need to put a rest to this. One thing I’ve learned from going through [controversies over] full-day kindergarten, masking and the change of our mascot, is sometimes you need to take a vote and move on.”
Board VP Liz Duffy rued the mechanism that led to the books’ removal. “We had a flawed policy and we had a flawed process because of it,” adding, “Why does one person have the right to set this in motion?” The crowd erupted in applause.
Earlier in the meeting, some residents bluntly questioned the methods and intent of the parent who filed the complaint.
Parent Meg Staffeldt talked about “the lengths the complainant had to stretch the truth to make the images more objectionable than they really are in context.” The book challengers “do this as a hobby,” she said. “They keep poster-size images and list of grievances in their basement and they go from board meeting to board meeting and police station to police station.”
Wayne’s Emily Nelson said the challengers “purport to want to protect children from graphic imagery yet they exploit every opportunity to publish those images – in exaggerated, out-of-context, enormous form – to as wide an audience as possible.”
Staffeldt and Nelson were referring, in part, to the tag-team comment at last week’s curriculum meeting during which parent challenger Michael Lake (below) called the three books’ images “gratuitous” and “shocking” while a well-known Great Valley High School book challenger, Fenicia Redman, held up blown-up images from the books behind him.
“There’s a broader effort by people outside of our own district to subvert Radnor’s values of inclusion and diversity using religion and false information to strong-arm school districts in an attempt to alienate and harm marginalized students,” said Villanova resident Leah Press.
Lake’s daughter checked out one of the books from Radnor’s library so her father could review it, prompting this comment from former Radnor Commissioner AnnaMarie Jones: “If a person fundamentally believes a book is so damaging and so bad, then why is that person asking their child to check out that book and bring it home?”
For some speakers Tuesday night, the removal of LGBTQ books hit especially close to home.
Radnor grad Phil Buckley said he was “one of only a handful of out and proud students” when he was in high school.
“These books are not porn; they’re powerful coming of age stories,” Buckley said. Gay and trans people “are dealing with enough right now. Let these kids have these books.”
“Nazis ban books,” said “out and proud” Radnor alum Phil Buckley. “Hate and bigotry have no home here and Nazis certainly don’t either.”
Third-generation Radnor alum Katherine Barrett-Risk cried, then collected herself: “It took me four years to convince my wife to move to Radnor… I became myself and was welcomed in the community … so you can understand my embarrassment just a few months in, to be standing in front of the school board talking about banned books.”
Radnor alumna Katherine Barrett-Risk read from Blankets at the school board meeting.
Pediatric neurologist Craig Press (below) argued that book banning is a safety issue.
“Books can’t really harm anyone; no one ever caught gay from a book,” Press said. “What can hurt people is people…I take care of kids all the time who have shot themselves, shot other people because they don’t feel like they’re included in a community and they’re afraid. That’s what’s dangerous. Lack of exposure to ideas is the problem. Books make kids feel included.”
Several speakers alluded to broader issues they felt were at stake.
Parent Erin Starzyik called the book challenge “censorship disguised as concern. And history has shown us how dangerous that is.”
Barrett-Risk talked about Radnor “not wanting to be on the wrong side of history. If we don’t reinstate these books, we become a town that we have never been and we do not want to be.”
The board brought back the books but is still drafting a proposed revision to Policy 144.1 which could be up for a vote as early as June, said Board President Dunn. The new policy may change how challenges are handled and by whom. Or it may eliminate parent challenges altogether, which some districts have done.
Amid the tumult, board members uniformly applauded the public for voicing their concerns. Director Lau said she felt encouraged by the “thoughtful, informed, sincere and respectful” discourse over the last few months.
“Democracy is alive and well in Radnor Township,” Lau said, shortly before casting her vote to return the books.
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Farmer’s market GF fave Settantatré Pasta & Provisions opens ambitious foodie hub in Berwyn
Chef/owner Matt Gentile and his wife, Genna Curcio, in their new kitchen where Gentile will teach pasta-making and host Chef’s Table dinners. With help from landlord Eadeh, the two gutted the old Candelario’s Pizza in the strip center that houses the Surrey Consignment Shop. Renovations took nearly a year.
It’s only a single storefront but, yowza, there’s A LOT happening under the hood at Settantatré Pasta & Provisions.
First and foremost, Settantatré is a curated gourmet market. The grab-and-go cases are stocked with house-made gluten-free and regular pastas, sauces, home-baked focaccia, local cheeses, flash-frozen Small World seafood, Stonyrun Farms wagyu beef, and heat-and-eat meals.
