A Main Line teenager wore these booties during a border crossing 16 years ago.

They live among us, hiding but in plain sight.
They mow our lawns, mind our kids, cook our food, clean our homes.
They are Mexicans, living and working on the Main Line.

Some, of course, work under the table.
Others receive paychecks, have payroll taxes withheld, and file yearly U.S. tax returns.
Just like us.
But in many ways, not like us at all.
Because they are here without papers and have little reason to believe they’ll ever get them.

One such family – living in a rented, single-family home on the western Main Line – asked us to share their story.
They wanted us to put a human face on the immigration crisis.
But, of course, we cannot.
At least, not literally.
Instead of their faces, the couple had us photograph two sombreros and two flags – symbols of a family caught between countries.

Half of the family – the couple and their oldest child, born in Mexico 17 years ago – are here illegally; the other half – three children born here – are American citizens.

They want us to know that they came to America only out of desperation. And they’d love nothing more than to become legal, to step onto that fast-fading path to citizenship.
Twice, they saved enough to consult an immigration attorney.
Twice, they were told no, they would not qualify for green cards.
After living here 16 years as husband and wife, they’re used to dashed hopes, they say.
Once, a while back, the father marched buoyantly in Philly with Latino friends, convinced that amnesty was at hand.
But 9/11 happened.
And with it, the family’s door to citizenship, cracked open in the late 90s, slammed shut.

So for now, they wait, living quietly, cautiously, the rising panic of recent weeks hidden behind smiles dropped only in the dark of night, after the kids are asleep.
Their precautions are simple, scrupulous and necessary.
Before heading out to work each day, each checks the other’s car for broken headlights and taillights.
With more than 200,000 miles on their engines, keeping their cars running is challenge enough.
But a busted brake light, a fender bender, a traffic ticket, a breakdown – anything that brings the cops – could be the beginning of the end of their lives here. Inspection and insurance papers, they could produce. But a driver’s license?

Careful for years, the two these days are on high alert.
Their kids feel the change, too.
The two teenagers, who attend public school in one of the Main Line’s well-regarded districts, bring home stories of classmates belittling them, insulting their Mexican heritage. Only their names give them away. Unlike their parents, all four speak English without hint of an accent.
“My kids just ignore it, but I know they’re hurting,” the father confides. “My wife and I know we don’t belong here, but how about them? This is the only country they know.”
When the family shops at Walmart, security guards and clerks follow them, they say. “We see other shoppers grab their pocketbooks when we’re near them,” the dad says.

Times are tougher at work, too.
In recent weeks, clients – people they work for at their respective jobs – have demanded to know how they voted, mocked their accents and suggested that they learn better English.
They explain that they’re improving their English as quickly as they can.
Each has engaged a volunteer tutor from a local literacy group.
They want us to know, too, that they “try hard to be good citizens” even if they don’t have and likely will never get the documents that say so.
“We pay our bills on time. We pay our taxes,” the man says. “We’re trying to speak the language. I got my GED. We are decent people.”
Regulars at Sunday Mass, they profess gratitude to God for what they have.
But, pressed, they admit “many obstacles.”
Their eldest has a 3.5 GPA and is a student athlete.
“But we can’t go to the bank and ask for money to send our child to college. We can’t go to a car dealership to buy a new car because we don’t have valid licenses and social security numbers. We can’t go to a regular doctor or get health insurance.”
The undocumented half of the family relies on a free clinic for health and dental care. Even one hospital stay would bankrupt them, they say. The three younger children qualify for Medicaid.
Both parents often work six days a week – they can’t afford to turn down extra hours. In sixteen years here, they have never taken a vacation. Not one.

No, life isn’t easy here. But life was darn near impossible in Mexico, they say.
The man was the first to cross over.
He finished high school in Mexico City, drove a cab and sold tacos in the street to support himself and help his parents.
He had no plan to leave his country until a cousin told him about the chance to work for a living wage and live among family in suburban Philadelphia.
Excited, he sold his cab and hired a human smuggler (“coyote”) to guide him across the border in Tijuana. He slipped under a border fence, walked for four hours, then shared a ride to LA in the trunk of a car. He brought nothing. The only thing in his pocket: his cousin’s phone number in PA.
“It’s scary; you don’t know who you’re dealing with,” he remembers. “The coyotes are like the Mafia: they pass you from one person to the next.”
Because airline security was much looser 20 years ago, he flew from LA to Philly, where his cousin and a landscaping job were waiting.

His future wife would cross a few years later.
She was born, one of seven, in a rural village in one of Mexico’s poorest states. Her father was a subsistence farmer.
Home had no electricity, no running water, no beds. Her wardrobe: two dresses. After her education ended in sixth grade – the village school went no higher – she helped her father in the fields and her mother in the kitchen.
At 14, she moved to a nearby city to become a nanny to twins.
When she was 20, her aunt invited her to join her in the U.S. “I saw how hard my parents were working to survive,” the woman says. “I thought if I made more money in America, I could send them more.”
Eager to help, her boss paid the coyotes.
She crossed at Tijuana in the trunk of a car.
For three months, she trimmed grapevines in a California vineyard, then flew east to join relatives in Philly’s western suburbs. Like other migrants, she gave a false social security number to a factory and received her first American paycheck.
After she met her future husband, the two returned to marry in Mexico near their parents and siblings. They stayed on in Mexico City; the man resumed driving a cab. A year later, they had a baby.
One day, the man stopped home for lunch. “My wife asked me for money for diapers and milk for the baby and I looked in my pocket. There wasn’t enough money to feed the baby.”
That night they decided to return to the U.S.

Crossing this time – with a 14-month-old and a five months-pregnant wife – would be much riskier.
The baby went first.
“We had to hand our baby to strangers and cross through the desert. They told us it would be a better place,” the man recalls.
Again, they journeyed penniless, carrying a gallon of water between them for what they were told would be a three-day walk.
But, after a nightlong trek, their guide inexplicably abandoned their group of eight.
They jumped a six-foot fence at the Arizona border and flagged down a minivan.
“Help us, please,” the man beseeched. “I need to get my wife to Phoenix because my baby is there.”
The driver agreed to take only the four women. “First, I gave my daughter to a stranger, then I gave my wife to a stranger. I lost contact with her for three days.”
With the women on their way, the four men turned themselves in to U.S. authorities. They were handcuffed in the back of a pickup truck, driven to Tucson and put on a plane to El Paso, where they were escorted back over the border (to Cuidad Juarez, Mexico).
Officials intentionally drop you at distant, unfamiliar crossing points so you’ll be less likely to attempt another crossing, the man explains.
Desperate by now to find his wife and baby, he was undeterred.
He took a long bus ride back to the original crossing point in Arizona and tried again.
This time, he walked across, at one point ducking into bushes to avoid a guard.
He eventually reunited with his wife and baby in Phoenix.
Because airlines now required IDs, the family crossed the U.S. in a minivan, rejoining their cousins in Philly’s western suburbs.

Sixteen years and three more children later, they’re still here.
Forever grounded, each missed a parent’s funeral in Mexico a few years ago. “We’re caught in a cage,” says the father. “Here, we are able to feed our kids and send them to school. But we can never give a hug to our parents or see how they’re doing day by day,”
Would a wall have kept them out?
Not likely, the couple says. “People in my country are hungry. When you’re hungry, you go where the food is – even if you have to jump higher or go under. There’s a lot of corruption in Mexico and I don’t see when it’s going to be better. If it were, we wouldn’t have risked our lives to get here.”
Tighter border security is already “pushing people to cross in dangerous areas now, where there are narcos and criminals,” he says.

After the November election, the couple began preparing for the worst.
They arranged for an American friend to raise their three American children should they and their oldest be deported.
If only the father is sent back, he fears whatever job he finds in Mexico wouldn’t pay enough to support his family back here.
And if DACA is repealed, their eldest “dreamer” child would have “no chance at all” to go to college, they say.
“We’re afraid at any moment that something is going to happen, but we can’t tell our kids,” the father says. “We have to live like nothing is happening. They are happy kids.”
More tentative than her husband, his wife adds softly: “At the end of the day, we say, ‘Thank you, God, and please take care of us. Please keep us together.’”

Switching gears completely …. Louella is on the move again.

The popular women’s fashion boutique with stores in Wayne and Malvern is expanding to Bryn Mawr, taking over the Sara Campbell space at 1012 Lancaster Ave.

Louella ladies at the boutique’s future home on Lancaster Ave. in Bryn Mawr: owner Maria Delany, District Sales Manager Jennifer Mihok; Bryn Mawr store manager Darlene Wolfington; and Rosemary Dekker, assistant manager in Wayne.

Owner Maria Delany tells SAVVY she’s “super excited” to open her third Louella in the heart of the Main Line, citing the eastern Main Line’s reluctance to cross the Blue Route to shop.

“Bryn Mawr is in the middle of a renaissance; there’s really good energy there.”
(Judging from the jammed lot at the new Bryn Mawr Village, we tend to agree – although it would be nice to see fewer vacant storefronts on Lancaster Ave.)

Louella Bryn Mawr will carry many of the boutique’s tried-and-true labels, including those eye-popping baubles from local gal, Lisi Lerch.
Also on order: new contemporary lines.
Prices, in typical Louella fashion, will run from reasonably low to reasonably higher.
At one end, trendy tops and jeans for well under $100. (Hear that, ’Nova students?)
At the other: preppy-with-punch designers like Trina Turk and Alice + Trixie.

After repainting the outside and spiffing up the inside, Louella III hopes to open in late April.
Meanwhile, Sara Campbell’s manager says the store may relocate on the Main Line.

In other shopping news – this time, bittersweet: Tuesday, March 14 is your chance to support the Devon Horse Show AND celebrate what would have been Polka Dots’ owner Susan Randels’ 61st birthday.

The Paoli fashion boutique is donating 20 percent of the day’s sales to the Devon Horse Show and Country Fair Foundation.

A huge horse show supporter and an equestrian herself, Susan tragically passed from a ruptured retroperitoneal aortic aneurysm on June 1, 2016, Ladies Day at Devon.
Her store, and her memory, live on.

Time to upgrade your flat screen. Or get that second fridge already.
Electronics retailer HHGregg in Berwyn is closing.
No surprise – The Swedesford Road store on the company’s hit list of 88 weak-performing stores.
Look for big liquidation sales into April.

First Circuit City, now HHGregg. Another big box gone bust. Ugh.

But at least the old Nordstrom Rack in KOP has a taker.
Fashion discounter Saks Off Fifth will open near the Regal Cinemas in April.

Site of the future Saks Off Fifth discount department store in King of Prussia.

Meanwhile, the Best Buy next door is hanging tough in the midst of a company-wide reorganization after ho-hum holiday sales.

Fun times in downtown Ardmore.

Or not.

After a decade of acrimony, construction of the $60 million, mixed-use, mixed-review One Ardmore Place has begun.

Good news for potential renters of the Place’s 110 luxury “loft” apartments with la-di-da amenities and underground parking.

A schematic of Dranoff Properties’ One Ardmore Place.

Not so good news for drivers accustomed to parking in the Incredibly Shrinking (And Soon Disappearing) Lot on Cricket Ave.

Constructions crews tell SAVVY the lot will be closed completely in three weeks and the whole eight-story project – two below ground, six above –  will take two years to finish.

Looking to swerve off the fast lane for a few days?

You’re invited to stop and smell the roses – or whatever’s blooming in late April – at a new-to-the-Main-Line event in Malvern.
(Sorry, guys. This one’s for only for the ladies.)

Life’s Patina at Willowbrook Farm, host of those cool barn sales, is hosting a whole new kind of gathering, a “Soul Restoration” retreat, April 26-29. Created and staged by  Brave Girls Club, the retreat is billed “a creative art + soul + life journey.” Seems Owner Meg Veno attended the same retreat and loved it so much, she’s bringing the Brave Girls here.

The idea is to immerse yourself in peace, quiet and beauty (and we know Willowbrook’s got all three in spades) as you unlock your hidden gifts with “soul crafting” art projects, journaling, nourishing food and a new friend or two.
The end game: A brave new life path.

Only thing missing? Oprah. But we hear retreat leader Kristen Hansen’s a darn fine stand-in.

An unexpected SAVVY find: Cedars Café BYOB in ho-hum strip center in Frazer.

Dull décor but tasty, scratch-made Middle Eastern fare. Family-owned, too.

Get in spring spirit (the weather sure is) and order the marinated lamb kebob with hummus and house salad. ($22.99). Apologies to Lourdas in Bryn Mawr, but Cedar’s got you beat on this one.

A SAVVY shoutout to Fox 29 “Good Day Philadelphia” host Mike Jerrick, who just came clean about why he’s been AWOL for the last few weeks.

Mike Jerrick and co-host Alex Holley on the set of “Good Day Philadelphia”

Witty and exceptionally affable, Mike announced on Facebook that he suffers from depression that’s been building over 13 years. He left town to get professional help at a wellness retreat in Southern California.

Which only goes to show you: Even the sunniest of souls battle inner storms.

Bravely done, Mike. Get well soon.

The post Undocumented on the Main Line; Louella heads east & lots of comings & goings around town appeared first on SAVVY MAINLINE.

The Chef’s Counter at the new Mistral KOP

You’ll never guess what just blew in to the King of Prussia Mall.

Legitimately hip dining.

We kid you not.

Twice we visited the new Mistral – named for the stiff “mistral” winds that clobber the coast of south France.

Twice, we were, well, blown away.

While the usual suspects – Cheesecake Factory, Grand Lux Café, California Pizza Kitchen – are corporate, aka manufactured for the masses, Mistral is:

1. privately owned
2. relatively intimate
3. chef driven. (A fancy way of saying that an onsite chef creates and executes the menu. No corporate recipes.)

There’s only one other Mistral on earth – in Princeton – and it’s even smaller.

Mistral KOP sits between Neiman Marcus and Lord & Taylor.

Assuming you can get past the fact that it’s in a mall, Mistral’s got the makings of a winner.

Why?

The knockout décor, for starters.

Mid-Century Modern done right.

Where West Elm meets the Mediterranean – a vaguely nautical roped ceiling, sea blue accents and either supersized (or super-shrunken) lampshades.

Super-smart design move: putting the square-ish bar squarely in the middle of the restaurant. So no matter where you’re sitting, you’re eating in the bar.

Where the action is. (Just how we like it.)

Especially cool for foodies: the chef’s counter view of the open kitchen. (So very Vernick.)

Second best design move is en route: alfresco dining with soft seating around a firepit, heaters and smashing umbrellas (so we hear).

Mistral’s M.O.: Make the patio so swell you’ll forget you’re eating next to a parking lot.

(Never ceases to amaze how fresh air can sweeten the most pedestrian of views.)

Food’s quite lovely, too.

Locally sourced “interpretive American cuisine” is what they’re calling it.

Executive Chef (and co-owner) is James Beard Award Semifinalist Scott Anderson.

But the face you’re more likely to see here is congenial Chef de Cuisine Craig Polignano, aka Conjurer of Mistral’s magically inventive menu:

• SNACKS ($6 – $11) like Pork Riblets with scallion pancake, shiitakes and cukes ($11) and Toasted Sourdough with bacon jam (OMG!), broccoli & aged cheddar ($7).
• SMALL BITES ($10 – $15) Hint: Skip the Buccatini but savor the Ricotta Cavatelli with roasted squash ($12) or lower-cal Tuna Tartare with free-form squid ink rice crackers ($15).
• LARGE BITES ($26 -$35) Our tablemate went NUTS for the Striped Bass ($29). Olive-oil poached salmon ($26) was rich and satisfying. Probably good for your skin, too.
• SALADS & SANDWICHES ($14 – $16) like Thai Duck Salad, Grilled Halloumi Cheese Sandwich and the (inevitable) Mistral Burger with cheddar, aioli and (yes!) bacon jam.

Liquids are equally inventive: craft and classic cocktails, brews and wines – there’s an “advanced sommelier” on staff.

Happy hours are nice and loooonnnnng (Mondays 5 to 8, Tues. to Thurs. 4 to 7. No Fridays, sigh.) Wines $7 – $8, two cocktails $8 – $9.80, and three beers $3 – $4.

A quibble: The incognito entrance. The place is hidden behind dark windows and a subtle logo. Although we’re hearing that a fix is on the way. (Note to shoppers: You can’t access Mistral from inside the mall.)

A SAVVY scoop: Mistral’s owners are scouting downtown space for a brand new concept: a wine bar serving bio-dynamic/sustainable wines. Ultra-hip concept for hipster Philly, eh?

Mistral King of Prussa, 160 N. Gulph Rd, at the KOP Mall next to the Grand Lux Café, between Lord & Taylor and Neiman’s, 610-768-1630.

Football families kick in for ‘Conestoga 3’

A GoFundMe has been started for the three teens accused in the Conestoga Football locker room scandal.

To defend themselves in court, “the families significantly diminished their savings and the boys’ college funds,” the GoFundMe page reads. “One young man lost a scholarship and during this highly stressful ordeal, another lost his father.”

The players were also “harassed by their classmates and suffered online abuse and judgment by the community,” according to the page.

At last count, the campaign had raised $3,130 of its $30K goal, which will be split evenly between the three families.

The fundraiser was started by Stoga parent David Paolisso, whose son played football and was friends with the Stoga 3.

You may recall that the DA dropped assault charges after the students accepted a lesser charge of harassment in January.

Main Line climbs aboard rock gym craze

We went to great lengths (and heights) to check out the Main Line’s first climbing gym – the new Gravity Vault in Radnor.

OK. Not so great. But this guy did.

Gravity Vault’s all high and mighty, but in a good way.  Its 16,000 sq. ft. of climbing and 4,000 sq ft. of bouldering are as big as the best of ’em.

It boggles the mind that this place – until quite recently – was home to two tennis courts at the Radnor Racquet Club. (The Club and the Vault share entrances off King of Prussia Road.)

For experienced folks, there are “double blacks” – including a cave, cracks, rappel tower and chimney.

Newbies (like us) and kids scale beginner walls, studded with colorful emoji, zoo and alphabet holds.

Each climb’s degrees of difficulty is color-coded and numbered, making it easy for geekier climbers to chart their progress.

This is a workout, folks.

Owner Zach Barber tells SAVVY that climbing gets the heart pounding, the muscles screaming and the adrenalin rushing.

Nice endorphin kick, too, as you’re belayed safely back to earth.

A couple of crazy climbers: GV owner Zach Barber and Assistant Manager Harrison Bowen.

Fear of flying? No worries; they won’t leave you hanging here. You have to pass a test to climb unsupervised.

Seeking extra sweat? Warm up or down in the nicely equipped workout room on site.

Gravity Vault Radnor is the sixth location for the Jersey-based franchisor. It’s only Zach’s first. But give him time; he’s only 30.

An expert climber, it seems Zach’s timing is also impeccable.

For the first time, rock climbing will be an Olympic sport at the 2020 Tokyo Games. The Japanese – along with ex-gymnasts the world over – are mad for it.

More earthbound mortals can sign up for just about anything at Gravity Vault: private and small group lessons, kids’ classes, birthday parties, corporate events, scout badges, summer camp, monthly or yearly memberships and advanced certifications.

Whatever rocks your world.

Gravity Vault, 175 King of Prussia Road (in the Radnor Racquet/Pomme complex), 610-756-2529. Day passes $12 kids-$18 adults, harnass and shoe rentals extra. “Ladies” climb for $9 on Fridays, 5 p.m. – 10 p.m.

 Making of Rosemont’s Queen of Soaps’ new memoir: a cliffhanger (!)

Agnes Nixon and family at the 2010 Daytime Emmys, where she was given a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Bravo to the late Agnes Nixon and ‘All Her Children’ – the REAL ones, not her daytime TV characters.

With a HUGE assist from her kids, Rosemont’s Queen of Soaps pulled off a daunting feat last September – with zilcho time to spare.

Just two days before her death at age 93, she finished her memoir, My Life to Live: How I Became the Queen of Soaps When Men Ruled the Airwaves, published this week.

Incredibly, for most of the four-plus years she took to write it, she was battling the effects of a 2012 stroke.

After All My Children and One Life to Live were cancelled in 2011, Mrs. Nixon “wanted one last shot at her legacy,” says her oldest daughter, Cathy Chicos, who lives in Gladwyne.

Cathy Chicos with her husband, Paul, her mother, Agnes Nixon, her daughter Kelly Chicos Eisenberg and son-in-law, Jeff, at a Northwestern U. Distinguished Alumni event in 2014.

Agnes Nixon’s soaps never scrubbed over the truth. Her plotlines delved into things that were hush hush in those days: AIDS, LBGT rights, addiction, inter-racial romance, uterine cancer.

“After so many years writing dialogue, it was REALLY hard for her to write prose,” her daughter says.

Her mom would dictate, and Cathy, who was “pretty good at understanding her speech,” would transcribe, then read the words back so her mother could “edit auditorially,” she tells SAVVY.

A slow slog, but it worked.

Her son, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Bob Nixon, also answered his mom’s plea for help, reading draft edits to his mother during daily long-distance calls and adding lines his mother suggested.

Another daughter, Mary Nixon, says she didn’t help with the book, but did give her mom “many story ideas for her shows due to my struggles with life.”

I am very happy her story is out now,” Mary says.

It’s cool that Carol Burnett wrote the Forward and, of course, Susan Lucci, aka Erica Kane, All My Children’s arch villainess for 41 years, gave it the thumbs up.  But the best blurb came from the (poison) pen of Larry David:

“Aggie Nixon is the only person I’ve ever known whom I didn’t say awful things about. And much to my dismay, her memoir did nothing to change that.”

Three new – and wildly different – pizza joints rolling our way

Kono to Go, pizza-in-a-cone, is coming to the King of Prussia Mall April 1, its first PA location.

Picture that: sausage, meatball or chicken parm pizzas, stuffed in a cone crust.  Just grab and go.

Mamma Mia and pass the napkins.

A fast-growing franchise, Kono will operate out of a kiosk near the food court on the Primark/Dick’s Sporting Goods side of the mall.

The second new joint, From the Boot, will debut in the old Vecchia pizza space in Wayne (124 N. Wayne Ave.) sometime in April. It’s the fourth location for the family-owned pizzeria chain out of Montco. (You can still get your Vecchia fix in Phoenixville, btw.)

And finally, the most ambitious of the three: MidiCi will fire up Neapolitan pies in the King of Prussia Town Center come May. Antipasti, salads and booze, too. Stay tuned to SAVVY for deets on this one. (Tough work, we know.)

Wayne’s former Mod Pizza goes Indian

A Best of Philly fave in Bala Cynwyd, Saffron Indian Kitchen will soon spice up space on Lancaster Ave. that’s giving us whiplash: Peace a Pizza then Melt Down then Mod Pizza then Saffron. Oy.

(Will someone, anyone, please bite on the ramshackle, former McDonald’s in Wayne? Or how about the monolithic former Carmel Café? Or dearly departed Primavera?)

Vivi G. Shoes hoofs it to Eagle Village’s ‘retail row’

Employee Irene Comly-Bates at the new Vivi G. Shoes in Eagle Village.

After five years, Wayne’s Vivi G. Shoes has a new home – just across the parking lot at Eagle Village Shops.

“It’s more of a retail row here, being next to Jacques Ferber and Menagerie,” owner Sherri Guggenheim tells SAVVY, who calls her new digs “very Madison Avenue.”

Vivi G. will still peddle shoes and bags by, among others, Tory Burch, Butter, and their private Italian label. But they’re amping up their ready-to-wear racks with wraps, tops, Crazy Larry pants, leggings and more.

Another one bites the sawdust

After a 70-year run in the heart of Bryn Mawr, Suburban Hardware is calling it quits.

Leaving another big ole hole on Lancaster Ave.

When he started working at the store back in 1967, owner Charlie Waters tells us he made $1.25/hr.

Presumably, he got a big raise when he bought the place 23 years later.

His lease ends May 31 but Charlie’s not headed for the rocking chair. He’ll work part time at Ricklin’s Hardware in Narberth, which he co-owns with Jed Riddell.

While his Bryn Mawr store had a loyal following, Charlie says it faced multiple challenges: parking issues, online and big box competition, limited selling space and rising overhead.

For those wanting to buy from a mom-and-pop hardware shop, he recommends Do it Best Hardware, tucked away on Pennsylvania Ave in Wayne. And Ricklin’s on Haverford Ave., naturally.

More signs of retail distress

J.C. Penney will close at the King of Prussia Mall in June.

So much for the KOP Mall’s bullet-proof reputation.

The Penney’s KOP is one of seven in PA – and 138 nationwide – to go dark.

But here’s a shocker (at least it was to us): When you shop for a TV at nearby Best Buy, you might not be getting help from a Best Buy employee. Seems Samsung and LG (and maybe others) are paying the salaries of sales folks for their products. A store within a store – sort of like the makeup counters at Macy’s.

‘Warm hand-offs’ for opioid addicts at CC hospitals

Chester County just gave $25,000 to its five hospitals, including Paoli, to seed their warm hand-off programs.

After cops,docs and nurses save folks who’ve overdosed, warm hand-off programs – not to be confused with warm handouts – refer addicts directly to treatment and counseling.

The donation proves that Chester County “recognizes that the opioid and heroin crisis is serious and it’s not going away,” says Michelle Kichline, chair of County Commissioners.

Warm hand-offs are just one weapon in the county’s multi-pronged attack. Others include: stepped-up law enforcement to get dealers off the streets, Drug Courts mandating treatment for addicts, community programs like NOPE (Narcotics Overdose Prevention and Education), drug drop-off boxes and efforts to change docs’ prescribing practices for pain killers.

The 25K donation (5K per hospital) came from Chester County’s Color 5K which attracted 710 to West Chester last fall. Take your mark: this year’s Color 5K is set for Nov. 4.

Bryn Mawr’s Shoba Narayan, a shooting star of Broadway’s Comet

Shoba as Natasha on Broadway. Photo by Nick Gaswirth.

Radnor High grad Shoba Narayan assumed the lead role of Natasha – opposite Josh Groban, no less – in the hit Broadway musical, Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812.

The role’s understudy, Shoba was filling in for two nights.

A short stint, yes, but it marked the first time in ten years (since Bombay Dreams) that a South Asian American woman had a principal role on Broadway. Shoba tells SAVVY the gig was a “whirlwind.” The role is super demanding – as Natasha never really leaves the stage.

“The most surreal moment was putting on Natasha’s coat and making my first entrance,” writes Shoba in an e-mail. “I remember telling myself that for the next 2.5 hours, my only task was to tell her story, be present, and not worry about anything else.”

Afterward, she’d pinch herself. “Josh Groban and I just sang into each other’s faces. Wow.” Backstage, Shoba and Josh would beatbox and dance, she says.

If you didn’t catch her on Broadway, you may have seen Shoba from age 9 to 17 perform in the PA Ballet’s Nutcracker.

Or you may have caught her playing Maria in West Side Story at Radnor, her “most memorable” high school role.

“I had to tap into some tough adult emotions, feel vulnerable on stage and (vocally) learn how to nail that high C.”

Fast forward to Broadway’s Comet and the Natasha role. Also nailed.

Shine on, Shoba. The brightest of futures unfolds before you.

The post New Mistral, a bold move at KOP Mall; $$ for Stoga’s accused; Gravity Vault rocks Radnor; Queen of Soaps’ new memoir; Retail ups & downs & more appeared first on SAVVY MAINLINE.

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.

Residents of Daylesford Crossing eagerly await the arrival of Carol Burnett. The front row was reserved for the women – ages 89 – 98 (!) – who were featured in the video that lured the star to Paoli: Lucy Mastronardo, Alice Penrose, Estelle Abrams, Fran Cincino, Hortie Bertsch and Ollie Price.

In a touching video, the residents serenaded her and begged her to come. And so she did. (More on that later.)

Preferring to fly under the radar, she specifically asked that no TV cameras and no big news outlets be invited to Daylesford.

She was OK with having one community journalist on hand and SAVVY was lucky enough to get the call (!)

Elizabeth Ator, whose mom lives at Daylesford Crossing, waits her turn to shake Carol Burnett’s hand.

A spry 83, Carol shook hands with everyone in the room, then answered questions.

Which, you may recall, is precisely the way she opened The Carole Burnett Show for 11 years. Carol unplugged and unfiltered.

Funny, yes, but warm, gracious and real. No spoiled superstar demands. No condescending attitude. Heck, she hardly wanted her visit (a good deed if there ever was one) publicized. Today’s celebs could learn a lot from this class act.

Carol signs a copy of her book, held by Kelly Andress’ assistant, for superfan and Daylesford resident Ollie Price.

In our 35-minute close encounter with Carol, here’s what we learned:

• Like everyone, she’s seen heartache but chooses to live life with gusto. Fifteen years ago, her daughter, Carrie Hamilton, died from cancer at age 38. Unfailingly upbeat during her hospital stay, Carrie’s mantra has become Carol’s: “Each day when I wake up, I decide that today I’m going to love my life.”
• Every year Lucille Ball, that other comic redhead, sent Carol flowers on her birthday. Lucy died at age 77 on Carol’s birthday, April 26. Her flowers arrived that afternoon.
• Among her favorite TV sketches: Playing Scarlett in “Went with the Wind” wearing Bob Mackie’s famous curtain-rod dress; Eunice on “The Gong Show”; and Mrs. Wiggins, she of the Farrah Fawcett hair and see-through head. (“The IQ fairy never paid her a visit,” she cracked in Paoli.)
• After all these years, she hasn’t skipped a beat. Audience question: How will you celebrate your birthday later this month? Carol Burnett: I’m going to try to blow out all the candles. Audience question: “What’s on your bucket list?” Carol: “George Clooney.” (Everyone howled.)

Back to the backstory: Seems Carol Burnett is a big inspiration for Sage Senior Living communities – there are four, including Daylesford, with another one on the way at Atwater in Malvern (“Overlook at Echo Lake”).

Sage owner Kelly Andress says her centers have to pass the Carol Burnett sniff test. As in: Would Carol live here? Every decision – the furniture, the design, the programming – flows from there.

Sage Senior Living owner Kelly Andress and Carol Burnett, as the star exits her limo in front of the Paoli facility.

Another reason (perhaps) for her girl crush: Kelly’s a redhead, too. But Carol ‘fessed up that she “never has been” one. (Whaaa??????)

Sage is so smitten with Carol that they thought it would be fun if the centers’ activities directors organized a contest to lure her to visit.

Daylesford’s Carol Burnettt fans outdid themselves with a video that charmed Carol completely. Here’s the tail end:

A few weeks ago, Ms. Burnett’s handlers alerted Sage that the star would indeed journey out to the Main Line. (Residents at the runner up, Plush Mills in Wallingford, received backstage passes to her show at the Academy of Music Tuesday night.)

Here’s Carol advice for enjoying the life you’re living:

But there’s a deeper story behind Kelly’s clear affection for Carol. Kelly says Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Burnett blazed a path for strong, working women, a path that led to Kelly’s career: creating upbeat, upscale senior living communities.

Sage communities, and others like them, fill a relatively new but growing need.  Aging moms don’t usually move in with their kids anymore, nor do they live down the street for easy check-ins.

Many Daylesford Crossing residents have college degrees, and from the looks of Monday’s gathering, they have a swell old time. We hear their raucous happy hours make the place seem more like a 55+plus community, instead of one loaded with octogenarians.

You know – folks around Carol Burnett’s age.

No, the living legend doesn’t live at Daylesford Crossing.

But she’d feel right at home.

She sure did on Monday.

Bryn Mawr’s Maxwell family lets in the light after son’s suicide

At last week’s DMAX Foundation event at Shipley: Head of School Steve Piltch, guest speaker and Guardian of the Gate Sgt. Kevin Briggs, DMAX Foundation Exec. Director and founder Laurie Burstein-Maxwell, and Alec Elmore, a DMAX Board member. (Photo by Joel Perlish)

We all know kids talk. They talk – or text – all the time.

But do they have “conversations that matter”?

Spurring honest talk among young adults is now the life’s work of Bryn Mawr mom and former corporate executive, Laurie Burstein-Maxwell.

Perhaps more than anyone, Laurie and her husband, Lee, know that talk is not cheap. That talk can – and does – save lives.

They know that if their son, Dan, deeply depressed for 18 months, had felt he could confide in his pals, he might still be here. The thick black cloud might have brightened, even a little, and he might not have taken his own life, just weeks after his Radnor High graduation in 2013.

The Maxwells believe his friends might have reminded Dan how much he had to live for, told him about the hole he’d leave in their hearts should he go.

For Dan was not your typical troubled kid – if there even is such a thing.

Surely, mental illness couldn’t visit a member of the National Honor Society and a three-sport varsity athlete, a young man who was kind and caring, who had a wide circle of friends.

But he suffered in silence, the stigma of his illness too profound for him to share his demons with his buddies. His parents, of course, knew of his battles. Like Dan himself, they tried everything to get him well.

Three-and-a-half years after their son’s suicide, the Maxwells are forcing the conversation. Their DMAX Foundation (Dan’s nickname) is committed to “Friends Helping Friends.”

With college counseling centers overloaded with students, the Maxwells’ idea seems simple and smart: Start DMAX Clubs on college campuses – caring, student-run communities that encourage open sharing in serious and sometimes silly ways. (Stress-busting Food Smash, anyone?)

A pilot club at Elon tested the mission, systems and programming.

A second DMAX Club is up and running at Penn State. Its leader say Penn State is a place where “it’s easy to to get lost among 35,000 students” and the stress over grades can be overwhelming.

Soon there may be a DMAX clubs at Drexel and, if all goes according to plan, clubs at Temple, at Bryn Mawr and beyond.

To raise money for the clubs, DMAX Foundation holds two events a year: a social fundraiser and a spring awareness event.

Held at Shipley last week, this year’s spring event, “It Takes a Caring Community,” featured a talk by a man who’s certainly walked the walk.

By saying just the right words, Sgt. Kevin Briggs has saved more than 200 people from jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge.

Known almost as well for its suicides as its beauty, the 80-year old bridge has seen more than 1,400 jumping deaths. A 20-foot-wide metal “suicide barrier” is about to be installed, a multi-year, multi-million dollar project.

Dubbed the Guardian of the Gate, Briggs says would-be jumpers are getting younger and younger. Bullied or perhaps worried about grades, teens can’t see beyond the immediate future and often jump quickly, before a trained negotiator like Briggs has time to talk them down, he says. “We all want to see our kids succeed but if it’s at the cost of their health, we’ve failed,” he tells SAVVY.

Briggs’ own son – a standout soccer player – seriously contemplated suicide at age 13, stressed over grades and his father’s urging that he be “the man of the house” after his parents’ divorce.

Even the Guardian himself has to guard against mental illness. After serious bouts with cancer, heart disease and a head-on motorcycle crash, he fell into a deep depression.
“So I have to take medication, so what? Depression was as real to me as the crash, the cancer and the heart stuff.”

His mission, like the Maxwells’ DMAX Foundation: To de-stigmatize mental illness, to teach the value of active listening, to let those with mental illness know it’s not their fault and they’re not alone.

Lee Maxwell, closing the DMAX Foundation’s 3rd annual Spring Event.

At the program’s end, Lee Maxwell, a faith-filled man, took the mic:

“Every day that we live, we have to go on and fight back tears … My son was challenged. God challenged him. He didn’t ask for it. We found out he cried himself to sleep many nights. He was not a quitter, he was not a crier, yet he did that … If Dan’s friends said he has a special challenge, just as he was challenged on the lacrosse field…. It’s like in the Bible, Dan was cursed with a demon not in his control. He felt like he was an alien …I know we can make a difference.”

A related note: Drew Bergman, the young St. Joe’s Prep grad who twice attempted suicide and now speaks to high schools for Minding Your Mind – we profiled him last year – will once again host “A Celebration of Life” fundraiser on May 18. Click here to register.

And because mental illness and addiction often go hand in hand, we want to tell you about “Generation Found,” a powerful and instructive movie coming to the Main Line. The film focuses on a community that came together to ignite a “recovery revolution” for addicted youth in their hometown. It will be shown at Rosemont’s New Leaf Club April 23 with panel discussion to follow.

Carson Kressley kibbitzes in Malvern (with video)

Carson Kressley, Blue Octagon owner Krissa Wichser and Newtown Square interior designer Stacey Brand.

