Garden Court Community Association (GCCA) is holding a zoning meeting this Thursday (Jan. 16) about a new building proposed for 5027 Spruce Street. Community members are invited to attend the meeting to learn more about the project and to provide their input. The proposed building is a multi-family, four story apartment building, which will be nearly identical to the four story building at 5038 Spruce (see images below).

The public forum to discuss the proposed construction will take place at 6 p.m. in the Vineyard Community Church (corner of 51st and Sansom Streets).

Those who would like to attend the meeting but can’t make it are invited to contact GCCA’s Zoning Chair, Mariya Khandros, via email (mariya.khandros@gmail.com) with any questions or concerns.

A multi-family four story apartment building is being proposed at 5027 Spruce Street.

Four story building at 5038 Spruce Street (Source: Google).

Gush Gallery co-founders Sarah Thielke and Stephanie Slate. (Photo courtesy of Thielke and Slate)

For local photographers Sarah Thielke and Stephanie Slate, art is a stimulus—a rapid stream of influence in their daily lives. After all, the lineage is there: Slate, a native of Florida, is the granddaughter of a professional photographer, and painters thrived in Theilke’s New Jersey-bred family.

“[Art is] just something that’s always been around us and that we are passionate about,” the duo, who met while attending Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, told West Philly Local via email.

It’s a passion that’s amassed to Gush Gallery—a West Philadelphia interactive art gallery, community center and boutique Slate and Thielke hope to open in April with the help of donations through their Indiegogo fundraiser, which ends next month. So far, since its launch, Slate and Thielke have raised $1,315 of their $8,500 goal, which will go towards repair costs and equipment for their space (a lease is not signed at the moment; the pair are considering spots on the 5000 block of Baltimore Avenue and the 4700 block of Spruce Street).

Once opened, Gush will be an epicenter of sorts, serving an eclectic lot of emerging and underground artists from a hodgepodge of disciplines and styles—a call back to the gallery’s moniker, synonymous with “enthusiasm” and “torrents”—ultimately catering to a community rich with creativity but lacking in resources to foster it. At the start, Thielke and Slate will run Gush, curating the exhibitions, designing the annual Gush “yearbook” of shows, and leading the photography-based workshops for members and non-members alike (membership fees are three-tiered and start at $25 per year). Services like printing, scanning, film processing, alternative process printing, and digital workstations are also available through Gush at an hourly rate plus use of materials (discounted for members). And, as Gush evolves, the pair hope to bring on local artists to teach workshops in their respective field (like painting, illustration, or sculpture), bring on interns and possibly a small staff, offer a free monthly critique, and classes for children.

But Gush Gallery’s reality isn’t driven by hard numbers. The Indiegogo campaign the two 27-year-old artists are running is flexible, meaning if Thielke and Slate don’t meet their goal by February 7, they will still receive the funds they did raise. In addition, they’re researching grant opportunities for the arts and small businesses, as well as possibly brainstorming brick-and-mortar fundraiser events to help push Gush from concept to tangible.

Still, they say, “if we don’t make our goal but raise enough to open, we’re going to do just that. We want to open Gush as soon as we can.”

–Annamarya Scaccia

Demolition crews have begun tearing down the 40th Street Methodist Episcopal Church to make room for retail space. The two-story Romanesque-style church has stood at the corner of 40th and Sansom for 136 years. The construction of the new space, which will host Dunkin Donuts, Zesto Pizza and a couple of other retailers, is expected to be completed by April 2014.

(Photo by West Philly Local reader Karl Munkelwitz.)

Photo by Annamarya Scaccia / West Philly Local

When West Philly Local profiled Rebels Closet in May, it seemed as if the excitement around the project was contagious. The street wear—meets—counterculture clothing store that took over True Planet Vintage Boutique’s former home at 4501 Baltimore Ave was going to breathe fresh air into the neighborhood—and tap into the West Philly underground not only through major brands like Mighty Healthy and G.E.E.K (Good Energy = Quals Kreation) Clothing Inc., but through in-store events like spoken word nights and a rolling art gallery.