Second, it’s a takeaway café (below) that serves Rival Bros. coffee drinks and artisan pastries baked at Narberth wholesaler Au Fournil.
Third, it’s a takeaway caterer. Call 48 hours in advance to order trays of chef-made Italian meals.
On Thursdays, it’s an Italian BYOB, offering $55 prix fix Italian-themed dinners and $60 gluten-free meals. On alternate Wednesdays, it’s “Osteria Night” with an la carte menu of family-friendly fare.
And few times a month, it’s a $95/pp cooking school, specializing in pasta and Italian sauces.
And finally, it’s a private dining club. For $73/month, “73 Club” members get $60 back in monthly gift cards, first dibs on cooking classes and special dinners, discounts on restaurant buyouts, and other goodies.
Settantatré’s 36-seat dining room is between the front market café and expansive rear kitchen.
Settantatré (set TAHN tah tray) – 73 in English – is a longtime lucky number for chef/owner Matt Gentile, 42, and his wife, Genna Curcio, who, of course, were married on 7/3.
Gentile comes to Berwyn with serious Center City cred. He’s held chef or sous chef positions at notable Philly spots like Panorama, La Croix at the Rittenhouse, Parc and Ela.
When Genna was diagnosed with celiac disease ten years ago, Gentile set out to perfect what’s become his calling card: gluten-free pasta that tastes like the real deal.
“There were a lot of really bad gluten-free pastas out there,” he says. “So I started playing around with different flours until I found a blend that works.”
He started selling his GF pastas out of the couple’s Ridley home, eventually finding a loyal following at Berwyn Farmer’s Market and beyond.
Today, Gentile prepares his gluten-free foods in a separate, celiac-safe commissary kitchen two blocks away, behind Sage Catering.
Decent gluten-free pastas have emerged in the last few years “but ours is more boutique,” he says. Top sellers are the GF torteloni, spinach linguini and short-rib beef ravioli.
Gentil tells us his prix fixe dinners will feature straightforward dishes prepared with premium ingredients sourced locally whenever possible.
Chef’s Table menus will be the chef’s choice, of course, “but won’t be wildly expensive or fancy,” he promises.
Settantatré Pasta & Provisions, 802 Lancaster Ave., Berwyn (near Surrey Consignment Shop), is open daily from 9 a.m. (but hours may change). Grand Opening Celebration Sunday, April 27 with food giveaways, raffles, treats starting at 11. Call 610-314-0876 or email [email protected] for dinner reservations and pasta-making classes. Event calendar here.
Students force meeting with Villanova officials over handling of campus predators
Some of the 80 student picketers near Villanova’s main green April 12. The group chose to protest on Accepted Students Day to “send a message to parents about the institution you’re thinking of sending your kids to,” says a protest leader, senior AK Asalu.
The leaders of Occupy Villanova, a new student Instagram account that claims their alma mater “protects rapists,” will present a list of demands to Villanova officials this week.
Senior AK Asalu and sophomore Sophia Lemmons tell SAVVY their group will meet with Nova’s Title IX Director and The VP of Student Life Friday, April 26.
“The rape culture is prevalent at colleges and universities throughout the country but that’s not an excuse for not supporting victims,” says Lemmons who was alarmed to learn she had been living on the same floor as rape participant Juan Eguigueron, whose dorm was connected to hers.
When he was a sophomore, Eguigueron was one of three students involved in the rape of a drunk, unconscious student in Sheehan Hall. He filmed the rape on his phone and helped dump her body in a dorm bathroom. The other two students left campus for good but Eguigueron was permitted to stay.
When the petition (below) demanding the university bar Eguigueron from his May 16 graduation garnered 24,000 signatures a few weeks ago, he quietly left campus and released a statement through his attorney saying he would not walk at graduation so as not to be a “distraction.”
But that’s not good enough, say Occupy Villanova’s Asalu and Lemmons.
“We would really like to see Villanova release a statement officially barring Eguigueron from walking around campus,” says Asalu. “There was such an institutional failure here.”
“I feel really disgusted by the university’s inaction and complacency in allowing him to remain on campus,” adds Lemmons.
Among their other chief demands: an overhaul of Nova’s Title IX “complacent policies and practices” for handling sexual assaults. The University pushes for informal resolutions of student rapes which victims may sign without counsel present, the students allege.