The Queer Eye for the Straight Guy/Devon Horse Show star alighted on King Street’s Blue Octagon last week for a little Schmooze ‘N’ Sign.

A bevy of lovely ladies lined up to meet the dashing man behind the book, “Does This Book Make My Butt Look Big: a Cheeky Guide to Feeling Sexier in Your Own Skin & Unleashing Your Personal Style.”

A mouthful, we know, but this smart and sassy book – Carson’s fourth – may be the single most useful women’s style guide we’ve ever read.

(And, as a former fashion editor, yours truly has read her fair share.)

’Course Carson, a Phi Beta Kappa at Gettysburg, has always had plenty cooking between the ears.

In a match made in marketing heaven, he happened upon Blue Octagon owner Krissa Wichser at a home design show. The preppy-chic aesthetic of Krissa’s store mirrored Carson’s classic-with-a-punch style.

Sparks flew.

An invitation was proffered.

Books were purchased. A date was set.

Carson with fans Sally Layden and Kathy Morgan.

Unlike Ms. Burnett, Carson didn’t have to fly in. He drove himself to Malvern from his horse farm outside Allentown, where he grew up.

Still, in our book, he’s an honorary Main Liner, having competed in Saddlebreds at Devon and judged the show’s hat contest for eons. Plus, he’s partial to our native dress, i.e. Lauren/Lilly chic.

Among other gigs, Carson’s been a regular on Oprah, GMA, E!’s Oscar coverage, competed on Dancing with the Stars and Celebrity Apprentice, and is due to cameo and maybe help produce the Netflix reboot of Queer Eye (reportedly to be set in red states, not New York City). Heck, he’s even judged the Miss Universe pageant and raises money for LGBT causes like the Trevor Project and True Colors Fund.

Busy dude. But he still hangs at our horse show each spring.

Where he might tell us – in a nice way and only if we ask – if our butts are looking big.

Tin Lizard slithers into Bryn Mawr

The Main Line’s newest (and tiniest) brewpub, Tin Lizard Brewing, is crawling with customers.

So many, in fact, that they ran out of food on opening night and couldn’t open for lunch the next day.

On tap: Five house brews and a cider, all crafted by Conshohocken Brewing expat Chris Young. Oenophiles get four wines from Fero Vineyards out of Lewisburg, PA. (Sorry, no mixed drinks.)

Tin Lizard’s co-owners Mark, Alica and Inga Farley, Brewer/Operations Director Chris Young, Karen Farley, Manager Shaun Carney and co-owner Gary Farley.

On the menu: Smoked, dry-rub barbecue, burgers, salads and southern-twanged plates. (Like your BBQ wet? Squeeze on one of four house-made BBQ sauces.)

For the record: we lapped up the tasty fried pickles and smoky wings and ribs. (Alas, the house slaw and cornbread are works in progress.)

Hard to believe this homey spot was once Omar’s Hookah Café, a smokin’ hot joint that flamed out after a six-year run.

Owner operators, Mark and Gary Farley, gutted Omar’s and took six months to hatch the Lizard.

Fun fact: A homebuilder, Mark Farley hand crafted the pub’s wooden tables, bench and corrugated tin–wrapped bar.

Even more fun: Seems the whole (holy?) enterprise was divinely inspired.

The pastor of St. Thomas of Villanova Church, Fr. Joseph Narog, is a Farley family friend and craft beer aficionado. It was Fr. Narog who first floated the brewpub idea. Hence, the brewpub’s “Cloths of Heaven” Irish Red Ale and “The Raising of Lazarus” English IPA.

Spiritual it may be, but these days the Lizard’s eyeing more earthly affairs like handling the hordes, opening the rooftop deck, and sharpening the menu.

It’s all hands on deck: Archbishop Carroll kids, Villanova students and the extended Farley clan. Heaven can wait.

Tin Lizard Brewing, 1000 W. Lancaster Ave. Bryn Mawr, 610-525-1100, is open Wed. and Thurs at 4, Fri. and Sat. at 3 and Sunday at noon. (Closed Mon. and Tues.)

Thirsty souls swarm new Locust Lane brewery

Locust Lane owners Tom Arnold, Bryan Brockson and Jason Cartwright.

Locust Lane Craft Brewery just started pouring cold ones, well off the beaten path in Malvern.

Not a brewpub, the only grub here comes from food trucks and one parks outside only when the taproom’s open – Thursdays through Sundays.

Back up. An hipster haven tucked away in Malvern?

Yes and no.

The opening weekend crowd was a mix of the middle-aged and millennials. The former were friends of the owners, the latter, suds seekers, known to prowl these parts in search of the latest “release.”

The taproom debuted April Fool’s Day, but Locust Lane is no joke.

Owners are three local, beer lovin’ buds: Tom Arnold, Bryan Brockson and Jason Cartwright. Tom, a former home brewer, is the only one who quit his day job to become LL’s brewer. (Actually it was a night job – trading Asian futures, whatever that is.)

The plan: Brew “simply crafted, classic” beers, distribute them to local bars and restaurants, and let folks taste ’em in the taproom.

Small pours, pints, growlers, half kegs for now; sixtels and crowlers down the line.

On tap: IPA, ESB (an Extra/Special/Strong Bitter), Pale Ale, Stout, Brown Ale and Earth Cider. Simple names for simply crafted – four ingredient – beers.

Like most, it’s a taproom with a view – of the shiny new brewery, purchased from Cape May Brewery.

Locust Lane Craft Brewery, 50 Three Tun Rd, Suite 4, Malvern, 484-324-4141 is open Thursdays and Fridays at 5 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays at 11 a.m.

Radio Shack: Over and Out

Two local Radio Shack stores – in Ardmore and Paoli – are closing and huge inventory sell-offs are underway. The company is shuttering 200 of its 1,500 stores in the wake of its second bankruptcy filing in two years.

Blues (and a little booze) relocate in Paoli

They’re singing a happy tune over at the Paoli Blues Fest. The popular music/street festival just announced its new home: Paoli Presbyterian Church, less than a mile a away on S. Valley Rd.

After hosting the event in their parking lot for eight straight Octobers, merchants at Paoli Village Shoppes were getting peeved about losing a Saturday’s worth of business each fall.

(We’d be peeved, too, knowing how rough retailing is these days.)

A move to put the fest in Wilson Park gathered steam then tanked. Tredyffrin has a no-booze rule at public parks. The Beer Garden’s a big part of the Fest.

So, hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to church we go. Ha!

Salsa and a Shoutout

A new kind of salsa is spicing up Xolo Tacos in Bryn Mawr.

Thursday Latin Salsa Nights kick off with a beginner class at 8:30, then move to Salsa, Bachata and Merengue. DJs and live musicians, too. Just ten bucks. Olé Olé Olé.

A SAVVY shoutout to Tate Kienzle and the Conestoga Boys Lacrosse Team. And not for its exploits on the playing field, although we hear they’re worth shouting about, too.

No, it’s their nice little act of community service that has us tipping our hat.

A junior at Stoga, Tate read in the his church bulletin that donations were being sought for “Comforts of Home” packages to be shipped to parishioners’s kids serving in the military overseas.

Ray and Liz Paski, parishioners at St. Norbert, have two sons and a son-in-law deployed overseas: one in Afghantistan, one in Iraq and the third in Greenland. Tate rallied his teammates to the cause and the boys ended up supplying half of the 340 pounds shipped to the brave sons of the Paskis. “Tate’s an amazing young man,” an organizer of the effort, Sharon Lea, tells SAVVY.

Btw, this was the same Stoga crew that set out to right the ship for Stoga’s football team, dragged down by the hazing scandal. Last summer, Tate asked his buddies, none of whom had played much football, to try out for the team. Natural athletes, they all made the cut. Sure, the team went on to have its worst season in decades, but success isn’t just Ws and Ls, right?

The post Carol Burnett pops into Paoli; New Tin Lizard in Bryn Mawr & Locust Lane Brewing; Talking teen depression with DMAX; Carson Kressley sighting and much more appeared first on SAVVY MAINLINE.

Wayne resident Arthur Phillips in the 2016 Conestoga yearbook and in his 2017 mugshot.

The Tredyffrin/Easttown School District is absorbing yet another fusillade – this one, an utterly explosive federal lawsuit that, in effect, blames Conestoga, its culture and staff for the months-long sexual abuse of a female student by a teacher’s aide. The student was 15; the aide, Arthur Phillips, was 67.

Revolting.

To bolster its case, the suit details T/E’s “recent history of sex-related scandals”:

• School aide/coach Christine Towers’ affair with a male student, also 15 at the time. Arrested exactly one year to the day before Phillips, Towers is in jail for her crimes.
• The “No Gay Thursday” locker room hazing allegations that some attributed to lax supervision.
• The sexting/cyberbullying charges brought against three students, ages 11 to 15, in Nov. 2015.

The suit says the three scandals show a “pattern of deliberate and reckless indifference to signs of ongoing sexual harassment and sexual abuse” in the district.

That “culture of indifference,” the suit alleges, “created a culture in its schools that permitted Phillips’ predatory conduct.”

For those not up to speed: Phillips, of Potter Lane in Wayne, was arrested in April and sits in county prison awaiting trial on 100 criminal counts including felony statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault of a person under age 16, and child endangerment.

An aide at Stoga for ten years, Phillips was well known for buddying up with students with “Pretzel Fridays” and, more recently, “Cake Wednesdays” – he’d bring the goodies.

In light of his arrest, his 2016 yearbook photo (above) seems especially creepy.

Phillips’ alleged affair with a sophomore – from January to April of this year – was brought to light only after the girl’s mother saw her talking to Phillips, who had parked his car near her house on the Tuesday morning of spring break.

The mother followed Phillips in her car but lost him after he made an illegal turn. When classes resumed, the mother immediately brought her concerns to Conestoga officials.

Phillips was promptly ousted and arrested, and two months later, the girl’s parents dropped a legal bomb: a federal suit against Tredyffrin/Easttown School District and Conestoga Principal Amy Meisinger alleging civil rights and Title 9 sexual harassment and abuse violations.

The suit says they “failed to protect” their daughter, that Phillips’ conduct was “outrageous, open and notorious” and that “his pattern of behavior was known by administrators, teachers and and students.”

After three-and-a-half months of nearly daily contact (kissing, fondling and escalating sexual relations), Phillips raped the student “approximately ten times” until April 10, 2017, the suit alleges.

The law firm bringing suit should send shivers.

Lead attorney is hotshot litigator, Matt Casey, brother of U.S. Senator Bob Casey.

His firm, Ross Feller Casey, regularly wins multi-million judgments for its “catastrophic injury” clients.

Like, say, the $60 million Casey recovered for victims in the Penn State Sandusky sexual abuse case.

In one four-month period last year, Casey won judgments of $29 million, $26.5 million, $26.3 million and $20 million.

Among the firm’s specialties: high-profile sexual abuse cases. Ross Feller Casey has “successfully litigated a series of seven- and eight-figure settlements involving child sexual abuse in a variety of settings,” according to its website.

The suit against T/E, filed June 8, is already featured prominently on the site.

Make no mistake: Casey is shooting for at least seven figures here.

The alleged damages: the student’s mental anguish, depression, humiliation, anxiety, loss of future earning capacity and reimbursement for medical care and therapy.

By the way, the parent of the abused male student in the Towers’ case has also hired Casey and, according to the firm’s press release, might also sue the district. Casey says both families have called for Meisinger’s resignation.

We obtained and reviewed the 35-page Phillips lawsuit.

Two things struck us right away:

First: The disgusting (alleged) details of the alleged wooing, sexual grooming and ultimate daily sexual contact between Phillips and the minor plaintiff both on and off school grounds that went on for months.

Second: The naming of names. More than a dozen Conestoga teachers, aides and administrators are called out by name, charged with either turning a blind eye to the relationship between Phillips and the student or failing to enforce rules that might have prevented the abuse.

Among the ugliest allegations (and please note, these are only allegations):

1. That Phillips began grooming the student in October, leading to four months of sexual contact, much of it on school property: in the TV studios, in Phillips office and in his parked car. It alleges the two often left Conestoga during or right after school, venturing to his boat on the Schuylkill, Handel’s Ice Cream, Berwyn Pizza, Estia in Radnor, Christopher’s in Wayne, King of Prussia Mall and nearby restaurants.
2. That Phillips and the student once double-dated with a Stoga teacher and her husband. Yeah, you read that right. The suit alleges that a certain Conestoga arts teacher accompanied Phillips and the student to area eateries after school “on several occasions.” It says the teacher once told the plaintiff: “There was always one like you before,” referring to the relationship between Phillips and a student. And that very same teacher and her husband allegedly joined Phillips and the student for dinner at Paladar in King of Prussia to celebrate the girl’s 16^th birthday in March. Nauseating and completely outrageous if true.
3. That teachers and staff – knowingly or unknowingly – may have been asleep at the switch. The suit says Phillips regularly wrote unauthorized hall passes that allowed the girl to miss or be late for class so they could spend time alone. School policy allows only teachers – not aides – to write such passes, but six different teachers honored them and none reported Phillips’ misuse of them, the suit says. An A-student in English, the plaintiff missed 20 English classes (!) from January 2017 to April 2017, began turning in late assignments and her grades fell, but the suit alleges that her English teacher never questioned her absences or talked to her parents about them.
4. That several people who worked in and around the TV studio (all are named in the complaint) knew that Phillips was taking the plaintiff and other minor students off Conestoga property during the day. It also claims that administrators and staff knew about “excessive closed door meetings” between the student and Phillips. A TV studio aide even referred to the student as “Art’s girlfriend” in front of Phillips and two teachers, according to the suit. And a vice principal allegedly saw Phillips pull the plaintiff into an empty classroom – an incident that reportedly made “the hair on the back of his neck stand up” – and did nothing.
5. That “multiple” video cameras monitored the bus circle exit – the one Phillips and the plaintiff allegedly used when they left school together because it was near the TV studio – but no one bothered to review the tapes, the suit alleges.

Seeking comment on the lawsuit from the district and the school board, we were referred, as expected, to district solicitor Ken Roos.

He confirmed that the suit was discussed behind closed doors in executive session. It was not, however, mentioned during the public part of the board’s June meeting.

Other things we learned from Roos:

• Principal Meisinger is covered under the district’s liability insurance policy although Roos said he sees “no reason why the principal needed to be named.”
• The “entire matter has been forwarded” to Utica National, the district’s insurance carrier, and “we have every reason to expect it will be covered.” No word yet from Utica. Outside legal advisors tell us that Utica’s coverage decision depends on the policy’s specific terms and whether there are any relevant exclusions. A giant question mark: the impact on taxpayers if coverage is declined.
• Roos affirmed that “no one from the district administration had any knowledge of an improper relationship.”
• The district is “constantly re-evaluating its policies” relevant to sexual abuse allegations. He mentioned a newly revised adult-student “best practices” policy enacted in February 2017.
• The district has “extensive amounts of video surveillance” but Roos wouldn’t comment on how often it is reviewed or what its review policy might be.

What happens next?

Lots of behind-the-scenes “discovery,” aka lawyers collecting evidence, requesting documents and taking depositions. No doubt that witness list will include more a dozen Stoga staffers.

Then each side shows its hand to the other and the case is either settled or goes to trial.

On the criminal side, Arthur Phillips will certainly have his day in court. Chester County DA Tom Hogan tells SAVVY that no trial date has been set but that “most criminal cases in Chester County reach a resolution in 6 to 12 months, depending on defense motions and other factors.”

Summertime  – and the livin’s not easy in T/E.

Not easy at all.

Chic Tredici an early hit in Bryn Mawr Village

If Greg Dodge builds it, they will come.

The Gladwyne restaurateur proved he’s got the golden touch, opening his third Tredici to buzzy crowds and jammed phone lines.

And the outside sign isn’t even up yet.

(Technically, this one’s called Enoteca Tredici to avoid confusion with the Italian takeout market in Wayne.)

It’s his first venture into the burbs and “one of the scariest things I’ve ever done,” Greg tells SAVVY.

“The Main Line’s the Bermuda Triangle for restaurants,” he says. “No one except Marty Grims’ [White Dog Cafes, Autograph] has a real track record of success here. West of Radnor does OK; east of Radnor doesn’t.”

Despite his worries, Greg’s bet the farm here – dropping a boatload on the drop-dead décor.

Many of Tredici’s dramatic flourishes came from his “many travels” to stylish spots on the West Coast – showstoppers like the giant half-buoy chandeliers

and the curved-wood shelving and booths.

Closer to home, Greg says the bar at nearby Estia inspired him to put Tredici’s bar in the center of the action, too. “You can see the energy from every seat in the house.” (Don’t even try moving those hefty bar stools that cost well over $1,000 each.)

As for his design partners, he calls Boxwood Architects “the best restaurant architects on the East Coast.”

Foodwise, Greg tells us he’s aiming for broad (if not inexpensive) appeal: raw bar/charcuterie and small plates for the cocktail crowd; flatbread pizzas ($15-$17), pasta ($16-$20) and salads ($14–$15) for families; larger plates ($19-$29) and a “very impressive wine program” for fine diners.

The menu is a mix of Mediterranean hits from Tredici and Zavino, Dodge’s other downtown brand. The service bar was slammed during our opening weekend visit but the kitchen was already clicking, pumping out plate after plate, hot and fast.

Among the standouts:

• The roasted cauliflower $10), veal meatballs ($13), crab pasta ($20), arctic char ($29) and flat-iron chicken ($22). Next time we’ll try the broccoli & avocado.
• The summery but not-too-sweet Papi Collins, made with local Revivalist gin, Prosecco and thyme, and expertly mixed by Pabla (whom you may recognize from stints at Savona and Paramour).
• The no-need-to-commit wine list. Half-glass pours? Pure genius.

Because of the Village’s notorious daytime parking problems, there’s free valet parking nightly, at least for now.

Lunch is off the table but that may change. “If I can figure out how to park people, I’d absolutely open during the day,” Greg says.

Next up: Sunday brunch. Saturday brunch is less certain because of parking.

Alas, there’s no patio, but the front room’s walls roll back in nice weather, offering fresh breezes –  and a nice view of the Beamers and Benzes in the lot.

Enoteca Tredici, 915 W. Lancaster Ave, Bryn Mawr Village, 484-381-0268, opens nightly at 4. (Closed Mondays until mid-July.) Reservations suggested. Private dining for 30.

No Maloney’s? No Erin’s? Nova Nation crying in its beer

Two longtime dive bars are about to go dark in Bryn Mawr.

Erin Pub is closing after 40-year run on Lancaster Ave. The building’s been sold. And two doors down, Maloney’s Pub is also calling it quits after 15 years.

Cue the happy dance over at The Grog and Kelly’s.

Multiple sources around town tell us that Maloney’s may have incurred one too many underage violations with the LCB. (Repeated efforts to confirm our intel with Mike and Sean Maloney went nowhere.)

Visiting the two bars at midnight on your 21st birthday was a longstanding Nova tradition. First, Maloney’s would treat you to a “fishbowl.” (Guys got boilermakers because they downed the punch too fast.) Then it was off to Erin’s for free “rainbow shots.”

Facebook friends are forlorn – hundreds of posts talk about meeting their spouses and downing their first legal drinks at the bars.

Last call is just days away. Erin’s last night is Friday, June 30; Maloney’s is Saturday, July 1.

Can’t get there this weekend? Order a memorial Maloney’s t-shirt online. In typical bare-bones fashion, the back reads: “I had a good time.” 2002- 2017.

School for grades Pre-K to 12 to open at St. Monica’s

Well, whaddayaknow? Catholic school uniforms are making a comeback in Berwyn.

Five years after the Archdiocesan school moved out of St. Monica’s, a private school is moving in.

Regina Luminis Academy, aka RLA, will begin providing a “classical Catholic” education to boys and girls in Pre-K through high school this fall.

St. Monica’s pastor Rev. Charles Zlock, RLA Head of School Dr. Denise D’Attore and RLA Board President Mark Anthony agree to RLA’s three-year lease of the St. Monica’s school building.

No Junie B. Jones or Diaries of Wimpy Kids here. Latin and Greek are taught in the early grades. There’s weekly Mass and Adoration and teachers use the Socratic method with an emphasis on recitation and declaration of the classics.

Classes are small, with two grades often combined in one classroom, e.g. grades 1 &2, 3 & 4, etc.

After eight years in Downingtown and one in W. Norriton (where enrollment sagged), RLA is excited to shorten commutes for many of its families.

Since the last uniformed kiddos left St. Monica’s in June 2012, the building has had two tenants: an early-childhood center and, more recently, a school for children with emotional needs, Green Valley Academy.

RLA signed on for three years.

Extolling its “robust academic curriculum” and “strong Catholic emphasis,” St. Monica’s pastor, Rev. Charles Zlock tells SAVVY he’s delighted. “We anticipate a warm welcome by our parishioners who will probably enjoy seeing Catholic school uniforms on the St. Monica campus again.”

Regina Luminis Academy at the Church of St. Monica, 610-269-3906, is enrolling students for the fall. Tuition is $3,800 – $6,800 with sibling discounts and EITC and OSTC scholarships available.

Uniquely healing, Hummingbird Yoga buzzes into Bryn Mawr

Celebrating the grand opening of Hummingbird Yoga in Haverford June 17: (Back row) Mike Algeo of Bryn Mawr, Michelle Bradley and Ellen Sanders of Ardmore, Nichola DiBattista of Narberth, (Front row) Debbie Brownstein of Merion Station, Tiffany Boorsch of Ardmore, owner Linda Geraghty and Lynn Owens of Haverford.

After four years in Ardmore, Hummingbird Yoga and Massage has flown the coup, opening in much larger digs in Haverford, across from Sporting Club of the Main Line.

The extra rooms allow for a wider ranger of offerings, in addition to the studio’s signature Recovery Yoga classes, says owner Linda Geraghty.

Recovery yoga helps folks fighting trauma or addictions – to drugs, gambling, drinking, food, even bad relationships – reconnect with themselves.

“Addiction is a disconnect; a separation from self. It’s anytime you reach outside yourself over and over again with a negative result,” Linda tells SAVVY. “Yoga is a connector. It teaches you to reach inward to find joy, instead of looking for an outside source of happiness.”

Linda herself has had a front-row seat to addiction – she recently lost her mother to anorexia and her 28-year-old daughter’s has been struggling with addiction to heroin and other drugs since her teens.

When she became certified to teach yoga, Linda says she knew that she “would do something to help people in recovery some day.”

A timely mission if there ever was one.

Hummingbird Yoga and Massage, 940 Haverford Rd. Bryn Mawr, 610-955-3328.

Quick hits around town

***Vic’s Sushi To Go opened June 14 in Rosemont near Pizza Hut and Insomnia Cookies. Haven’t tried it yet, but its original Spring House location gets raves.

***That was quick. The fashion boutique Scout & Molly’s across from the Bryn Mawr Film Institute is closing after just nine months. Leaving yet another hole in downtown Bryn Mawr.

***Barbacoa just ended a 5-year run on Rittenhouse Place in Ardmore. The Peruvian-chicken-on-a-spit joint will be resurrected as “Shack in the Back” near the Ardmore Music Hall later this year.

***The Fat Ham at the King of Prussia Mall is no more. “Top Chef” winner Kevin Sbraga’s little restaurant empire apparently got way too fat, way too fast, and keeled over. Sadly, even his car was repossessed, reports the Inky’s Michael Klein, forcing the celebrity chef to take the bus home from KOP a couple weeks ago.

In less than five years, Sbraga, 38, opened and closed five restaruants: the high-end Sbraga at Broad and Pine, Juniper Commons at Broad and South, Fat Hams in University City and KOP, and Sbraga & Co. in Florida.

***There’s a new café in Devon – well, at least its name is new. Surrey Services for Seniors just cut the ribbon on Jeanne’s Place. Surrey’s popular in-house lunch spot was renamed in honor of the organization’s founder and longtime leader Jeanne La Rouche.

Bob Campbell, Park Blatchford, Bob La Rouche and John Beilenson christen the café at Surrey Services’ Center for Healthy Living in Devon.

* Ride on, Betsy. A bench outside the cycling studio at the Upper Main Line Y was just dedicated to spinning instructor Betsy Bartos, whose sudden death at age 57 rocked the Y community last fall. An elite athlete, killer cook and loving mom/grandmom, Betsy will long be remembered for her bright smile and warm heart.

UMLY Group Exercise Director Tina Eldridge, indoor cycling instructor Julie West and Betsy’s daughter, Alex, at the ribbon-cutting.

And finally, straight talk on straight teeth… from SAVVY sponsor Devon Orthodontics

Bracing news, folks: not all orthodontists are created equal.

Who you hire to twist your wires matters.

A lot.

That’s assuming, of course, that you want your relationship with your orthodontist to be as short and sweet as possible. (And who doesn’t?)

Things like technology, technique and materials can mean the difference between 18 months in treatment and say, three years.

“Our office strives to offer the best possible customer service as well as using the latest in technology. Some offices are still old-fashioned,” says Dr. Antonino Secchi of Devon Orthodontics, whose cheerful headquarters near the horse show is anything but. “Technology and equipment change continuously and it is important to keep up with those changes.”

The chipper treatment bay and toothbrushing station for young patients at Devon Orthodontics.

Highly credentialed, Dr. Secchi is a board-certified orthodontist who received his DMD (Certificate in Orthodontics and a master’s in oral biology) at U Penn where he was a clinical professor for many years. He also developed a complete clinical system that he teaches to orthodontists across the country and around the globe.

Dr. Antonino Secchi and the Devon Orthodontics team: (front row) his wife, office manager and treatment coordinator, Maria Secchi (who’s a dentist); marketing director and insurance/finance coordinator Carla Meell; clinical assistant Marya Jordan; (back row) front desk coordinator Katie Stanishewski; and clinical coordinator Tracy Dauber.

“Getting braces is a thoughtful decision; you want the best technology and support. Quality matters,” says Carla Meell, marketing director for Devon Orthodontics. Dr. Secchi uses “high-end brackets” that, combined with his precise technique for applying and adjusting them, can cut time in braces by several months, she says.

The wires Dr. Secchi uses are less rigid, too, so patients need fewer adjustments – typically every 6 to 8 weeks (or longer in some cases), instead of the 3 or 4 weeks older technology requires.

Oh, and you won’t have to wait around forever. The office prides itself on timely service and prompt adjustments. Young folks are treated in a high-energy, open “bay”; adults are seen in private rooms.

More straight talk and tips from Devon Orthodontics:

1. You’re never too old to get your teeth aligned. Dr. Secchi has treated patients over age 80.
2. Ignore an overbite or underbite at your own risk. A correct bite makes teeth easier to clean, might prevent painful TMD, and keeps you looking younger. (Yup – a bad bite can cause wrinkles around the lips.)
3. Retainers are FOREVER. Stop wearing them and you risk another round of braces.
4. While some general dentists offer clear aligners, the smarter choice is a board-certified orthodontist.
5. If you suspect your child needs an orthodontist (crowded or misaligned teeth, an abnormal bite, mouth breathing, etc.), schedule an evaluation at around age 7.

Devon Orthodontics, 229 W Lancaster Ave., 484-580-8050, offers metal, ceramic, clear and self-ligating braces and Invisalign, along with bite and jaw correction. Smile Club rewards, patient referral raffles, free initial consults with complimentary x-rays as needed. Saturday appts. Credit cards accepted. Flexible, no-interest, in-house payment plans.

Like what we did for Devon Orthodontics?

We can make some (happy) noise for your business, too. SAVVY readers are your customers! Email Kathy@savvyml.com or Caroline@savvyml.com for our sponsorship and advertising rates. P.S. They’re nice ‘n reasonable

The post New sexual abuse suit vs. Conestoga – most damaging of all? Plus, Tredici debuts, two Nova bars close in Bryn Mawr; Catholic ed back in Berwyn & much more appeared first on SAVVY MAINLINE.

Dim the lights and pass the popcorn: The Main Line could be getting its first luxury movie palace.

The owner of the Swedesford Plaza Shopping Center is in serious talks with an upscale theater company to turn the dowdy old Tredyffrin Pathmark into a state-of-the-art cinema experience.

A rendering of the potential dine-in theater that ECHO Realty shared with area homeowners.

An interior rendering shown to Berwyn neighbors.

Swedesford Plaza’s owner/landlord, ECHO Realty, won’t say which dine-in movie company is eyeing the space, only that it would be similar in concept and size to a Movie Tavern – but won’t be a Movie Tavern.

Just one snag.

The township would have to lift a deed restriction that forbids entertainment at the shopping center, a measure enacted in the 90s to prevent an off-track betting venue near the old Valley Forge Music Fair, according to ECHO attorney George Broseman’s letter to Tredyffrin officials.

ECHO was also considering an offer to put a Tesla “car delivery hub” at the Pathmark site but is now focused on the movie theater, Broseman tells SAVVY.

At a meeting with neighbors, ECHO Senior VP Drew Gorman explained that it had tried – and failed – to reel in Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and other grocers. (Reportedly out of the country, Gorman did not return our request for details but Sharon Humble, a neighbor who attended the meeting, kindly shared her notes with us.)

Gorman also talked about Swedesford Plaza’s other big vacancy, HHGregg. According to Sharon’s notes, ECHO hopes to sign a retail or office tenant but might temporarily fill the space with an indoor hockey facility.

Sharon says neighbors are mostly on board with the proposed theater – although some worry about traffic patterns, especially drivers unfamiliar with neighborhood roads going the wrong way over the Contention Lane bridge.

ECHO plans one more powwow with neighbors (date and time TBD) before it presents its theater plans to Tredyffrin Supervisors in August or September.

Radnor H.S. ’12 alum to open marijuana dispensary in Devon

Radnor-based Chamounix Ventures will open one of its three Keystone Dispensaries at this former Dairy Queen in Devon.

But when we heard who’s running the show – and how young he is – we were, well, sort of floored.

Here’s the scoop: The old Dairy Queen building at 420 W. Lancaster Ave. will become a “Keystone Dispensary” on or before Dec. 29, 2017.

(Coincidentally, the dispensary will be just a short stroll from another sign of the times – the huge addiction treatment center currently under construction at the old Devon Manor.)

Easttown, by the way, has no say in the matter; the old DQ is zoned commercial. Two other Keystone Dispensaries were approved: one in King of Prussia at 120 Hansen Access Rd.  and the other in Yeadon borough near Upper Darby.

But here’s the eyebrow-raiser: Keystone’s CEO is 23-year-old Michael Badey, Radnor High School Class of 2012 and Fordham Class of 2016.

Sure, Mike, who still lives in Radnor, is getting a huge assist from other principals/backers including his father, attorney George Badey, his longtime neighbor & physician friend, Dr. Louis van de Beek, and his wife, Diane Exline van de Beek, and cannabis consultant Skip Shuda.

But Mike appears to be driving the bus. He tells SAVVY his primary job since his college graduation has been filling out the state’s 181-page application, an “arduous” ordeal. Clearly, late nights at his computer (and his business degree) paid off. His Chamounix Ventures team beat out more than 250 hopefuls to win one of just 27 highly-coveted dispensary permits issued by the PA Dept. of Health a few weeks ago.

(The Badey name may ring a bell. The longtime chair of Radnor Township’s Democrats, George Badey ran for Congress against Pat Meehan in 2012.)

So how does a young millennial get in the medical marijuana business?

Michael tells us he’s always “had a passion for helping people.” In high school, he sold candy in Radnor’s cafeteria, raising $700 for a charity that helps alleviate water shortages in Africa. In college, he planned to start a nonprofit, SoberSyncUp.org, that would provide free or low-cost sober-only social events to people in recovery. But that project got derailed, he says, when the “opportunity to lead Keystone’s team was presented … For a recent graduate to be offered a position surrounded by the kindest and most intelligent people one could ever hope to meet, how could I say no?”

Before he got involved with Keystone, Mike tells us he’d only known two medicinal cannabis users but has since “met many more.”

He calls medicinal cannabis a safe alternative to opioids. “People should know that in states where medical cannabis is legal, the rate of opiate deaths is 20 to 30 percent lower.”

And how did the Keystone group choose Devon?

It fit the bill. It’s more than 1,000 feet from a school or day care center (as PA requires), has a secure rear delivery area, is near public transit and highways and has plenty of parking, Mike says.

And how does Mike respond to fears that his dispensary, still an all-cash business, might bring crime to the area?

He dismisses such worrries as “entirely unfounded.” Each dispensary will be “more secure than a pharmacy,” he says. “Patients will come in through a secure, video-monitored portal” and will have to show proper documentation from their doctors. Nothing will be consumed on site, he adds.

Two side notes: PA physicians can prescribe cannabis for 17 conditions including autism, PTSD, neuropathic pain, Parkinson’s, MS, ALS, Crohn’s, terminal illness and glaucoma. Also, PA is only allowing the sale of marijuana in liquid or gel forms. No smokables or edibles can be sold.

A few prominent (and yes, much older) locals also received state approval, among them Keith Morgan, Chase Lenfest, and Osagie Imasogie. (Lindy Snider was denied but reportedly will apply again.)

AAMCO heir and Krispy Kreme King Keith Morgan and a partner are opening “Holistic Pharma” cannabis dispensaries in W. Norriton, Bensalem and Philly. They’ll also grow and process at Holistic Farms in western PA.

Lenfest’s group, Prime Wellness, got the green light for a growing operation in Berks County.

And Imasogie’s Ilera Healthcare plans to open a growing facility in south-central PA and a dispensary in Plymouth Meeting.

Waterloo Gardens: Going, going, (almost) gone

Now’s the time to get one last gander at the old Waterloo Gardens.

Or not. (Because, frankly, the place is nothing to look at these days.)

After years of disputes, delays, dashed and downsized plans, Devon Yard is finally happening, folks. Or as developer Eli Kahn tells us: “Urban is full steam ahead.”

Demolition crews are on site; the buildings should come tumbling down any day now.

Kahn says the new Terrain, Anthropologie, Pizzeria Vetri, Bar Amis and event space – aka Devon Yard – should open in late spring of 2018. Finalement.

Shades of PSU Piazza tragedy in former Shipley family’s suit vs. Drexel frats

Once a standout lacrosse player at Shipley School, Ian McGibbon of Narberth, 23, is a shell of himself: he walks with a brace, can’t use his left arm, needs help getting in and out of the shower, has frequent seizures, and forgets things. A court has declared him mentally incapacitated.

At a news conference on Thursday, his parents blamed two Drexel fraternities, three of Ian’s frat brothers, and Cavanaugh’s Riverdeck, among others, for their son’s “catastrophic and permanent disabilities.”

Roddy and Liz McGibbon have filed suit, claiming no one called 911 for 10 hours after Ian was knocked to the ground and hit his head in a Sept. 2015 fight between members of his fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi, and Delta Sigma Phi. The students were walking home after an all-you-can-drink night at Cavanaugh’s Riverdeck.

When they hadn’t heard from their son by noon of the next day, the McGibbons said they found their son in his frat house, unconscious, non-responsive and covered in blood and vomit and called 911.

Named in the suit are the two Drexel fraternities, three of Ian’s Pi Kappa Phi brothers, two Delta Sigma Pi members involved in the fight, and Cavanaugh’s. The university is not named.

“How many more college students are going to be left abandoned on a couch while their brain swells and their brothers, fraternity, don’t call 911,” said Robert Mongeluzzi, the McGibbon’s attorney, at the news conference, as reported by Philly.com.

Said Ian’s father, Roddy: “I can’t help but feel if 911 had been called, we wouldn’t be sitting here right now. “

Aging Wayne motel wants a do-over

In business for eons, Valley Forge Motor Court’s days on W. Anthony Wayne Drive may be numbered.

Ramanial Patel has been operating his one-story motel behind Black Powder Tavern since he bought the place in the early 80s. But these days, he’s setting his sights higher – three stories higher.

Patel wants to bulldoze his motel and build a four-story Sleep Inn in its place.

One issue: His blueprints show a 50 ft. building ­­– 8 feet higher than code.

Patel has asked for zoning relief via his attorney Dave Falcone of Saul Ewing, who tells us a decision from Tredyffrin’s zoning board is expected July 28.

True Food Kitchen debuts in KOP

True Food Kitchen just opened in the shadow of Shake Shack at the Mall.

Putting angelic dining just a stone’s throw from devilish indulgence.

Virtue sharing a parking lot with sin.