Over the few months since its soft opening, though, Rebels Closet’s doors were rarely open during its stated operating hours, and—at least twice from what we observed—the store was completely emptied of any product or display, only to return a few days later. There was some hope that maybe it was just growing pains, as all businesses have their ebbs and flows, but that hope was soon dashed. As of about two weeks ago, Rebels Closet has been added to 4501 Baltimore Avenue’s “Previous Tenants” list. Around that time, a large group of people began gutting the corner store, carrying mounds and mounds of trash bags out of its doors. Drapes and brown paper material now cover its windows—a “Coming Soon” sign alerting that Zed’s Last Minute Gift Shop will make 45th Street and Baltimore Avenue its new home.

West Philly Local reached out to Takiya Lipscomb, manager of Rebels Closet, to find out what had happened to the clothing store, but she has yet to return our request for comment. As for Zed’s, we’ll update you with more information once we get in touch with the owners.

–Annamarya Scaccia

When West Philly Local last reported on the Center for Culinary Enterprises in May, two new restaurants options were slated to open late that summer—48th Street Grille and Planet Vegan. But the summer has come and gone, and neither restaurant has opened its doors in their respective spaces at 48th and Spruce Streets.

Photo by Annamarya Scaccia / West Philly Local.

This week, West Philly Local caught up with Bryan Fenstermaker, senior director of programming at The Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation (TEC-CDC), to find out the reason for the radio silence. Turns out, financing delays pushed back the grand opening of 48th Street Grille, Fenstermaker told us. According to the TEC-CDC executive, Chef Carl Lewis has signed a 10-year lease for the Culinary Center’s retail space, where he will open his American-Caribbean restaurant this spring.

As for Planet Vegan, it’s no longer opening in the second space. Owner Dorinda Hampton told West Philly Local she wants to instead focus on further expanding her health food line, Really Fresh Vegan, which operates out of the Culinary Center, and grow the list of places that carry her products. “Once things get more stable, I will start looking for another location for Planet Vegan I’m really passionate about opening it up in the near future,” Hampton said.

Real Food Works To Go will, instead, open in Planet Vegan’s place, Fenstermaker said—although there is no word yet on its launch date. Real Food Works To Go is a pilot program developed through a partnership between TEC-CDC and Real Food Works­—a Philadelphia start-up providing subscription-based, home-delivered healthy meal plans—that will function as a health food store, as well as offer on-site food preparation, cooking demos, and nutritional education.

In addition to 48th Street Grille, TEC-CDC will open the Philly Restaurant Residency Incubator in the middle retail space at the Culinary Center. The new program, said Fenstermaker, will serve as a sort of pop-up shop for the food world—aspiring restaurateurs and chefs can test out their sit-down restaurant concepts in the 1,445 sq-ft fully-functioning space without “cashing in their life savings to do so.”

The restaurant incubator model received an economic boost recently from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services through its Economic Development Healthy Food Finance Initiative Award distributed by HHS’ Office of Community Services. The award, according to Fenstermaker, will be put towards construction and operation of incubator. In February, TEC-CDC will also release a business plan competition for the incubator.

“The restaurant incubator will allow new entrepreneurs to hone their craft while we work with them to line up financing,” Fenstermaker told West Philly Local. “The end result would be to place them on corridors in West Philly and other parts of the city with financing ready to go. It is a proof of concept model to assist small entrepreneurs.”

–Annamarya Scaccia

The remnants of the “Fake House” which was demolished last month to make room for a new apartment building. Photo: Mike Lyons/West Philly Local.

Last month, a graffiti-covered building at 3862 Lancaster Avenue was demolished to make way for a three-story, 22-unit apartment building to be developed by Turn Key Realty LLC, according to city records. The building sat vacant after its residents were evicted last December.

The building was formerly a venue and makeshift apartment for artists called the “Fake House.” It was first occupied by a group of artists in the late ‘80s, according to an article by Philadelphia Weekly, and had occupants and musical performances up until the evictions.

The building was known as Fake House because the word “Fake” was painted in large letters on the front of the building. Much of the graffiti on the building enforced its counter-culture reputation, as there were strong anti-gentrification and anti-corporate messages.

The occupants never signed a formal lease, and as one resident admitted to Philadelphia Weekly almost a decade ago, “We know we’re all this close to losing our space. Anything could change at any time.”

He was right, of course. But the fascinating and somewhat subversive alt/punk hub still got another decade under its belt. The final punk show took place just a week before the evictions.

–Alex Vuocolo