When students formed the Occupy Villanova Instagram handle they received a string of DMs from alumni and current students. Some were survivors who shared their own experiences with Title IX and its informal resolution process. One survivor returned to campus to speak at the April 12 protest. The messages revealed “a clear pattern,” Asalu alleges. “Instead of appropriately supporting survivors, it seems Villanova’s priority was to get the matter over with as soon as possible.”
“Our campus is very apathetic about most social issues,” says Lemmons, who’s majoring in environmental science and peace-and-justice studies. “That has to change. It’s more important than ever for Villanova students to be politically engaged.”
This is a developing story and will be updated when Villanova responds to our request for comment.
Wonder, the wannabe Amazon of food, arrives in Ardmore and KOP with more sites on the way
The former Merion Art & Repro in downtown Ardmore is now home to Wonder Food Hall.
Wonders never cease.
Literally.
Not one, not two, not three, but four Wonder food halls are either open or soon to open along the Main Line or thereabouts.
Locations in downtown Ardmore and King of Prussia just got up and running, while Wonders at Newtown Square’s Ellis Preserve and West Chester borough are en route.
Founded by e-commerce billionaire Marc Lore who set out to solve the “what’s for dinner” problem for busy folks, Wonder both diversifies and streamlines meal takeout and delivery.
Wonder calls itself a food hall because each site offers menus from 15 or so “restaurants.” Instead of browsing through food stalls as you would at a farmer’s market, you let your fingers do the walking on the Wonder app or an in-store kiosk.
The ordering kiosks at Wonder Ardmore. Customers can take home brochures from 15 “restaurants.”
Order from one label or a bunch and Wonder aims to have your food ready for pickup in minutes or delivered – at no extra charge – in a half hour to 45 minutes. The Ardmore location mostly uses drivers from Relay, the food delivery service it acquired last year.
Have a hankering for, well, anything: a salad or a burger or wings or pizza or chicken or seafood or BBQ or Asian or Mexican or Greek? There’s a “restaurant” for all of them and more. There’s even one just for kiddos: “Bellies.”
Fancy Mediterranean? Scroll down to the $13.70 Chicken Souvlaki & Avocado sandwich at Yasas or $19 Lamb Schwarma from Maydan.
Have your heart set on a steak? Choose $36 filet and $9 sides from Bobby Flay Steak, one of a few name-brand restaurant partners.
An employee tells us the Ardmore food hall is off to a solid start with a surprising number of people opting to eat at onsite tables.
The Ardmore store only has a handful of tables but additional seats are coming, we’re told.
Wondering how Wonder works? Us too. How the heck can a 3,000 sq. ft. Ardmore storefront put out such varied meals in a matter of minutes?
Because food is prepared and par-cooked off-site – at a giant commissary in Cranford, NJ. Individual Wonders merely finish food in fryers, microwaves or sous vide baths.
Wonder Food Halls at 17 W. Lancaster Ave. in Ardmore and 600 DeKalb Pike across from King of Prussia Mall are open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily for pickup, delivery and dine-in. Order onsite or with the Wonder app.
Manorah: Authentic Thai in Bryn Mawr
The Bryn Mawr storefront that housed Silk Cuisine for decades – and Sunrise 2 for maybe a year – is now home to Manorah and some seriously tasty Thai.
Owner Virin Cha learned to cook at the feet of her grandmother in southern Thailand and brought her favorite recipes to the U.S. when she moved here for culinary school.
Owners Jae and Virin Cha and their four-month old, Brioni, at their first restaurant venture in the heart of Bryn Mawr.
The restaurant is named for the elaborate Siamese dance that originated in the region 2,000 year ago. It’s depicted in a painting on a dining room wall.
Manorah is a brightly lit BYOB with 80 seats but about half its customers choose takeout, the owners say.
Everything we tried was fresh and tasty – from the standout Chicken Satay ($9.50) and Sour Plum Soup ($8) to the Shrimp Pad See Ew ($21) and Chicken Cashew Stir-fry ($22).
Manorah’s Chicken Satay was generously sized and perfectly cooked.
On the menu: Appetizers, Soups, Salads ($8 – $15); Curries ($18 – $21), Entrée “Highlights” from $35 ; Fried Rice and Noodle dishes from $18; From The Wok ($16 – $21); “Healthy Thai Fusion” $18 – $35. For local college kids watching their pennies, there’s a separate menu, Bangkok Street Food ($16 – $22).
Manorah, 656 Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr, 610-771-8005, opens daily at 11 a.m.