We exaggerate – but only a little.

Because True Food serves up the whole-iest food around, meaning:

• your grass-fed burger ($16) on a flax-seed bun gets topped with umami mushrooms and arugula instead of melted cheddar;
• your dumplings get stuffed with edamame ($9), not pork;
• the guacamole is flecked with kale ($10);
• and a B.LT. becomes a T.L.T., with smoked tempeh subbing for bacon ($12).

Truly, True Food is where processed food, juicy sirloins, mashed potatoes and gooey nachos go to die.

So we can all live a little skinnier and maybe a lot longer.

The place is huge – 7,000 square feet – with 215 seats at tables, 68 on the covered side patio and 28 at a large central bar.

And yes, they do serve alcohol. Cocktails and mocktails are made with fresh-pressed fruit and vegetable juices, naturally.

The vibe is bright and chipper with eco flourishes like reclaimed wood floors and chairs made from salvaged soda bottles.

The kitchen’s 100-percent open – no secrets, only truth therein.

True Food KOP is the Arizona-based chain’s 20^th store and its first in PA.

Co-founded by integrative health guru Dr. Andrew Weil, the day-to-night menu is inspired by Weil’s signature anti-inflammatory diet. We’re told the good doctor still tastes and approves all menus.

Among our faves at the media preview: the spicy Shiitake Lettuce Cups ($10), the Farmers Market Crudités – a rainbow of heirloom delights almost too pretty to eat ($13), the Ancient Grains bowl ($14), and the Grass-fed Steak Tacos ($17). Prices top out at $23 for Scottish Steelhead Salmon. Most items are in the teens.

Note to food purists: Only the “dirty dozen” fruits & veggies are guaranteed organic.

True Food Kitchen, 239 Mall Boulevard, King of Prussia, 484-751-1954, is open M – Th 11-10, F & Sa. until 11, Su. ’til 9. Weekend brunch from 10 a.m. Lots of vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free items.

Longtime local chef helms La Jolie, Wayne’s newest BYOB

There’s a new bistro in town – a breath of fresh French air for Wayne’s Italian- and pub-heavy dining scene.

If you like A La Maison in Ardmore, expect similar fare at La Jolie.

Owner/chef is Maurice Kim deRamus, founding chef at A La Maison and Paramour at the Wayne Hotel.

It took Maurice a year to turn the former West Avenue Pizza into an intimate 38-seat BYOB. (Talk about hands-on: The CIA-trained chef tells SAVVY he laid the floor and painted the walls himself.)

La Jolie opened quietly last weekend with a limited menu of elegant French dishes, Maurice says classic rabbit, duck and beef bourguignon are coming soon.

Figure on appetizers and salads in the teens; entrées in the high 20s (except for the $38 filet-migon-with-foie-gras Steak Frites).

La Jolie, 18 West Ave., Wayne (behind Great American Pub), is open Tues. – Thurs. 5 to 9; Fri. and Sat. until 10. Closed Sun. and Mon. Reserve on Open Table or call 610-687-1074.

 Duck Donuts all year round

Duck Donuts founder Russ diGilio (center) with franchisees Todd and Gayle Rindfuss at the King of Prussia Town Center.

The crazy-popular chain is now frying up the fluffy stuff at the new King of Prussia Town Center.

Unlike a certain other DD franchise, these donuts don’t sit out in display cases.

Each is made to order. Just name your preferred coating, drizzle or sprinkle.

The chain has national ambitions – 165 franchises have already been sold in 16 states – but its roots are local. Founder Russ DiGilio is a Rosemont native (Archbishop Carroll Class of ’74, WCU ’78).

An Outer Banks vacationer, Russ thought the area needed a good donut shop. He opened his first stores in Duck and Kitty Hawk in 2007 and began franchising four years ago.

At Russ’ urging – he didn’t have to twist our arms too hard – we tried the maple icing topped with diced bacon. Warm and wonderful.

Duck Donuts, 201 Main Street, King of Prussia (across from City Works) is open from 6 a.m. daily.  

And speaking of ducks … where did they go in Haverford?

Main Line moms are mourning the loss of a favorite stroller stop this summer. Seems the Haverford College Duck Pond has been dry and quack-free since June 1.

Some say snapping turtles preying on defenseless ducks forced the College to drain the pond, but Haverford spokesman Chris Mills offers a more ecological explanation: the pond had silted up since its last dredging 25 years ago, stressing the ecosystem. Dredging will be finished by early August, he says, and the pond will begin to refill naturally.

A green light near the Paoli Train Station

Paoli’s long-held dream of a walkable, transit-oriented downtown inched forward this week.

After a two-year tug of war, Tredyffrin Supes greenlit a developer’s preliminary plans to bulldoze these ugly old office buildings on North Valley Road …

… and build one large apartment building – 153 units plus a pool – in their place.

To ease neighbors’ fears of traffic and impaired views, developer Linden Lane Capital Partners radically changed course, consolidating three buildings into one.

The latest rendering of the proposed Station Square apartment building, pool and parking.

A sweet addition to Ardmore: Delice et Chocolat

Delice et Chocolat co-owner Joseph Amrani.

Among its goodies: the best macarons we’ve ever tasted, assorted house-made chocolates and pastries and classic lunch fare like croque monsieur, quiches and salads.

The only nods to the shop’s 75-year history as Centofani tailors: a “Tailor Misu” dessert (adorable, right?) and a salvaged mirror.

Owners are brothers Joseph and Antoine Amrani and Joseph’s wife, Angela Cheng.

You might recognize Joseph from his days running Paramour at the Wayne Hotel. He also opened Le Mas Perrier in Eagle Village (now Autograph Brasserie).

The Amranis have serious French cred. Not only were they born in Grenoble, but they both worked at La Bec Fin, where Antoine was executive pastry chef.

Homemade gelati, sorbets and ice cream are coming soon. Cool.

Delice et Chocolat, 7 Station Ave., Ardmore, 610-649-7001, is open Tues-Fri. 7 a.m. – 6 p.m., Sat. 8 – 6 and Sun. 8 – 2.

Pun’s heads east

Holy Hot Wheels, Batman!

A new Pun’s Toy Shop will open in Ardmore in early September – just months after the 33-year-old store called it quits in Bryn Mawr.

Pun’s manager Paulette Kules is resurrecting Pun’s on Rittenhouse Place in the former Christian Science Reading Room.

“It completely dropped into my lap,” Paulette tells SAVVY. Pun’s owner Joe Berardoni, who sold the building and is retiring, gave her the Pun’s name and his blessing, she says.

Her new place will still be a “go-to gift shop”: heavy on the classic toys and crafts, light on the electronics.

She also plans to beef up her selection of outdoor items and board games for older kids “so they’re not just watching Netflix or firing up their iPads.”

Get it while it’s hot

Ardmore Restaurant Week is here today… and gone after July 31.

Eleven restaurants are offering three courses for $25 – $35; Seven casual spots are offering “Happy Hour” discounts on signature dishes from 5 to 7 p.m.

Heading off to college?

The nonprofit mental-health group, Minding Your Mind, will host “How to be Successful as a College Freshman,” a free community conversation for parents and students on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Temple Beth Hillel in Wynnewood.

Two of MYM’s young adult speakers, Katya and Jon, will talk about one of life’s trickier transitions, tackling such topics as freshmen-year stressors, recognizing signs of mental health and addiction disorders, and how to help a friend in crisis. Register here.

The post Movie theatre to Tredyffrin (?!); Devon pot dispensary’s surprising CEO; New frat suit; True Food Kitchen & new Wayne BYOB; Pun’s to Ardmore; Devon Yard & more appeared first on SAVVY MAINLINE.

A rendering of the Reception Room at Terrain Gardens at Devon Yard.

The dirt is flying and the bulldozers are busy at the old Waterloo Gardens, now a bustling construction site for Devon Yard.

Good thing, too.

Because URBN is already booking weddings and mitzvahs – from Sept. 1, 2018 onward – at the Yard’s splashy event venue, Terrain Gardens.

Never mind that the project took more than four years to get OK’d; URBN’s confident it can have the whole shebang up and running in less than 12 months.

“Last thing we’re going to do is disappoint brides,” URBN’s Chief Development Officer Dave Ziel tells SAVVY. “I’ve got my best construction teams on it.”

Slipped into URBN’s final plans for its new “lifestyle center,” the event venue turns out to be a pretty big deal.

When it’s finished, Terrain Gardens will total 7,500 sq. ft. – indoors and out – and will host weddings and events for up to 150.

The latest site plan for Devon Yard, updated this week.

“It’s creatively tucked into its own little world,” says Ziel, who calls the space a “unique and intimate” alternative to the usual Main Line wedding haunts, i.e. country clubs and tented estates.

The venue has four distinct spaces: an indoor Reception Room, an adjoining weather-protected Garden Porch, an enclosed Ceremony Garden and a Bridal Suite.

A rendering of the Ceremony Garden (above) and adjoining Garden Porch (below).

Decor will be Terrain’s usual ethereal chic: reclaimed barn wood floors, beams strung with festival lights, textured metals and natural stones, ornate ironwork and skylights, all in a lush garden-centric setting.

The game plan: make the place so dazzlingly cool that brides forget they’re getting married in a suburban shopping center.

Other pluses: state-of-the-art sound and video hookups and seasonally-inspired cocktails and cuisine by James Beard-winning Culinary Director Jeff Michaud.

In other Devon Yard news: Pizzeria Vetri has been scrapped. The extra space is going to Amis Trattoria, now clocking in at 5,200 sq. ft. with seats for 140 inside and another 60 alfresco. An upscale-casual Roman-style restaurant like its Philly cousin, Amis’ will handle private parties for up to 80. (Can you say “rehearsal dinner?”) Ziel says the Trattoria will launch primarily as a dinner house, with Friday lunch and weekend brunch.

Devon Yard’s only other eatery, Terrain Garden Café, plans brunch and lunch daily and dinner Thursdays through Sundays. Cozier than Amis, the Café will seat 90 indoors, another 30 on the patio, and can also be rented for private parties.

So theoretically, harried brides could keep all their affairs in the Devon Yard family – from shower and rehearsal dinner through farewell brunch.

For more info on Terrain Gardens packages and pricing, contact pevents@shopterrain.com or call 610-459-6035.

Wayne Anthropologie to stay in URBN fold

There are still WAY too many empty buildings on Lancaster Ave. of late. But we’re pleased to report that the home of the world’s first Anthropologie won’t be joining them.

URBN so loves the cool Art Deco Anthro building that it’s holding onto it – even after the store heads west to Devon Yard next year.

The company has extended its lease at 201 W. Lancaster, but won’t say yet which brand will take over the former car shop. The contenders: Urban Outfitters, Free People, BHLDN, a Vetri Family restaurant, or some combination thereof.

EGG to nest in Bryn Mawr

The hip children’s clothier EGG is about to hatch in bustling Bryn Mawr Village.

Due date: Mid-October.

A fave among supermoms Gwyneth, Jessica, Jennifer and Cate, EGG peddles chic ‘n’ sweet duds for newborns through school-age kids.

Clothes are frill-free and modern, cute but not cutesy, and made from durable, washable and organic (Goop approved!) cottons.

Target it’s not, but we hear prices won’t kill you.

Chief Egg Officer is Philly-bred designer Susan Lazar, a Cornell and Fashion Institute of Technology grad.

Bryn Mawr will be Egg’s eighth boutique. It’s already nested in tony towns like Nantucket, Georgetown and Boca.

Latest retail retreat: Bed Bath & Beyond in Radnor

Grab your stash of $5 off coupons and hustle on over to the liquidation sale at Bed Bath & Beyond at St. David’s Square.

The company’s not renewing its lease and the store will be gone by November.

According to the chain’s spokesperson, stores in Wynnewood, King of Prussia and Plymouth Meeting are staying put.

Since the sale sign went up last week, Radnor’s been bonkers, with lines snaking through the aisles, a manager tells us.

BB & B is the second largest tenant at St. David’s Square, which was built in 1992 after the venerable department store, B. Altman, was bulldozed. (Only the Giant supermarket is bigger.)

No word yet on what’s coming. The Square’s leasing agent, Josh Birns at Olshan Properties, tells us he’s been talking to “several interested retailers.”

Flocking for Florida

What’s with all those pink flamingos popping up on Devon’s meticulously manicured lawns?

Has the Main Line suddenly turned, well, tacky?

Not quite.

The lawn ornaments simply mean you’re #Flocking4Fla.

The brains behind the birds is former Floridian April Tellam Timmerman who wanted to do something to help Sunshine State folks pick up the pieces post-Irma. About a week or so ago, she launched a gofundme campaign and alerted her Devon neighbors. Donate $25 or more to the Community Foundation of the Florida Keys’ hurricane relief work and, voila, April or one of her minions (Chase, 8, Henry, 6,) will drop a flamingo at your door.

In just seven days, #Flocking4Fla surpassed its $10K goal, with lots of local yards in the pink.

After all the bickering over the Waterloo site, we’re just happy to see a lawn message that everyone can agree on in Devon.

Real (Main Line) men meditate

Marc Balcer and Josh Gansky, founders of the Center For Self-Care for men.

With book clubs, playgroups, yoga retreats, garden clubs and workout classes, seems Main Line gals are always getting together.

But men? Not so much.

Two local guys plan to change that. Mindfulness teachers Josh Gansky and Marc Balcer just launched the Center for Self-Care, offering stress management, self-care, meditation and fellowship workshops and support groups specifically for Main Line men.

On the center’s fall schedule: Mindful Dads meetings, Men Sitting by a Fire pow-wows, a Bravery and Courage weekend retreat, and more.

BTW, the Gansky name might ring a bell for local parents. A guidance counselor at Stoga until 2009, Josh is now a counselor at Welsh Valley Middle School in Narberth.

Save a girl from sex trafficking: Walk Her Home

Susan Ingram Weidemann advocates for sex-trafficked girls through her new charity, Walk Her Home.

Here at SAVVY, we’re always fascinated by the human stories behind nonprofits, the reason someone drops everything to champion a certain cause.

Among the most remarkable backstories we’ve heard is the one behind Walk Her Home, a new nonprofit that helps victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Its founder, Chesco resident Susan Ingram Weidemann, wasn’t a victim of sex trafficking, but she sure was sexually exploited – in a rather shocking way.

In May of 2015, Susan was molested by her massage therapist at the Massage Envy in West Goshen. It was her seventh massage with James Dieter, then 63, a man she’d come to trust. “A sweet, kind man who turned evil in the dark in a moment,” Susan recalls. After she reported the assault to police, 11 more women came forward, putting Dieter behind bars for up to 13 years.

The trauma changed Susan’s life, propelling her to a new calling: to advocate for sex-trafficked girls, a cause she’d studied for her church and long cared about. “God wanted me to know what being a victim felt like,” she says.

Sex trafficking is happening everywhere, Susan says, including right under our noses on the Main Line.

Case in point: the Devon Square massage parlor that police raided last year, which Susan calls the kind of “rub and tug” place where male clients knew to ask for “a happy ending.”

Susan says sex slavery often begins online when an insecure young teen visits a social site or phone app (like Whisper) and is wooed by a predator posing as someone her age. “A trafficker can lure a girl to meet him in 24 hours – at the park, at the mall. He says everything a vulnerable girl needs to hear.”

Girls are often drugged, then turned into addicts and forced to turn tricks in no-tell motel rooms and shady massage parlors, she says.

Trafficking is lucrative, too. Susan says an enslaved girl can be sold some 30 times a day, bringing in six figures a year.

It’s also a death sentence. Studies show the average victim will only survive seven years in captivity.

Susan’s crusade has already taken her to DC, where she received a Congressional award for her work last April.

Susan celebrates with Congressman Pat Meehan and friends in DC after she received the Eva Murillo Unsung Hero Award, given to someone who’s suffered a personal tragedy and goes on to help others. Susan has also collaborated with Meehan on a bill that would require spas to report allegations of sexual assault to police.

Walk Her Home aims to spread awareness, rescue victims and restore survivors. It raises money for organizations that get girls off the streets and into supportive, safe housing. Eventually, Walk Her Home hopes to create a National Alliance of Safe Houses, to ensure quality and spur collaboration and corporate funding.

Walk Her Home will hold its first event, a 5K walk, Kids Fun Run and Fall Festival on Oct. 7 at the Westtown School. Proceeds will support two local safe houses and the filming of From Liberty to Captivity, a documentary about sex trafficking in PA. Click here for more info or to register.

This and that…

A SAVVY shoutout to Narberth’s Greg Seltzer – Ballard Spahr attorney by day, music festival producer by night.

Seltzer’s the unlikely guy behind this weekend’s Philly Music Fest, a first-time event at World Café Live in support of our town’s exploding music scene.

Two nights, two stages, only Philly bands. Plus, 11 craft brews and spirits, food trucks and VIP eats by Zahav’s Michael Solomonov.

Oh, and about a billion sponsors. Which means all those sometimes starving artists will actually get paid to perform. Nice.

Also nice: The Fest’s a nonprofit; proceeds will go to local charities.

The Tredyffrin Historical Preservation Trust has rounded up its usual batch of swell homes to traipse through this Saturday, Sept. 23. Tickets to the 13^th Annual Historic House Tour are $35 and include a free ticket to the Oct. 7-8 Main Line Antiques Show. The Tour supports the new Living History Center at Duportail, including the reconstruction of one of its key features, the Jones Log Barn in Chesterbrook.

Wayne’s Autograph Brasserie is launching themed Girls Nights Out on Wednesdays. There’s a new bar menu ($5 -$10 plates) and drinks stay discounted until 9:30. Yippee! Autograph GNOs on tap this fall include:

Sept. 27: A girly-girl night with free massages and mini-manis by Priv Beauty, free passes and Soul Cycle swag, and half-price Lyft rides.

Oct. 11: Fragrance and food pairings, three courses for $30.

Oct. 25: An au courante autumn wreath-making workshop, $35.

Save the date for our first SAVVY event

Exciting news! Team SAVVY is planning its very first SAVVY Gathering (!) – and you, dear reader, are most cordially invited.

‘Bout time we met face-to-face, right?

Hope you’ll join us at Bryn Mawr’s Body X studio/demonstration kitchen on Tuesday, Oct. 24 at 6:30 p.m.

Bring only your appetite – and your thirst for cutting-edge knowledge.

You’ll go home sated and savvier. Promise.

Details TBA but count on cold-pressed cocktails, healthy bites and eye-opening conversation (with our smarty-pants panel).

Our topic: “What to Eat NOW! Filling your plate to look and feel fabulous.”

If you’re a SAVVY e-mail subscriber, look for our invite to hit your inbox.

If you read us on Facebook but don’t subscribe: What are you waiting for? Subscribe today (it’s free) and you’ll get first dibs on this event. Space is limited:-)

The post Devon Yard beckons brides & mitzvahs; Saving sex-trafficked girls; Flamingos trending; Shopping scoops; A SAVVY Save the Date & more appeared first on SAVVY MAINLINE.

Liz, Eric, Ethan and Ken Tankel in their Malvern home.

What a difference a decade makes.

Hang out with the Tankels’ in their Malvern living room and you’d never know this observant Quaker family was nearly destroyed by drugs.

Teasing and cracking jokes, they clearly love being together. Like the “normal” Main Line family they weren’t – for six harrowing years.

Truly, if walls could talk, the Tankels’ would scream: of stolen money and pilfered pills, of school expulsions and shouting matches, of multiple car crashes and surprise drug tests, of Visine and baggies, of trust faithfully extended and repeatedly betrayed. All of it fallout from Eric Tankel’s addiction to pot, to pain pills, and ultimately, to heroin.

Six of his close friends died from their addictions.

But Eric, thankfully, is very much with us. At 31, he’s clean, happy and whole, a practicing psychotherapist who plans to raise a family in a home he bought just a stone’s throw from his parents.

Living proof that heroin – that most dreaded of drugs – can have a happy ending.

Still, the story of how the Tankels made it out alive – and thriving – almost beggars belief.

Because how could a deadbeat, drug-addicted teen – a kid so deceitful and reckless that his mother called living with him “like living with Taliban,” a high-school dropout who couch-surfed, sold drugs, used heroin every day for a year – how could someone like that end up with a 3.8 college GPA and earn a master’s degree from Penn, of all places?

The answer is too long, too nuanced to recount here.

But Eric and his no-nonsense mom, Liz, hope you’ll want to hear it.

They’re shopping for publishers for the dual memoir they wrote about their improbable journey, HEROin. (The title refers to the “hero” or “heroine” in all of us, they say.)

And on Oct. 17 – one day after Eric’s 11-year sober anniversary – they’ll read key excerpts and take questions at the Uptown Theater in West Chester.

Eric’s chapters are fascinating. Funny, raw, even raunchy at times, they’re a rare window into the obsessive, duplicitous mind of an addict and the hopeful, resolute soul of a person in recovery.

Liz’s account reveals a take-charge mom, fierce and resourceful, desperate to save her son.

Peppered throughout are references to Main Line towns and places. Most school names have been changed but are easy to guess: a certain preschool at a Berwyn church, a Friends school for kids with learning differences in Paoli. Only St. Monica’s is named because it’s no longer open.

Eric in happier days with mom Liz and on the day he entered drug rehab.

Liz calls HEROin “a roadmap” for families dealing with addiction. “I wrote the book I wish I had access to. I would have given anything to have read that book. Reading Eric’s part was so eye-opening for me.”

Eric calls HEROin “a platform for a larger dialogue about the opioid crisis that’s impacting people of every socioeconomic standing. At the end of the day, it’s going to impact somebody you know.”

We asked the Tankels to share some of their hard-earned wisdom with parents:

*  Don’t keep pills in your home. “They’re like having a loaded gun in your house.” If you absolutely must have them, “keep them under lock and key.” Liz hid a box full of pain meds – prescribed for an excruciating chronic kidney disease – among the shoeboxes in her closet.  She almost never took them. But Eric sure did – he took, gave away or sold every single pill.

* Practice tough love. Don’t make it easy for the addict to keep using. If he is an adult and refuses to go to treatment, kick him out. Cut off funds. Because he was “terrorizing” the family, the Tankels’ locks were changed and Eric was exiled. “Almost all the addicts we know died in the parents’ house, the grandmother’s house or in a car the parents paid for,” Liz says. “We don’t know any kids who died in a crack house in Philly.” Don’t assume you’re protecting your child by keeping him home.

* Set an example. “You wouldn’t think to smoke in front of a child with a lung condition so why would you continue to drink or smoke pot after work when you have a child in addiction?” says Eric’s dad, Ken. “Drinking around Eric would have been an insult to the all the work he was doing in recovery.”

* Know that recovery takes time. Eric went to inpatient detox, a wilderness recovery program in Montana, a sober living home and a college with a “recovery” dorm. He attends 12-step meetings to this day.

* Find the right therapist. “Eric snowed lots of therapists,” Liz and Ken say, convincing them that his “unreasonable” parents were the problem, not him. If the therapist doesn’t grasp your situation, move on.

* Present a united front. Eric sought to divide and conquer Liz and Ken with lies, but they never disagreed in front of him. He couldn’t play them off one another.

* Live your life. “Don’t let the whole house revolve around the sick person. We promised each other that Eric would not dominate our lives,” Liz says. “We still went to parties; we still had friends over. We still took care of Ethan [their younger son] and went to his activities.”

* If there are siblings, don’t filter their feelings. When Ethan, eight years younger than Eric, called his big brother a “beast” and said, ‘I hate him,’ his parents responded: “Yup, us too. What he’s doing is horrible; you have every right to feel that way. It’s our responsibility to try to help him and we’re sorry that that affects you.”

* Set a high bar. “Real recovery isn’t just about abstaining, living a life of denial,” Eric says. “It’s about being the most effective, purposeful human being you can be.”

These days, Eric’s purpose comes from counseling substance abusers and their families. More than half the patients he sees at the Therapeutic Alliance in Malvern are battling addictions. “I always tell them that the number one predictor of success in recovery is a supportive family.”

Liz, too, has found a second calling, speaking out about addiction.

In 11 years, she figures she’s talked to one family a week. “That’s 11 years X 52 = 572, A LOT of people,” she says.

Mother and son spread the same hopeful message:  Demand the addict follow the rules of the house, cut him off financially, but don’t ever give up on him. Find a way to get him into treatment and long-term recovery asap because it works. Above all, believe that life – rich and purposeful – can happen after heroin.

Eric and Liz Tankel will talk about their memoir, HEROin, at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17, as part of the Uptown Speaker Series at the Knauer Performing Arts Center in West Chester. Tickets are $15 in advance; $20 at the door.

Main Line MOMS Demand Action

“Thoughts and prayers” don’t cut it. In the wake of the Las Vegas massacre, common-sense gun law advocates are fired up.

And rightly so, we think.

Among those leading the local charge is Marybeth Christiansen of Malvern. Marybeth is PA’s legislative lead for the national, nonpartisan group, MOMS Demand Action.

Modelled after Mothers Against Drunk Driving, MOMS pushes pols to tighten gun laws and raise awareness about gun violence.

Just one day before the Vegas murders – when many of us were just rolling over – Marybeth and her MOMS were out bright and early, installing a field of t-shirts in a Media churchyard, one for each of 150 victims lost to gun violence in Delco in the last five years.

Local MOMS activists Melissa Carden, Laura Fletcher and Marybeth Christiansen.

The pale blue shirt below remembers Cayman Naib, the 13-year-old Shipley student from Newtown Square who took his own life with his family’s gun in 2015.

The T-shirt memorial will remain up at the Universalist Unitarian Church on Rose Tree Rd. in Media for two weeks. Organizers included Delco United for Sensible Gun Policy and Heeding God’s Call.

Topping MOMS’ agenda this fall: coaxing Harrisburg to pass a law that would force convicted domestic abusers to give up their guns within 24 hours – instead of the current law’s leisurely two months. The truth is: cruelty begins at home; many domestic abusers have gone on to commit mass shootings. Take away their guns asap? Sounds like common sense to us.

To join the MOMS or learn more, text ACT to 644-33.

Elementary schools: overloaded in Lower Merion, lopsided in T/E

You’ve heard of mega churches, but how does a mega school grab you?

Not so well, say some Lower Merion parents.

With its stellar reputation and multi-family housing boom, Lower Merion’s schools are jam packed, with plenty more kiddos in the pipeline.

Among the proposed solutions: adding on to existing schools.

But parents at one school, Wynnewood’s Penn Wynne Elementary, want none of it.

They’ve been circulating a petition opposing a $9.5 million plan to add up to six new classrooms and second gym.

The school’s already plenty big, the parents say. Penn Wynne has 750 students and is on track for another 50 by 2020. Yowza. (Point of reference: T/E elementary schools enroll 400 – 600.)

“Warehousing our children in large, impersonal mega-schools is not the answer,” the petition reads. “Small schools improve teaching conditions and academic performance, preserve play space, and reduce traffic congestion.”

The parents think the millions would be better spent buying property to build a new school. And yes, the district’s been looking into doing exactly that.

Meanwhile, some parents in T/E are facing the dreaded – but clearly necessary – “r” word: redistricting

Why? Because it’s feast or famine at three T/E elementary schools, with too many kids at Devon (600) and too few at Beaumont (385) and Hillside (415).

A committee of T/E parents and administrators has been tasked with redrawing boundaries to balance enrollment and will present its plan to the school board in early 2018.

Assuming the board gives it the green light, the new attendance map will take effect in August of next year.

BTW, T/E teachers are still without a new contract. They’re on the job, of course, working under terms of a contract that expired in June. An independent “fact finder” has been called in and will present a framework for a new contract by early November. Both sides will then have ten days to say yay or nay. Until then, teachers aren’t allowed to call a strike. They did, however, picket outside last week’s school board meeting.

Bistro build-outs in Wayne and Ardmore

Wayne’s itty-bitty Cornerstone is about to get a whole lot bigger.

The artisanal market/BYOB is expanding into the space next door and will open a bistro and full bar in early 2018.

Same cheese plates, charcuterie boards, oysters, and tasty dishes but with a chance to order craft cocktails and wine in a real dining room. (Not that we didn’t love those stools around the open kitchen; there just aren’t enough of them.)

With major renovations underway, Cornerstone closed Oct. 1. Owners Christine and Nick Kondra and team are hanging out in their beloved Nantucket until the dust clears.

They’ll re-open Cornerstone Oct. 27 but say the bistro won’t be finished until at least January.

The story’s about the same for Delice et Chocolat, now poised to bring a bigger piece of Paris to Ardmore

A solid hit since its June debut, the French bakery on Station Rd. is taking over the old Radio Shack on Lancaster Ave.

The new space, Delice et Chocolat Bistro, will focus on lunch – crepes, paninis, salads, gelato, grab ‘n go items, and sandwiches. The current storefront will continue as a sweet shop and café. Both will keep daytime hours only.

Wine garden blooming in KOP

Here’s one we didn’t see coming: a pop-up wine garden outside the King of Prussia Mall.

This week, Turpin Landscaping and Chadds Ford Winery starting turning dead space between Macy’s and Neiman’s into a cool-weather hangout.

Look for cushy seats, fire pits, seasonal wine pours, warm mugs of mulled wine and a craft beer or two.

Details are still TBD but the winery’s spokesgal tells us the garden should open in the next few weeks.

Kirkland’s in, Kiwi’s out at Gateway

Kirkland’s is coming to Wayne’s Gateway Shopping Center – the home décor store, no relation to the Costco brand.

The company is now hiring and will open in primo space between Trader Joe’s and T. J. Maxx in early November.

Expect the same sort of mid-priced lamps, rugs, mirrors and kitchen accents you’d see at Home Goods or T. J. Maxx. Not a mom-and-pop shop by any stretch, Kirkland’s has 350 stores in 35 states, including one in Exton.

In other Gateway news, Kiwi served its final fro-yo last week. Which means there are now six vacancies at the usually bustling strip center. Hmmm.

This and that…

A SAVVY shoutout to Merion Mercy ‘95 alum and Penn Valley native Kristen Iskandrian on the debut of Motherest, her first novel.

First-time novelist Kristen Iskandrian

And what a smashing debut it’s been. The New York Times loved Motherest and the Center for Fiction put it on its long list for the First Novel Prize.

We couldn’t put it down either. If you’re in a book club, there’s plenty to unpack here: compelling characters, lovely prose and an original storyline.

Kristen Iskandrian will sign copies of Motherest at the Barnes and Noble on Swedesford Road in Berwyn on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 1 p.m. 

~~~

After failing inspection, Blackrock Road Bridge over Mill Creek in Bryn Mawr will be closed for repairs for at least six weeks beginning Monday.

~~~

South Valley Road in Paoli will be hopping this weekend – with a music and fine art twofer. On Saturday, the Paoli Blues Fest & Street Fair will break in its new home: Paoli Presbyterian Church at 225 S. Valley. Six bands, a beer garden, a KidZone, vendors and more. No entry fee; just bring a non-perishable for the church’s food closet.

And just down the road – at 220 S. Valley – you can take in the 45^th annual Daylesford Abbey Art Show.

Getting to both should be a snap this year. Free shuttles will zip you to the Fest’s Main  Stage (or, if you ask nicely, to the Abbey) from seven nearby parking lots.

