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Clarkville covered in graffiti… again

May 26, 2016

Vandals have struck again at Clarkville at 43rd and Baltimore, painting walls and windows and writing “Gentrifiers Go Home” on an outside wall. The restaurant was tagged shortly after its opening in December 2015 in the former Best House Pizza location.

Co-owner Brendan Hartranft scraped paint from Clarkville’s windows on Thursday morning.

“I wish they knew what we were about,” Hartranft, a native Philadelphian, said of the vandals.

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29 Comments For This Post

  1. nb7 Says:

    What a joke.

    The previous business located in this space was a horrible neighbor that used their political connections to get away with breaking the law by giving alcohol to underage kids and people who were beyond visibly intoxicated.

    Whether or not you like Clarkville’s pizza, there is not reason to be angry at them and deface their property.

  2. Jena Says:

    I appreciate a neighborhood where I can get a great cup of coffee, a cold beer and a yummy pizza all served up from unique, local businesses AND within a few steps from my home. If that’s “gentrification”, I’m down.

  3. PEA7 Says:

    This is a shame! Apparently these vandals have nothing better to do than to attack what seems to be a good addition to the neighborhood. I feel bad for the owner(s) and people working at the establishment. Hang in there!

  4. catholic chick Says:

    Incredibly sorry to the owners/management/ and all staff – Your restaurant’s terrific,it brings people together.Don’t let cranky people with (apparently) to much time on their hands get the better of you.Hey U.C.D I see a new post for u to b station one/two of your finest !!

  5. Water Says:

    I personally like living in a nice neighborhood – Clarksville is a super nice upgrade – I like their art prints ( hovering mouse thing 🙂

    Btw, what a looser job Mr. Paint Boob. I suggest you take on something a bit more worthwhile with your energy – go throw some paint at the thousands of hideous billboards out there or the ATT wiretap bunker on South.

    ( unless … This is an insider marketing job to drum up press & bussnisse – which is kind of a sick / brilliant idea 🙂

  6. AmericanWomanX Says:

    The problem is that people feel so disenfranchised they have resorted to a public display of their grievance. It is sad that Clarksville wall is the point of attack. I will be happy to help scrub it off. With that stated. We must consider the bigger picture which is a city neighborhood that is changing and moving along without regard for the citizens who help west philadelphia together when most of us would not have considered living here. We must work together to be an integrated neighborhood allowing ALL peoples to exist in peace. When buildings with long time residents suddenly shudder and force people with lower incomes to move out of their neighborhoods due to unreasonably high rents, I can empathize with their frustrations. I believe we must start to consider rent control and impact regulations if we are to stand a chance of surviving gentrification.

  7. AmericanWomanX Says:

    citizens who “held” philadelphia together…..

  8. Gentri Says:

    This area was gentrified like 10 years ago. Seriously, people need to grow up. It was a sh*thole and people never cared until someone else came along and made it look good.

    If you care about your neighborhood ,keep it clean. Don’t wait for someone else to clean it up and then complain you’re being forced out. This could have been yours…

    And then there is the fact that Brenden isn’t an inventor… he’s FROM Philly. Let’s not play the crab in a bucket game. Don’t pull the ones who are making it back down.

  9. Gentri Says:

    That should read investor.

  10. watchcat Says:

    The pizza’s too thin, but whatever, would they prefer the “Best House” to Clarkville? Neither is my cup of tea, but that’s irrelevant.

    It’s not a huge corporation spewing toxic fumes throughout the neighborhood, like Sunoco. Or serving as the central hangout for every hustler, con man, aggressive panhandler and public urinator/defecator in University City, like Sunoco.

  11. Korgull the Exterminator Says:

    What a bunch of misinformed losers. 43rd and Baltimore isn’t exactly the frontline of the transitioning West Philadelphia. That part of University City was built for the “gentry” over a century ago and has been rebuilt over the last two decades. But hey, who needs facts when mindless property damage eases makes you feel better?

  12. Amy Says:

    Hey I love your spot, have been in for lunch on many occasions. Your staff is friendly, professional and the food is wonderful. I’m sorry that you are experiencing this.

  13. sadsadsad Says:

    Ok so lets call it what it is then the PENNtrification of the area. Look progress is good CLARKSVILL is right in their positions people need work etc.. But we can all admit PENN has planned for this area and encroaches like TEMPEL AND DREXEL good for them…But as time goes on where do they think they’ll get the students who can afford their prices. We are overdeveloping on the premise that PENN et al will some how sustain it…

  14. Kevin Says:

    What does gentrification mean In the historical
    Sense? This urban area, much like many others, has experienced demographic changes that are not belonging to any one group in regard to inclusion or displacement. Irish, Jewish, African, Ethiopian….we are here together attempting to live, work and be neighborly. just be true and good to each other and ourselves and all will be fine. Relax.

  15. 49th street Says:

    No sympathies for criminals – and something makes me doubt that the true victims of gentrification (uneducated, poor historic residents) are responsible for this.

    Is this the work of relatively recent, relatively well-to-do arrival to the neighborhood? I would say yes.

    People who really want to have a discussion about gentrification have other forums.

  16. watchcat Says:

    Probably a kid intellectually interested in fighting class rule but with no practical conception of how to go about it.

  17. Leroy Says:

    As someone involved in the project, it is more than a matter of philosophical debate.

    Thousands and thousands of dollars of damage has been done between ruined security cameras (which help keep neighbors safe), exterior lighting fixtures (which also help for neighborhood safety), defaced, rather cool ESPO designed signage (what grafiitti dude defaces ESPO? ISIS?), poisoned plants from the paint, acid-etched windows, etc.

