Nelson Ngo, foreground, and Chy Kan man the counter at the newly opened Love Vape University City. (Photo by Mike Lyons/West Philly Local)

A fully stocked vape shop has come to Baltimore Avenue.

Love Vape University City opened earlier this month at 4714 Baltimore Ave., the former home of the Talking Headz salon.

“It was a good spot,” said Stephanie Ngo, one of three employees on hand when we visited on Saturday. “There’s a little bit of night life here.”

“Vaping” is the slang term for the “smoking” of e-cigarettes, which turn special flavored liquids (sometimes with a bit of nicotine) into vapors through the use of a battery powered device.

The new shop, which is one of four Love Vape locations around the city, is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The rally in Clark Park on Saturday. (Photos by Mike Lyons/West Philly Local)

About 125 people gathered during a light rain in Clark Park last night to talk about recent events in Ferguson, Mo. and many pledged to work in Philadelphia toward racial justice.

“It’s time for action, not reaction,” said Jondhi Harrell, head of the The Center for Returning Citizens. “It’s not sexy, it’s not protest time. It’s organizing time.”

Jondhi Harrell of The Center for Returning Citizens speaks at Saturday’s rally.

Though organized days in advance, the rally had an impromptu feel as people emerged from the crowd to share their views on Ferguson and reiterate calls for volunteering.

Harrell and others urged people to participate in voter registration drives, attend meetings, even teach children to read.

“Be about this on a day-to-day basis,” he said.

About 20 police vehicles were parked near the park during the rally and a separate, unassociated “march” afterwards resulted in a skirmish with police and two arrests.

See our Civic Life page for a list of non-profits in West Philly, including the West Philadelphia Alliance for Children, Books Through Bars. Many are looking for volunteers.

Police are investigating a gunpoint robbery Monday night at a barbershop at 4702 Baltimore Avenue.

Police say two men entered the Hair Lounge at about 10:50 p.m. and demanded cash and property from patrons and employees. Both robbers were armed with silver handguns and one of the men fired a shot into the ceiling of the storefront business during the robbery, according to police. At least four people were robbed, but no one was injured during the robbery.

The robbers made off with wallets, cash, cell phones and even car and house keys. One phone was recovered after police contacted the carrier, which tracked the phone to the 1100 block of S. 47th. Police also recovered a silver revolver from inside the barber shop.

Police pursued one of the men, but lost him on the 4800 block of Baltimore Avenue. A witness chased the other man southeast and lost him near 46th and Springfield.

Work in progress at the Lea School playground. (Photo courtesy of West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools)

UPDATE (8/14/14): The Greening Lea project has reached its fundraising goal after a sizable donation from the Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA), West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools reports. SHCA’s gift of $1,000 completed and even exceeded the $3,000 fundraising goal for Greening Lea’s August project several weeks early!

8/7/14: Here’s a great chance to make something good out of a bad situation. The Henry C. Lea School (47th and Locust) has a chance to get a great playground set from the recently shuttered Alexander Wilson School (46th and Woodland) and they need some help.

The new playground set was built at Wilson in November 2010 through a grant from The Hamels Foundation, the charitable organization of Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels. The plan is to move the playground set onto the Lea playground (near the existing structure there) at the corner of 47th and Spruce, roughly doubling the size of the school’s play area.

But the committee in charge of Greening Lea, the West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools project to make the Lea School’s footprint greener and more kid-friendly, needs to raise $3,000 to help cover the costs of transplanting the playground structure. The grant will help cover costs for a new porous surface that will be built under the new and existing play structure to make it safe for kids. The new surface will also help with the Greening Lea plan to manage stormwater run-off. The current massive asphalt playground, if future plans play out, will be converted into an inviting tree-lined space.

But that’s still in the future. The goal now is to get the new playground structure in place. The work at the playground has already begun. Click here to donate. As usual, any amount will help.

The Taney Dragons following their 8-0 win over Newark , Del. to win the Mid-Atlantic Championship on Sunday. (Photo from Taneybaseball.com)

So have you caught Taney Dragon fever yet? Whether you are a baseball fan or not it’s hard not to root for that group of 12- and 13-year-old Philly Little Leaguers led by fireballer Mo’Ne Davis (a girl in case you hadn’t heard), who will begin play at the Little League World Series on Friday.

Taney kicks off double-elimination group play in the World Series on Friday at 3 p.m. against the team from Nashville, Tenn.. That game will be on ESPN. If they win, they play again on Sunday at 7 p.m. If they lose, they are still alive and will play Saturday at 6 p.m.

The team, which is made up of kids from around the city including one who attends Penn Alexander school, was featured on ABC news last night. We’re talking “World News,” not Channel 6.  Here’s a story on Davis and the team in The Washington Post. She will be just the 18th girl to play in the Little League World Series since they began allowing girls in 1974 and the first American girl since 2004.

Taney secured the Mid-Atlantic Championship on Sunday behind a Davis’ six strikeouts to shutout the team from Newark, Del. 8-0 That win earned them a coveted spot in Williamsport, the first team from Philadelphia ever to make it.

Also, if you want to throw a few bucks their way to help defray costs of getting the team and their families to Williamsport, go here.

We’ll leave it there for now and keep our fingers crossed. Go Dragons!

Clark Park Farmers’ Market.

There will be a nice promotion at the Clark Park Farmers’ Market happening this Saturday. Chipotle Mexican Grill will be at the market giving away free $5 vouchers to the first 1,000 people who come to the market. The vouchers can be used for anything sold by official market vendors, including Weckerly’s Ice Cream, Triple Tree Flowers, and Tacos Don Memo. Chipotle will only have 1,000 vouchers with them, so once they run out, that’s it! No purchase is necessary to receive a voucher.

Chipotle has pledged to purchase 20 million pounds of locally-sourced produce in 2014 and has partnered with The Food Trust, who runs the market, to promote Philadelphia-area farmers’ markets during National Farmers’ Market week.

The vouchers are only valid at this Saturday’s Clark Park Farmers’ Market, and cannot be honored at any other location or on any other date. If you have any questions about the promotion or how can spend your voucher, stop by the market manager table (right next to the Friends of Clark Park table).