In its 3rd season, Berwyn Farmer’s Market changes hours, expands lineup
Berwyn Farmer’s Market kicks off its third season May 4 with earlier hours and even more fun for families.
The market will now be open from 9 a.m. to noon every Sunday from May through December.
Thirteen new stalls will peddle everything from açai bowls and kombucha to Korean street food and small-batch spirts, reports market manager Erika Duncan.
Twelve popup vendors from last season – including such faves as Chuckie B’s Meatballs, Laine GF Bakery, Fork’d and Properly Pressed – have signed on as regulars. With two new cheese vendors now in regular rotation, market founder Culinary Harvest will focus on fruits this year.
The kids’ Fun Zone is also expanding this year, she says, and food trucks will continue to arrive weekly. Bad Mother Shuckers raw bar has been added to a lineup that includes Bop Truck, JT Wilder’s BBQ, Philly Hots, Donut NV, Angie’s Vietnamese.
Another new wrinkle: “Market Money” for kids. Families or businesses can sponsor a Sunday for $250 and each child who comes to the market gets a $5 wooden token for shopping.
The 2025 market will continue to serve as a community hub, hosting local charities, educational guests and live music.
“Our primary sponsor, Eadeh Enterprises, has a lot of fun stuff up their sleeves for the market this year, including more fun merch and swag,” Duncan promises.
No surprise there. Everybody knows those Eadeh folks love a good party.
Berwyn Farmer’s Market, 511 Old Lancaster Rd., opens the 2025 season Sunday, May 4, 9 a.m. to noon, with free face painting, live music from The Gentleman Farmers, the debut of Bad Mother Shuckers food truck, and a raffle basket giveaway.
This and That
A shocker from cash-strapped SEPTA. The transit agency’s proposed 2026 budget would close the entire R-5 train line and the 106 bus route that traverses Lancaster Ave., stranding countless commuters and impacting scores of Main Line businesses whose employees ride the rails and take buses to work. (No, this is not a belated April Fool’s joke.)
“If the Paoli-Thorndale line is stopped, we’re no longer on the Main Line,” warned Radnor Board of Commissioners President Maggy Myers. She spoke at Monday night’s jammed Radnor town hall where she and U.S. Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon, PA Senator Amanda Cappelletti and PA Rep. Lisa Borowski urged folks to lobby PA’s Senators Kim Ward and Joe Pittman to approve increased funding for SEPTA.
If SEPTA doesn’t get help from Harrisburg, it says it will be forced to cut 45% of its transit services, reduce staff and raise fares. The transit agency insists its 2026 budget isn’t a political threat but a real possibility amid an ongoing funding crisis.
The former Iron Hill Brewery in Ardmore has a taker. The owner of Osushi is putting a yakiniku – a Japanese tabletop barbecue restaurant – at the former brewpub on Greenfield Ave. Owner Sam Li also operates Osushis in Ardmore and Wayne and the more upscale Hiramasa in Newtown Square.
A storewide closing sale is underway at Philadelphia Print Shop in Wayne. The purveyor of maps, historic prints and rare books will go 100 percent virtual at summer’s end and is offering half off all non-consigned inventory. Philadelphia Print Shop originated in Chestnut Hill in 1982. Owner David Mackey bought the business and moved it to Wayne five years ago.
If you missed our social post, you might not know that Devon’s ornate Persian Taj Mahal, idle for the last 22 years, is returning to life. Per the Inquirer’s Mike Klein, restauranteur Rich Kim plans to put a second Salt Korean BBQ in the former La Jonquille and a high-end Japanese restaurant above it, at the old Shiraz.
While dust gathers at the ugly rubble at what was supposed to become Berwyn Square, there’s progress to report on its neighbor, the former shoe-and-boot repair shop. Two new businesses are en route to the property at 600 Lancaster Ave. Locals Janet and Garrett Fry plan to open an outpost of Parlor Doughnuts and a barber (still TBA) is leasing the former HQ of third-generation cobbler Joe Quici. The site is being redeveloped by Eadeh Enterprises. Final township approvals were expected this week.
We haven’t tried it yet but we’re hearing good things about the Main Line’s first Ethiopian restaurant. Owned by Ethiopian native, chef Chaltu Merga, Eshkol Ethiopian Cuisine and Café celebrates the country’s vibrant coffee, cuisine and culture. It’s in the former Siamese Princess space at 36 E. Lancaster Ave. in Ardmore.