The Blues Fest runs 11:15 to 6 p.m. Saturday only. The art show begins with a preview party Friday night and will be open Saturday, 10 to 5, and Sunday, noon to 5.

~~~

Art of a different feather will be showcased just seven miles away, also this weekend. Thirty-three distinguished dealers of furniture, folk art, jewelry, decorative and fine arts are setting up shop at the 12^th Annual Main Line Antiques Show at Cabrini U.

Adding star power this year: design guru Eddie Ross, who will teach special ticketholders how to “shop the show” and sign copies of his book, Modern Mix. A whiz at decorating and entertaining on a budget, Ross has appeared on HGTV and Bravo’s Top Design and HGTV. His cool rooms and tables have graced the pages of House Beautiful, Vanity Fair, InStyle, and Martha Stewart Living, among others.

The antiques show is a huge fundraiser for Surrey, the Devon-based nonprofit that keeps area seniors independent, active and engaged. The show is open Saturday, 10 to 7, and Sunday, 10 to 5, with a preview party Friday night.

A late-breaking Surrey shoutout: Kudos to the Surrey Center for Healthy Living in Devon, just named the 2017 Senior Center of the Year by the PA. Association of Senior Centers. The Center was singled out for its effective wellness programs, its innovative enrichment offerings, its robust meal program and its commitment to transporting seniors in the community.

Food for thought coming your way Oct. 24

Team SAVVY and friends at True Food Kitchen in KOP planning the first SAVVY Gathering: “What to Eat NOW!”: organic chef/Body X owner Frances Vavloukis, yours truly, Barbara Bigford, health coach Haidee Sullivan and My Kitchen Rx blogger/Phytoga instructor Christine Sturgis.

The evidence is overwhelming: Food matters.

What we eat (and drink!) affects everything: how much our skin wrinkles, what happens to our hair, whether we get degenerative diseases like arthritis and Alzheimer’s and whether genes for nasty stuff like cancer, heart disease and diabetes get turned on or off.

Turns out our DNA is not our destiny – our plates are powerful!

But with so much conflicting nutrition info out there, it’s easy to get confused.

That’s why Team SAVVY will host its first SAVVY Gathering “What to Eat NOW! Filling your plate to look and feel fabulous.”

Hope you’ll join us Oct. 24 at Body X in Bryn Mawr for cold-pressed cocktails, health bites, and eye-opening conversation.

Here’s our all-star lineup (bring your questions!):

SAVVY Gathering panelists: author Jolene Hart (left), cutting-edge nutritionist Rachel Hershberger, and Lumi Juice founder Hillary Lewis.

Eat Pretty author Jolene Hart will dish about eating for beauty: what to eat and what to avoid.

Functional nutritionist Rachel Hershberger will talks about foods that make you feel better, stay fit and fight inflammation.

Hillary Lewis, owner of Lumi Juice, will share her healthy cocktail, state-of-the-art juicing and supplement secrets.

Also joining the party:

Phytoga instructor Christine Sturgis, who turned her kitchen into a cancer-fighting “pharmacy.” And Body X owner/organic chef Frances Vavloukis, wbo’s handcrafting our food and will share her recipes!

Another plus, your ticket will support Greener Partners, a local nonprofit that helps families in need access farm-fresh food. Good stuff, right?

“What to Eat NOW! Filling your plate to look and feel fabulous” is set for Tues. Oct. 24, 6:30 p.m. at Body X in Bryn Mawr.  First Dibs tickets are $45 until Oct. 10. SPACE IS LIMITED. Click here to snag your seat!

The post Heroin with a happy ending; MOMS Demand (gun) Action; Crowded schools; Bistro boomlet & weekend preview appeared first on SAVVY MAINLINE.

Just in time for Halloween: scary times at the King of Prussia Mall.

Last Saturday afternoon, a woman returning to her car in the garage between Nordstrom and Lord & Taylor was held up at gunpoint. Police say an armed man hopped in her backseat as she opened her car and pointed a gun at her head, demanding her purse.

He then sped off in the SUV he had allegedly just hijacked from an 87-year-old man in Delaware.

So, yeah, an armed robbery at 3:30 p.m. on a weekend afternoon at one of the busiest malls in the country.

But wait; it gets worse.

Twenty-four hours later – again in broad daylight – on a soggy Sunday afternoon, police say the robber returned to the same crowded Green Parking Deck in the same maroon SUV.

With help from U.S. Marshals and Delaware police (because the suspect was wanted in a string of violent crimes), Upper Merion police tracked him to the garage’s second floor. To escape arrest, the robber rammed into a few patrol cars, then tried to run over officers pursuing him on foot.

Police opened fire and the man was rushed to Paoli Hospital with multiple gunshot wounds.

Still in serious condition on Tuesday, the suspect, Kalin Jackson, 23, of New Castle, Del. has yet to be arraigned on 19 charges, including felonies for robbery and possession of a gun without a license.  He reportedly has been in trouble with the law since age 16.

Following protocol, Upper Merion police put the officers involved in the shooting on administrative leave pending an investigation. Authorities aren’t saying how many officers were involved or how many shots were fired. Nor have any names been released. They did report that a 9mm handgun – believed to have been used in Saturday’s holdup – was found on the front seat of the suspect’s car.

Montgomery County Detectives are investigating the shooting, which is SOP. In a statement released Monday afternoon, DA Kevin Steele said: “We will determine the circumstances that led up to the shooting and whether the decision to use deadly force is lawful in that situation.”

Meanwhile, the KOP Mall issued its own statement, reassuring shoppers that neither customers nor employees were harmed and thanking police for their “swift action.”

OK, we’re reassured but, oy, what a way to kick off the holiday shopping season.

In other KOP news: a men’s skivvies store

There’s a new spot to shop for the guy who has everything –  except comfy undies.

Online underwear innovator Tommy John just opened its first-ever bricks-and-mortar shop at the KOP Mall.

Known for the “quick draw” fly on its boxer briefs (it’s horizonal!), its stay-tucked tees, and its no-wedgie guarantee, TJ has a loyal fan base, including celebrity spokesman Kevin Hart.

Prices begin around $30; Hanes it’s not.

Nicely positioned next to the Art of Shaving, the new store’s got all the makings of a man cave: couches, sports on TV and local beers on tap. Tommy John “Comfort Concierges” are there to help shoppers sort through styles.

For sanitary reasons, there’s no trying on, but we’re told everything is returnable in store or online.

Next up at the mall: the Philly area’s first Alex & Ani jewelry store, set to open in late November.

cBOP bops into Haverford

Main Line moms (and grandmoms) are already mad for cBOP, an airy and bright baby boutique now open at the former Lithe space on Lancaster Ave.

Rosemont residents Peter and Patti Berman at their new little-kiddie boutique.

Other standouts: curated gift baskets starting at $50, personalized duds, and a baby registry.

Want to give baby her first cashmere sweater? cBOP’s got her covered.

Wee ones are more than welcome. There’s a sizable play area and Music Monkey Jungle leads music classes on Wednesday and Thursday mornings at 10:30. ($10 for tykes over 6 mos.)

Owners Peter and Patti Berman of Rosemont bring serious kiddie cred to their new venture; Peter’s family owns the long-running Children’s Boutique in Center City.

Partnering with the Bermans – and bringing e-tail and marketing smarts – are Danny and Ashley Govberg, owners of Ardmore’s Govberg Jewelers.

So what’s with the name already?  cBOP is what the Bermans called son Cole’s silly dances back in the day. (No doubt the 21-year-old Haverford School alum is delighted we just told you that.)

cBOP, 393 W. Lancaster Ave. Haverford, 484-412-8301, will host a grand opening party Nov. 4 with balloon art, Music Money Jungle, face painting, raffles and more.

West Elm opens east

No need to schlep to the mall for your West Elm fix. The home furnishings retailer opened Sunday in the old Macy’s in Suburban Square. (Its housemate, a swanky Life Time Athletic club, won’t move in for a few months.)

Pottery Barn’s sleeker cousin, West Elm was born and raised in Brooklyn, part of the Williams Sonoma family of stores.

It’s a national chain, of course, but works hard to seem local. The 12,000 sq. ft. Ardmore store features goods from 11 “local” artisans – a term used loosely since four are from Pittsburgh and none are from the Main Line.

We’re told elements of the new store’s design were inspired by the “stately architecture of the Main Line.” So there’s that.

West Elm, 40 E. Montgomery Ave., Ardmore, (610) 649-2948, is open Mon. – Sat. 10 – 8, Sun. 11 – 6. 

Gingy’s turns 10

A SAVVY shoutout to Gingy’s boutique, which just celebrated its tenth birthday in downtown Malvern.

Gingy’s owner Jean Tremblay at her Malvern boutique’s 10th anniversary party with her mom, Betsy Gilpin, and daughter, Betsy.

She eventually rented space at local co-ops, including Cobblestone Crossing and The Finer Things, before going it alone in 2007 as the fashion-focused boutique, Gingy’s. A second Gingy’s opened in Stone Harbor six summers ago; a third debuted in Newport in 2016. Jean’s even launched her own dress label, Jean G. Designs, donating a portion of sales to local charities.

Celebrity doc talks ‘true food’ in KOP

Dr. Andrew Weil has finally seen the inside of his King of Prussia restaurant.

The holistic health guru paid a visit to his 20^th True Food Kitchen last week, schmoozing invited guests, a few SAVVY gals among them.

Dr. Andrew Weil holds court at his KOP restaurant, KOP.

So why put steak tacos on True Foods’ menu? we wondered.

Seems Weil’s business partner convinced him True Food had to feed carnivores, too. Smart move, apparently; the tacos are a top seller along with the Ancient Grains Bowl.

Other tips from our dinner with the doc:

*Motrin fights inflammation but save your stomach and choose turmeric instead.

*No need to teetotal but consider two alcohol-free days each week.

*Not everything has to be organic. True Food follows the EWG’s “Dirty Dozen” and “Clean 15” produce guide and so should you.

True Food opened near Shake Shack in July.

Dr. Andrew Weil with yours truly and SAVVY Events Director Nicole Dresnin Schaeffer.

Barnes booming

Lower Merion’s loss has been Philly’s gain.

If numbers tell the story, the Barnes Foundation’s move to the Parkway five years ago has been a monster hit.

The new museum’s got it all: healthy membership rolls (17,000+), deep-pocketed support, sold-out adult ed classes, and robust foot traffic. Point of comparison: In its last year in Merion, 60,000 people visited the Barnes; In 2016, 265,000 toured the new Barnes.

The museum has been in full-on celebration mode this fall. Tickets to its whoopty-doo 5^th Anniversary Gala started at $5,000 a couple (!). The Oct. 12 gala sold out so fast that a second event, Fête the Fifth, was added the next night.

Wow.

Lower Merion Schools sued again

In case you missed it, Arthur Wolk is at it again. The Gladwyne lawyer – aka thorn in the side of the Lower Merion School District –  has filed a new suit calling for the removal of all nine school board members for allegedly neglecting their duties.

Yikes.

Acting on behalf of 18 taxpayers, his petition asks the court to appoint new board members and demands that the school board return $300,000 it paid to lawyers. Wolk maintains that school board members weren’t being sued individually so they had no reason to hire outside counsel at taxpayer expense.

Wolk, you may recall, is the high-flying aviation attorney who successfully sued the district last year, claiming it puffed up budget deficits to justify big tax increases.

The district lost its appeal. Now it’s asking the state Supreme Court to hear the case. Meanwhile, Lower Merion’s disputed 4.4 percent tax hike remains in effect. And according to Wolk’s petition, that qualifies as a dereliction of duty.

LMSD put out a short statement about the new suit: “The facts don’t support the removal of a democratically elected school board.”

Introducing Wayne’s ambitious new school

Plans are full steam ahead for Wayne’s newest nursery/elementary school, St. David’s Episcopal Day School – not to be confused with St. David’s Nursery School, which left the church grounds and now operates up the road at Main Line Unitarian.

Day School and church folks just cut the ribbon on a renovated education building, but the first kiddos – ages 2 through K – won’t arrive until next fall. The school plans to expand through fourth grade by 2022.

In the meantime, parents of toddlers and preschoolers are invited to a free, four-night expert speaker series at the school this fall. Topics include speech and language development (Nov. 2), sleep (Nov. 9), behavior (Nov. 16), and reading and literacy (Nov. 29). Talks begin at 6 p.m.

This and That

Expect an E-Zier time driving at the shore next summer. E-ZPass is (finally!) being installed on the five Ocean Drive bridges from Longport to Cape May.

Kudos to Caroline Dooner, Agnes Irwin ’06, who won her first Barrymore Monday night: Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for her role in Gypsy at the Arden. Brava! Next stop: Broadway.

Six smashing kitchens from Wayne to Haverford will be open for inspection Thursday, Nov. 2. A fundraiser for the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Notable Kitchen Tour and Chef Showcase features fabulous kitchens, stylish tablescapes and florals, and delectable edibles. Tickets to the self-guided tour are $50 and will be sold through Nov. 1 at Kitchen Kapers in Paoli and Ardmore, the Little House Shop in Wayne and Via Bellissima in Bryn Mawr.

Talk about hot topics. Local folks fired up against the “privatization” of public schools – i.e. charter and magnet schools – are hosting a free screening and panel discussion of the Matt Damon-narrated film, “Backpack Full of Cash,” Thursday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. at Church of the Redeemer in Bryn Mawr. Among the speakers: Chester Springs mom/Philly public schools booster, Bonnie Koss.

And finally, top takeaways from our first SAVVY Gathering: ‘What to Eat Now!’

Couldn’t make it to Bryn Mawr’s Body X last week? Here are a few Cliff Notes:

*Sugar causes wrinkles!

*Brain feeling foggy? You may be dehydrated. Drink up.

*Grass fed’s not good enough. Buy beef that’s “grass finished,” too. Grass-fed cattle are often fattened up with icky feedlot grains just before slaughter.

*In five-way tie for most nutritional bang per calorie (according to the ANDI score): kale, watercress, Swiss chard, collard and mustard greens. Least nutrition per calorie: cola, corn chips, ice cream and white bread.

*To cut your breast cancer risk, avoid processed soy. It’s in all kinds of manufactured foods including crackers, bread crumbs, cereals, teriyaki and soy sauces, fake bacon and nutrition supplements.

*Your best Rx to ward off dull skin and hair, arthritis, cancer and chronic disease: “Eat the rainbow.” Choose whole foods you prepare yourself. Beware anything that comes pre-seasoned in a box, bag or can.

*Pastured, organic eggs and chicken are always better than just organic.

*Choose bright-yellow, real butter over manufactured butter substitutes.

*Beware of sugary juice cleanses and skip the “Skinny” cocktails – they contain chemicals.

*Stumped by supplements? Functional medicine testing will tell you which pills your body needs and which are a waste of money.

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us, to Team SAVVY, and to our all-pro panelists: “Eat Pretty” author Jolene Hart, integrative nutritionist Rachel Hershberger, Lumi Juice owner Hillary Lewis Murray, PhyToga instructor/My Kitchen Rx blogger Christine Sturgis, and our gracious host, BodyX owner/chef Frances Vavloukis.

Have an idea for our next SAVVY Gathering? Pitch it to Nicole at nicole.dresnin@comcast.net.

The post KOP Mall shooting; Shopping & school news; A celebrity house call; ‘What to Eat Now!’ takeaways and more appeared first on SAVVY MAINLINE.

Conestoga alums Kyle Boyer and Heather Ward, both still in their 20s, will join the T/E School Board.

Local Democrats are still pinching themselves  –  perhaps nowhere more so than in Tredyffrin, where the party’s candidates went 12 for 12 last Tuesday.

A sweep.

Three Democrats ran for township supervisor seats: incumbent Murph Wysocki plus Matt Holt and Kevin O’Nell. ­

All three won.

Four Democrats ran for T/E school board: incumbent Scott Dorsey plus Kyle Boyer, Tina Whitlow and Heather Ward.

All four won. (Whitlow and Ward ousted current board president Doug Carlson and Virginia Lastner.)

So, for the first time in township history, three of seven supes and seven of nine school board directors will be Democrats. Unreal, really.

Celebrating their historic wins on election night: incumbent Supervisor Murph Wysocki (center) and newcomers Matt Holt and Kevin O’Nell.

In another first for Chester County, 2,000 more Democrats voted the straight party ticket than Republicans.

And we won’t even get into the historic Democratic wins in Delco.

So was it just Trump backlash? Only partly, says Tredyffrin’s Wysocki. “Donald helped, but we had a great organization, wonderful volunteers, and a really good ground game.”

Whatever your politics, you gotta love the youth wave washing over T/E schools. Two new school board winners – both Stoga graduates – are still in their 20s.

Kyle Boyer, Conestoga ’06, an ordained minister and youth pastor with dual master’s degrees from Penn, is leaving his teaching job at Valley Forge Middle School to serve.

Kyle Boyer, 29, brings an impressive resume to the T/E School Board. (Photo by Emily Brunner)

President of his class at Stoga and VP of the student body at GW, Kyle launched his education career at Teach for America. Conestoga classmates remember him saying he’d run for the White House one day. Seems he’s on his way.

Even younger: incoming school director Heather Ward, who’s just four-and-a-half years removed from her days as editor-in-chief of Conestoga’s newspaper. Now an auditor at Ernst and Young, Heather launched her campaign during her senior year at Villanova, knocking on 1,500 doors in the last 10 months. Persistence, thy name is Heather.

Boosting Boyer and Ward: an astounding 85 percent of eligible Conestoga seniors were registered to vote. (Props to Stoga senior Jahnavi Rao for leading a wildly successful, non-partisan voter registration drive.)

And speaking of Stoga-grown stars, remember the 2005 grad and TV news anchor Chris Hurst, whose girlfriend was fatally shot on live TV in Roanoke a couple years ago? Hoping to have a bigger impact on gun control and other issues, he quit TV news and just won a seat in the Virginia House, ousting a three-term incumbent Republican.

Chris Hurst, 30, talks about his winning campaign on MSNBC.

Other local races of note: In Radnor, Democrat Lisa Borowski will replace longtime Commissioner Elaine Schaefer while Republicans Richard Booker and Jake Abel narrowly defeated Democratic challengers in Wards 2 and 6, respectively. The Radnor School Board, however, swung back to the Democrats, 5-4.

The big election news in Lower Merion was the ousting of longtime Republican Commissioner Phil Rosenzweig by Democrat Andy Gavrin. Rosenzweig had represented the Rosemont/Villanova section of Lower Merion for 12 years. He blamed his loss on anti-Trump sentiment.

And Narberth, btw, just elected its first female mayor, Andrea Deutsch.

Main Line Health doc arrested

A longtime local ob-gyn is in serious hot water.

SAVVY has learned that Dr. Joseph Russino – who practiced at Paoli Hospital and Lankenau for some 30 years – was arrested Oct. 31 on 191 counts of felony theft, forgery and fraud.

He’s out on bail until his preliminary hearing on Dec. 13.

Willistown Police say Russino, 63, stole nearly $900,000 from his partners at Paoli Obstetrics/Gynecology Associates over five years, forging 72 checks and documents and using a bank account his partners thought had been closed as his personal slush fund.

Without his partners’ knowledge, he allegedly wrote company checks for a laundry list of personal expenses. Among them: $132,000 to buy and renovate a vacation home in Avalon, $160K to credit card companies; $6K for a patio table, $5.6K for his home’s Christmas party lights; $4,200 for his pets’ vet bills; $11K to a babysitter; $5.6K to maintain his pool; $3.3K for jewelry; $4.2K to a handyman; $3.3K to his Avalon house cleaner.

We could go on and on. The criminal complaint we obtained from the Chester County DA goes on for 17 pages.

After his partners confronted him in May of 2016, Russino resigned from Paoli OB-GYN to start a solo practice with offices on King St. in Malvern and at Lankenau. In a letter to patients, he explained it was “time to leave” the group he co-founded with Dr. Mark Chastenay so he can “practice quality care in a more personal setting.”

Looks like Russino will be well-armed for his day in court. According to Chesco Assistant DA Ryan Borchik, he’ll be defended by Jeff Miller and James Freeman, both hotshot criminal defense attorneys.

In addition to Chastenay, Russino’s former partners include Drs. ­­­Jennifer Gilbert, Nancy Hahn, Jennifer Stuck and Alex Anthopoulos.

Under PA law, Russino is still free to practice medicine in PA. His license doesn’t get revoked unless he’s convicted.

Another dispensary coming our way

Medical marijuana is coming to Malvern.

TerraVida Holistic Centers will put its third dispensary at 249 Planebrook Rd. in Malvern, just north of Lancaster Ave. and west of Rte. 352. The company had hoped to open in Mt. Airy but that plan was shot down because of the site’s proximity to a childcare center.

Meanwhile, work crews are busy turning the former Dairy Queen in Devon into the medicinal cannabis dispensary, Keystone Shops.

Two coups for Aronimink

The Newtown Square golf club just announced it will host the Men’s PGA Championship in 2027 and the Women’s KPMG Championship in 2020.

Not too shabby. The last time Aronimink hosted the  PGA tourney was 55 years ago, when Gary Player won in 1962.

Hoping to attract more majors, the club’s been restoring greens and bunkers to their original, more challenging designs. Golf Digest ranks Aronimink the 78th best golf course in the country. Merion East is ranked 6th.

Even if you’re not a golf fan, you gotta love those tourism dollars. Last year’s championship in Charlotte generated $100 million for the region.

We’ll take it.

Ardmore approves Target

Lower Merion has given the A-OK to plans to put a Target at the busy corner of Lancaster and Ardmore Aves.

Plans call for five stories: a small-format Target on the first two floors, three floors of apartments above, with surface and below-ground parking.

Locals had circulated a petition opposing the plan, citing its potential impact on traffic, parking and jam-packed Lower Merion schools.

On Wednesday night, commissioners voted 8 to 4 to approve the plan.  (Dissenters were Durbin, Gelber, Zelov and Bernheim.)

Devon Yard neighbors win again

Devon homeowners don’t mess around. Last year, they put the kibosh on a developer’s plans to put a multi-story apartment building and parking garage at URBN’s Devon Yard. Last week, they prevailed against another plan for new housing near the site – albeit MUCH smaller.

The owners of 133 Berkley Rd. want to knock down their house and build townhouses on their one-acre lot adjacent to Devon Yard.  But they need a zoning change to make it happen.

Owners of this Devon house – which borders the Terrain/Anthropologie complex under construction – had hoped to replace it with townhouses.

Neighbors said nothing doing and started putting up lawn signs.

Last week, scores of them showed up at a township planning meeting, prepared to give officials an earful.

Turns out they didn’t have to. They’d already been heard loud and clear. Before the attorney for the Berkley Rd. homeowners could even put on his case, the planning commission voted unanimously against the zoning change.

Like we said, don’t mess with Devon.

Conestoga sexual-abuse case updates

A few nuggets of news related to last spring’s sexual abuse arrest at Conestoga and the subsequent civil suit against T/E Schools:

First, former Conestoga teacher’s aide Art Phillips, jailed since April for his alleged months-long affair with a student, has a court date. The DA’s office tells us his plea hearing is set for Nov. 21 before Judge Patrick Carmody.

Second, remember that Visual and Performing Arts teacher who allegedly knew about the improper relationship between the 67-year-old Phillips and the then-15-year-old student? The one who allegedly joined Phillips and the student at area restaurants after school and even once double dated with the two? She was let go last month. A school board source tells SAVVY her dismissal was delayed due to contractual issues.

Third, T/E School District has responded to the explosive federal suit filed against it and Conestoga Principal Meisinger with a 28-page “motion to dismiss.” The court has yet to rule on the district’s motion, filed Aug. 14.

And finally, staff at all eight schools received an email Oct. 25 with links to several policy updates – the most interesting of which is further clarification of Regulation 5461: “Maintaining Appropriate Boundaries with Students.” It spells out a series of don’ts for all “District Adults.” Prohibitions include a long list of Phillips’ alleged improprieties. Among them: text messaging or using private email with students, giving gifts and eating with/buying food for students, and – unless there is a legitimate educational reason for doing so –  taking a student out of class, being alone with a student behind closed doors or in a car, extending contact with a student beyond the school day, etc.

The policy requires all “District Adults” who suspect inappropriate contact to report their concerns immediately and says they can’t be punished for doing so. You may recall that the civil suit claims multiple Stoga staffers turned a blind eye to Phillips’ conduct with the student.

Disgraced Radnor Commissioner calls it quits but may face more charges

Accused child pornography trafficker Phil Ahr last week resigned his seat on the Radnor Board of Commissioners “to focus on his own rehabilitation,” according to his resignation letter.

‘Bout time; he was arrested a month ago.

Ahr is facing 130 counts related to child porn but more may be coming.

When he handed in his township-issued iPad last Monday, a detective checked it and found “deeply concerning and disturbing” material. The laptop has since been turned over to the Delco DA.

Dine local

In the past few years, we’ve fed you a steady diet of local restaurant openings.

Stuffed yet?

Some longtime local restaurateurs sure are. They’re telling us privately that they’re getting squeezed by the new competition, much of it from chain operators. Folks are forgoing local haunts, they say, and heading to King of Prussia, where some 4,000 restaurant seats (!) have been added in the last 18 months.

Founding Farmers at the King of Prussia Town Center.

Most are at the new KOP Town Center, where the hits just keep on coming. Founding Farmers, an ambitious breakfast-through-dinner-plus-café enterprise, opened Nov. 1 and the Neapolitan pizzeria, MidiCi, debuts Friday, with District Tacos not far behind. Also on site: Davio’s, Paladar, Fogo de Chao, City Works and a bunch of fast-casual spots. A buffet of options – once you find a place to put your car. Parking, particularly at lunch hour, has been dicey, to say the least.

Food choices are multiplying at the mall, too. Celebrated Latin chef Jose Garces will open a second outpost of his Baja-themed taqueria, Buena Onde (“Good Vibes”), in the new Savor food court Nov. 24. And a new seafood chain, Eddie V.’s will open in a pad in the mall parking lot next year. And those are on top of the newcomers Mistral, True Food Kitchen and Yard House.

Sure, it’s fun to check out the shiny new object. But here’s hoping you won’t forget your friendly neighborhood gem. It’s probably not corporate owned and its staff needs your business (and tips) now more than ever.

We all get jazzed up about shopping local and small, but this holiday season, let’s think about dining that way, too.

Chesco farm-to-table restaurant put on ice

Say it isn’t so. Chesco’s most authentic farm-to-table dining spot, Wyebrook Farm, is closing its popular restaurant and market indefinitely.

A victim of its own success, it seems.

Dean Carlson, owner of the Honey Brook hotspot, says the township wants infrastructure improvements, including more paved parking, to comply with zoning regs.

But the farm’s bigger headache is coming from state DEP officials who are questioning the adequacy of Wyebrooks’ septic system. Carlson says complying with state’s requirements – undertaking a “sewage planning module” and likely enlarging the sewage system – would come at a “ridiculous cost.”

The restaurant’s last day will be Sunday, Nov. 19. The farm market/butcher shop will be open the Tues. and Wed. of Thanksgiving week and after that, only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through the end of the year.

A silver lining: the farm will continue to operate and will still sell its meats at La Divisa in the Reading Terminal Market.

Main Line designer pops up in KOP

Wayne’s Paula Hian just opened her first pop-up boutique in the former Hermès space next to Neiman Marcus.

Designer Paula Hian and one of her new store windows in KOP.

The site is strategic: Hian’s hoping luxury shoppers will wander over from Neiman’s to peruse her bold, timeless designs and fine-gauge knits. The label’s fans include TV stars Natalie Morales (“The Today Show”) and Dascha Polanco (“Orange is the New Black”).

The KOP boutique is the first leg of Hian’s new retail outreach strategy: she hopes to pop up in NYC and DC next year.

The designer, whose showroom is in Manayunk, has signed on through May 2018 at the mall.

Breaking legs in the Big Apple

A SAVVY shoutout to Meredith Antoian, Conestoga ’09, NYU ’13, for her smashing off-Broadway debut in the Bruce Willis-produced play, “MUST.” We caught her powerful performance as Billy the Kid’s girlfriend last weekend. Brava!

Meredith Antoian with the cast of “MUST” and with her mom, Janet, after Sunday’s show.

A second shoutout to Katie Johantgen, Conestoga ’10, Temple ’14, who’s playing Phoebe in “FRIENDS! The Musical Parody.” An off-Broadway hit, the show was just extended through March 31.

Katie Johantgen (third from left) as Phoebe with Ross, Rachel and Monica.

Hassle-free holiday shopping in Wayne (from this week’s SAVVY sponsor)

Welcoming faces at The Gift Shop at St. David’s: volunteers Diane Mayer, Tessa Hooper, Melissa Biondi, (back row) Jane Allen and shop manager Margie Winters.

If holiday shopping gives you hives – the parking, the schlepping, the lines, the expense, the what-to-buy quandaries – may we suggest an alternative?

What if we were to tell you about a store that actually makes you feel good about opening your wallet?

Where the parking is free and easy, the staff is helpful and plentiful, the gifts are uniquely thoughtful, and the prices are more than reasonable?

A store where 100 percent of the profits go to children and families in need?

For 18 years this Shangri-La of a shop has flown largely under the radar at St. David’s Episcopal Church in Wayne.

But no more.

The Gift Shop at St. David’s wants you to know it isn’t just for parishioners, or Episcopalians or even Christians, for that matter.

It’s open to the public, to anyone who wants to make a thoughtful purchase.

Because when you shop at The Gift Shop, you’re getting a three-fer:

1. Your loved one gets a gift that no one else will have – a true conversation piece.
2. You’re buying wares from a company that pays artisans a fair wage, uses upcycled/sustainable materials or is otherwise socially conscious.
3. You’re directly supporting the church’s outreach ministry – programs that, among other things, feed, clothe and educate children in Uganda, Guatemala and Haiti.

Cliché but true: a gift from The Gift Shop keeps on giving.

Shop manager Margie Winters makes sure shelves are stocked with something for everyone.

You’re treasure hunting, not shopping, she says. “What’s neat is that everything has a story behind it.”

Among the goodies that caught our eye: tweed cashmere scarves from Nepal – a steal at $33.75; impossibly cute hand-knit baby booties for $28.50; fair-trade Peruvian pillows for $55; and Ecuadoran hand-blown glass nightlights for $21.25.

Also in store: fashion and fine jewelry, soaps, handbags, serving bowls, trays, garden accessories, wall art, Christmas ornaments, and much more.

Everything is priced to sell – at a fraction of the usual retail markup.

Why so cheap? Minimal overhead. There’s no rent and almost no payroll. (The shop is staffed by 34 volunteers; only Margie gets a small stipend.)

Now in its 18^th year, The Gift Shop’s on a roll.

What started Harry Potterish in a cramped closet under the stairs now occupies bright and spacious quarters on the church’s renovated ground floor. The shop raised $15,000 in 2015. Last year, it brought in $21,000 and hopes to top that in 2017.

The public is invited to a Holiday Open House at The Gift Shop at St. David’s with wine, appetizers, desserts and 10 percent off storewide on Friday, Nov. 17, 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. 763 S. Valley Rd., Wayne. The Gift Shop is open Mon. – Thurs. 10 – 4, Fri. – Sat. 10 – 1, Sun. 10:30 – noon or by appointment (call 484-580-8486).

The post Democrats win big in T/E & beyond; Longtime Main Line ob-gyn arrested; Stoga, Devon Yard, Ardmore Target & Aronimink updates; Dine local; Shop w/ purpose & more appeared first on SAVVY MAINLINE.

Guilty as charged.

A former teacher’s aide has admitted to the repeated sexual assault of a Conestoga sophomore – in his school office, his car and her bedroom –  during the 2016-2017 school year.

After pleading not guilty at his April arraignment, Arthur Phillips changed his plea to guilty last Tuesday and was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in state prison.

If Phillips had been younger, Chester County Judge Patrick Carmody said he wouldn’t have accepted the plea deal. “You’re 67. Do you understand that you may never leave jail, that this might be a life sentence?” he asked the defendant.

Phillips said quietly that he understood.

The judge was clearly disgusted by Phillips’ crimes.

After confirming that Phillips’ only child – his 40-year-old daughter – was in the courtroom, Carmody said he was “baffled that someone who has a daughter could do this to someone else’s daughter. It’s mind boggling. It’s disturbing.”

The judge called Phillips’ daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren “collateral victims” of the crimes. “I feel for their situation,” he said.

Handcuffed but in street clothes, Phillips read a personal statement in which he apologized to “everyone affected,” saying he was grateful to his “very special wife whom I love, to his “amazing” daughter and son-in-law, to his friends, and to God, saying they had all forgiven him.

Carmody shot back that Phillips was being “pretty presumptuous.” He noted that the traumatized victim and her family were not mentioned in Phillips’ statement and asked him to make a formal apology to them in court, which Phillips did.

The judge also scoffed at the note found in the car Phillips crashed after he was caught. “I was just a guy who tried to help a kid and the boundaries just got gray,” the note read.

Calling those words “ridiculous,” Carmody added, “There couldn’t be a more clear line not to cross than this line.”

Phillips was 67 and the student was 15 when he began grooming her with lunches in his school office, trips to the mall and area restaurants, and hundreds of sexually explicit text messages and selfies, culminating in oral sex and intercourse more than ten times. When Carmody asked Phillips if the car crash was a suicide attempt. Phillips replied: “I just lost control. It was on my mind.”

The victim and her family were not in the courtroom, but the girl’s mother sent the court a victim impact statement, which she requested not be read aloud.

The judge made Philips read the statement during the hearing, saying “you couldn’t read this letter and not have your heart be broken.”

A resident of Tredyffrin, Phillips worked as an instructional aide in Stoga’s TV studio from 2006 until his arrest in April 2017. In June, the victim’s family filed a civil suit against the Tredyffrin-Easttown School District and Conestoga’s principal.

Phillip’s 10 to 20-year sentence includes: 5 to 10 years for indecent sexual assault; 3 to 6 years for aggravated indecent assault; 1 to 2 years for institutional sexual assault; and 1 to 2 years for corruption of minors.

The plea agreement was negotiated by an assistant DA in the county’s Child Abuse Unit, Emily Provencher, and Phillips’ attorney, Robert Donatoni. Provencher told SAVVY one of her goals was to spare the victim and her family from having to testify at a trial.

After the sentence was read, Donatoni requested that his client serve his time at Waymart prison in the Poconos, which has a sex offender treatment program.

Judge Carmody said he couldn’t make that call but agreed that Phillips could benefit from such a program. “You still have some looking in the mirror to do,” the Judge said, shortly before the hearing adjourned.

Also heading off to jail: Main Line millionaire loan shark

AP Photo

The mighty have fallen. Charles Hallinan, aka the “godfather of payday lending,” is now under house arrest in his $2.3 million Villanova home.

On Monday, a federal jury found the wealthy Wharton grad, 76, guilty on 17 counts, all Mafia-esque charges: racketeering conspiracy, fraud and money laundering. He’ll be sentenced in April and will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars. At next month’s forfeiture hearing, he stands to lose everything – his property and assets worth millions. Prosecutors are reportedly seeking more than $688 million in restitution.

A former investment banker, Hallinan started his Bala Cynwyd-based lending empire in the 1990s, operating under such names as “Instant Cash USA” and “Your Fast Payday.” His companies pioneered a new online model in an industry that once worked only out of storefronts in poor neighborhoods. Hallinan skirted state laws limiting interest rates by “renting” the names of banks and American Indian tribes, prosecutors say. His scheme raked in millions, charging triple-digit interest rates to hundreds of thousands of cash-strapped people across the U.S.

Four other people tied to Hallinan’s businesses have pleaded guilty to similar charges. And experts say his conviction likely means more heads will roll in the shady world of payday lending.

New dining ‘CHOICE’ in Bryn Mawr

A couple Ukranian gents, Vladimir and Igor, are putting the finishing touches on CHOICE, an upscale BYOB in the former Vge space in central Bryn Mawr next to Tiffin.

We’re told the menu will have more, er, choices – including steaks and seafood –  than its vegan predecessor. It’s slated to open in late December.

Amenity-rich Canvas seeks active empty nesters

View of Canvas from Swedesford Rd.

Mature Main Liners (55+) have a new place to hang their hats: Canvas Valley Forge in the King of Prussia Town Center. The first renters are slated to move into the five-star, five-story apartment complex behind Nordstrom Rack this week.

After our tour, we decided Canvas lacks only one thing: ports of call.

Yup, the place is so laden with amenities, it’s like a luxury liner: smallish personal living spaces, colossal communal rooms.

One of the many communal spaces at Canvas Valley Forge.

“It’s an 18,000 sq. ft. extension of your home,” Residential Services Director Diana Meyer tells SAVVY, referring to the cavernous club room, community kitchen, Genius (computer) Bar, game room, woodworking shop, craft room, beauty salon, library and fitness center.

The Canvas test kitchen will host chef demonstrations. Residents can also reserve it for private events.

Like Julie on “The Love Boat” (if you don’t get the TV reference, you’re too young for Canvas), it’s Diana’s job to dial up the fun: daily fitness classes, wine tastings, book clubs, group hikes, themed parties, museum outings, travel clubs, author visits, chef demos, volunteer opportunities and more.

And if – despite Diana’s best efforts – you get cabin fever, simply stroll outside to the Town Center’s shops and restaurants or chill out by the infinity pool or fire pit.

