City Shuts Down Avram Hornik’s Rittenhouse Pop-Up Bar
Plus, the return of the dreaded Canadian smoke.
The gate to Avram Hornik’s Rittenhouse Square pop-up bar Walnut Garden, which the city shut down on Wednesday for numerous violations (image courtesy 6ABC)
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City Shuts Down Avram Hornik’s Rittenhouse Square Pop-Up Bar Walnut Garden
Wednesday night should have been a busy one for Walnut Garden, Avram Hornik’s pop-up bar on the 1700 block of Walnut Street in Rittenhouse. After all, summer Wednesday nights in Philadelphia means Center City Sips, where droves of people pack into the coolest new spots for $5 beers, $6 wines, and $7 cocktails to mix and mingle with other devotees of Center City Sips. Alas, that wasn’t in the cards for Walnut Garden.
The Department of Licenses & Inspections showed up at the bar on Tuesday and cited the property for a bunch of violations, placing a cease operations sign on the Walnut Garden gate. According to documents provided to Philly Mag by L&I, Walnut Garden doesn’t have a food permit, for starters, and the bar’s Instagram page makes it quite clear that they’ve been serving food. L&I also cited Walnut Garden for electrical violations, plumbing issues, the use of an outdoor tent without a permit, and issues surrounding a generator and a 200-plus gallon diesel fuel tank.
I reached out to Hornik for comment on Thursday morning but have yet to hear back. His other operations include Liberty Point, Morgan’s Pier, Concourse Dance Bar, The Dolphin Tavern, and Harper’s Garden, among other places.
Damn Those Canadians
First, they bring us that disgusting concoction known as poutine. They’re also responsible for Moosehead Lager and Labatt Blue. But I’d gladly eat a vat of poutine and chase it with a keg of Labatt if only they would get rid of this damn wildfire smoke.
Philadelphia remains under a Code Red air quality alert and residents should continue taking precautions.
Here’s what you can do to stay safe. https://t.co/JWDhzNmJtz pic.twitter.com/nLAvQyTQPA
— Philadelphia Public Health (@PHLPublicHealth) June 29, 2023
Don’t go outside unless you have to. Let’s hope this clears up by the weekend and never returns. But I don’t think we’re going to be that lucky.
Cayla Had a Happy Birthday!
On Monday, I told you about Cayla Lynch, a young woman in Delco with non-verbal autism and brain damage. She was turning 19 on Wednesday, and her mom was trying to get people to send her birthday cards to make her birthday a little special since Cayla has no friends to invite to a party.
Cayla’s mom Amanda tells me that you rose to the challenge, sending all sorts of cards and gifts. And Fox 29 showed up on Wednesday to document the whole thing. Note that my kids made the card featuring a Disney princess, SpongeBob, a Christmas snowman, and Nemo, all Cayla’s favorites:
Good job, people. If you wanted to send a belated card to Cayla, details here.
Local Talent
Jerry Blavat may be dead, but he’s hardly forgotten. On Wednesday, the city named a block of South Broad Street in his honor. This weekend, Blavat’s longtime Margate club Memories will temporarily reopen for a party celebrating Blavat’s life and legacy. And the Kimmel Center just announced a big concert in October that will pay tribute to the Geator.
By the Numbers
$219,811: Median home sale price in Pennsylvania for May 2023, up from $211,000 in May 2022. Prices are up 31 percent since the COVID crisis began.
5 percent: Amount of Philadelphia voters whose mail-in ballots were deemed invalid during last month’s primary. It’s estimated that tens of thousands of Pennsylvania ballots will be thrown out during next year’s presidential election.
$393 million: What a South Jersey company must pay to clean up a chemical contamination in nearly 40 square miles surrounding its West Deptford facility.
And from the Homerfest Sports Desk …
The Phils played the second game in their three-game series against the Cub last night and once again got things started off right. Aaron Nola was on the mound for us, and that always goes well, right? It did this time. The Phils got two quick ones off starter Drew Smyly in the second on an Edmund Sosa homer, and then three more, on singles by Cristian Pache and Trea Turner and a Castellanos round-trip. Whee!
We are begging, pleading, for this man to be an All-Star#RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/Cyg9XeDFxf
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) June 29, 2023
Chicago got one back on a solo homer by Josh Young in the bottom half. “I don’t know why they’re pitching to him,” Tom McCarthy said as Castellanos came to bat in the fourth with two out and Kyle Schwarber on third, and sure enough, Big Nick knocked another one in. He scored on a single by the 0-for-14 Harper — finally! Boy, I’m gonna hate to see June end.
The Cubs’ Dansby Swanson whacked another solo homer in the fourth: 7-2. Ooh, we’re quaking. Hayden Wesneski was in for Smyly. Josh Harrison hit another homer (solo, sorry) for us — take that! Nola walked the bases loaded with no outs in the fifth, then walked in a run. And another run on a grounder to first: 8-4. Men on second and third. But the damage ended there. As McCarthy said, “Could have been a whole lot worse.” Still, Matt Strahm came in for Nola for the sixth and gave up a double but nothing more. During the seventh-inning stretch, I checked in on the U.S. Men’s National Team in their match against St. Kitts and Nevis. They were 18 minutes in. The U.S. was up, 3-0. Okay, stick with the Phils.
The Cubs put two on with no outs vs. Alvarado in the ninth, and a passed ball moved them to second and third. A wild pitch scored one run, but that was all she wrote, as José got it done.
Phillies Win. #phillies #ringthatbell #itsaphillything pic.twitter.com/fzWbHFJl4c
— nicksonsini9999 (@nicksonsini9999) June 29, 2023
That made it eight straight wins. One more against the Cubs, tonight at 8:05. And the U.S. men? Jesús Ferreira had just scored his third goal of the night in the 50th minute: 5-0. So far. Final there? 6-0.
In Other Sports News …
Jason Kelce threw a party downtheShore yesterday.
The Union MLS Academy in Chester ranks first among the academies of all 26 MLS teams, according to the U.S. Soccer Collective, who says, “Philly continues to be the model franchise when it comes to development and everyone is chasing their top spot.”
All Philly Today Sports Desk coverage is provided by Sandy Hingston.