Two new Tommys in King of Prussia. Fast-casual Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar is slinging cocktails and island-inspired bites in the KOP Mall Connector. And out on Mall Boulevard, Tommy’s Tavern & Tap will open its first PA location at the old Alexander’s in late summer. The pizzeria-and-bar chain calls itself “a Proud Partner of the New York Giants.” Wonder how well that’ll play here in Eagles country.
Old family stories are priceless, right? Now, thanks to a Conestoga alum, PopPop’s voice and stories can be professionally captured forever. An audio engineer who’s recorded award-winning songs and podcasts, Justin Berger, Stoga ’11, just launched Keepsake Tapes, a mobile service that records and edits high-quality, podcast-style interviews. His 98-year-old Zade (Yiddish for grandfather) was his first subject. The finished track is “wildly entertaining,” Justin’s sister, Allison Berger (Stoga ’06), tells SAVVY.
In case Netflix House, iFLY, Top Golf, Thrillz High Flying Adventure Park and Bury the Hatchet axe throwing aren’t enough to keep folks amused, yet another entertainment venue is coming to King of Prussia. Dave & Buster’s is coming to the former Saks Off 5th/Nordstrom Rack space near the Regal movie theater. The sports bar/arcade/restaurant hopes to open by year’s end.
Tredyffrin isn’t the only community poised to seize land for a park to save it from development. (See our story about the former swim-and-tennis club in Chesterbrook.) On an infinitely larger scale, Delaware County has revealed its plans for “Delco Woods” on former Don Guanella School land near Cardinal O’Hara in Broomall. The county used eminent domain to buy the 213-acre property from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for $21 million in 2021. Phase One includes a new, paved and looped woodland trail and restrooms and retention of the section used by BMX bikers. Long-range blueprints show sport courts, boardwalks over wetlands, mountain bike trails, a dog park, gathering pavilions, a central lawn and an educational building.
The Main Line man who became an amateur golf legend has died. Longtime Berwyn resident Jay Sigel, 81, passed from pancreatic cancer last Saturday. He was set to host the 33rd annual Jay Sigel Invitational Golf Tournament in September at his home course, Aronimink. Before turning pro, Sigel won the British Amateur in 1979 and U.S. Amateurs in 1982 and 1983 and competed in nine Walker Cups, the most in U.S. history. Born in Bryn Mawr, Sigel graduated from Lower Merion High School and Wake Forest University.
Artists’ easels will once again pepper the Main Line May 4 to May 10 for Wayne Art Center’s 17th annual Plein Air Festival. Thirty-two nationally ranked artists chosen from a field of 150 will try to complete as many paintings as possible and vie for awards. The competition ends with a ticketed reception for collectors and artists on Saturday, May 10. Lectures, demos and other special Plein Air events take place through June 21, when the show closes.
No more parking with your laptop at Delice + Chocolat. To free up precious seats, the bakery café is now restricting laptop use to one hour in Ardmore and prohibiting it altogether in Wayne, which only has a few tables.
Everything’s coming up roses after a devastating fire destroyed Narberth Community Theater’s stage, props and costumes at Overbrook Presbyterian Church last year. The curtain will soon rise on Gypsy, NCT’s second spring production in its temporary home in Mt. Airy. Fittingly, Gypsy celebrates perseverance and transformation. The show runs the first three weekends in May at the Circus Campus on Greene Street in Mt. Airy.
A new primary care practice founded by four women physicians offers a fresh take on concierge-style healthcare in Bryn Mawr. Instead of locking patients into yearly contracts, patients at Bryn Mawr Personalized Primary Care can pay by the month and cancel with 30-days notice. Patients sign on with one of four primary care docs: Main Line natives Meaghan Henrici and Allison Oler, along with Bree Zeyzus Johns and Leila Obeid. Concierge-style practices typically give patients more leisurely office visits with time to focus on wellness.
Bullish on Berwyn and its history? Treydffrin Township Historical Commission is hosting free guided walking tours of North Berwyn Village on Saturday, May 17. Stops include Berwyn Train Station, First Church of Christ Scientist and four Victorian residences from the 1970s. Tours run on the half hour from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and start at the Berwyn SEPTA station.