A rendering of the pool and spa in the enclosed courtyard, due to open in May.

Canvas is a prototype community for the site’s developer, Bozzuto, the folks who also brought us Malvern’s all-ages Eastside Flats apartments.

Bozzuto settled on the Canvas concept after its “extensive regional psychographic and demographic studies” showed a market for active baby boomers looking to “right size” their homes and simplify their lives. Also targeted: Folks who want to walk to “town” (even if it’s manufactured) but aren’t quite ready to take the Center City plunge.

Rents range from $2,100 for smaller one-bedrooms (@ 750 sq. ft.) to $4,100 for the largest two-bedrooms (1,540 sq. ft.).

Which begs the question: should downsizing empty nesters rent or buy? Main Line realtor Brett Furman, who’s poised to downsize himself, says most of his 55+ clients prefer to buy. Still, he says renting makes sense IF:

• You aren’t sure where you want to settle for the long haul and want to try something new. (Canvas offers a 60-day guarantee.)
• You lack cash or you prefer to invest your home’s proceeds instead of tying them up in another property.
• You don’t want to pay maintenance, taxes and insurance costs.

55+ buyers should beware of overspending on new construction, Furman says. “I’ve watched several of the higher-priced, newer townhomes in areas like Wayne & Haverford resell below their original purchase price … The spread between the new and used has gotten too large. This swings the pendulum to the resale marketplace.”

Twenty of Canvas’ 231 units were leased at the time of our tour. Management wouldn’t share who’s moving in – except that, so far, it’s a mix of working and retired folks, including some with summer and winter homes who want to stay close to adult children in the area.

The public can tour Canvas during the King of Prussia Town Center’s 2^nd Annual Winterfest, 10 to 2 on Saturday, Dec. 2, and at two free special events: Manicures and Martinis, 4:30 – 6 on Saturday Dec. 9; and Holiday Appetizer Cooking Demo, 4 – 6 on Thursday, Dec. 14.

So long, Saxbys

After 10 years in Haverford, Saxby’s served its last latte Nov. 3. A company spokesman tells SAVVY the coffee shop left because its lease was up. Staff was shifted to cafés at the Ardmore Farmer’s Market and elsewhere.

Based in Philly, Saxbys has 23 locations, including 12 in Center City.

Muzzling a proposed leash law for Tredyffrin parks

Folks are fired up about a proposal that could end Teegarden Park’s long run as the area’s unofficial (and unfenced) dog park.

A morning romp at Teegarden Park earlier this week.

Seems the Parks and Rec board received complaints about unruly dogs and unscooped poop over the summer. The board talked it over and voted unanimously to recommend that township officials review dog control ordinances with an eye toward requiring dogs “on leash” at all township parks.

When word got around, Teegarden dog owners got busy. They pleaded their case at the Parks and Rec board meeting Nov. 8 and two days later posted an online petition asking the township to allow dogs to remain “off leash and under control” at Teegarden. Signatures to date: 427.

Leader of the pack is Berwyn realtor Betty Angelucci, who administers the Friends of Teegarden Dog Park Facebook page and wrote the petition. She’s also drafted a code of conduct for dog owners that she hopes to post at the park.

Betty Angelucci has been exercising her three labs at Teegarden Park every day for five years. She says upwards of 30 people, some from as far as Lower Merion, regularly bring their pooches to the park.

Teegarden is tailor-made for dogs, Betty tells SAVVY. It has wide-open fields, a natural train-track “fence,” and a stream for parched pooches to whet their whistles. Countless friendships – both canine and human – have been forged there, she says.

While some in Tredyffrin are pushing for a traditional, fenced-in dog park, Betty’s group opposes one. They think dogs are more likely to fight when confined to a smaller spaces. One or two irresponsible owners shouldn’t spoil the park for everyone else, Betty says. She plans to present her petition to township officials in January.

Beating tough times – and the buzzer – at a Sixers game

Joined by his parents Mike and Melissa, half-court sharpshooter Mike Shelly meets Markelle Fultz before last Monday’s Sixers game. (76ers photo)

How’s this for a feel-good story? Mike Shelly, a 17-year-old from Newtown Square, won one of those impossible shooting challenges during a timeout at the Nov. 18 Sixers game, sinking a three-pointer, then a half-court shot at the buzzer.

Making his improbable feat even sweeter: Mike spent two years battling stage IV lymphoma in high school and his big brother died in a car crash last summer.

When Mike’s backstory got out, the Sixers piled on the prizes, awarding him court-side seats a few nights later, letting him ring the pregame bell, and presenting him with a custom Markelle Fultz jersey. In March, Mike will fly on a team plane to Atlanta where he’ll see a game and tour the headquarters of the challenge’s sponsor, Chick-Fil-A.

“This kid has been beating the odds his whole life,” the 76ers Chris Heck told Philly.com. “To have that moment of pure joy … which of course we all had watching him … it was a gift.”

A happy footnote: The Marple Newtown High School senior was declared cancer-free last year.

From your closet to theirs

The Main Line mingled with fashion designer Nanette Lepore at Neiman Marcus on Tuesday – and raised a boatload for the nonprofit, Our Closet.

Designer Nanette Lepore, Our Closet founder Jill Aschkenasy, and 6 ABC’s Alicia Vitarelli, who emceed.

Lepore presented a show of her 2017 Holiday and Resort lines, a highlight of Our Closet’s annual “Fashion for All” fundraiser. Some 250 women raised an impressive $135,000 for the nonprofit founded by Bryn Mawr’s Jill Aschkenasy.

Powered by JFCS and 2,000 volunteers, Our Closet collects, then gives away clothes to people of all ages at boutique-like pop-up shops throughout the Philly area.

Our Closet’s 2017 Fashion for All co-chairs Sandi Slap, Corie Moskow, Sharon Gaffney and Amy Daniels.

This and That…

For the second straight year, a funnyman will headline the Academy Ball. Steve Martin, 72, will do an opening monologue then play the banjo with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Jan. 27 concert and white-tie benefit for the Academy of Music. Last year’s celebrity host was comedian Martin Short. Not quite as musically accomplished as Martin, Short played the triangle. Past performers include superstars Billy Joel, Sting and James Taylor.

Legendary pop artist Peter Max, 80 years young, will meet his adoring fans at the KOP Mall’s Wentworth Gallery Saturday, Dec. 9, from 6 to 8. His rare appearance – free and open to the public – kicks off a new six-decade Peter Max retrospective exhibition at the gallery. The show and sale includes Max’s most famous works including his iconic portraits and never-before-seen photos and footage from his early career.

Bryn Mawr Hospital will be $400,000 richer Friday, when the Devon Horse Show and Country Fair presents its big fat annual check to Main Line Health. The money goes to Bryn Mawr’s $253M construction project, the biggest in the hospital’s 123-year history.  Its centerpiece – a seven-story, state-of-the-art Patient Pavilion with private rooms and space for families, a surgical suite and labor-and-delivery unit – is slated to open next year. The Horse Show has pledged $2 million to the project, donating a record $500K in 2015 and $430K last year.

Parking alert: The King of Prussia Town Center will be hopping this Saturday, Dec. 2. The new lifestyle center near Wegmans is hosting its second annual Winterfest from 10 to 2. On tap: free restaurant tastings, school choir concerts, ice sculptures, cookie-decorating and hot-chocolate stations, and visits from Elsa from “Frozen” and Santa (at 12:15). If you go, tote an extra coat to donate to the event’s charity partner, Cradles to Crayons.

Winterfest 2016 at the KOP Town Center returns Saturday.

Kudos to Conestoga’s boys soccer team, state champs for the second straight year. Paced by star forward and Drexel recruit Chris Donovan who scored a record 56 goals and 9 hat tricks this season, the Pioneers went undefeated: 26-0-1. Apparently, they play nice, too. The team has won the Central League’s Sportsmanship Award for five straight years.

Pitch Perfect … on the Main Line. For 54 years and counting, the Bryn Mawr Mainliners have been winning awards and singing up an a cappella storm – show tunes, patriotic numbers, timeless standards and current fare.

The Bryn Mawr Mainliners at a recent rehearsal in Exton. New singers, ages 6 to 86, are always welcome.

Available for concert bookings, the all-male Mainliners also send out barbershop quartets to deliver singing Valentines and birthday greetings. Catch the holiday spirit at their 24^th annual Christmas show 2 p.m. on Dec. 10 at General Wayne Elementary in Malvern. Tickets are $15 – $20; $5 for kids and students.

New, locally-created Christmas gift set (brought to you by SAVVY sponsor, Mister Sprinkle)

Hey, Frosty, Rudolph, Elf on The Shelf: You better watch out, better not cry; Mister Sprinkle is coming to town.

A local family hopes you’ll make this cute Christmas character – a star-shaped cookie – the centerpiece of a new holiday reading and baking tradition.

The family behind Mister Sprinkle gift sets: Danielle, Andrew and Jeff Giacoponello of Warwick, PA.

Because Mister Sprinkle’s not just any cookie. He’s magic.

His sweet story began three Christmas Eves ago, when 3-year-old Andrew Giacoponello asked his parents a precocious question: “How does he do it? How does Santa Claus visit children all over the world in just one night?”

Quick on his feet, his dad answered, “There’s magic in the cookies. They give Santa special powers.”

His mom improvised further, explaining that Santa’s strength grows with every bite of the cookies that boys and girls leave out for him all over the world.

Since then, Jeff and Danielle Giacoponello took their impromptu story and ran with it. They’ve created a Christmas gift set starring – you guessed it – the most magical cookie of all, Mister Sprinkle.

The set includes:

• “Mister Sprinkle and the Secret of Santa’s Magic,” a 36-page rhyming picture book, written by Jeff, who works in Radnor for Lincoln Financial, and his daughter, Catrina, a kindergarten teacher in Atlanta.
• The secret recipe for baking magical cookies for Santa.
• Cookie cutters of Mister Sprinkle and his friends, Snap and Bell.
• A plush, embroidered Mister Sprinkle tree ornament.

The Giacoponellos envision families gathering to read about how to give Santa his magical powers, then baking Mister Sprinkle cookies year after year. A new tradition on the order of say, sitting on Santa’s lap at the mall or seeing the lights at Longwood.

“We hope parents, grandparents, loving aunts, uncles and friends will use the gift set to grow the holiday spirit in their homes,” says Jeff Giacoponello, whose family of six includes three-month-old twins. Goes without saying that holiday baking is huge in their house.

Andrew and pals with fresh-baked Mister Sprinkle cookies.

The Mister Sprinkle set is the first product launched by the Giacoponellos’ new company, Experience in a Box. Its mission: to promote family time and create new traditions.

A bonus: The first $5,000 of each year’s Mister Sprinkle sales will be donated to CHOP’s Children’s Fund, a hospital that Giacoponello says has been “magical” in its treatment of a friend’s daughter.

Mister Sprinkle Holiday Cookie Gift set ($27.95) can be ordered here or on Amazon (We’re told it will be restocked Dec. 9.) Follow Mister Sprinkle on Facebook and Instagram.

The post Ex-Stoga aide admits student sexual assaults; New Bryn Mawr BYOB; Fresh ‘Canvas’ for downsizing boomers; Teegarden dogs; Our Closet; Mister Sprinkle & more appeared first on SAVVY MAINLINE.

A streetscape rendering of Malvern’s rapidly expanding “urban village,” Uptown Worthington.

Pop some corn: seems the western Main Line is going to the movies.

One of the nation’s largest movie chains is THISCLOSE to inking a deal with Uptown Worthington, the long-time-coming lifestyle center near the Malvern Wegmans.

The center’s owner, developer Brian O’Neill, tells SAVVY that a dine-in theater with full bar plans to take 43,000 sq. ft. and should open in a year or so.

Two prior deals with movie chains cratered a few years back, but we’re told this one should be a wrap by early January.

The lifestyle center’s latest site plan shows a movie theater (far right in orange) and a fitness center. Signed tenants include Ted’s Montana Grill, Zoe’s Kitchen, Zoup! and Potbelly Sandwiches. Chipotle and a Rothman Institute orthopedic center have already opened.

O’Neill also tells us he’s nearing a deal with Main Line restaurateur Marty Grims. The White Dog Café/Autograph Brasserie/Moshulu owner wants to open a “super hip” spot at Worthington, something along the lines of the buzzy Wm. Mulherin’s Sons in Fishtown, O’Neill says.

Grims may be eyeing Malvern but he’s been focused on Philly of late. He just finished a huge expansion of White Dog’s flagship in University City, adding 80 seats in two new rooms. And he’s introducing a new European bistro concept, Louie-Louie, at the nearby Inn at Penn next spring.

Meanwhile, plans to put a deluxe theater at the long vacant Pathmark site in Tredyffrin have gone dark. 

The owner of the Swedesford Plaza Shopping Center tells SAVVY the chances of closing a theater deal are now “extremely remote.”

“We’re going in a different direction; we can’t wait forever,” says ECHO Realty Senior VP Drew Gorman.

Also not coming to Tredyffrin – sorry, folks – a replacement supermarket. ECHO has had no luck attracting a grocer.

Gorman says the big anchor holes at either end of the Swedesford center (HH Gregg and Pathmark) have been “incredibly challenging” to fill. There’s been a “seismic shift” in retail since his company bought the shopping center, he says, with retailers increasingly choosing to invest in e-commerce over bricks and mortar.

Still, ECHO’s been evaluating “any and all possibilities,” including converting HH Gregg to office space. Gorman says he’ll run new proposals by township officials in early January.

Heading our way: a “superfood café”

The King of Prussia Town Center is getting another healthy, fast-casual joint. Vitality Bowls Superfood Café just leased space near LA Fitness. It will be the California-based chain’s first PA outpost.

If you thought nearby Honeygrow and B. Good were good for you, wait ’til you dig into Vitality Bowls.

The house specialty: “superfruit” açaí berry bowls topped with organic granola and assorted superfoods and anti-oxidants.

Also on the menu: superfood smoothies, fresh juices, soups, salads and panini.

Unlike some smoothie chains, these guys are purists. Not only do they make everything in “non-cross contamination kitchens” (a huge plus for allergy sufferers), but they use zilcho fillers – no ice, no frozen yogurt, no added sugar, no artificial preservatives, nada.

Making new waves in Wayne

Ahoy there to Anchored in the Main Line, which just dropped anchor in the old Deconstructed Living space at 201 E. Lancaster Ave. in Wayne.

If the name rings a bell, it’s because proprietor Cindy Walsh also owns Anchored in Sea Isle.

Both stores carry affordable all-American gifts, home notions and casual apparel. If you’re partial to wine humor, inspirational sayings, puns and preppy emblems like bows, elephants and pineapples, Anchored’s your store.

Manager Vanessa Geralis and owner Cindy Walsh run the ship at Anchored, Wayne’s newest gift shop.

“We curate products no one else has. And our prices points are medium to low so there’s something for everyone,” Cindy tells SAVVY. Retail’s just a side gig for the Wayne mother of three, who works full time as a national sales rep in the health care industry.

Among those already setting sail for Anchored: teens and young moms doing the “drop and shop” – killing time in downtown Wayne between nursery school drop-off and pickup. (Doesn’t hurt that the store manager is a teacher at nearby Wayne Presbyterian.)

Coming soon: lots of special shopping events and the opening of “Below Deck,” a lower-level gathering space.

Two more Wayne newcomers

Add a new name to the list of fine jewelry stores in Wayne. Peter Thomas Jewelers opened last week next to Painting with a Twist.

Its eponymous owner tells SAVVY he’s been in the bauble biz for 30 years, including a long stint in Texas. His new store at 105 E. Lancaster specializes in loose stones, direct diamond importing and custom design work. His team will also sell and repair watches and can broker your next Rolex in 24 hours.

With Farnan’s and Wayne Jewelers around the corner and Brian M. Smaul, Bernie Robbins and Amirian just a few minutes away, how does Thomas feel about the competition? “There’s plenty of business for everyone,” Thomas says.

Sure hope so.

Remodeling alert: Upscale kitchen and bath designer Bluebell Kitchens is moving to the shopping center near White Dog Café in Wayne. They make custom cabinets too.

Last call in Haverford Square

The women’s fashion boutique Ella’s Grove is outta here Dec. 23. Until then, everything is at least half off. But size and selection are dwindling so don’t dawdle.

Owner Fran D’Ambrosio tells SAVVY she’s calling it quits after 20 years in retail fashion so she can “relax and enjoy my life a little more … I love my customers; I love my store; but I didn’t love the day-to-day stress.”

Ella’s Grove was open for four years: two in Bryn Mawr; two in Haverford Square, a move that D’Ambrosio says doubled her business even though the space was much smaller.

Whole Foods not giving us the whole story?

Like you, we’ve long wondered what was up with the Whole Foods Market, freshly built but forlorn and seemingly forgotten in Newtown Square’s new Ellis Preserve shopping center.

So we reached out to corporate spokesgal Rachael Dean Wilson.

We didn’t get too far, but at least one rumor was put to rest. The Amazon takeover has NOT stalled “the timeline” of the new store, she said.

But when we asked (repeatedly) what was causing the looooong delay and when the store might open, she, uh, ignored us.

Hmmmph.

Meanwhile, the lights are on at last at the new Whole Foods in Exton. The store – built but idle for months at the site of the old K-Mart  –  will open January 18.

Among its highlights:

* A seasonal rooftop fire pit for noshing and drinking draft beer.

* Pike’s, an in-store eatery serving tortas, tacos and tequilas with a retro diner feel.

*Some 75 local suppliers of produce, grains, cheese, pork and poultry.

The store plans to hire 125. Got what it takes? Click here or text “Hire Me” to (610) 624-8686.

What sells in Tredyffrin these days

So Tredyffrin isn’t getting a new supermarket or cinema, apparently, but it sure is doing a bang-up business in …. wait for it … senior living.

Thrilling, we know.

(How prescient was the township’s slogan choice, “Your Bridge to the Future”?)

Tredyffrin currently has two senior complexes under construction and another biggie on the drawing board.

That hard-hat site across from Nudy’s in Wayne? 171 Brightview Senior Living apartments (96 independent, 50 assisted, and 25 memory-care units). Target opening date: March 2019.

The Brightview construction site near Nudy’s on E. Conestoga Rd.

And the construction site off Rte. 29 near the Atwater quarry in Malvern? Sage Senior Living’s Echo Lake at Atwater. 250 units, five stories, due to debut in late 2018.

And in between the two, Nolen Properties wants to build “Berwyn Senior Village” on the former Aquilante property off Cassatt Rd.

Nolen’s Rick Sudall tells SAVVY he’s been meeting with neighbors about his company’s plans to put a three-story apartment complex on 10 acres owned by the late Tony Aquilante, Sr., caterer and father of 16. (His widow, Betty Anne, 74, just passed last week.) Nolen proposes to build 250 units: 130 independent, 90 assisted living and 30 memory care.

Sketch plans have continued to evolve after neighbors voiced concerns about traffic and sightlines, Sudall says. (All things being equal, neighbors, per usual, would prefer single family homes.)

Nolen’s in no hurry. The company hasn’t even settled on a senior-living operator yet and doesn’t expect Berwyn Senior Village to open until 2021.

So what’s the going rate for all these sparkling new senior apartments? One-person units at Berwyn Senior Village will rent for around $3,000 a month – same ballpark as Brightview Devon, Sudall says. Sounds pricey but you do get three squares a day.

Nectar 2.0

The owners of Berwyn’s Nectar hope you’ll make the trek to the new Danlu, their spectacular second location in West Philly. (Danlu translates to “nectar.”)

No gigantic Buddha but we hear the soaring ceilings and city views make the two-level space at 3601 Market St. just as stunning.

Owners Patrick Feury, Michael Wei, Henry Chu – and new partner Kevin Huang – continue to take their food seriously, too. Inspired by trips to the night markets in Taiwan, the menu of small and large plates, Chinese sandwiches and noodle, rice and raw dishes is well-priced and reportedly killer good. “The food was sensational in every way,” reports SAVVY Street Teamer Barbara Bigford, who scored an invite to the soft opening.

At the friends and family opening of Danlu: Berwynites Ardis and Brad Costello and Birgid and Mike Golz with SAVVY’s Barbara Bigford (center front) and husband Doug.

Longtime mom-and-pop shop pulls the plug

Open nearly 60 years, family-owned Main Line Lighting and Design is going dark. Owners Mike and Michelle Harbold tell SAVVY they’re retiring from the decorative retail lighting biz but will continue selling LED lighting out of their Exton location.

The two took the reins from Michelle’s father, who bought the store at 1538 E. Lancaster Ave. – then known as Main Line Electric – in 1966.

A retirement sale – 30 to 50 percent off and some seriously swell prizes – runs through January 20. The Harbolds tell us they’ll sell the building.

This and that

After two losing seasons, Conestoga has fired head football coach Marquis Weeks. The Pioneers went 2-8 in 2016 and 1-9 in 2017. Ouch. Weeks replaced longtime coach John Vogan, who was ousted in the school’s hazing imbroglio. A legendary Stoga running back who played briefly in the NFL, Weeks, 37, will keep his day jobs: social studies teacher at T/E Middle School and track coach at Valley Forge Military Academy.

And while we’re talking pigskin, a SAVVY shoutout to a proud product of Conestoga’s program: New York Giants linebacker Mark Herzlich. The Wayne native is the Giants’ nominee for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award for outstanding community service. How cool is that?

Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee Mark Herzlich and mom Barb at the Steps to Cure Sarcoma fundraiser in Wilson Park last June..

Herzlich’s off-the-field heroics are legion. A bone-cancer survivor, he regularly visits kids with cancer in hospitals, makes surprise appearances to schools, hosts Make-a-Wish families and helps raise funds and awareness for cancer research. He and wife Danielle are also committed to ending domestic violence through their extensive work with the Joyful Heart Foundation. And especially timely in these #metoo times, the couple are hands-on board members of A Call to Men, a non-profit that teaches healthy, respectful manhood to prevent the sexual abuse of women.

We could go on and on about the onetime Stoga star, 30, who’s on injured reserve this season with a neck stinger. The Eagles nominated Malcolm Jenkins but hometown hero Herzlich has our vote.

Tacos ’til you drop. El Limon just opened its ninth taqueria near the Paoli train station. Cue the free, supersweet Margaritas. (Not kidding. They’re on the house.) Other area locations are in Ardmore, Bryn Mawr, Conshy and Malvern.

The newest El Limon on Lancaster Ave. in Paoli.

Stuck late at the office? You can still squeeze in some shopping in Wayne on Thursday nights. Wayne Open Late has been a weekly thing since August, with merchants welcoming shoppers until 8 p.m. The Wayne Business Association will host a holiday happening this Thursday, Dec. 14 at 108 E. Lancaster next to bellaDonna Gifts. Families get hot chocolate and free pics with Santa and his giant elf (not kidding) and can shop for “Wayne 19087” hats, t-shirts and onesies. Can’t make the party but want some Wayne swag? Email support@waynebusiness.com.

The day spa in the Van Cleve Pavilion in Paoli just had a mini-makeover.  Lovely as it was, Sanctuary Spa never really took off under restaurateur Jim Creed, who unloaded it a few months ago. New owner Phyllis Gambone has a much longer track record in the beauty biz.

Paoli’s Sanctuary Spa is now called Sanctuary Medspa & Salon under new owner Phyllis Gambone.

She warmed up the decor then tinkered with the concept, adding a Body Contouring (a new fat-busting treatment), affordable mani/pedis, makeup and updo services, lash extensions/tinting, better-than-Zoom teeth whitening, organic spray tans and facial micro-needling.

Legally, you no longer have to rent a room to gamble at Valley Forge Casino Resort but you might want to. The resort just finished a splashy $6 million overhaul of 154 rooms and suites. That’s on top of a slew of recent upgrades including the “Valley Beach” Poolside Club and the revival of the Valley Forge Music Fair with bigger-name acts.

A Queen deluxe room at the Valley Forge Casino Resort.

And finally, our annual roundup of nifty gifts with local ties

In no particular order, may we suggest…

Holiday cheer – without the hangover. Lose the booze but still feel like part of the party with Berwyn mom Laura Taylor’s new line of fizzy and festive drinks. Handcrafted Mingle Sparkling Mocktails are made from organic cane sugar and natural botanicals. Plus, it’s easy to swig a second; an 8-ounce pour is just 40 calories.

Mingle owner Laura Taylor.

A non-drinker, Laura, self-appointed CMO (Chief Mingle Officer), launched her company to give abstainers a tasty alternative to clumsy bottled water and ho-hum seltzer at parties. We’ll drink to that.

Wine-sized bottles are $8.99 and are sold online and at Carlino’s in Ardmore and West Chester, Ithan Market in Villanova, bellaDonna Gifts and Tredici Italian Market in Wayne, Aneu Market in Berwyn and Talula’s Table in Kennett Square. Or ask for it by name at Merion Golf Club, Chester Valley Golf Club, Wayesborough CC and Talula’s Table. Current flavors: Melon Mojito, Moscow Mule, Cranberry Cosmo and Black Hisbiscus. Yum.

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Up his gin game with a bottle of Revivalist Spirits, proudly crafted – from grain to glass – at Brandywine Branch Distillers in Elverson. Owned by Malvern’s Don Avellino, Revivalist gins come in five tasty “expressions” and are sold online and in 14 state stores including Wayne, Devon and Gateway, with scores more on the way. Or ask for them by name at Savona, White Dog, Christopher’s, Autograph, Nectar, Harvest and other fine establishments.

Carolyn and Don Avellino inside their Chester County gin and bourbon distillery.

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Know someone who’s gotta have a Wawa? Gotta get ‘em, The Five People You Meet in Wawa, a 47-page ‘shorti’ book ($12 on Amazon and Barnes and Noble).  Author is onetime Ardmore mailman, now full-time local comedian Nick Kupsey.

Kupsey tells SAVVY his book has sold so well, he’s written a sequel about a different Philadelphia “institution,” due to drop in mid-January.

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For the chick-lit lover: mysteries set on the Main Line. Former Philly Mag writer Amy Korman just penned her fourth “Killer WASPs” novel, Killer Holiday. Amy grew up in Wayne and graduated from Episcopal so her WASPy Bryn Mawr characters/caricatures ring true. And sting. But only a little. She’s signing copies at Wayne’s Main Point Books this Saturday, Dec. 16 at 4.

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For Downton Abbey fans: the lush new coffee-table tome, Ardrossan: The Last Great Estate on the Philadelphia Main Line ($46). Because Ardrossan’s our Downton – just swap out the Granthams for the Montgomerys. Author David Nelson Wren explores every inch of the iconic Villanova mansion and the old-money family that still owns it and once entertained there in grand style. (Think fox hunts and dinner dances.) Wren had the inside track – he first became acquainted with the Montgomerys as a guest at one of Hope Montgomery Scott’s cocktail parties. His book includes never-before-published interior shots and drawings by architect Horace Trumbauer. Fun family pics, too. Splendid.

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Or, for the mystery maven on your list: the new thriller by Newtown Square author William Claypool. A real Renaissance guy, Bill’s worn a few hats over the years, including physician, scientist, biotech entrepreneur and professor. His latest gig? Writing novels. And we hear his fourth, The Rice Thieves, just published this fall, is his smartest yet. The plot centers around stolen bio-engineered “super rice.” Geopolitical thrills and chills ensue. $5 on Kindle; $15 on Amazon.

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Smile! Polaroid-style pics are baaaaack. Tweens and teens will flip for this FujiFilm Instax Mini 9 camera.

With a “selfie mirror” on the lens, automatic light adjustment, Instax makes instant-print pics, well, a snap. Millennials, meanwhile, will appreciate the retro-styling and whiz-bang features of this Lomo’Instant Wide Camera. Lomo combines the creative control of Instagram with the instant gratification of a photo in your hand. Cool.

The Fujifilm Instax Mini 9 is $59.99 at The Camera Shop in Bryn Mawr. (Fifty percent off a case if you say you saw it in SAVVY.) The Lomo’Instant Wide Camera combo package comes with a close-up and ultra-wide angle lens and four color filters (as shown above), $259 at The Camera Shop.   

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For intrepid animal lovers: a heart-pumping visit to Treetop Adventures, the ziplines, ropes courses and games at the Elmwood Park Zoo. The Norristown zoo is the only place in PA where you can zip over animal exhibits, up to 50 ft. off the ground. Young’uns can tackle the Cub Climb; anyone over 54” can try the Treetop Zoofari, a Night Adventure or the new Expedition Elk with free-fall platform jump.

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Help him get his Game of Thrones on with a gift card to Urban Axes – a 8,000 sq. ft. warehouse in Kensington where you throw sharp blades at bullseyes instead of darts. Yup, competitive ax throwing is a thing and millennials ADORE it. Sessions are 2.5 hours and you can bring in food and booze. Not to worry – everybody gets a lesson and is supervised. Age 21 and up.

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Another one for your adult kids in Philly: a trip to SPiN, the new subterranean ping pong social club at 15^th and Walnut that puts your basement rec room to shame. SPiN has 17 Olympic-sized tables, a full bar, DJ booth, a kitchen, a Red Room, seriously hip street art by King Saladeen, scratch-and-sniff wallpaper and more. Anyone with the, er, balls to play in public – newbie or experienced – is welcome.

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For gamers in the burbs: tickets to match wits with the creators of 5 Wits at the Plymouth Meeting Mall. Like the escape-the-room games in Philly but way more elaborate and with splashier special effects.

The laser tunnel in the Espionage escape game at 5 Wits in Plymouth Meeting.

Current adventures at 5 Wits: Espionage, Pharaoh’s Tomb and Drago’s Castle. Treat ’em to one ($20), two ($26) or all three ($30).

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For your heartbroken pal: a handcrafted “badge of courage” ring or pendant from Stacey Fay Designs.

The Narberth bauble maker, who’s had her share of hard times, believes jewelry should mark life’s ups AND downs and can be a powerful source of remembrance, strength and hope.

Hence, her vintage-style “memoir” line (below): a glass enamel remembrance/grief ring inscribed with “there is a light that never goes out” and a double-sided divorce pendant or ring engraved with a North Star and a horse, symbolizing hope, direction and strength. Customize with your preferred stone, metal and enamel. Rings are $375; pendants begin at $210. Order online.  Also sold at Sweet Mabel in Narberth.

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For the working gal with aching or hard-to-fit feet: a pair of handmade Margaux flats. Co-founded by Wayne whippersnapper Alexa Buckley (EA ’10, Harvard ’14) just two years ago, Margaux is already redefining how footwear is sized and sold.

The Harvard grads behind Margaux, Wayne native Alexa Buckley and Sarah Pierson, at their October popup in Suburban Square. Their company has been a hit with working women in NYC and beyond since its launch in 2015.

Handmade in Spain at surprisingly affordable prices ($125-$245), Margaux signature flats and new chunky-heeled pumps are crafted for morning-til-night comfort. They come in three widths and sizes 2.5 to 14. Order them online and they’ll arrive in a few days. Got weird feet? Ask them to send a fitting kit; Margaux will custom make you a pair in six weeks.

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For anyone who wants to speed healing, lose weight, improve mood, sleep, skin or anything that ails them: a package of cryosauna sessions at Restore Cryotherapy in Wayne or Haverford.

Restore owner Danielle Gray, who’s also a chiropractor, checks on a first-timer in her cryotherapy tank in Haverford.

Everyone from Kobe Bryant to the cast of Dancing with the Stars swears by cryotherapy, the hottest – scratch that – coolest inflammation fighter since turmeric. Treatments are brisk, too – just 2 to 3 minutes in a tank set at subzero temps. Everyone – from student athletes to seniors with arthritis – reports life-changing results. Sessions begin at $20.

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Add some oomph to his or her workout with Training Laces. Invented by Wayne entrepreneur Jay Ciccarone and Malvern Prep-based Rising Sons Lacrosse coach Tad Doyle, training laces are flexible weights that wrap around a baseball bat, a lacrosse stick, an arm or ankle. Unlike the clumsy strap-on or velcro weights of yore, Training Laces stay put, don’t chafe and are non-toxic. $24- $40 online or on Amazon.

Until next time, happy (and savvy) shopping, Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah and all the best in 2018!

                                  – Caroline and Team SAVVY

The post Double issue: Movie (!), dining & shopping scoops, plus our annual all-local ‘nifty gifts’ guide appeared first on SAVVY MAINLINE.

For years, downtown Wayne’s movie theater has been slugging it out with the big boys: the Regals, the AMCs, the Movie Taverns, and, to a lesser degree, the Bryn Mawr Film Institute.

Slugging it out and, er, losing.

But the tide may turn yet.

Because dear old Anthony Wayne – built in 1928 and sagging with age – is making his last stand.

The theater’s operator, Reel Cinemas, just launched a “Save the Anthony Wayne” campaign and the stakes couldn’t be higher: Raise $2 million to modernize, compete and fill the seats.

Or raise the white flag and go dark for good.

Don’t think it can’t happen.

Three years ago, Reel Cinemas owner Greg Wax closed the equally historic Bala theater after its 90-year run. Wax is still tied up in court with his Bala landlord, who reportedly shut off the heat and air, turning this classic theater gem into a moldy oldie – literally.

To save his Wayne theater from a similar fate, Wax has created a new 501(c)(3) nonprofit (“Reel Cinemas Theatre Development Fund”) and is accepting tax-deductible donations online. (Wax did not return multiple requests for comment but we verified the charity’s existence on Guidestar.) According to the campaign website, patrons can chip in any amount but if you give $100 or more, you get 15% back in a Reel Cinemas gift card, also good in Reel’s other location in Narberth.

“People want all the amenities – the leather reclining seats, the diverse concessions, the 3D, the enhanced experience,” Reel Cinemas Anthony Wayne manager Newt Wallen tells SAVVY. “As soon as other theaters made drastic changes a few years ago, we knew we had to modernize to compete.”

Wallen says he’s worked his tail off since Wax hired him to run his Wayne operation in early 2015: upgrading snacks (adding Dippin Dots, canola-oil popcorn, better nachos), improving sound quality, bringing in a better mix of films and fielding a better-trained staff.

Theater manager Newt Wallen (second from left) with staffers Olivia Boris, Alex Strimel and Ashley Dougherty.

He’s also kept prices a few bucks below the chains to appeal to his bread-and-butter audiences: families and seniors. But “you can only shine a turd so much,” Wallen says. “We’re behind the eight ball on so many things.” Clearly, Wallen was exaggerating but you get his point.

To right his listing ship, Wax has spent two years putting together a rejuvenation plan that melds the theater’s historic charms with modern niceties, Wallen says. The lobby and any remaining historic flourishes would be restored to their original Art Deco grandeur but with fresh carpets, paint, a new box office and concession stands.

A huge movie buff, Wallen saved an old projector and lined the upstairs hallway with classic film posters.

Everything else goes 21^st century: cushy reclining seats, state-of-the art sound and lighting, new drapes, reserved seating, renovated (and ADA compliant) restrooms, healthier food, and perhaps even one day – gulp – beer, wine and cocktails.

Only thing not on their to-do list: a parking fix. Although Wallen is quick to point out that metered spaces are free after 6 and there’s a nice big, 10-hour lot across from Anthropologie.

Seems Wax and Wallen are on their own here. Building owner Steve Bajus tells SAVVY he’s not involved in the campaign, nor should he be.

Bajus says when he first bought the building 20 years ago, he was offered $20/sq. ft. from a national retailer who wanted to gut the closed theater and turn it into a store. Instead, he leased to Clearview Cinemas at a heavily discounted rate so a theater would stay in the retail mix in downtown Wayne. As part of the deal, Bajus says he “spent a lot of money to get it up to snuff.” He restored the façade and replaced the roof and HVAC system, among other improvements.

Clearview was replaced by Bow Tie Cinemas, which was quickly replaced by Wax’s Reel Cinemas in 2014. Bajus tells us he rents to Wax for “less than half the market” rate: $3.25/sq. ft. Bajus wants the theater to survive, he says, but he won’t “subsidize” the place any more than he already is. “If [Wax] wants to retool it, it’s up to him. As a landlord, you stay out of your tenant’s business.”

When Wax took over and told Bajus about his renovation plans, Bajus says he agreed to redo the restrooms – and even got a township permit to do the work. But when Reel didn’t follow through on other improvements, he let the permit expire. If the new fundraising campaign is successful, Bajus says he’ll gladly redo the bathrooms.

So, they won’t be Bajus’ but here’s hoping other deep pockets – or lots of shallow ones – rescue old Anthony Wayne from the wrecking ball.

It’s happened around here before – either by popular demand (in the case of Strafford’s Covered Wagon Inn) or by brilliant civic organizing (in the case of the thriving Bryn Mawr Film Institute).

Come to think of it, maybe all that’s needed is another ‘good friend’ to rally the troops – someone like BMFI’s aptly named and fearless founder, Juliet Goodfriend.

Click here to donate to the Campaign to Save Anthony Wayne.

Brother of Berwyn murder victim pleads for public’s help

Widow Denise Barger was found slain in her home on Heatherwood Drive in Berwyn’s upscale Daylesford Estates in 2016.

Eighteen months after Denise Barger was beaten to death in her Berwyn home, her killer is still out there.

No arrests; no named suspects.

Before the case gets any colder, the victim’s brother, Mike McDonald, who found the slain body of his 62-year-old sister, is asking for the public’s help.

Desperate to catch her killer, he’s tripled the Citizen’s Crime Commission reward – from $35,000 to $100,000 – for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.

“We’re hoping that the bigger dollars will stir something up; get someone to report something,“ McDonald tells SAVVY. “You might think it’s inconsequential, a minor detail, but please, just tell the police. Let them decide.”

