it's what you want to know
Devon is fired up over DanDan.
It hasn’t officially opened but the new restaurant – at the old Ella’s near the Devon Acme – is already packin’ ’em in.
Just like it does in Center City.
And for good reason.
A TV icon touched down in Paoli this week.
Shhhhhh.
Carol Burnett paid a hush-hush visit to overjoyed folks at Daylesford Crossing senior living Monday, charming one and all.
Nope, she didn’t know a soul there.
In a word: wow.
We’re blown away by what a bunch of brewpub newbies just pulled off in downtown Berwyn.
They took a drab old furniture store across from the train station (RIP Pearl of the East), gutted it, and turned it into rustic-chic La Cabra Brewing, suddenly the hippest spot in town.
OK. Not so suddenly.
We’ve got a new name for The Radnor Hotel: Beauty Central.
Essent Spa, an ambitious, luxury day spa, has moved in next to Jay Michael Salon in the old Bernie Robbins space.
Although separately owned, Essent and Jay Michael are a match made in beauty heaven. With a shared reception desk and booking website, you can get your hair styled and your face Botoxed in a single trip.
One stop, multiple ways to get gorgeous.
If life-sucking depression has a Main Line face, surely it couldn’t belong to tall, athletic, bright and charming Drew Bergman.
But more and more, the 2012 St. Joe’s Prep grad who had everything to live for – but tried twice to end it anyway – has become that face.
His demons at bay, Drew now makes the rounds of area schools, one of 11 speakers for the Rosemont-based Minding Your Mind (MYM) Foundation.
In two years, he’s told his story 250 times – to your son or daughter, perhaps.
And he’ll tell the abridged version again this Thursday at the inaugural MYM fundraiser he’s organized, “A Celebration of Life: Philadelphia.”
When Drew speaks at schools, 15 to 20 students typically line up afterward, seeking a private word with the 22-year old who just gave a public face to the anguish they’ve long felt.
Who just told them it’s OK to speak of the unmentionable.
Who gave them warning signs and coping strategies.
Who bared his soul, shared everything, so they might, too – to someone who can help.
Savvy, eh? Not about candles, apparently.
Until yesterday I had no idea that most scented candles are toxic. That the “petro-soot” given off by paraffin candles is as carcinogenic as diesel fumes or secondhand smoke. That the “natural fragrances” in most aromatherapy candles are synthetic and have no healing properties.
I saw the light after a chat with Berwyn gardener, Anglophile and home cook extraordinaire, Sandy Dalby, hands-on proprietor of A Charmed Garden, a line of organic candles, sprays, soaps and such.
While Easttown Township mulls over Urban Outfitters’ latest plans for Devon Yard, another fashion enterprise is already moving in.
SAVVY Main Line has learned that the area’s biggest designer warehouse sale this side of Lilly Pulitzer will take place in the old Waterloo building this fall – marking the first time the lights will have been turned on since July 2012.
Setting up shop will be the Community Clothes Charity (CCC), a venerable non-profit that sells brand new and barely touched designer duds at super-low prices every October, with proceeds going to designated charities.
Last fall brought us The Barn. Next spring comes The Cottage.
Valley Forge Flowers – that bustling shop-and-sip mecca in Wayne’s Eagle Village Shops – is on the move again.
Barbara King, VFF’s Queen Bee (and I do mean that kindly – “b” as in b-u-s-y) tells SAVVY that VFF is taking over the building that houses The Area Rug (now closed) and The Village Salon (relocating). The new venture, The Cottage, will trade in two old-timey treats: antiques and ice cream.
Despite a horse death in the ring and a brouhaha over box seats, the show goes on at Devon. The Main Line’s signature event reports record crowds. (Sunny days will do that.) A bevy of new shops is also keeping things hopping – 10 of the Country Fair’s 40 vendors are new this year – usually it’s just 4 or 5. Stellar newcomers include:
Eastcote Lane is doing boffo box office with its re-imagined “upcycled” vintage furniture. Teresa Decker’s new booth is so busy she’s running back and forth to her Devon workshop/store to paint/retrieve items for her stall.
Eastcote Lane uses chalk paint and some carpentry know-how to revive old furniture.
Artisan finds at Eastcote Lane: Wynnewood industrial artist Paul Nelson’s bourbon-barrel-strap lanterns, Media potter Mark Tyson’s tea bowls and pendants by Jeanne Joseph, also from Wynnewood.
The most original new stall is 4MULA, fresh from the Rittenhouse Square Farmer’s Market. Not only does 4MULA grow rare organic succulents and sedums in Philly and Narberth, it makes cool hypertufa pots to put them in. Also for sale are 4MULA living walls, living tree ornaments, living moons (suspended terrariums) and its patented BarBox line of soaps. In a nifty twist, Devon shoppers can design their own succulent planters.
Making me nostalgic for my cycling trip through Provence is La Cigale (bonus points if you know cigale means cicada), selling sunny French Provencal Linens. Ideal for outdoor dining (and sloppy eaters like me) are La Cigale’s acrylic-coated cloth tablecloths.
Spill-, fade- and stain-resistant table toppers in cheerful prints from Provence are Nancy Mitchell’s calling card at La Cigale.
Most la-di-da newbie award goes to Katherine Hooker, a British designer whose duds are sported by swells at Royal Ascot. (Royal Ascot is like Devon – but in England and with royalty).
Christina Cain in the line’s hacking jacket; Vogue rated it “a #1 national treasure.”
A-listers like Kate, Pippa, Sienna and Taylor are all Katherine Hooker fans. An FYI: Katherine Hooker’s name is not on her stall. The line shares space with returnee Liza Hennessy, creator of bags and belts made from tack-quality components and full-grain bridal leathers. The KH sale rack on the stall’s front porch has some smashing buys!
Back after a year off, Boutique Street is stopping traffic with its monster-size monograms and fashion jewelry.
The monogram-crazy Main Line is flipping for these cut-outs at Boutique Street .
Of course, the best-selling booth – and it isn’t even close – is Devon Souvenirs. Run by the Devon Country Fair itself, the Devon blue cottage’s tees, hats and Devon logo sundries – and its kiddie shop next door – gross as much as all the other pop-ups combined, says Gail McCarthy, Devon Country Fair co-chair.
“It’s nice to rotate in some new shops to keep it fresh, ” says McCarthy. “I’m hearing a really good vibe this year.”
She explained that national names like Anthropologie, J. McLaughlin and Lululemon (another 2015 newbie) pay a flat fee for their stalls while mom and pops pay a smaller upfront free (varies with stall size and location) and give 10 percent of sales to Bryn Mawr Hospital, the horse show’s annual beneficiary. About 40 percent of the Devon Country Fair’s donation to the hospital comes from the shops, she says.
They may be running ragged stocking their stalls but shopkeepers generally seem to relish their days at Devon. They enjoy getting reacquainted with their vendor neighbors and customers from around the country, says Susan Randels, owner of one Devon’s top-selling pop-ups, Polka Dots.
If the 40 vendors near the midway aren’t enough – and you’re hard-core horsey – wander behind the far grandstand for shops run by the horse show itself, a separate but aligned entity.
BTW ladies, Wednesday is Ladies Day so dust off your most tempting topper and get shopping!