    Not “mischief” at all but very, very hurtful and, in its own way, violent actions towards people who live here, raise kids here, work here, employ people here. We should not permit violence against anyone in this or any neighborhood. Can we please engage in open dialogue and not heartless, anonymous acts of violence? That’s Trump’s way, not ours.

  18. Strongforu Says:

    I’ve never eaten at ‘Clarkville’ as the very signage seems to indicate that not everyone is welcome (It’s an intangible thing that I can’t really explain). I have also never eaten at the Dock Street Brewery for similar reasons. I was just remarking to a friend how the neighborhood is subtly segregated while all pretend to peacefully co-exist. I went to ‘Little Baby’s Ice Cream’ when they opened and the staff was cold, no pun intended. I did check out ‘Renatta’s’ once and enjoyed it. Aksum is pretty good too. I’m also looking forward to the new taco joint at 47th & Baltimore. I believe that owners of new establishments along the Baltimore Avenue corridor need to ensure that everyone feels welcome. However, I wholeheartedly disagree with the defacing of private property. The City of Philadelphia has an anti-graffiti team that will come out, free of charge, and remove graffiti (phila.gov). I’ve used them several times for the removal of graffiti from the sidewall of my home.

  19. GX Says:

    The real question: was this graffiti done by a white guy who just moved to the neighborhood after graduating from Haverford, or Swarthmore?

  20. Milk A.D. Says:

    Humbly addressed to Watchcat’s previous comment. As an aggressive urintor/defactor, I have found the Sunoco to just simply be too played.

  21. Dr. Whom Says:

    Milk A.D., are you stoned, drunk, illiterate, or just careless? … As of anything better is to be expected from someone who, if any sense can be extracted from their comment, not only p*sses and cr*ps on other people’s property in public places but claims to be proud of it?

  22. Milk A.D. Says:

    Kindly find this rejoinder. My comment was simply satirizing the constant need to point out the places that these west philly inhabs have determined as overrun by hustlers, con-men, pan handlers and (not my words) public urinators/defecators. These colorful terms appear as some sort of back handed method of insulting and stereotyping. I’ve indulged the Sunoco’s sweet treats and salted fare for years and years and I’ve never been so offended by that sneaky con man, hustler or even, *gasp* bore witness to a public urinator/or defecator. I’ve seen a couple of guys beg for change. Am I to assume that all men who ask for change are attempting to con, hustle urinate or defecate. No, I’m not some 60’s throwback, but I don’t necessarily see the need for harsh, if not, bizarre and off-putting descriptive insults. Those types of embellishments are as toxic as prisons of ignorance. And, as I digress, I note, I’m drunk and stoned and yes, careless.

  23. Milk A.D. Says:

    I’ll say this, I’ve never been put off by any type of hustler, con man, or have bore witnessed to any public urination or defecation at Sunoco over the last 19 years. I have seen a couple of guys beg for change but I choose not to use toxic, if not unnervingly descriptive insults to stereotype them or place them in some type of prism of guilt.

  24. Dr. Whom Says:

    Milk A.D., who’s insulting? You wrote
    “As an aggressive urintor/defactor, I have found the Sunoco to just simply be too played.”
    That means, as near as sense can be made of near-nonsense,
    “I am an aggressive urinator/defecator, and as such I have found the Sunoco to just simply be [unintelligible].”
    The first part means you excrete aggressively. The second part, at best guess, means you find the Sunoco to be too public or too much excreted-on or too graffitied for you to “do your business” there.
    So, how polite should I be to someone who thinks the street’s a toilet and brags about it?

  25. Milk A.D. Says:

    Ok fine, I get it, you got my number. Well presented with plenty of supporting quotations and qualifiers, the professor’s swoop of the pen. Fine, I know when to call off my dogs and now is the time. I shall recede back to the asphalt, hot ice, long lines and relays, the left hand, the can, the spinner at the park walking waste first into the swells.

  26. Hello! Says:

    @Mike A.D.: I’ve never had a problem with urinating/defecating/agressive panhandling at Sunoco either and find watchcat’s constant haranguing against it bizarre. I’m also curious whether watchcat drives a car, which, if so, would tend to undercut the complaint about spewing toxic fumes into the neighborhood

  27. watchcat Says:

    Count your blessings. How close do you live? Want some photos to spoil your lunch? (Odd that someone would feel compelled to defend this.)

    No to the car, not that I never make use of one. The point is there needs to be a limit. (It’s so weird to me that people want to sit around café-style while breathing straight-up carbon monoxide.)

  28. watchcat Says:

    “I’ll say this, I’ve never been put off by any type of hustler, con man, or have bore witnessed to any public urination or defecation at Sunoco over the last 19 years. I have seen a couple of guys beg for change but I choose not to use toxic, if not unnervingly descriptive insults to stereotype them or place them in some type of prism of guilt.”

    OK, tell that to people with broken facial bones, vandalized porches, and piss on their sidewalks courtesy of your heroes. You come off as a clueless liberal (as opposed to an intelligent one) who trips on his own stereotypes while claiming to oppose stereotyping by others. Since something doesn’t affect you it doesn’t matter. That’s ignorance, not tolerance.

  29. Dr. Whom Says:

    @watchcat: You wrote, to Hello! I suppose, “How close do you live? Want some photos to spoil your lunch? (Odd that someone would feel compelled to defend this.)”

    I see the Sunoco station from my window every day and walk to, past, or through it several times a day, and I’ve never seen public excretion there, or its result. I’m not calling you a liar, but it can’t be as prevalent as you imply. And I’m not defending anything, unless you count the station, just stating my own relevant experience.

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