McDonald calls his late sister – and only sibling – his “best friend” and “a wonderful woman … She was absolutely terrific to my kids. She really took them under her wing.”

Widowed three months before her death, McDonald says his sister had just sold her home in Daylesford Estates and was about to downsize to a townhouse around the corner in Daylesford Lakes.

Denise Barger had retired from her state job the previous year and worked from home. She also took care of the McDonalds’ dog each day.

At 9 a.m. on June 17, 2016, when he was dropping off his dog, Mike McDonald called out to his sister but she didn’t answer. He searched the house and found her body on the floor upstairs. “Whoever did this was really a coward; It’s wrong that he’s still walking the street,” he says.

Authorities have been clear from the start: this was a targeted attack. Denise Barger knew her killer. Not only was her home on a secluded street, but it wasn’t ransacked and nothing appeared to have been taken. Indeed, McDonald says his sister led a “modest” life. “She didn’t own much jewelry and didn’t have a lot of cash sitting around.”

McDonald says he checks in with Tredyffrin Police every month.

And each month, Detective McFadden assures him he’s “still working it, still following leads.”

Through it all, McDonald stays hopeful but his heart is heavy. “I can never get rid of what I saw and my sister being gone … If you know something, anything, please call.”

Call 215-546-TIPS. (All calls remain anonymous.)

Sparks fly as T/E School Board approves elementary redistricting plan

Nothing stirs the pot like school redistricting.

So it’s no surprise that parents gave the T/E School Board an earful about a plan to shift kids out of overpopulated Devon Elementary. About 30 spoke at special meeting last Thursday and another 20 voiced their concerns at the board’s regular Monday night meeting. (Others sent emails and letters.)

With 600 students at Devon and just 400 – give or take – at Hillside and Beaumont, nobody disputed that the maps needed a rewrite. The issue was how they were redrawn.

Among Monday night’s speakers was longtime Devon parent (and SAVVY Team member) Kate Miller, who’s doubly affected by the plan. Not only will her kindergartner start first grade in a new school (Hillside) – “He’ll be fine,” she says – but the plan effectively puts her out of a job, albeit the nonpaying (and sometimes thankless) job of PTO President. (For the record, she’s fine about that, too.)

Still, Kate spoke out against the plan. She says all but two of Monday’s speakers “begged the board to hold off on its vote.”

Concerns reportedly centered around the Devon Elementary kids who live in Devon Home Properties apartments. Parents signed a petition asking the board to “address these students” in their redistricting plan, Kate says. The new map – unanimously approved Monday night – keeps all those kids together at Devon.

One of the buildings at the sprawling Home Properties of Devon.

Some parents questioned whether the wishes of property owners should come before renters. Others wondered if the district was spreading out its diversity population equitably among schools.

The district’s response? T/E School Board President Scott Dorsey tells SAVVY that splitting the Devon Home Props kids “wasn’t a workable plan when you look at the enrollment numbers across all schools projected out to 2021 by our demographer.”

And as for the rights of homeowners vs. renters, he says, “The reality is that renters are residents. They pay taxes through their rent.”

As an aside, Dorsey notes that rents at Devon Home Properties are $1,300 to $1,800/month, which, incidentally is what he says he paid for his mortgage when he moved to Chesterbrook.

Enrollment is rising at every level, he says, and “diversity enrollment is similar across elementary schools, except for Beaumont.” He also offers that Devon Elementary’s test scores were tops in the district last year (although he admits the schools were neck and neck.)

And what was Dorsey’s response to parents’ frustration that almost every board member read written statements explaining their votes. Had members made up their minds before parents even spoke Monday night? “I can’t speak for other board members,” Dorsey says. “I certainly didn’t have a written statement.” He said the board had weighed hours of input – both in person and via e-mail – before Monday’s meeting. And he’s confident that the redistricting committee (made up of four parents from the three affected schools, a district official and a community advisor) had worked hard to come up with “the best possible plan that fit the criteria they were given,” i.e. balanced enrollment, minimal disruption, sensible bus routes, contiguous neighborhoods and proximity to schools.

“Parents want what’s best for their children. They’re going to be outspoken; I can’t blame them for that,” Dorsey says. “The Board tried to be as sensitive as possible while still trying to do the right thing. Do we make a decision based on who makes the loudest noise or what’s right?”

The new map sends a roughly equal number of current Devon students to Hillside and Beaumont and projects all five schools will balance out with around 500 students each. Like it or lump it, it’s a done deal and takes effect in August.

Refined new ‘Choice’ BYOB in Bryn Mawr

We tried Bryn Mawr’s newest BYOB, The Choice, last week.

And a most interesting choice it was.

The décor’s decidedly pedestrian; the food is anything but.

The Ukranian-born chef/owner clearly knows his way around a kitchen. He’s trained in some of London and NYC’s finest, including Le Cirque and Nobu.

“European fusion” is how he’s characterizing his cuisine, but, frankly, his food is all over the map – in a good way. “Eclectic, global fusion” perhaps?

On the menu: lots of raw appetizers (sashimi, tartare, carpaccio), seafood salads, and fish and meat entrées – dishes worlds away from those offered at the casual vegetarian café that last occupied the space.

We tried the seafood soup ($8), chicken pate ($9), branzino with ponzu salsa ($21) and the Peruvian-sauced rack of lamb ($28). Richly flavored and quite delicious all. And the presentations were uniformly lovely.

A popular grilled lobster dish with shiitake mushrooms and spicy lemon dressing is $30 at The Choice.

(Seems we whiffed on our choices, however; we learned later that the house faves are the black cod with miso, the Canton duck and the whole grilled lobster. Next time.)

An ordering tip: many entrées don’t come with veggies, so best spring for apps and sides if you’re at all hungry.

Owners are two Ukranian couples: Chef Vladimir Hyvel, his wife, Irina, and Maryna and Igor Hanushchak.

Partners Igor Hanushchak and Vladimir Hanushchak.

They’re hands-on and do it all: Vlad cooks while Irina and Maryna wait on the dining room’s ten tables. The night we visited, Igor was home in Chalfont, minding the two couples’ kids.

“It was our dream to have our own restaurant,” Irina says. The two couples who moved from the Ukraine last spring and spent months scouting locations.

Clearly, they’ve put their heart, soul, sweat and savings into the place. If only the ambiance could be as refined as the food.

The Choice BYOB, 845 W. Lancaster Ave. (Between Tiffin and El Limon), is open daily for lunch and dinner, Call 484-383-3230 to reserve.

Political bombs blast the Seventh Congressional District; Meehan won’t seek re-election

Could U.S. Representative Patrick Meehan have had a worse week?

On Saturday – the day of Women’s Marches – the New York Times reported that the Congressman used thousands of taxpayer dollars to settle a sexual harassment claim brought by a female aide. Citing 10 unnamed sources, the Times story claims Meehan, who’s 62, married and has three sons, professed romantic desires with a young female staffer, then treated her with hostility when she spurned him.

Until Speaker Ryan booted him off when the story broke, Meehan had been serving on the House Ethics Committee – the very group that’s been investigating sexual malfeasance among politicians. The Committee announced Monday that it’s investigating Meehan now, too.

On Tuesday, the Congressman pushed back. He denied that he harassed the aide but admitted that, after working closely with her for seven years, he started to have romantic feelings for her, feelings he never acted on sexually. He was hurt when she filed suit against him, he said, and yes, he did arrange a “severance” payment to her. In an intimate handwritten letter he shared with the public (no doubt, to his profound embarrassment), Meehan called his accuser “a complete partner” to him. He told reporters she had “invited” him to speak intimately (not in a sexual sense) with her.  If the House Ethics Committee finds him guilty of harassment, he says he’ll repay the public funds used in the settlement.

And Thursday, two days later, Meehan discloses this decision not to run for reelection.. His letter to his campaign chair, obtained by the Inquirer, reads: “After consultation with my wife, Carolyn, and my three sons, and after prayerful reflection, I write to inform you that I will not seek reelection … in 2018.”

Then, back up a bit. Just two days after the Times bombshell: more misery for Meehan. The PA Supreme Court ruled Monday that our state’s congressional map is an overtly partisan gerrymander which “clearly, plainly and palpably” violates the state constitution. They’ve ordered a new map drawn ASAP. In time for the May primaries and no later than mid-February or, get this, the justice will sit down and draw it themselves, they said.

And guess whose district is widely viewed as one of the most rigged – not just in PA but in the whole USA?

Yup, Meehan’s.

Democrats have long claimed the lines of Meehan’s Seventh Congressional District were drawn to keep Republicans in power. Indeed, his district spreads across five counties and is so cartoonishly misshapen, some say it looks like Goofy kicking Donald Duck.

The case – League of Women Voters v. Commonwealth of PA – was brought by the Public Interest Law Center. Republicans say they’ll appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. They’ve already asked for a stay of the court’s decision, saying its ruling will cause voter chaos.

But the Supreme Court justices (5 Dems, 2 Rs) ruled along party lines and most experts think they’ll deny the stay.

BTW, PA is one of only seven states with elected justices. So, yup, we’re big on gerrymandering AND we don’t have merit-based judicial appointments. Partisans R Us.

Even if #TimesNotUp for Meehan and he survives the firestorm and finishes out his term, looks like his Goofy Kicking Donald district is history.

Main Liner is Delco’s second female DA

Bryn Mawr-bred DA Kat Copeland with her mother, Shahin, and brother Cyrus.

Delco has a new Top Kat. Longtime Bryn Mawr resident Katayoun “Kat” Copeland was sworn in last Friday as county DA.

An alumna of Baldwin, Bryn Mawr College and Temple Law and a registered Republican, Copeland, 50, has quite the backstory.

She lived in Iran for seven years as a kid – her mother is Iranian – where her American father was arrested and tried on espionage charges. (An award-winning book by her big brother, Haverford School/Haverford College/Villanova alum Cyrus Copeland tells the family’s tale.)

To defend their father in Iran, their mother, Shahin, became an attorney, the first female attorney in the Islamic Republic.

Copeland is Delco’s second female DA. She was appointed to finish out the term of John Whelan, who left to became a judge. She says she’ll run for the post – which pays $172K/year – in 2019.

Topping Copeland’s to-do list in the meantime: finding new ways to fight the opioid crisis and cyber crimes against kids and the elderly.

Her role model? Former Montco DA Risa Vetri Ferman, who, incidentally, tells SAVVY she’s loving her new life as a judge.

And while we’re on women in politics…

Devon resident Chrissy Houlahan just made the cover of TIME magazine. Alas, she’s sharing the spotlight with 47 other women in this week’s TIME cover story, “The Avengers: First they marched. Now they’re running.”

Houlahan, a Democrat who’s never held office, is running to unseat Chesco Republican U.S. Congressman Ryan Costello. (Not-so-fun fact: PA is the most populous U.S. state that doesn’t have a single female in its congressional delegation.)

She may have an uphill fight but Houlahan’s no lightweight. Whatever your politics, you gotta respect the resumé:

* B.S in engineering at Stanford on a ROTC scholarship and a master’s in Technology and Policy at MIT.

*Daughter of a Holocaust survivor and career naval officer and the mother of a daughter in the LGBT community.

*Former captain in the Air Force Reserve and Teach for America corps member in N. Philly.

*Former president and COO of a national nonprofit that focused on early childhood literacy in underserved communities.

*As COO of AND1, she created 250 jobs and helped grow the company to $250 million in revenue, turning the sneaker startup into a major brand.

*Current COO of B Lab, a nonprofit that promotes good business practices through B Corporations.

Should be one helluva race, don’t you think?

And speaking of Chesco politicos…

The county’s top prosecutor let his (facial) hair down this month.

Chester County DA Tom Hogan’s “holiday look,” posted on his Facebook page.

As he does each December, DA Tom Hogan let his beard grow in. “Keeps me warm and aggravates my wife and kids,” according to the Facebook post he ran with this pic.

He then asked Facebook pals to vote for the mustache look he should wear before he shaves the beard completely off, assigning a charity to each of three looks and pledging $5/vote to the top vote earner. With 369 votes, the winning look was the circa ’75 police officer ‘stache (below left), making Chesco’s Crime Victim’s and Domestic Violence centers the winning nonprofits. He rounded up ($5 X 369  = $1845),  then doubled it, giving $2000 to both charities.

The winning look (left) and a runner-up (Civil War muttonchops).

Natural Lands Trust and the Hero Fund – the designated charities for the losing looks – did OK too. Each got consolation prizes of $500 each

Seems Hogan shaved in the nick of time. Incognito under all that scruff, he says his beard threw off reporters and even caused him to be booted from a crime scene.

On the block: Dodo Hamilton’s personal trove

You can learn a lot about a person by the things they leave behind.

Take, for example, the late great Main Line philanthropist Dodo Hamilton. Judging from the personal effects Freeman’s is auctioning off, the Campbell’s Soup heiress was more interested in surrounding herself with lovely views – out her windows and on her walls – than she was in acquiring treasures to turn a profit.

Dodo Hamilton with son Matt in Newport.

Her collecting philosophy was simple, says her son, Matt. “If she liked it, she bought it.”

She liked art that “pertained to the area,” Matt tells SAVVY: seascapes for her home in Newport, country scenes for her estate in Strafford, and seashells in Florida.  (So many that her Boca Grande home was dubbed “The Shell House.”)

Matt has “no idea” when his mother’s property behind Wayne’s Eagle Village Shops will go on the market. (Fingers crossed it’s not carved up by a developer.) Her Newport house has been listed since summer; four of his mother’s six Boca homes have sold. The other two are staying in the family, he says.

As for the homes’ contents, “everyone took a pass at something they wanted to remind them of mom or granny,” Matt says.

The rest  – 320 pieces in all – will be auctioned by Freeman’s in Philly on April 29. (Jewelry will be auctioned May 9.)

Tops on the block: this small Cezanne, valued at up to $1.8 million, that Dodo loaned to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for its blockbuster 1996 Cezanne show.

Dodo inherited this Cezanne “La Vie de Champs” from her mother, Elinor Dorrance Ingersoll, who bought it at a Christie’s auction in 1977.

Also up for bid: a 16.56-carat diamond-and-platinum ring worth @ $500K. BTW, it wasn’t his mom’s engagement ring. “it just appeared one day.” Matt says.

Rounding out the offerings: her collection of American Impressionist paintings, two Audubon bird plates, Cartier and Tiffany jewelry, and furniture.

Freeman’s Chairman Alasdair Nichol says the whole lot should fetch at least $3.8 million. Not a trifling but not a gold rush either, considering Forbes put the heiress’ net worth at $1.1 billion in 2006.  No, it seems clear that dear Dodo delighted in charitable, cultural and civic causes – her real and lasting legacy – at least as much as she doted on her hats, homes and horticulture. Maybe more. Definitely more.

A SAVVY shoutout to Father Domenic Rossi

The former pastor of St. Norbert in Paoli was just elected Abbot of nearby Daylesford Abbey.

Newly elected Abbot Rossi with Fox 29’s Bob Kelly at the 20th Annual Bethesda Project Auction last March.

In no particular order, Father Domenic is best known for his stirring sermons, his fondness for pasta, his lovely singing voice, and his abiding compassion for the least among us. In 1989 he founded Bethesda Project, a game-changing network of shelters and services for the homeless in Philly.

When he was named to a nine-year term as Abbot, he pulled a Pope Francis – humbly asking his Facebook friends to pray for him.

Welcome back to the Main Line, Father Domenic. You’ve been missed.

This and That

Now in its 132^nd year, The Saturday Club of Wayne is pulsing with new members. The philanthropic and social group just inducted its largest “freshman class” in years, welcoming 25 women into the ranks of active members, which now total 73. (Another 65 are inactive.)

New members of Wayne’s resurgent Saturday Club.

“We’re definitely on the upswing,” says club spokeswoman Meredith Rovine, who lists several reasons for the resurgence. Among them: a new website and a great mix of signature & new events like fall and spring consignment sales, Handbag Bingo, and a 5K Shuffle & Kids Race.

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Connoisseurs alert: Two big art shows are in the offing. The Academy of Notre Dame will host its 45^th Annual Fine Art Show & Sale from its Jan. 26 preview party right through Super Bowl Sunday. Featured artist is Rachel Brown (shown below with NDA President Dr. Judith Dwyer and show co-chair Denick Herin). Click here for party tickets and more info.

And the Malvern Retreat House is taking over where the Immaculata art show – a Main Line institution in its day – left off. A slew of former Immaculata volunteers have moved over to plan the Malvern Retreat House Art Show, now in its 7^th year. The juried show features 100 artists and 2,000 works, including paintings, photography, sculpture, and fine crafts. The show and sale runs Feb. 7 – 11 with a free wine-and-cheese meet-the-artists party Feb. 8, 5 – 8 p.m.

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Wait. ANOTHER Nova basketball player has a broken hand this season? Collin Gillespie, then Jermaine Samuels, and now Phil(ly) Booooooooth? Nuts.

Not that the hand casts have kept the #1 TEAM IN THE NATION from rollin’ right along. From where we sittin’, sure looks like our boys in blue will ride the J train (Jay/Jalen) right to  – and through – the Big March Dance. Just sayin’…

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So what do you do when you can’t score tix to the NFC Championship game? You do what Paoli’s Ed Morris, Berwyn’s Mark Mullen and a bunch of buddies did before the Vikings game: Pack a picnic, head to the Linc, and tailgate up a storm anyway. (Then hightail it home in time for kickoff.)

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Hard to say which the Kundas love more: Beer or the Birds? Call it a tossup.

The Main Line family has owned Kunda Beverage, big-time beer merchants in King of Prussia, since 1920.

And they’ve been Eagles season ticket holders for 57 years, following Gang Green from Franklin Field to the Vet to the Linc. They were diehards  when Super Bowl tickets were $40 in 1981, when they were $450 in 2004, and this week, when the League announced tickets to the Feb. 4 game were $1250.

So ferocious is Kevin Kunda’s allegiance that he flew back and forth from his winter home in Florida TWICE for the last two playoff games, keeping his perfect playoff attendance streak intact (and his airline rewards soaring).

Terri and Kevin Kunda tailgating with Skip and Kate Kunda last Sunday at the Linc.

Alas, looks like his wings will be clipped for the Super Bowl. The Kundas, per usual, won two Supe tix in the season-ticket lottery. But since Kevin went to Jacksonville 13 years ago, Skip gets the seats. Sorry, Kevin, but here at superstitious SAVVY, we’re thinking a new Kunda taking his turn in the stands might just turn our luck. #flyEaglesfly #takemewithyouSkip

And finally, the Times Building in Ardmore’s Suburban Square is showing its true colors. Nicely done.

The post Can Wayne theater be saved? Plus, Berwyn murder update; ‘Choice’ Bryn Mawr BYOB; T/E redistricts; Meehan’s miseries; Eagles Superfans & more appeared first on SAVVY MAINLINE.

Team 118 North: Partner Kenny Kearns, Marketing/PR Manager Kristen Kearns, Partner Joe Rufo, GM Steve Keenan, Talent Buyer Chris Perella; (back row) Partner Matt Thornton, Assistant Talent Buyer Graham Noel and Managing Partner Tom Thornton.

Great balls of fire! Wayne’s about to get what Ardmore’s had for years: its own live music hall.

118 North will open on N. Wayne Avenue Feb. 15, adding a touch of Austin/Nashville to our fair town.

To which we say: Rock it to us.

Partners in the venture hail from the Ardmore Music Hall and Wayne Music Festival. With a solid-gold record, here’s hoping they have a hit on their hands.

The group has blown open the old McGillicuddy’s, whose owners are also 118 North partners. They’ve knocked down the center wall, blacked out the ceiling, installed a big rear stage and state-of-the-art sound and lighting.

Closed since Christmas Eve, McGillicuddy’s has been transformed into 118 North.

“It’s a mini version of Ardmore,” 1118 North partner Kenny Kearns tells SAVVY.

Not all that mini, actually. The place looks downright spacious these days and can hold up to 200, we’re told.

Kearns, who lives only a few blocks away, is Mr. Music in these parts. He’s the founder of the Wayne Music Festival, a rollicking street fair that gets bigger and­ better each June. He’s also a member of Rugby Road, a band from his undergrad days at ’Nova that’s still jammin’ along – recording and playing gigs – 27 years later.

118 North will have a full bar and kitchen. Look for American beers and wines and southwestern fare. Owners have cleaned house, hiring a new chef and a new GM.

Local, regional and national acts are booked into April. In the mix: a range of musical styles including Americana, funk, roots, jam, blues, singer-songwriter.

No cover bands but expect the occasional tribute act.

Tommy Conwell, who last rocked the Ardmore Music Hall in November, will rumble on over in March, Kearns says.

The tentative lineup:

• Tuesdays: “chill” night with solo artists or a vinyl party.
• Wednesdays: musician open mic nights hosted by Hezekiah Jones.
• Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays: bands and bigger-name acts.
• Sundays: theme nights, e.g. bluegrass, blues, etc.

Tickets for most shows will be $5 (cheaper than Ardmore Music Hall) and will be sold via Ticket Fly – the same service Ardmore uses. They’ll open at 3 pm daily (closed Mondays).

“Our goal is for people to eat at local restaurants then head over to 118 North for some great live music,” Kearns says.

Sounds swell, right?

Jailed ex-Conestoga teacher’s aide commits suicide

Arthur Phillips, the Conestoga TV studio aide who pleaded guilty to the repeated sexual assault of a then-15-year-old student, was found unresponsive in his cell at Graterford prison Jan. 28.

“Cause of death: asphyxiation due to hanging. The manner of death was suicide,” said Montco First Deputy Coroner Alexander Balacki, reading the autopsy report.

Phillips, 67, was serving a 10- to 20- year sentence for indecent sexual assault, corruption of minors and related charges. A longtime resident of Potter Lane in Wayne, he was arrested last April and was sentenced two days before Thanksgiving.

A tragedy all around, Phillips’ death doesn’t end this sorry chapter for the Conestoga community. The victim’s parents have sued the Tredyffrin/Easttown School District and Conestoga Principal Amy Meisinger in federal court.

Apparent murder-suicide in Wayne

Radnor police are investigating the shooting deaths of a middle-aged mother and her son.

According to the Delco Medical Examiner’s office, the bodies of Alita Byrd, 50, and her son, Devon Byrd, 23, were found on the floor of 262 Highland Ave., the mother’s twin home in West Wayne, near the Radnor Trail and Odorisio Park.

The victims were found in the gray twin home on the left. (Google Maps)

Police said there were multiple firearms in the house. Officers entered the house Jan.31 after a neighbor reported seeing mail piling up and cars staying parked out front.

Police say the two may have been dead for a week.

A new ANEU in Rosemont

ANEU has sprouted anew.

The Paoli-based caterer and “Kitchen & Juicery” just opened a second outpost near the Rosemont train station.

And boy, is it a keeper.

We breezed in on opening day for a quick look-see. Darn if we didn’t stay a while, sipping ANEU’s new elixir, sampling tasty salads and sweets, and admiring the café’s bright-and-fresh vibe.

The new ANEU replaces the Gryphon Café at what was, until very recently, the headquarters of the New Leaf Club. (For more on that switcheroo, see below.)

ANEU owner Meridith Coyle on opening day at her new Rosemont cafe. With her is her landlord/New Leaf Club founder Mary Nixon and Erin Ziegelmeyer, program director at the Center For Families, now under construction next door (details below).

With just 28 seats, the place is small, but its grab-and-go selection is mighty.

“Most of my catering clients are on this side,” says owner Meridith Coyle, referring to the Main Line’s Great (unofficial) Divide, the Blue Route. “Lots of customers from our days at Strafford Farmer’s Market are coming in. We’ve been packed.”

Indeed, it was ANEU Catering client Mary Nixon, the building’s owner and founder of the New Leaf Club once housed there, who urged Coyle to lease the café space.

ANEU’s chefs prepare everything fresh daily in Paoli, then transport it to Rosemont.

On the menu: Fresh-pressed organic juices, healthy breakfast bowls and sandwiches, smoothies, salads, soups, wraps and house-baked goodies. OK, not everything is absolutely virtuous – but meats and poultry are hormone/antibiotic free and there’s plenty here for vegans and gluten-free folks.

And ANEU leans organic, subscribing to the “Clean 15/Dirty Dozen” guidelines espoused by nutrition guru Andrew Weil.

All the salads we tried were fab, but our personal faves were the mango chicken and the broccoli/pistachio.

And did we mention the coffee is La Colombe (!?!) There’s lots of parking, so if you’re shut out of Bryn Mawr Village, get your La Colombe latte here.

As for that wondrous “elixir” mentioned above: It’s an inflammation-busting blend of fresh ginger, lemon, honey and filtered water. A souvenir from Coyle’s recent trip to the famed Miraval spa. Take it to your fluish friend or sip it yourself to keep the bugs at bay.

BTW, get a gander at the redone rear section of ANEU in Paoli, which still awaits a few finishing touches. There’s a new coffee bar up front and free WiFi throughout.

New soft seating in the rear of ANEU in Paoli.

Perfect place to meet pals for coffee and you won’t struggle to find a seat a la Starbucks. (Plus, it’s locally owned.)

*** And for all you SAVVY SUBSCRIBERS out there, we’ve got a tasty FREEBIE for you at ANEU in PAOLI AND ROSEMONT!***

That’s right. Stop by either ANEU for a complimentary SAVVY Scone! Just show them one of our emails on your phone to prove you’re a subscriber and a fresh-baked cinnamon-chip mini scone is yours. (Sorry, “liking” us on Facebook doesn’t count.) We’d like to think SAVVY Scones are a bit like SAVVY: they go down easy – a tad spicy, a tad sweet, and not half bad for you. (Cinnamon’s a super-spice, btw. It fights heart disease and inflammation and keeps our brain cells firing.)

Not a SAVVY email subscriber yet? Scroll up to the sign-up form on top right. (On mobile, scroll all the way down.) Score your free scone through Feb. 28.

Sampling a SAVVY Scone with ANEU’s Sara Schmidt in Paoli. (More on what Ms. Schmidt, a former Broadway star, has cookin’ in a future SAVVY.)

ANEU Kitchen and Juicery, 1225 Montrose Ave. (behind Rosemont Square), is open Mon. and Fri. 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Tues. and Thurs. 6:30 a.m. to 8, and Sat. and Sun. 6:30 to 3:30. Private parties up to 30. ANEU Paoli, 1556 Lancaster Ave., is open daily for coffee, breakfast and lunch. Private parties up to 125. Free Wifi in both locations.

Center for Families takes over New Leaf Club HQ, plans new community center

ANEU’s not the only western biz heading east. Only a year old, the non-profit Center for Families (CFF) in Malvern is expanding to a second location in Rosemont, taking over the New Leaf Club next to the new ANEU.

After five years, New Leaf is turning over a new leaf. It will operate out of offices in Bala Cynwyd.

“We’re getting out of the building and personnel business but our mission is the same,” says New Leaf Club founder Mary Nixon, who owns the building and leases to ANEU and to CFF.

Since its founding, scores of youth and families struggling with addiction, mental health issues have found kinship, information and support at New Leaf.

Nixon says the shift away from bricks and mortar will likely mean a more intense focus on New Leaf’s uplifting arts and entertainment programs.

Support groups that began under the auspices of New Leaf are still meeting upstairs at the Rosemont facility. The first floor remains closed for renovations. CFF hopes to reopen the space for large-group events in mid-March.

Expansion to Rosemont brings the Center closer to clients in Montco and Philly, according to CFF Program Director Erin Ziegelmeyer. And the refurbished large-group space will allow CFF to hold community events that address mental health, addiction and learning issues. “We really want to partner with local businesses and groups who might want to rent the space and collaborate with us,” says Ziegelmeyer. “The Main Line wants a community center, a place where kids can go. We want to be that resource.”

A fascinating footnote: CFF runs a rather unique high school out of its Malvern location for kids struggling with addiction, bullying, eating disorders and other mental health issues. Currently 13 teens who “slipped under the radar” at schools like Conestoga and private schools attend the school which debuted last fall, Ziegelmeyer tells us. The program includes four hours of teacher-led academics followed by a range of therapeutic activities and outings.

Local rockers kill it on CONAN

If you thought the Eagles’ quick climb up the mountaintop was a shocker, how about the rapid-fire rise of the Stoga-bred band, Mt. Joy?

Mt. Joy: Sam Cooper, Matt Quinn, Jackie Miclau, Sotiris Eliopoulos and Michael Byrnes.

Exactly one year to the day the indie-folk rockers played their very first gig at a small club in LA, they played Conan.

Yup, a national TV audience saw Matt Quinn (Conestoga ’09), Sam Cooper (Conestoga ’07) et. al. perform their new single, “Silver Lining,” on Conan O’Brien’s late night show last week.

And may we say, they crushed it.

Named for a well-trod hiking spot in Valley Forge Park one hill away from the Coopers’ home on Mt. Misery, Mt. Joy is on fire. “It’s been incredible,” Sam tells SAVVY, especially since he says the band started “as a bit of a lark.”

Quinn had just started law school and Cooper was already an attorney when, just for kicks, they put their first song, “Astrovan,” on Spotify. “Astrovan” went viral, getting a million plays in a month. The two bagged their law careers, wrote and released new songs, and started touring across the country as Mt. Joy. “We’ll enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts,” Cooper tells SAVVY.

From where we’re sitting, they should be riding a good long time.

WXPN named Mt. Joy its pick for one of eight national “artists to watch in 2018” in NPR’s national “slingshot” program. The band’s music is in heavy play on WXPN and Alt Nation (Sirius Channel 36). Their debut album, “Mt. Joy,” (Dualtone Records) drops March 2 and will be sold online and at Urban Outfitters.

The band’s already performed at Made In America, will be showcased all week long at South by Southwest (again), and – calendar alert – swings back to Philly to play the Foundry at the Fillmore May 19, part of an album tour of the U.S. and Canada.

“I’ve always been a little in awe of Matt’s songwriting and vocal talent,” says Matt’s mom, Dore Carl Quinn. Matt is the lead vocalist and songwriter, although Sam and the gang make major contributions. “Matt’s clearly following his passion. Matt and Sam are living their dream!”

Merion Cricket expansion is a go

Looks like that most genteel of gems, Merion Cricket Club, is about to get a major overhaul in Haverford.

Lower Merion township last week OKed a plan that expands the historic club’s holdings from 13 to 18 acres. Seven neighboring homes – on some of the town’s toniest streets (Grays, Cheswold and Elbow Lanes) – will be bulldozed; four others (all on Elbow) get repurposed.

On the Club’s just-approved drawing board: a new pool complex with on-site dining and bar, a mini-spa, overnight lodging (a la Union League), a greenhouse, new and reconfigured paddle courts, relocated tennis courts and extra parking.

It’s all part of Merion Cricket’s multi-year master plan: bolster sagging membership by buying up and expanding into contiguous properties and upgrading amenities.

The club may be overdue for a freshening up. It’s been based in its iconic Frank Furness clubhouse in Haverford for 126 of its 153 years.

Wrapping herself in the flag and having a Ball

Matt and Anne Hamilton at the Academy Ball. (Photo by Hugh E. Dillon/Philly Chit Chat).

Loved the green gowns and bow ties, but Bryn Mawr’s Anne Hamilton gets our vote for Best (and Most Affordably) Dressed at this year’s Academy Ball. A positively prescient fashion choice eight days before the Super Bowl, right?

The Main Line’s unofficial Queen of Philanthropy/Champion of Culture, Anne’s added a green-and-silver lining to her playbook: Eagles Cheerleader-in-Chief. Not only did she and Matt bring their entire brood to the big game, but she posted a live Facebook video from the parade, where she appears to have had a police escort. Nice.

Btw, this year’s Ball was a barnburner, selling out for the first time in a decade and grossing a record $2 million. Proceeds help keep one of Philly’s finest, our treasured Academy of Music, looking fly.

Why such boffo box office for the Academy Ball’s 61^st go-round? Some say guest banjoist Steve Martin was the game changer. Others allude to the Fry Effect. Seems Drexel President John Fry, a Ball co-chair, brought in a bunch of fresh faces.

But as in football, the fundraising war is won in the trenches. So kudos to those who served on the front lines in a volunteer committee. Job well done.

Giant Foote-prints

After 22 years leading the rescue, renovation and expansion of the historic Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, Mary Foote is stepping down as executive director.

And what a footprint she’ll leave behind.

Thanks to the ongoing success of the Bank on The Arts campaign championed by Foote, the Colonial now shows first-run, indie and classic films on screens in three theaters. It also sells beer and wine (!) in its smashing new lobby.

Besides movies, the theater hosts concerts, comedy shows and community events.

If you haven’t yet seen the Colonial’s marvelous makeover of the adjacent Bank of Phoenixville, hoof it on over to see Foote’s legacy one day soon.

Devon resident gets top philanthropy nod

A SAVVY shoutout to Haverford School ’88 alum Bill Golderer, who just took on a massive job: President and CEO of the United Way of Greater Phila. and South Jersey.

Count on Golderer to make his mark.

Just 48, he’s a proven social-impact innovator and collaborator. He founded Broad Street Ministry to serve the homeless and co-founded Rooster Soup Company, a crowd-funded non-profit luncheonette where all revenues feed the needy.

As senior pastor at Arch Street Presbyterian Church, Golderer ministers to a diverse congregation and helped found Arch Street Preschool, which serves kids of all income levels.

An alum of SMU and Yale Divinity School, he’s taught and lectured at top-flight institutions, and served on numerous boards.

Two years ago, he was so fed up with our polarized politics that he ran for Patrick Meehan’s seat in Congress. He lost the Dems nomination and is putting politics aside to advance United Way’s mission: to end intergenerational poverty.

“I took on this role because poverty looms as one of our greatest challenges – it traps our families and limits our entire region’s potential,” said Golderer, in a statement. “It’s time to stop families from passing on poverty through generations and provide opportunities for our youth and families to thrive. Together, in partnership with the business community, the nonprofit sector, and our public officials, we can achieve this.”

If there’s a united way out of poverty, Golderer sure seems like the guy to find it.

This and That

Reach around and pat yourself on the back if you have the good sense to live in Lower Merion. Money Magazine just named LM the “best place to live in PA.” Among its virtues cited: low crime, high median household incomes ($117K/yr.), top schools (97% graduation rate), and plentiful parks and colleges.

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Kudos to Conestoga, again ranked the #1 public high school in PA by Niche Media. Germantown Friends was tops among private schools, followed by Haverford School (#2), Baldwin (#3), Episcopal (#4), Agnes Irwin (#7) and Friends Central (#8). And Main Line schools took the top five spots in Niche’s 2018 elementary school rankings: Ithan (#1), Penn Wynne (#2), Merion (#3), Cynwyd (#4) and Radnor (#5).

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Eat the rainbow, nutritionists tell us. Easier said than done, right? Bryn Mawr’s BodyX is bringing in guest chef Amandah Povlitis to explain how it’s done at an “eat and learn” dinner on Feb. 15. Povlitis will talk about nature’s “convenient color coordination” and prepare a colorful plant-based dinner.

Or indulge in a Big Fat Greek cooking lesson – Macedonia meets Mykonos! – with Chef Frances Vavloukis on Feb. 22. Details/tickets here.

Owner/Chef Frances Vavloukis serves guests at BodyX in Bryn Mawr.

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♬ Let them call her sweetheart  ♬

For Your Sweetie Who (Already) Has Everything: May we suggest a singing Valentine – either in person or via web video. For just $50 – $85, a barbershop quartet from the Bryn Mawr Mainliners will serenade her with sweet nothings. Red rose, box of chocolates and romantic card included. Proceeds help keep the nonprofit chorus singing their hearts out. Order online or call President Jeff Porter at 610.202.7676

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Foodie alert: You can now reserve a Chef’s Table at the tiny Wayne BYOB, At the Table, giving you a front-row seat to Chef Alex Hardy’s culinary creativity. Order the five-course tasting ($65) or go a la carte. (Their four-course Sunday supper is $45.) At the Table’s been slinging New American/French fare for a full year now at 11 Louella Court.

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Those hares at the Haas estate in Villanova are as hopped up as we are.

Natural Lands Trust, the nonprofit that will open the former Haas property, Stoneleigh, as a public garden in mid-May, bedecked its beloved wooden bunnies for the playoffs. And after Sunday night, added the finishing touch: a Lombardi trophy. Score.

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And finally, a personal P.S.

Cindy and Gavin Kerr at Philly International, awaiting a ride to the Super Bowl on an Eagles’ plane.

It’s just a team and it’s just a game, but, oh, how our Eagles have lifted us. Long after that Hail Mary fell to earth, we Philly folk are still aloft, still soaring. It’s as if we’ve grabbed a wing and can’t let go – the view from the Birds’ eye too breathtaking, the ride too bracing.