In the age of Uber, the last Main Line taxi service has run out of gas. The designated driver for countless college kids and airport travelers, Maxwell Taxi Cab Co., closed March 1. The Ardmore-based company was done in by ballooning insurance premiums, maintainance costs and the rise of lower-priced rideshares like Uber and Lyft, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
So how does Bear Hill Elementary grab ya? That will be the name of T/E School District’s first new school in 60 years. It references the Black Bear Tavern, a popular gathering spot in the 1700s in Historic Howelville, a section of Berwyn where the new school will sit. Bear Hill was chosen from 678 names suggested during four months of public input. Other names that made it to the finals were Blue Heron, Bluestone, Covered Bridge and New Diamond Rock. TESD is converting a former office building at 1200 Swedesford Rd. into Bear Hill. The interior has already been gutted and construction begins in earnest in August. Bear Hill expects to welcome its first students – to include TESD’s first full-day kindergartners – two years later.
Lower Merion Conservancy snagged a stunner for its annual gala: The Lutheran Deaconess estate in Gladwyne, now privately owned by Michael Karp. The place has a storied history. Built in 1928 and long known as Skylands, the estate’s third owner, Mary Ethel Pew, donated the property to the deaconesses caring for patients at Lankenau Hospital in 1953. The gala is set for June 12 and will honor longtime board chair Mark Taylor. Tickets start at $175.
Crazy for cars? Drive on over to CarVault Main Line this Sunday, April 27 for a Retro + Rad Car Party (and contest). The first public event hosted by the expansive collector car storage facility in Berwyn will celebrate the ‘80s and ‘90s. Gawk at an iconic “Back to the Future” DeLorean and other era classics. Free admission. Dress in your 80s/90s best and enjoy an ’80s soundtrack and pay-as-you-go food trucks and adult beverages.
Leash up your furry friend and head to B.A.R.K. in the Park on the grounds of Washington Memorial Chapel in Valley Forge Sunday, May 3. Hosted by Valley Forge Park Alliance, the 11:30 to 3 p.m. event with inductions of B.A.R.K. ranges, food and vendors is free with advance registration.
And finally, hats off to budding Baldwin School filmmakers Emi Maeda, Emily Sidlow and Hafsa Kachwala, whose six-minute film received an Honorable Mention in C-SPAN’s StudentCam contest, besting 1,700 entries from 42 states. Their film focused on the U.S. housing crisis. This year’s theme was “Your Message to the President: What issue is most important to you or your community?”
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MSNBC’s Ali Velshi to discuss America, the news media, free speech & ‘Small Acts of Courage’ with veteran news anchor Pat Ciarrocchi in Bryn Mawr. Tickets to this timely talk are going fast.
Longtime Paoli jeweler makes ‘difficult, bittersweet’ decision to close, liquidate inventory
Michael Cook at his jewelry emporium on Chestnut Rd. in Paoli. His father, Walter, started with a tiny shop below Parvin’s Pharmacy in Bryn Mawr in 1946 and moved to Paoli in 1954 as one of the original tenants of Paoli Shopping Center. Michael moved the business to its current home in Chestnut Village Shoppes in 1999.
Bestselling author Kate Quinn to meet fans at Jane Win in Wayne
After public outcry, the student who participated in a sexual assault in a Villanova dorm will skip graduation
Van Cleve owner sells iconic Paoli bridal business after 39 years. No, she hasn’t retired – far from it.
Tredyffrin greenlights seizure of derelict site in Chesterbrook, advancing plan for a new township park
Today is Transgender Day of Visibility. Amid rising panic, you’ll see little sign of it on the Main Line.
Lush, lively Maison Lotus exudes ‘White Lotus’ glamour in Wayne. A sexy, subterranean speakeasy is en route.
Zade (actually Zaide) is Yiddish for grandfather, Bubbe is grandmother
Corrected, thank you. Clearly need to work on my Yiddish!
To anyone reading this comment, PLEASE do yourself a huge favor and dine at Eshkol! I just went for the first time last night and it will not be the last. The food was to die for and the family who runs it was incredibly kind to us.
Thanks for sharing that – great to hear!
Horrifying that this kid who participated in rape at Villanova was not instantly thrown out of school! I am speechless.
You are far from alone in those sentiments.
What will happen if SEPTA drops the R5 that is the life line to so many! and just imagine 476 ( BLUE ROUTE ) and 76 (SCHUYLKILL ) going into PHILA Bringing back W A H …. It will be a nightmare !
I know. It’s crazy t even contemplate. I can’t really imagine it happening. Despite SEPTA’s protestations, I think its proposed budget lays out a doomsday, attention-getting scenario. The proposed fare increases and cost-butting measures that are less drastic are more likely. It’s all up to lawmakers in Harrisburg…
Caroline, thanks for being our ears and eyes on the Main Line. And thanks for the call to action regarding the R-1.