And as we fly, we find ourselves … ravenous. We lap up each nugget of news about the team that’s united us – rich or struggling, city tough or suburban soft – as no politician ever could. For a mere glimpse at our conquering heroes, we push through crowds, shake off cold and ignore our bladders.

Clips, posts and stories circulate. We hope our kids are listening. For the lessons, however trite, are many: hard work pays off, faith is rewarded, pull together as one, appreciate those who champion you, believe in yourself when no one else does.

Our Eagles are far from perfect – who is? – but, of course, they’re perfect for us.

Ah, but we digress. We set out in this postscript to share a nice little, soul-stirring Eagles story, one that hits home here on the Main Line.

So, here goes:

Cindy and Gavin Kerr have many blessings in this world: two loving daughters, an adored grandchild and a second on the way, wonderful friends, a firm faith, personal talents and gifts galore, a treasured home in Wayne.

God has been good. Except when He/She hasn’t.

Ten years ago this week, they lost their only son, their beautiful boy, to bone cancer – although at 17, the tall Conestoga senior was hardly a boy. Like our beloved Birds, Ryan Kerr fought until the clock read 00:00 – through 15 surgeries, 30 months of chemo, an amputation. But remarkably, for five long years, he smiled. And because of that singular, radiant smile, his family, his friends, and now children around the world, are smiling with him.

For it was her son’s smile that gave his mother purpose, a reason beyond her husband and daughters to get up each morning. She created the nonprofit, ConKerr Cancer, now known as Ryan’s Case for Smiles, over time enlisting an army of volunteers across the country to make playful pillowcases for young, gravely ill patients.

To date, 1.7 million pillowcases have been sewed. 1.7 million sick kids have been comforted. And there are Ryan’s Case chapters in 120 cities and towns nationwide. Expanding its mission, volunteers now assemble “coping boxes” for the often-forgotten siblings of kids with chronic illnesses.

But the Kerrs’ story – as compelling as it is – doesn’t end there. Late last summer, it took a heart-wrenching, how-could-this-happen turn. Cindy, 60, who lost her boy to cancer, had it herself.

Diagnosed in August, surgeons have removed an abdominal tumor as big as “a casserole dish,” she told a reporter. She’s still in treatment, and, thankfully, her prognosis is good. Like our Eagles, she digs in every day and fights – not for herself, but for her team: sick kids, their siblings and her steadfast volunteers.

As the founder of Ryan’s Case for Smiles, Cindy has won awards, appeared on Martha Stewart, and –  circling back to our purpose here – forged deep bonds in the Philadelphia community and with its football team. In 2017, her nonprofit was named an  Eagles Care Partner. In December, two Eagles even paid a surprise visit to, where else, New Eagle Elementary School in Wayne, to make coping boxes.

Eagles kicker Donnie Jones assembles coping boxes with kids at New Eagle Elementary.

Through it all, Cindy, like Ryan, has kept on smiling. Heaven took note, as Heaven does, and smiled back: The Eagles surprised Cindy and Gavin with an all-expenses-paid trip to the Super Bowl. But the team gave the tickets on one condition: the Kerrs had to go themselves. The Eagles knew Cindy’s first instinct would be to give the tickets away to someone who needed a lift more than she did.

Eagles Coach Doug Pederson surprises Cindy Kerr with the adventure of a lifetime.

And Sunday night in Minneapolis, as time expired and Tom Brady’s final heave bounced off the turf, Heaven – or was it Ryan – had smiled one more time: on the Birds, on the Kerrs, on our city, and on scrappy underdogs everywhere.

Philly Philly.

The post Rock on! Wayne’s new music hall; ANEU to Rosemont; Wayne murder/suicide & jailhouse death; Mt. Joy; Eagles’ ‘Case for Smiles’ and more appeared first on SAVVY MAINLINE.

It’s a Main Line mystery: Twin buildings – perhaps the most opulent ever built in these parts – sitting idle for years in the heart of Devon.

Unleased.

Unsold.

Ripe for the taking but no one’s biting.

What happened to this modern-day Taj Mahal, its hushed, lifeless halls worlds away from the bustling Whole Foods just across the street?

Surely, the land alone – nearly two acres on a primo patch of Rt. 30 –  is worth millions.

Alas, the ornate arched walls at 840 W. Lancaster Ave. can’t talk.

But their owner can.

And did.

And the story he tells fascinates, although we’ve heard such tales before: A dreamer spends a small fortune to brings his vision lovingly and painstakingly to life, only to witness its crumble and collapse.

Our storyteller, the man behind the mystery, is Dr. Matt Vegari, 67, retired neurologist,
Gladwyne resident and Renaissance Man of the first order.

A gourmand and wine connoisseur, Vegari had a singular dream: to bring fine French dining, a world-class wine cellar, and traditional dishes from his native Iran to the Main Line.

In the mid ’90s, our fine-dining scene was meager. More often than not, formal dining meant a trip to town and reservations at Striped Bass, the Fountain or Le Bec Fin.

“Friends kept telling me to put my money where my mouth is, so I ended up being a fool and doing this,” Vegari says, laughing. (Throughout our two-hour chat, he keeps a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye.)

He settled on a Devon location: the old Martini’s restaurant/bar. According to Vegari, the property was by then “a dumpy place with thousands of mice in the basement,” but it came with a liquor license and a central Main Line address – near the Great Valley and King of Prussia corporate corridors and just a Blue Route-ride from Center City.

Just one problem: the Martini plot was too small for Vegari’s grand restaurant/retail vision.

So he embarked on a two-year shopping spree, patiently buying out seven adjacent businesses in and around Berkley Road, among them a boutique, a mini-mart, a gas station and a pack-and-ship store.

With eight parcels joined as one, he asked an architect to put his dream – two palatial buildings with underground parking – to paper.

Diners for Shiraz and La Jonquille entered through this two-story foyer.

The first building’s ground floor would house the formal French dining room, La Jonquille (“the daffodil”), a less formal brasserie, a chef’s table with a view of the kitchen and an exclusive wine cellar for private dining. Upstairs would hold a Persian-themed restaurant, Shiraz, named for the picturesque Iranian city of Vegari’s youth, and banquet space for 250.

The second building would be leased for retail and, beneath it, would be multi-level parking for both.

So elaborate was Vegari’s vision that it would take another three years to come to life: one year to secure township permits, two more to build.

Blueprints borrowed from his travels: rows of arches and columns from Jardin des Tuileries in Paris; mosaic flourishes from St. John in the Caribbean and the south of France.

Materials and workmanship were topnotch.

No expense was spared with Vegari himself directing every detail.

Walls were constructed of hand-laid granite stones and decorative bricks. Shimmering turquoise tiles were imported from the Middle East. Below-grade parking required pricey all-steel construction, extensive excavation and the installation of multiple French drains. “I went through hell to put in underground parking,” Vegari says.

As the buildings rose – unlike any the Main Line had ever seen, Vegari and his wife, Sheila, meticulously planned the interior.

The Brasserie at La Jonquille is exactly as it was when the last guests were served 14 years ago.

The couple chose everything themselves: rich carpets and tapestries, crystal chandeliers dangling from 21-ft. ceilings, the elegant French flourishes downstairs, the authentic Middle Eastern art and artifacts upstairs.

Dr. Vegari in the tile-trimmed dining alcoves at the former Shiraz. He instructed tile layers to mimic an authentic Persian design when the restaurant was built in the late 1990s.

“It was mind-boggling for people who weren’t interior designers,” Vegari recalls. “My emotional investment was huge … this was my passion project. I put my heart and soul in it.”

Not to mention, a big chunk of his bank account. All in, Vegari spent $14 million on his Devon dream. His broker tells us Vegari’s investment today would easily top $20 million.

The restaurants opened in late 1999 and, in Vegari’s words, were “a smash” from Day One.

New to the business, Vegari had recruited the best. La Jonquille’s chef de cuision and pastry chef came from Le Bec Fin; Shiraz’ chef was brought in from LA. And overseeing both, an exceptionally dedicated general manager, who seemingly flew between floors.

La Jonquille’s formal French dining room hummed with high rollers and expense accounts. Area gourmands, among them noted foodie Norm Cohn, became regulars.

Reviews by Zagat and Philly Mag were stellar.

Wine Spectator named La Jonquille and La Shiraz among the “best restaurants in the world for wine lovers” in 2001.

Weekend tables were booked weeks in advance; a seat at the chef’s table meant a three-month wait. With 25,000 bottles all handpicked by Vegari, La Jonquille’s wine list was the largest in the region and the second largest in the state. Several bottles sold for $20,000 or more, although some could be had for $12.

Dr. Matt Vegari and his son Matthew in the still-stocked wine cellar at his long-defunct Devon restaurant.

Those who found la Jonqjuille perhaps too foofoo or pricey headed upstairs for an authentic, exotic Persian experience at Shiraz.

In the early going, Vegari’s dream seemed prescient: the Main Line was indeed starved for fine dining and zesty Middle Eastern fare.

He leased the equally ornate building next door to Advanced Dermatology and Plastic Surgery, a husband-and-wife medical team that, according to Vegari, spent more than $2 million to put a state-of-the-art facility in a 10,000 sq. ft. “vanilla shell.”

When the two divorced and folded their practice, Vegari leased to Ilona Csaky, who ran Ilona Day Spa, an upscale spa/salon on the premises until 2013 or 2014, he says.

The salon/spa next to Shiraz/La Jonquille last operated by Ilona Csaky.

But a year and a half into Vegari’s venture, things began to unravel.

The restaurants’ GM left abruptly and proved impossible to replace.

The kitchen erupted with power struggles.

Food and service slipped.

And the staff was stealing, outfoxing elaborate security systems.

“I couldn’t be hands on,” Vegari explains. “I was working 90 hours a week as a neurologist, teaching and seeing patients.” Determined to ferret out dishonest employees, he planted undercover “moles.” Still, “theft was everywhere,” he says. Vegari prefers we not put a dollar figure on his losses. But we can tell you: they were significant.

Under the best of circumstances, the restaurant business is rough.

But executing perfection night after night in four dining spaces and two kitchens spread over 14,250 sq. ft. with an absentee owner, revolving-door management, and pervasive theft?

Well, that was impossible.

Unable to right his ship, Vegari closed and reopened La Jonquille twice with new managers in 2002, then locked the doors for good in 2003.

He closed Shiraz at the same time, reviving it a a few years later then shutting down permanently in 2007.

For a while, signs of life continued upstairs. Long & Foster realtors leased part of upstairs banquet hall. Dr. Vegari occupied another section, seeing low-income neurology patients on weekends on a pro bono basis.

But Long & Foster moved on and Vegari retired. These days, the only action is in the parking garage, which has been leased to a car dealership.

Built to last, the twin steel-and-stone structures stand tall and at the ready, their interiors astonishingly frozen in time. Tables, chairs, linens, artwork, custom china, kitchen equipment, much of the vast wine holdings –  everything at La Jonquille is exactly as it was when the lights went out in 2003, right down to a rack of used cookware awaiting a push through the dishwasher.

Improbably, the premises are immaculate, neither dusty nor dreary. You can almost feel the life and laughter that once coursed through the building, the warmth of this chilly place, now kept at an economical 50 degrees. Vegari spends thousands each year to keep the liquor license in place and the HVAC running.

Across the shared courtyard, the oversized salon/spa is also untouched, still furnished with imported ostrich leather chairs, high-end massage tables and skincare equipment.

“My hope has always been lease to someone good, someone high end who can move right in and run the place either as two separate restaurants or as one together. And to have spa and retail,” Vegari says. “It could be run very profitably.”

Unlike most, Vegari never tried to liquidate. He’d only get a fraction of what he paid and he believed his furniture and fixtures, so carefully chosen, would add to the property’s appeal.

Undoubtedly, there’s a sentimental at work here, too.

Vegari’s younger son Matthew, Harvard ’17 and valedictorian of Episcopal Academy’s Class of ’13, accompanied his father to our meeting. The younger Vegari fondly recalls the “huge parties my parents hosted here” and his “very busy father doing wine tastings all day” to set the proper food pairings. When EA friends heard that his family was behind the exotic buildings on Lancaster Ave., they were unfailingly intrigued. “I remember it being a pretty big deal. Everyone talked about the wine cellar. The menu was unreal.”

Did anyone suggest the buildings were perhaps too lavish for buttoned-down Devon?

Not even once, says Dr. Vegari. “Everybody loved it from what I’d hear …  It became a cornerstone of the Main Line.”

He’s now on his third real estate agent, Todd Sussman of Collier’s International, who arranged our tour of the buildings and our meeting with Dr. Vegari and his son.

Their hope is our story will bring renewed attention to the property that, despite its grandiosity, has managed to blur into the landscape. Out-of-towners may turn their heads, but we locals drive by with hardly a glance.

Restaurants have shown interest in the place but never signed on: Georges Perrier in the early days, and, more recently, Seasons 52 and Del Frisco’s. At one point, a caterer thought about turning the spa building into an event venue. Marc Vetri and Stephen Starr have talked about hosting pop-up charity dinners in the restaurants.

The usual suspects – Wawa and residential developers – have also cast longing looks, but Vegari says they offered only a fraction of the property’s value. And until now, he’s stood firm: No one was going to knock down what he’d worked so hard to build.

These days, though, Vegari is wavering. Ideally, some or all of his property gets leased for $35 – $40/sq. ft. With some updating, he knows “it can be very profitable.”

But if that restaurant or spa operator never arrives, he’s prepared – at long last – to sell, providing the price is right. Every day he holds out is another day he loses money.

Still, if he sells to a developer and his beloved towers come tumbling down, a piece of his heart will crumble with them.

“I’ll never come to this area of the Main Line again. I couldn’t look at it,” he says.

“Putting the money aside,” Vegari insists he has no regrets. “I did something worthwhile for the town and for the Main Line here. From a dumpy place, I built this. I’m proud of what I did and I’d probably do it again.”

Bull’s eye in Devon

A schematic of the new Target planned for the former KMart building at the Devon Square shopping center.

Your prayers have been answered: Target is coming to the old Devon KMart.

More good news: the whole shopping center is getting a little facelift.

The retailer says it will open a small-format store in the Devon Square shopping center at 704 W. Lancaster Ave.

It’s the second smallish Target coming to the Main Line. The retailer’s also headed to downtown Ardmore, at the corner of Lancaster and Ardmore Ave.

At 56,000 sq. ft., the Devon target will be bigger than Ardmore’s 31,000 sq. ft. store but less than half the size of full-size Targets, which average 130,000 to 140,000 sq. feet.

The Devon location will house a Starbucks and will sell the usual roundup of groceries (including healthy choices) along with personal and home décor items “customized” to the community, according to a news release. The location will also function as a pick-up stop for online orders.

Target is taking two-thirds of the old KMart, on the side closest to Acme. The remaining “end cap” space is not yet leased.

Dave McManus, a VP with shopping center owner Westover Companies, tells SAVVY he’s been negotiating with Target for about a year.

“We couldn’t have a better tenant taking the space. It will be a real asset to the community.”

To sweeten the deal for Acme (which, after all, sells some of the same stuff), the supermarket’s storefront will get exterior renovations, the parking lot will get updated lighting, and landscaping will be upgraded.

With Acme and Target right next to each other, Devon shoppers will have two places to buy food in the same center.

“The whole center will look more current,” McManus says.

Because the Ardmore Target is being built from scratch, with apartments above it, it won’t be finished until mid 2019.

In Devon, the timeline is shorter. Target is simply renovating – the building footprint stays the same. We’re told the new store should be up and running by October.

New federal indictment for former Radnor official

Things have gone from horrifically bad to even worse for disgraced former Radnor Board of Commisioners President Phil Ahr.

According to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday, a grand jury found evidence that Ahr (known as DaddyX” and “DaddyXX”) distributed child pornography across state lines, received such images in Nov. 2013 and June 2017, and had in his possession pornography involving children under age 12.

He’s scheduled to be tried on various criminal counts in Delaware County court on April 23.

Mixed reviews – per usual – for latest PA congressional district map

Republicans (and Trump) hate it; Dems love it.

But here’s what few dispute about the new plan issued this week by the PA Supreme Court:

1. The districts – at least on paper – look more compact and cohesive.
2. The new map gives our each of the suburban Philly counties a clear-cut go-to representative in Congress.
3. The map boosts Dems chances to retake the U.S. House in 2018

Key takeways for Main Liners:

• Once chopped up into five districts, heavily Democratic Montco is now mostly one, with its own representative and its own district number (the 4th). At press time, State Sen. Daylin Leach, who lives in Montco, had not yet announced whether he’d run in the 4^th.
• The new 5^th district encompasses all of Delco, including all of Wayne, aka the town with feet in three counties. The 5^th also includes Bob Brady’s old stomping grounds in South Philly, which will likely tilt the whole district toward the Dems.
• All of Chesco (plus Reading ’cause Chesco isn’t populous enough) now make up the reconfigured 6 No doubt they’re grinning over at Chrissy Houlihan’s headquarters. Experts agree the new 6th gives the Devon Democrat a better shot at unseating U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello, whose “GOP-lean district” is now considered a “strong Democratic opportunity.” Some folks are suggesting Costello should run in the nearby 9^th, which looks to be more GOP friendly.

Republicans are crying foul because the map came from the Democratic-controlled PA Supreme Court and not the Republican-controlled state legislature. It’s just another gerrymander, they say.

In case you haven’t been following: All this comes after the high court threw out the district map that’s been in effect since the GOP-controlled legislature and GOP governor approved it in 2011, calling it an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. Justices gave legislators only a few weeks to come up with a new map, which Gov. Wolf promptly vetoed, as expected, last week.

The new map put forth by the court will be in effect for the May 15 primary – assuming it withstands Repubicans’ court challenges and calls for justices’ impeachment.

To help us sort through this gerrymander tug of war, we called on the Malvern man who’s been sounding the drumbeat for “Fair Districts” for the last 16 months.

Lawrence Husick has spoken before 30 groups across southeastern PA on behalf of the non-partisan activist group, Fair Districts PA.

He calls the new map “a step in the right direction” for a state that he calls among “the most egregiously gerrymandered” in the country.

The new plan passes muster with the PA constitution, Husick says, because the new districts are compact, contiguous, roughly equal in population, and respect county/municipal boundaries as much as possible.”

But – and it’s a big but – he takes issue with the process. Neither the courts nor the legislature should be in the business of deciding voting boundaries because both parties gerrymander, he says. They just can’t help themselves.

Sounds reasonable to us. Politicians simply shouldn’t be drawing their own district lines.

In case you haven’t heard, Fair Districts PA is pushing for an independent, transparent and impartial Citizen’s Committee (4 Rs, 4 Ds and 3 Indie/Third party) to draw the maps. (PA redistricts every ten years, after each census.)

The movement’s gathering speed on the Main Line. Lower Merion, Narberth, Malvern borough, Radnor and Haverford officials have all passed resolutions supporting Fair Districts’ proposals. Led by Husick, Fair Districts folks turned out in force for this week’s Tredyffrin Supervisors meeting. The motion was tabled until the Supes’ March meeting. (Hmmm. What say you, Easttown?)

And just this week, Pa. Sen. Warren Kampf (a Republican) showed a becoming indie streak, announcing he’ll co-sponsor the Fair Districts-backed bill, HB 722, joining some 100 other legislators from both sides of the aisle.

The two bills (SB 22 and HB722) were introduced in early 201. But so far, they’ve languished in Republican-controlled committees. After all, why should the party in charge consider a change when the map (until now) has been so darn favorable?

Thumbs up for planned hotel and outpatient center in Radnor

Penn Medicine’s plans to take over 26 acres on King of Prussia Rd. near the Blue Route have taken a giant step forward.

Radnor Commissioners have approved the health system’s preliminary development plan for the old Wyeth Laboratories site.

Penn Med has a permit to demolish to the old Wyeth buildings. In their place, it proposes to build a 250,000 sq. ft. ambulatory care center, a 75,000 sq. ft. hotel, a 150,000 sq. ft. office building and two sizable parking garages.

The good news for Radnor: Even though the health system is a nonprofit, it has agreed to pay Radnor taxes. To ease local traffic – which is already a bear – Penn Med plans to add traffic signals and widen King of Prussia Road. Construction is slated to begin this summer and the new buildings should debut in 2020.

The BOC vote on Feb. 12 was 4 to 1, with one commissioner abstaining and another absent.

But that lone no vote was a loud one, reports Main Line Media News.

It came from Commissioner Richard Booker, who spent about a half hour airing his beefs – complete with slideshow – relating to the potential environmental, sewage and traffic impact of Penn Med’s proposal. Booker has also filed a lawsuit to block the zoning change Radnor approved that allows Penn Med to redevelop the property.

Gladwyne doc will pay us back

Gladwyne homeowner Dr. David Shulkin with his children and wife, Dr. Merle Bari, at his swearing in as VA Secretary in 2017.

Add Gladwyne’s David Shulkin, U.S. Secretary for Veteran’s Affairs, to the list of Trump Cabinet members who’ve come under fire for travel expenses.

Shulkin and his wife, dermatologist Merle Bari, took a 10-day, $122,334 trip to Europe last summer that some say may not have been completely on the up and up, moneywise.

Which comes as a bit of a shock to many, as Shulkin has long enjoyed a stellar rep.

The purpose of the trip were veterans’ healthcare meetings in London and Copenhagen.

The issue – according to the VA’s Inspector General – is whether the couple mixed too much pleasure with business.

Specifically, the Inspector General is looking into allegations that Shulkin’s chief of staff doctored an email to create a pretext for taxpayers to pay for his wife’s part of the trip. He’s also looking at whether Shulkin’s acceptance of a friends’ offer of Wimbledon tickets was improper. The couple also spent at least half of the trip sightseeing, according to the Washington Post.

But Shulkin is fuming, calling the investigation “outrageous” and one that “reeks of an agenda.”

Shulkin says he’ll reimburse taxpayers $4,300 for his wife’s airfare and will pay his friend back for the tennis tickets. His chief of staff has since retired and been replaced.

Just this week, Trump gave Shulkin the OK to purge “subversive” staff, i.e. conservative critics of the VA’s policy direction. Shulkin is the only holdover from the Obama administration serving in Trump’s cabinet.

Bellying up to a new barre in Paoli

Branded barre workouts are so big at Paoli’s Purenergy, the fitness facility needs a whole new studio. (Let’s see: there’s Buff Barre, Booty Barre, Up Barre, Pilates Barre, Sports Barre…)

Purenergy is putting the finishing touches on a new, dedicated barre studio in the old Sweet Pose Yoga space in the same shopping center, the Depot Shoppes behind Starbucks. (Sweet Pose moved next to the Paoli CVS.)

For Purenergy’s barre-istas, it’s fab news. Good-bye, wait lists and too-cozy classes. Hello, floor-to-ceiling mirrors and extra room to relevé.

The new 900 sq. ft. studio opens March 1, the same day Purenergy will host a “Beauty Bash” Girls Night Out.

This and That

A timely post-Parkland happening: Purenergy Studio in Paoli will host “Active Shooter Response” training  on Wed. March 7, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Attendees of all ages will be trained in quick-thinking, life-saving tactics in the event of an active shooter, aggressive intruder, terror attack or other violent event. Open to the public, the workshop will also address the unique challenges specific to K-12 schools and will be led by black-belt Liberty HaganaH instructor David Murray. The fee is $25 for adults; $10 for children. Click here to register.

Get a jump on those lazy, hazy days at Suburban Square’s “Winter Beach Bash” Saturday, March 3. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. soak in everything but the rays: live music, a photo booth, face painting and crafts for the kiddos. Presented in partnership with Alex’s Lemonade Stand, the Ardmore bash will include a showstopper: a giant sand sculpture that’s being created over two days.

A SAVVY shoutout to Teresa’s Next Door in Wayne, just named a James Beard Foundation Award semifinalist in the “Outstanding Bar Program” category, beating out 20,000 entries. The North Wayne Ave. watering hole/gastropub has been collecting kudos for years. Just last fall, the Inky’s Craig LaBan gave it a three-bell review, writing that it’s “blossomed into what may be the single greatest place to drink in the suburbs.” A panel of 600 judges will choose the finalists March 14 and the winners April 27.

We’re hearing great things about the two-artist show, “Shared Space,” at the Wayne Art Center through March 10. Look for landscapes by the fabulously talented painters Valerie Craig, a Villanova resident who’s won a bushel of national and international awards, and Martin Campos, who teaches at the art center and PAFA. Watch them at work this Saturday, Feb. 24 at 1 p,m. at the Wayne Farmer’s Market. Or catch their free Artists’ Talk at the art center March 9 at 12:30 p.m.

DineKOP returns for a fourth year March 5 – 11 with a record number of restaurants offering three-course dinners for $20, $30 or $40 and lunches for $10, $15 or $20. New this year: KOP Shops for CHOP, a charity shopping day on Saturday, March 10. Both promotions benefit Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s KOP Specialty Care Center.

The Main Line’s getting its first Bra-and-Pony Show. The Haverford Square lingerie shop Hope Chest is bringing in a live pony (the famous “Bagel” from Thorncroft), along with free chair massages, chocolates, mini-makeovers, raffle prizes and more this Saturday, Feb. 24, 11 –  3. Twenty percent of sales will be donated to the Malvern therapeutic riding center that serves children and adults with disabilities. Giddyap.

The North Wayne Ave. portrait studio Little Nest is leaving the nest. Owner Lara Aman Mattey is breaking away from the Little Nest national franchise to do her own thing. She’s calling her new photography studio, Ivory Tree, a nod to the “pure light” in her photos and family trees.

A timely distinction in light of last week’s Parkland shootings: Radnor School District was just named the safest in the nation by Niche Media. Among the factors considered: parent/student safety surveys (50 %), student absenteeism, suspensions expulsion and arrests. Also scoring high, T/E, which was ranked 5^th in PA.

As usual, Main Line public high schools crushed the SATs last year. The PA Dept. of Education just released 2017 SAT rankings. Conestoga was ranked #3 in the state (after two public schools with “select” populations – Masterman and Downingtown STEM), Radnor was #4, Lower Merion #7, Harriton #A8, Great Valley tied for #15, and Haverford High tied for #47.

Longtime WMGK radio host and Haverford resident John DeBella, 66, is being sued by his six-year on-air side kick, Jen Posner, for sexual harassment. According to a suit filed Friday by Jennifer Neill (her real name), the DJ repeatedly subjected her to vulgar remarks, unwanted touching of her breasts and genitals, and requests for oral sex. The alleged details will make your skin crawl.

A hit at Bryn Mawr Village, the healthy fast food chain Bryn + Dane’s just opened at 615 Morehall Road, Malvern. They’re serving up steel cut oats, breakfast wraps, sandwiches and salads plus cold brew coffee, organic teas and draft kombucha from 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

Autograph alert: A flock of Eagles will be flying into Valley Forge Casino Resort next weekend for the Philadelphia Sportscard & Memorabilia Show. Tickets are $8/day or $18/weekend. Birds swooping in on Saturday, March 3 include Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles, Fletcher Cox, Nelson Agholor, Trey Burton and Lane Johnson. In Sunday’s lineup: Carson Wentz, Jason “No One Likes Us and We Don’t Care” Kelce, Chris Long and many more.

A warm welcome to SAVVY’s February advertisers, new and old. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for supporting our little venture in relevant, readable community journalism. Click on their ads to learn more about: Day Spa by Zsuzsanna in Wayne; Christie’s/Long & Foster agent Sue McNamara; Woodlynde School for kids with learning differences; Restore Cryosauna/Chiropractic in Wayne and Haverford; Your Organizing Consultant Anna Sicalides, Mulholland-Peracchia real estate team at Berkshire Hathaway; and The Camera Shop in Bryn Mawr.

Want to partner with SAVVY?  Our rates are reasonable and our reach is wide! Contact kathy@savvyml.com or call 610-304-4996.

And finally: We’re still blissfully, unapologetically, Bird-brained

Witness the long lines at AFC Fitness for Wednesday’s meet-and-greet with endearingly brash Eagles cornerback Jalen Mills.

Eagles cornerback Jalen Mills with (left) Nicole Dresnin Schaeffer of Villanova and (right) Bizette Gailewiez of Penn Valley, David Rose and son Parker, of Wynnewood and AFC Fitness President/CEO Matt Littman.

The President and CEO of the Bala Cynwyd fitness club is hometown Philly guy Matt Littman. An Eagles superfan, Littman tells SAVVY he happily paid “a small fortune” to bring in Mills to show his appreciation to AFC members and staff. The state-of-the-art workout/aquatics center is motoring along, now in its 27th year.

Mills’ appearance was also a little fundraiser. Twelve years ago CHOP performed emergency surgery on Littman’s newborn son and he’s been saying thank you ever since. To date, his fitness center has raised more than $25,000 for the children’s hospital.

Nice going, AFC.

The post Two Devon mysteries solved: What’s up with old Shiraz site & empty KMart; Plus, new hotel to Radnor, new map for PA, new charges for Ahr; ‘active shooter’ training & more appeared first on SAVVY MAINLINE.

Stoga teacher Deb Ciamacca talks guns on national TV, Delaware Valley Friends School students walk through Paoli, and T/E parents meet to talk gun safety.

They called B.S.

Fed up because they don’t feel safe in school, thousands of Main Line students walked off the job Wednesday.

For 17 minutes or more, classrooms became ghost towns, the halls mostly quiet.

There would be no repercussions. Lower Merion, Radnor and T/E Schools were of one voice: students would not be penalized for commemorating Florida’s fallen 17 and demanding #NeverAgain.

As a precaution, parents were cordially not invited to attend – forbidden, in fact, from entering schools that became “closed campuses” from 10 to 11 a.m. Local police stood at the ready, their services, thankfully, not needed.

This was the kids’ show, from start to finish. They made the t-shirts, they painted the signs, they gave the speeches. The grown-ups – principals, teachers, support staff – had graciously ceded the floor.

Participation varied by school but hovered between 50 and 85 percent in public schools. An editor for Conestoga’s student newspaper counted students in an aerial drone shot at just under 1,100. (About 2,200 attend Conestoga.)

Among the schools joining the national walkout held exactly one month after the Parkland shootings: all public high schools and most middle schools plus Agnes Irwin, Haverford School, Shipley, Baldwin, Jack Barrack Hebrew Academy, Friends Central, Episcopal and Delaware Valley Friends.

The divisions we adults see far too often –  color, political party, religion, social class – melted away Wednesday. When your very life is at stake, you don’t notice. You don’t care.

Fired up by the Parkland students and energized by their own kids, parents joined the fray – organizing postcard-writing sessions, attending community forums, supporting township resolutions, calling on legislators.

And in the middle of it all, a teacher rose among us, compelled to speak, not for her home district, Tredyffrin-Easttown, but for all teachers. How is it that I’ve become a target? Why are my students targets? Deb Ciamacca wondered aloud – to TIME Magazine, the BBC, Canadian National TV, Comedy Central, CBS-3, and others.

Media calls – from NBC’s Brian Williams to Danish TV – just keep coming, she tells SAVVY. The press tracked her down after she tweeted at teachers’ union officials, asking them to take action after the Parkland shootings. Now a poster teacher for school safety and gun issues, Ciamacca says she’s merely exercising her First Amendment rights. Teachers have been silent for too long.

Ciamacca is uniquely positioned to speak truth to power. She’s a former Marine who’s handled M-16s, a wife, a mother, and a respected AP U.S. Government teacher at Conestoga.

Ciamacca’s tough and resolute but, frankly, she’s frightened. And furious. Her district has stepped up safety protocols and drills, but will they be enough? In the event of attack, she’s devised her own plan, instructing students to climb out her classroom’s window to an adjacent roof.

Legislators should lay “every option on the table,” Ciamacca tells a crowd of concerned parents at the Tredyffrin Public Library Wednesday afternoon.

Should we harden our schools with armed guards? Maybe, she says, contemplating what for her was unthinkable just a year ago.

Should we harden our teachers with guns? Never. “That’s lunacy,” she tells parents.

That we should regulate gun purchases goes without saying, Ciamacca says. As does investing in students’ mental health.

Wednesday’s walkouts inspire this teacher/warrior; they give her hope. She was especially heartened to see that Stoga students of every political stripe participated. Change is coming, she says, and it will likely start at the state level. Like the biblical Baptist in the wilderness, she calls out to any who will listen: “This is the moment. The time is now. Enough is enough.”

But enough with words. Here’s a look at the many Main Liners who demanded action against gun and school violence this week:

More than half of Conestoga‘s student body walked out of classrooms. (Photo by Neil Goldenthal/THE SPOKE)

Radnor School District parents Jill Knight, Megan Ryan and Stevie Boulden plea for “gun sense” laws in their postcards to state and federal legislators at St. David’s Church in Wayne last Sunday. 665 postcards were written that afternoon. Nancy Lamason and Michael Coghill from CeaseFire PA spoke.

Organizers of Wednesday’s walkout at Lower Merion High School carried signs and wore orange #Enough T-shirts. (Photo by Anna O’Hora/LMSD)

Concerned T/E parents gather at the Tredyffrin Public Library to hear talks on gun safety and gun sense in a forum organized by #1D1V Tredyffrin & Easttown, a new activist/awareness group.

Senior organizer Maddie Braun addresses students at Conestoga‘s walkout. (Photo by Neil Goldenthal/THE SPOKE)

Teachers joined the peaceful protest at Delaware Valley Friends School in Paoli. (DVFS via Instagram)

Radnor High School‘s walkout.

Conestoga freshman Jack Nalitt paints a banner of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School at the #1D1V forum in Tredyffrin.

Lower Merion High School students reflect on lives lost to gun violence during a moment of silence Wednesday morning. (Photo by Anna O’Hora/LMSD)

Inspired by a similar effort in Virginia, Deb Fein and Jennifer Thompson organized #1D1V’s first forum on gun safety, held the afternoon of the national student walkout.

Students and staff gathered around the “peace pole” at Delaware Valley Friends School then walked through the streets of downtown Paoli. (DVFS via Instagram)

Lower Merion High School student organizers speak to students during the walkout. (Anna O’Hora/LMSD)

A Conestoga student who helped organize Stoga Students Against Gun Violence urges citizens visiting the Tredyffrin library to contact their elected representatives.

T/E community members sign a banner that will be sent to the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL.

Sophomore Class President JP Infortuna speaks at the Stoga walkout. (Photo by Neil Goldenthal/THE SPOKE)

Addressing community members at the #1D1V forum in Tredyffrin, Conestoga activist teacher and former Marine Deb Ciamacca wants the debate re-framed as a “school safety” issue, not “gun control.”

Senior walkout co-organizer Grace Lanouette speaks to Conestoga students. (Photo by Neil Goldenthal/THE SPOKE)

Lumbrada debuts near Whole Foods in Devon

Strike up the (Mariachi) band: Lumbrada Cocina Mexicana is open at last.

This family-owned eatery in the old Avero space is serving up the whole enchilada: a six-page menu, tequilas ’til Tuesday, tableside guacamole, 200 seats (plus bar) with private dining room.

We visited opening weekend, and may we say, Olé Olé.

Not sure which went down easier: the prices or the Clase Azul Reposada tequila.

The menu is mammoth, a mix of traditional Tex-Mex and authentic dishes from the motherland – literally. Lumbrada employs time-honored recipes from the owners’ mom, Evangelina Torres of Escondido, Mexico.

For the record, we counted 18 tequila drinks, 18 Margarita flavors, 11 tacos, 9 enchiladas, 5 quesadillas, 9 burritos, 6 entrée salads, 8 vegetarian dishes, 11 carnes (meat entrées), 12 fajitas, 8 pollo (chicken dishes) and 10 mariscos (seafood plates).

Our chicken Burrito Bandera ($11.50 with plenty for leftovers) and Tacos de Pescado la Paz (aka grilled mahi-mahi tacos, $12.99) were quite tasty. Alas, the guac prepared tableside was a tad blah – our fault, perhaps, for ordering it “not spicy.”

Solomon mixes up fresh guacamole tableside.

On the other hand, the shrimp ceviche was shrimply splendid.

Beer comes in 12, 22 and 32-ounce pours – a Big Gulp, but golden and in a chilled mug.

Décor is casita casual.

Be sure to touch the onyx bar and the textured walls, hand-faux-painted by cousin Antonio.

Spanish for bonfire, Lumbrada has a several irons in the fire, including a May 5 Cinco de Mayo blowout block party (in the parking lot, township permitting), outdoor dining (only 5 or 6 tables), and still TBA “tequila dinners” with course pairings.

Owners are Anselmo and Daniel Torres and Daniel’s pal from kindergarten, Saul Gonzalez.

Owners Saul Gonzalez and Anselmo Torres with Evangelina Torres at the new Lumbrada.

Four generations of Torres have been in the restaurant biz from LA to VA to PA: dishwashers, cooks, servers and managers. The family’s also been involved in the Plaza Azteca chain, but Lumbrada is their “baby,” they tell us, and they plan to be hands-on owners.

Lumbrada Cocina Mexicana, 821 W. Lancaster Ave., Devon, 484-580-6369. is open Mon. – Thurs. 11 – 10, Fri. – and Sat. 11 to 11, and Sun. noon to 9:30.

Loving The Living Room at 35 East

… And we haven’t even been there yet.

Just the sound of it – a cozy BYOB venue for live music in downtown Ardmore – makes us want to mosey on in and put our feet up.

Housed in a former nail salon, the Living Room at 35 East is just a few doors down from Ardmore Music Hall.

And at 800 eclectic-chic, square feet, it’s way more intimate.

Views inside The Living Room show a melange of furniture and mirrors and “performance art” photos by Alex Lowy. (Photos courtesy Alex Lowy Photography LLC of Narberth).

Most nights will feature musicians – singer-songwriters and bands – but look for eclectic film nights, comedy acts, and art talks/shows.

The Living Room’s owner is Philly pop-rocker Laura Mann, who’s opened for national acts like Warren Zevon, Dave Mason and Livingston Taylor and recorded four CDs of original music with another in the works.

Owner Laura Mann at The Living Room. (Alex Lowy Photography LLC of Narberth)

Mann’s been playing guitar since age 8 and formed her first band at 16. A server on and off for years as she pursued a music career, she hung up her apron in 2002 to study massage. Seems she’s as gifted with her hands as she is with her voice – Mann also owns Relax Therapeutic Massage Studio, also in Ardmore, and is certified in several types of corrective massage.

The Living Room idea just hit her one day, she says.

“I woke up and got the idea that there was a niche for something in Ardmore where you can hear live music, see a comedian, hear poetry, watch a film,” Mann tells SAVVY.

Why Ardmore? It’s “good vibe” and mix of increasingly “interesting new spaces” and diverse restaurants.

Another plus: Mann has a Rolodex. “There are a lot of artists out there in the community with nowhere to go to share their voice. I’m an old lady [she’s not]. Along the way, I’ve collected some interesting artists.”

Eventually Mann hopes to turn The Living Room into a full-fledged café and a venue for music lessons.

But for now, she’s keeping it simple. Among the national acts already booked: pal Christine Havrilla (March 29, $10) and Dan Navarro (April 6, $20). Navarro’s the uber-talented musician who wrote Pat Benatar’s “We Belong” and does voice work for The Family Guy and a slew of other shows.

The Living Room at 35 East (Lancaster Ave., Ardmore). Buy tickets online or at the door. Most shows begin at 8.

Calling all students, coaches, parents, athletes, teachers

A nugget worth digesting: student athletes more likely to suffer from mental illness than non-athletes.

Think about it: The talented and tough guys (and girls) we all admire and some even glorify, may in fact, be dying inside. (Indeed, that glorification and their tough-guy reps are big reasons why young athletes hide their inner struggles.)

Tragically, Radnor’s Maxwell family understands the issue more than most. In 2013, they lost their son, Dan, an extraordinarily gifted and popular senior athlete at Radnor High School to suicide.

“How do parents confide in friends that their son is not able to function well because of an invisible illness? We could not do it,” Laurie Burstein-Maxwell tells SAVVY. “We wonder if Dan had been able to tell his teammates and other friends about how he had been doing, perhaps he would still be here today.”

The Maxwells are convinced that confiding in friends might have eased his pain and reassured him that he “was not so different from everyone around him.”

Shortly after Dan’s passing, they founded the DMAX Foundation, a nonprofit that’s opening DMAX Clubs on college campuses. The clubs give students a safe space to hang and talk to each other about mental health issues.

And each spring, on the Main Line, DMAX hosts Courageous Conversations, a fundraiser/informative night for parents and students. This year’s forum, “Courageous Conversations Take Teamwork” features PSU and NY Jets running back Blair Thomas moderating a discussion among:

• PSU and Chicago Bears DE Michael Haynes
• Field Hockey Olympian/PSU Head Coach Charlene Moorett,
• UPenn football player Greg Ambrogi of the Kyle Ambrogi Foundation and
• Montreal Canadiens Coach/AD Brady Kramer.

“Courageous Conversations Take Teamwork” will take place April 4 at the Shipley School. Students with ID are free; most others are $45. Click here for tickets and more info.

A Tasty Time had by all

EA board members Sharon Holt, Mary Anne Weber, Alice Dagit (chair), and Deirdre Koerick, a former board member at the 10th Annual Taste of the Main Line.

Team SAVVY joined the throngs (600+ people) who savored “A Taste of the Main Line” in Radnor last week.

And may we say: the tenth replay of Emergency Aid of PA Foundation’s signature fundraiser was especially tasty.

While all the good-sport restaurants and caterers were busy, The Bercy, aka The New Kid (Not Yet) on the Block, drew the longest lines, serving tuna tartare on watermelon radish, oysters, jumbo shrimp and a delightfully fizzy gin elixir, “French 75.” The French brasserie opens next month at the old Primavera in central Ardmore.

SAVVY Sales Director Kathy Stevens sips a French 75 with The Bercy boys: Exec. Chef Austin Schafer and partners Justin Weathers and Joe Monnich.

Now 104 years young and headquartered in Wayne, EAPA supports women, children and families with scholarships and grants to nonprofits.

Killer Kitchens in Wayne

Fetch us an apron! Home cooking has never looked more glamorous.

We were positively drooling at Bluebell Kitchens’ recent kickoff party in Wayne.

In the same shopping center as White Dog, it’s Bluebell Kitchens’ first Main Line outpost.

“Friday Night Lights” author and Bluebell kitchens client Buzz Bissinger, Bluebell Kitchens partners Peter Cardamone and Jake Taylor and Berwyn interior designer Chris Mullen at Bluebell’s grand opening party in Wayne.

We ran our fingers over the quartz countertops, stunning hoods, sleek custom cabinets, whiz-bang Wolffs and Sub-Zeros – all showcased in a handful of killer kitchens.

Still itchin’ to see kitchens? The 13th Annual Ardmore Kitchen Tour (“Recipe for Renovation”) heads our way Sunday, April 29.

First-time gold medalists

A SAVVY shoutout to St. Monica’s High School Gold Team, just crowned CYO City of Philadelphia Champs for the first time, well, ever.

CYO City Champs Peter Bagley, John Bielinski, Ethan Fiedorek, Jack Funchion, Brenden Lawton, Ryan Lopresti, Alexander Payton, Matt Wilson, Chris Donavan, Daniel Howard, Vikram Raghupethi and Mike McCarthy.

Led by Coach Joe McCarthy and senior captains Chris Donavan of Stoga and Ryan Lopresti of St. Joe’s Prep, St. Monica’s went 16-0 this season, beating St. Andrews in the title game.

Outstanding.

Crêpes are coming!

Ardmore’s always hopping Delice et Chocolat bakery café just got a whole lot bigger.

The expanded cafe space at Delice et Chocolat.

The Station Ave. sweet shop will host a grand opening for its bigger digs this Saturday, March 17.  ’Cause St. Patrick blesses French folks, too.

This and That 

As They Grow Kids Consignment has grown a new owner. Read Wickham has taken over from McCall Growney, who ran the Berwyn mainstay for 28 years. The aptly named Read, who lives in Wayne, retired from educational publishing to follow her bliss.

Well, whadayaknow: Chesterbrook – that massive, planned Chesco mixed-use community that almost didn’t get built back in the day – was just named “best place to live in PA” and the second best place to live in the U.S. Earning reviewers’ raves: low crime rates, top flight T/E Schools, Wilson Farm Park and nearby Valley Forge Park, and access to major roadways.

Calling all enterprising young Edisons! Learn from the best. Paoli entrepreneur Barbara Bigford is leading a hands-on “Young Entrepreneurs” workshop series for Main Line School Night. An Entrepreneur in Residence at Villanova U., QVC product scout, startup consultant and successful inventor herself, Bigford will guide you and your child (age 10 and up) through the product development and marketing process. The three-part series runs April 4, 11 and 18, 6 – 7:30 p.m. at the Creutzburg Center.

A long overdue SAVVY shoutout to lovable librarian, Laurie Doan. The Teen Librarian at Tredyffrin Public Library was one of just 10 librarians from across the U.S. recognized with the American Library Association’s I Love My Librarian Award.

Doan’s a class act. And she cares. When she heard kids interested in theater were cut from high school musicals, she started a second theater at the library, staging more than a dozen musicals to date. She encouraged a teen with Asperger’s to perform in them and he gained so much confidence that he made the finals of the PA’s National History Day competition. She’s also helped teens hold fundraisers at the library, bringing in $10,000 for such noble causes as school supplies for local kids and fighting hunger in developing countries.

And finally, an oasis in Berwyn for body, mind, heart and soul (from SAVVY Sponsor Village Wellness)

Lance Isakov with two other Village Wellness acupuncturists, Lei Duan and Gabrielle Geib.

Can it be that we Main Liners (sometimes) take better care of our cars than ourselves?

Say the “check engine” flashes on the dashboard. We don’t put a piece of electric tape over it so we can’t see it. We take ‘er in for service.

Well, warning lights flash in our bodies all the time.

But many of us numb the signals with Advil, Prilosec, Ambien, Zoloft, Lipitor, etc. when what we REALLY need is a good tune-up. Get someone under the hood to figure out what’s wrong and then fix it.

That’s the guiding philosophy of one Lance Isakov, acupuncturist, energy healer, yogi and the owner of Village Wellness, a Berwyn body shop that restores and repairs humans. A fleet of Village’s skillful, soulful “mechanics” helps folks beat depression, chronic pain, digestive woes, insomnia, infertility, aging skin – you name it.

“We’re often a last resort when people are stumped,” Isakov says. “We get cases doctors can’t figure out.” People do “come with tickets in the door: knee pain, back pain, a desire to lose weight, a feeling that something’s not right.” But their symptoms are a sign of a deeper imbalance, he says. “The body is wise and isn’t throwing off these signals for no reason. As they come into balance, the symptoms fade away.”

Yes, there’s a time and a place for pharmaceuticals, he says, “but it’s scary when people go on things for the rest of their lives.”

A dozen practitioners ply a myriad of healing arts at Wellness Village, including:

• Acupuncture. Lance Isakov, Ac., L.Ac., Dipl.Ac. practices “esoteric” and “five elements” (fire, earth, metal, water, wood) acupuncture. Gabrielle Geib specializes in relieving physical pain while Lei Duan focuses on women’s health, herbal medicine and pre- and post-natal work. Karin Tetlow also practices five elements acupuncture.
• Community Acupuncture. Affordable sessions ($32.50 to $35) target straightforward issues that can be treated with clothes on – needles go in arms, head, and/or from the knees down.  Patients arrive every ten minutes, are treated in “awesome zero gravity” chairs, then relax for an hour. “One of the side effects of acupuncture is deep relaxation,” Isakov says. “People love cozying up in front of the fire here.”

  Patients relax during a Community Acupuncture session at Village Wellness in Berwyn.

• Holistic Cosmetic Acupuncture. Eases wrinkles, tightens skin, restores jawline, perks up the complexion. $150/session. Ten sessions recommended – $150 discount until March 31.
• Craniosacral therapy. Effective for migraines, stress, anxiety, fatigue, insomnia, it balances the spine and “resets the fight or flight response.” Most of us are always in “running-from-tiger mode,” according to Isakov.
• Shamanic energy medicine. Helps people find purpose, heals the spirit. “Stephanie [Moore] does weird stuff with people: chanting and drumming,” Isakov says. “She works with feathers, flowers, water … That’s the shaman’s work.”
• Holistic Psychotherapy with Dr. Page Buck, LSW, PhD in Social Work from Bryn Mawr College.
• Reiki and Access Bars. Energy healing. Access Bars break stubborn brain patterns by discharging fixed energy.
• Shiatsu Shin Tai Bodywork. Recirculates “stuck” energy. Calms and energizes.
• Holistic facials.
• Kundalini (awakening) yoga
• Workshops, talks and online meditation classes.

Such alternative therapies are par for the course in, say, San Francisco, Isakov says. “But on the Main Line, it’s hidden. People aren’t quite as comfortable coming out as interested in alternative therapies and healing.”

His mission: “Build a community of ideas of wellness and healing and create a safe space for people to share,” people who are “like-minded, open-minded, weird, who embrace and want to connect with others who are [also] open-minded.”

Isakov, 41, took a meandering path to healing. Born in South Africa, his family moved to Penn Valley when he was 9. He graduated from Akiba Academy (now Jack Barrack Hebrew Academy), then studied Anthropology at Pitt. A longstanding interest in shamans and witch doctors drew him to meditation and reiki training.

A born skeptic, he eventually found reiki energy work “amazing” – something he just had to share. “When something breaks through my skepticism, I need to share it with as many people as I can.”

After he finished Pitt in ’98, he started a reiki practice in his parents’ Bryn Mawr basement.
(Note to parents: Isakov says his “awesome, open-minded parents” embraced their children’s unconventional callings. One is a Philly-based composer for films; another is a singer-songwriter in Boulder. All three are “amazingly happy.”)

A vagabond since college, Isakov moved from Bryn Mawr to “WWOOFing” in New Zealand, to Tai Sophia Institute (now the Maryland Univ. of Integrative Health) where he earned a master’s in acupuncture, to healing practices in Narberth, Charlottesville, Culver City, CA, Manayunk, Jamaica, Wayne and now Berwyn.

Village Wellness sits just off Route 30 in downtown Berwyn.

Isakov employs three other acupuncturists at Village Wellness; the rest work as a coop. They don’t promise miracle cures. Indeed, Isakov will be the first to tell you: “We don’t cure anything. We support the body in curing itself.”

Pulsing through the practice is deep-rooted compassion, a commitment to ease pain and to lighten burdens. “People go through really tough times,” Isakov says. “Instead of numbing the thing, we’re here to help them work on it.”

Because, of course, it takes a Village.

Village Wellness, 6 Waterloo Rd., Berwyn, 610-203-3747, offers free, 30-minute “tea time” consults and IS GIVING AWAY THREE GOODIES TO SAVVY READERS! CLICK HERE FOR YOURS.

The post GUNS! Students walk out, Parents gather & Stoga teacher speaks out nationally; Devon’s new Lumbrada; Ardmore’s new Living Room; Pro athletes talk mental health; Village Wellness & more appeared first on SAVVY MAINLINE.

Polished to perfection, Life Time opens its “diamond” level club in Suburban Square this week.

The only things missing?

Beds.

Not kidding. The “healthy way of life company” – now ensconced in the old Macy’s – wants to be your fitness center, your beauty salon, your restaurant, your spa, your babysitter – and now, your office.

Not just a “laptops-welcome/free-wifi” kind of office.

But a real one, totally tricked out.

Life Time Ardmore is the first of the company’s 133 clubs to offer Life Time Work: 12,000 square feet of “elaborate, ergonomic” workspaces (some private, some shared).

A quiet nook (above) and a state-of-the-art conference center (below) at LT Work.

And check out this LT Work outdoor terrace for schmoozing clients or catching rays:

LT Work members get full-club privileges. Really, they only need go home to hit the hay.

That’s Life Time – taking over the world, and every aspect of your life – one gorgeous club at a time.

So far, the Main Line’s biting – hard. The first round of LT Work memberships have already sold out, says company spokesgal Natalie Bushaw. But as LT gauges work habits and usage, they may add more.

And as for the health club, membership rolls are “very strong,” Bushaw says. (It’s company policy not to share hard numbers.)

The “resort” spans five stories, four floors and 60,000 sq. ft. of the old department store. Alas, no swimming pools or slides (like KOP) but members do get, among other things:

• Six specialized studi­­os – for barre, Pilates, cycle, yoga – and 80 fitness classes a week, plus machines and trainers galore.
• LifeSpa for personal pampering: hair and nail salon services, skin care, massages and more.
• LifeCafe, a fast-casual healthy eatery with Meals to Go.
•  Kids Academy for babes through tweens, where the little darlins get music, dance, yoga and more.
• An outdoor turfed area for alfresco gatherings.

So what will all this cost you? $179/month per person, $80 for each additional person, $50 per child under age 14. Plus, a “joining fee” of $200 – $300, which is sometimes discounted, according a recent email from a “membership consultant.” More than the Life Time in King of Prussia, which, at the “onyx” level, is a tick down and decidedly less intimate. Although it does offer more.

Still, don’t quote us on the prices; LT fees are always fluid. “Pricing usually goes up after the club opens,” Bushaw tells SAVVY. No long-term contracts are signed; it’s all month to month here.

Note to new members: That free “onboarding session with a trainer” is a also a chance for Life Time to sell you on small-group training and other fee-based programs. Just so you know.

Silver lining for LT Ardmore members paying “diamond” fees: They can visit any LT in the country. So will Main Line moms head west for the waterslides and swim lessons at the KOP club this summer? Count on it.

Life Time, 6 E. Montgomery Ave., Ardmore, 484-393-7100, opens Friday, April 27.

Ripplewood gastropub already making waves in Ardmore

It’s time to let her Ripp.

Ripplewood Whiskey and Craft is (finally) up and running next to Ardmore Music Hall.

More than running, it’s roaring – with sure-footed service, an accomplished kitchen and appreciative crowds.

Just a few days old, the joint was jumpin’ – and without the usual rookie hiccups – during our visit Sunday night.

The Ripp was reportedly named for a Grateful Dead song and a dive bar in Elkins Park.

But really, it’s Main Line all the way.

Owner/developer Peter Martin lives in Lower Merion; Chef Biff Gottehrer (Dandelion, El Vez, JG Domestic) grew up in Bala Cynwyd.

The concept: A two-story gastropub with bars on each floor, a cozy rear dining room with adjoining garden soon to be strung with lights and high-top tables.

Cocktails were killer: We lapped up our Bubble Up Bramble (bourbon & blackberry, $11) and creamy Avocado Margarita ($11).

Also worth a slurp: five whiskey flights ($14-$23) and four City Wides (glorified shots and beers, $5 – $11).

Ripplewood calls its fare “throw-back Americana.” Steak Tartare and Filet Stroganoff, anyone? All fairly priced and tasty, but health food, it’s not.

Worth their weight in gluten: Pretzeled Parker House Rolls with truffle butter ($7). Trust us.

We also ripped into the Brussel sprouts ($7), Pickle Plate ($9) and Clams Casino ($11).

The Pretzeled Parker House Rolls and Pickle Plate at Ripplewood Whiskey and Craft.

At our mixed-age table, millennials explained City Wides to their parents, who, in turn, explained Clams Casino to them.

Everyone understood the burger ($13), which was topped with gouda, bologna and special sauce – because, well, why not?

One dish we hope is still evolving: The “Roast Pork” ($21), which was pork belly spiraled around pork loin and deep fried.

Feeling more virtuous? Try the tuna tartare, branzino or seared scallops.

For dessert, we went old school, opting for The Brookie: a warm brownie/chocolate chip cookie topped with vanilla ice cream. Classic.

Ripplewood Whiskey and Craft, 29 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore, 610-486-7477, opens at 11:30 a.m. with weekend brunch en route. Reserve on Open Table.

Main Liners switch up their lives at Kimmel Center in Philly

Coaching at the Kimmel (clockwise from top left): Toni Filipone, Meridith Coyle, Cara Bradley and Crissy Pyfer.  (Photos by Susan Beard)

Four relatively unknown Main Line women headlined at the Kimmel Center last week.

No singing, only a little dancing.

And no acting.

Definitely, no acting. If the four had been acting, i.e. faking it, hundreds in the audience might have demanded their $129 back.

The quartet – Toni Filipone, Meridith Coyle, Cara Bradley and Crissy Pyfer – are the star “coaches” of “Get Real Main Line,” a reality TV show that’s already in the can and awaits an air date.

The Philly event, titled “The Switch,” was their new road show – a rousing mini-retreat that teaches folks to flick the switch toward more fulfilling futures.

Adding a jolt of star power: “Real Housewife of New York” Dorinda Medley, who happens to be pals with “Master coach” and Switch creator, Toni Filipone.

Dorinda Medley and Toni Filipone on stage at the Kimmel Center April 17.

A three-hour multimedia extravaganza, The Switch is something else – in good way.

Interpretive dancers playing struggling “souls,” a runner-up from “The Voice” singing Lady Gaga, a healer rapping about his brush with death. (Note to Toto: We’re not in Wayne anymore.)

Emcee was Garrett Snider, philanthropic grandson of the late Flyers’ magnate, Ed Snider, and founder of the Childhood Resilience Foundation.

The day began in dramatic fashion: a black stage, each coach taking a turn in the spotlight, baring her soul while a dancing “soul” – dressed in white – embodies her journey.

Wayne mom and business/life coach Crissy Pyfer talked about how her mother’s death gave her her “why”: “My mom worked too hard for me not to be great.”

Cara Bradley, author/owner of Wayne’s Verge BodyMind, recalled how her lust for life was squelched by the need for others’ approval.

Berwyn-based caterer/restaurateur and nutrition coach Meridith Coyle of Aneu shared her struggles with weight and self-sabotage.

And later that morning, Housewife Dorinda Medley told the crowd how an “angry widow at 50” found empowerment as a Housewife. “Reality TV saved my life. It taught me to accept change.” She urged the crowd to “be open to your final chapter” and “know your worth.”

While the Kimmel stage wasn’t too big for anyone, the show’s star was clearly Coach Toni: ballsy, brash, funny, inspiring, proudly sporting a “MRS” t-shirt – she’s Meridith Coyle’s wife. (Oh, and she dances, too.)

“Know your outcome,” Filipone advised, going off script and pulling out a piece of paper on which she’d scribbled her own ambitions last spring: “I want to be able to speak to crowds of hundreds of people at a time,” she read. “… I want to be able to share with them and to be able to teach them how to control their minds … Within one year, I want to create an event, starting in Philly, that will entertain, create emotion and drive with dancing.”

Check. Check. And check again.

The Switch at the Kimmel Center was the first stop on what could become a national tour. Filipone says a few California dates are already lined up.

P.S. Seems Dorinda had so much fun in Philly, she’s talking about becoming a regular.

Most guests – including Colleen Mullin (right) – paid $129 for VIP tickets so they could meet Real Housewife of New York Dorinda Medley at the Kimmel Center.

Credit card skimmers in Tredyffrin

Tredyffrin Police found two card skimmers on gas pumps at the Paoli 7-Eleven last week.

If you think you were a victim, contact Detective Dan McFadden, 610-408-3649 or Dmcfadden@tredyffrin.org.

A ‘Common Space’ for the common good

A new little storefront in Ardmore has big ambitions.

Uncommonly big.

Open quietly for a few months, Common Space officially cuts a ribbon on its quarters on Rittenhouse Place this week.

Part coffee shop, part community center, Common Space offers wide-ranging programs for diverse audiences, e.g. yogis, young readers, the LGBT community, arts lovers, students, knitters, neighborhood groups, people with disabilities.

Created by a Friends School Haverford Learning Specialist Amy McCann, the center was deliberately sited in Ardmore. Why? It’s “a diverse community – age-wise and economically,” McCann tells SAVVY. (Although she’ll be the first to tell you that Ardmore – for good or ill – is gentrifying.)

Haverford College alum Amy McCann at Common Space, the nonprofit she founded in downtown Ardmore.

For the most part, Common Space programs are free or donation-based, so there’s no “barrier to entry.”

A registered nonprofit, its 50K – 60K annual budget will be funded by coffee shop proceeds, community group rentals, gifts and fundraisers.

The point of Common Space: find common ground with your neighbors, meet them face to face, mix generations. “You don’t have to go big to build community,” McCann says. “You can start in the backyard of your own neighborhood, get people talking to each other.”

Works for us.

Common Space is at 25 Rittenhouse Place, Ardmore, 610-572-2364, info@commonspaceardmore.org.  

Philly news icon Lisa Thomas-Laury comes clean about her opioid addiction

Moyer Foundation Founder Karen Phelps Moyer interviews Lisa Thomas Laury at the Union League. (Photo by Matt Godfrey)

Former Action News anchor Lisa Thomas-Laury put her pretty face on the ugliness of addiction.

Again.

The Haverford resident bravely shared her struggle in her new book and on local TV. And just last week, she did it again, at a Moyer Foundation event at the Union League.

Thomas-Laury’s message: If addiction could happen to me, it could happen to anyone.

She was prescribed opioids for horrible nerve pain from her long battle with the systemic blood disorder, POEMS, an illness so severe she had a bone marrow transplant at age 50.

“The doctor who saved my life said I’d have no problem with oxycontin,” said Thomas-Laury, 63, even though she’d told him her alcoholic father had died from liver disease.

No, her doctor thought she’d be fine because she was “in a certain socioeconomic bracket” and besides, Thomas-Laury’s own husband was a physician.

But substance-use disorder doesn’t discriminate. No such thing as being “too smart” to get addicted.

After years of misdiagnosis and misery, she was finally starting to feel better and focused on returning to Channel 6. But – big mistake – she’d stopped paying attention to the pills she was popping in increasing dosages. Then one day, she forgot to pack her oxycontin on a car trip. In the throws of withdrawal, she huddled under a blanket in the backseat and threatened to jump out of the car. “You don’t want to be in your own skin,” she said.

Within three weeks, Thomas-Laury checked into a rehab facility – she spent two weeks as an inpatient, two as an outpatient. “I was lucky –  I kicked the addiction pretty easily,” she said.

Others, including her sons’ classmates at Episcopal Academy, weren’t. She said her sons lost three good friends in the last four years to drug overdose and suicide related to drugs.

Those losses, combined with the overdose death of the son of her former Action News colleague Anita Brikman last fall, convinced her to go public. “Tell your truth,” Thomas-Laury decided.

Special guest Lisa Thomas-Laury with Karen Phelps Moyer (in white) and Main Line women at the inaugural Moyer Foundation Women’s Leadership Council event: (from left) Rachele Browning, Pamela Jacobs, Susan Callahan, Karen Dalby, Jean Kane and Allyson Hotz. (Photo by Matt Godfrey).

Lisa Thomas-Laury’s new book, On Camera and Off: When the News is Good and When It’s Not, is available at local bookstores.

Founded by child advocate Karen Phelps Moyer and former Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer, the Moyer Foundation supports children and families affected by grief and addiction through its free signature camps and services.

Duffy Real Estate: 40 and counting

A SAVVY shoutout to Duffy Real Estate, celebrating 40 years in business this month. Owner John Duffy first hung out a shingle in Narberth in 1978.

John Duffy – then and now.

These days, the company’s practically a Main Line institution. With offices in Wayne and Narberth, it’s one of the few locally owned, not-franchised real estate firms left in these parts.

But Duffy’s no dinosaur.

The company tells us it’s grown and kept pace with technology and the times. Kind of cool, too, that if questions arise, buyers and sellers can talk directly to the big guy.

New mural on the Main Line

How cool is this new mural iin Wynnewood?

Visible from the Whole Foods parking lot, it graces the side of the Adoptions from the Heart (AFTH) building.

“It’s bold, it’s bright and it symbolizes blended families – the red thread that connects us all,” AFTH Assoc. Director Heidi Gonzalez tells SAVVY.

Muralists from Minnesota took five days to install it last week. The lead artist, Greta McLain of GoodSpace Murals, has also worked for Mural Arts Philadelphia. Here’s hoping she gets other gigs out on the Main Line.

Wayne mom leaves Lilly for Jane Winchester

Jane Paradis traded in the PInk Palace for an office in her Wayne home.

Let’s say you’re Senior VP of Marketing for Lilly Pulitzer, hanging out at the brand’s iconic Pink Palace headquarters in KOP, living the life.

Then one day you take that job – and shove it. (But in a nice way.)

You’re nuts, right?

Not at all. Not if you have a Plan B.

Precisely what Wayne’s Jane Paradis, 45, had when she launched the company she was born to birth.

Paradis, 45, left Lilly last May, labored intensely for months, and in December, brought Jane Winchester into the world.

And, boy, is her new baby a keeper, arguably the hottest homegrown accessory label since Lisi Lerch.

The new venture uses all of Jane Winchester Burley Schoenborn Paradis’ considerable gifts:

• Hands-on artistry honed at Groton School and Rollins College.
• Manufacturing and PR skills acquired in early jobs at Adrienne Vittadini, Calvin Klein Cosmetics and Barney’s.
• Startup smarts from her pre-Lilly handbag line, Buzz by Jane Fox (once sold at The Lemon Tree in Wayne, Patricia Adams Gifts in Haverford, Barney’s, Bendel’s and Lilly stores).
• And, above all, the “business degree” informally acquired and gratefully received at Lilly’s corporate HQ in KOP.

Paradis took those gifts, created eight “Gypsy inspired/American made” coin pendants and wrapped them up in pink-and-green boxes. (You can take the girl out of Lilly but …)

Now, via her website and trunk shows, she’s selling them to women across the country.

And she did it all right here, in her knockout-gorgeous Wayne home, with a chorus of Main Line pals cheering her on and her family pitching in.

New husband Doug built the e-commerce site; her kids help package and sell at trunk shows, held so far in Palm Beach, Winter Park, Austin and Wayne.

For Paradis (pron. “paradise”), Jane Winchester is about the voice as much as the vision.

Fired up after attending the 2017 DC Women’s March, she was determined to “model strong, independent womanhood” to her family.

Paradis at home with daughters Sabrina and Tiki.

Plus, after years of nannies, working from home gives her more time with daughters Tiki Schoenborn, an 8^th grader at Radnor Middle School, and Sabrina, a sophomore at Westtown School, and stepchildren Drew, 16, Naomi, 18, and Nicole, 20.

As for her jewelry, “it’s layered in special,” she says. Customers “shop the word,” choosing symbols of Forever, Free, Love, Lucky, Peace (designed in memory of her late dad), Joy, Strength and Protect (a favorite of moms), wrought in slightly oversized pendants made from recycled brass dipped in 14k gold ($325) or sterling silver ($295). Each comes with a gold coil choker and a leather cord.

Already sold out: two-sided quatrefoil (“Love”) gold earrings ($255). The larger size ($295) is still available. A ring was released this week. Splashy chandelier earrings are due to drop in May.

A savvy marketer, Paradis launched JW with a blog well before she had any jewelry in hand. Her first post: “I’ve left my dream job and people think I’m losing my mind.”

We’re pretty sure no one thinks that anymore.

Snag a piece online. You’ll be in good company. Paradis just sent a pendant to Reese Witherspoon as a token of gratitude for her work in women’s leadership.

Valley Forge Flowers in Wayne will host a Jane Winchester trunk show Thursday, May 31. 

Jane Paradis with husband Doug and stepchildren, Naomi and Drew, and daughters, Tiki and Sabrina at the Jane Winchester December 2017 launch party at Valley Forge Flowers in Wayne.

(Kate Miller, SAVVY Street Team member and a former Lilly exec herself, contributed to this article.)

Our annual Mother’s Day hint-hint guide: all local, all special

For historic home-ophiles, Thom Nickels’ fascinating new book, Philadelphia Mansions: Stories and Characters Behind the Walls. Among the gems featured: La Ronda, razed – amid much protest – in Bryn Mawr in 2009, and Loch Aerie, now being restored on Rte. 30 in Frazer. Nickels dedicated the book to two of his friends: community crusader/preservationist/photographer/blogger Carla Zambelli Mudry (Chester County Ramblings) and watercolorist Noel Miles. Order soft or hardcover from Main Point Books in Wayne.

For ladies who still don’t have a pair: Lisi Lerch earrings, a Main Line staple. Get mom her first pair or add to her collection. At local boutiques and online. Or splurge for a Jane Winchester pendant (see our story above).

Jane Winchester JOY pendant ($325) and Lisi Lerch earrings ($98)

For oenophiles, a gift certificate to What Am I Drinking, an intimate wine education studio now celebrating its first anniversary in Bryn Mawr.

For Shore birds: A copy of the new book, The Ocean City NJ Boardwalk: Two-and-a-half Miles of Summer. 218 photos, history and lore spread over 112 hardbound pages.

For beach bums, a custom monogrammed French basket tote from Hathaway Hutton, handpainted by Wayne mom Jennifer Risk ($149). She’ll paint on anything but her French basket totes are magnifique.

For moms who loved Lip Smackers: Organic, all-natural lip balms, $20, from local makeup artist Darci Henry.

And to hold that new makeup, an organic cotton zip pouch set, $48, from Lewis. Founders are Agnes Irwin alums – an illustrator and an interior architect. Lewis also sells high-end preppy gear for babies and toddlers. 

For moms drawn to the ocean, “The Salt Water Cure,” a refreshing “circle print” by local artist Tina Crespo (from $22).

For would-be florists: a gift certificate to Alice’s Table, a new flower-arranging home party company. Shark Tank loved it; so will you. Local mom/florist Trish McDonough runs the only local branch. Treat mom and pals to an evening of flowers, fun and wine.

SAVVY Street Teamer Aly McBride and pals at a recent Alice’s Table home party in Ardmore.

For the home entertainer, small-batch, hand-dyed linen dinner napkins from Tie-Up Textiles, made in suburban Philly. ($40 for a set of four).

For bag lovers, an Ambitious Elegance clutch by Madda&Co ($225). Italian-born Wynnewood mom Maddelena Palermo makes lovely leather clutches and totes in fun colors like blush and apple green.

For animal lovers, a farmhouse pillow from Eric and Christopher, screen-printed and sewn in Bucks County. Select E and C items are sold at Primitiques/HOMEology in Berwyn, PucciManuli in Ardmore and Beauty Art Gallery in Newtown Square.

Shoutout to SAVVY Street Team super shopper Aly McBride, who compiled most of our gift guide.

Root, root, root for the hometown girl on ‘The Voice’

Wherever it ends, it’s been one helluva ride for Great Valley grad Jackie Verna, 22, who sang her little heart out again Monday night on The Voice.

Seven years ago, Verna was t-boned by a car that ran a red light. Crashing with her: her dreams of cheerleading for Alabama because of severe physical injuries and memory loss. Verna was convinced she’d never perform again – “I was so scared at what people would be looking at,” she told a reporter.

But a wise aunt gave her a keyboard. Fast forward to the last few weeks as millions watch the West Chester resident sing for Team Levine on The Voice. So glad you proved yourself wrong, Jackie.

This and That

Mushmina is packing up its funky downtown Wayne boutique and moving online – and to a studio in Lambertville. Look for pop-up trunk shows around town.

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Missed Martha Stewart at the Philadelphia Antiques Show last weekend? You’ve got another chance.

The gardening guru will talk flowers at Longwood Gardens Thursday, June 14 at 10 a.m. Your $75 ticket includes Martha’s lecture, a copy of her new book, Martha’s Flowers: A Practical Guide to Growing, Gathering and Enjoying, book signing and admission to Longwood. $45 without the signing.

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Looking forward to meeting you SAVVY gals at the May 2 Ladies Night at Restore Cryosauna in Wayne. Pampering, wine, fun giveaways and discounts. Proceeds benefit Women’s Resource Center.

Women helping women? Count us in. Click here for tickets.

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Celebrity stylist/red-carpet commentator George Brescia will be styling mere mortals at Louella boutique in Wayne May 2 and 3. Call 610-293-9800 for an appointment.

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Daunted by downsizing? A team of pros will help you right size your life at The Barn at Valley Forge Flowers Thursday, May 3, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Choose mini-lectures by: Anna Sicalides of Your Organizing Consultants, Sage Realty, Freeman’s Auctioneers & Appraisers, Surrey Services for Seniors, and Addis Hill. Click here for tickets.

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The Radnor High School Scholarship Fund’s Kitchen Tour is Sunday, April 29. Same day tickets are available at Wayne Art Center. Email radnorkitchentour@comcast.net or call 610-331-4516 with questions.

A pure gift for the yogi in your life (sponsored story)

Lori Gildea and daughter Jessica at a yoga trade show in NYC last week.

Just in time for Mother’s Day and graduation comes ThePureBag, a new line of anti-microbial yoga goodies invented by a Villanova MBA and tested in a Nova biochemistry lab.

A longtime healthcare exec, Lori Gildea first got the entrepreneurial bug when she got, well, a bug.

Not just any bug, but a scary sickness that sidelined her for months.

Her story’s a doozy.

A hard-charging career woman, Gildea had been neglecting herself. In the fall of 2016, she decided she needed a good, hard workout – some Me Time.

What she got – after a four-hour gym marathon – was something else entirely: arms that ballooned to three times their normal size, muscle-enzyme counts that soared to near kidney-failure levels, and pervasive weakness that went on for weeks, then months.

“I couldn’t wash my hair, I couldn’t change my clothes, I couldn’t bathe. I could barely walk,” Gildea tells SAVVY. “I was someone who’s on top of everything. This is not how I exist,” she remembers thinking.

After a few missed diagnoses, doctors traced her illness to germs she was exposed to during or after that long workout. They treated her with immunoglobulin infusions and she eventually recovered.

To rebuild her strength, Gildea’s physical therapists recommended yoga. But she was “terrified to go back,” afraid she’d pick up something again.

Her yoga studio “does a phenomenal job cleaning” and she’d always been careful to wash after workouts, but she was wary. Her yoga mat would sit in a bag on the floor – just a sneeze, a cough, or an athlete’s foot-print away from contamination.

She needed a bag that would “protect [my] stuff and keep it safe.”

There wasn’t one out there so she did her homework, then created it herself.

Her yoga bags are made from tough, marine-grade, healthcare quality fabric embedded with germ-fighting silver and stitched with anti-bacterial thread.

They’re hypo-everything: bacteria, fungi, mold, mildew. If it grows, it goes.

The bags are roomy, durable and manufactured in the good, old U.S.A.

Gildea’s also selling companion ZipPockets for cell phones, keys and essentials, and an anti-microbial Silver Lining Mat Wrap. (Because how many yogis religiously spray their mats?)

ZipPockets by ThePureBag.

Her company’s beginning with yoga but “pure” diaper bags, briefcases, specialized sports bags and duffels are all on the drawing board.

Sold online, ThePureBag yoga bags are $98, $148 for reversible. ZipPockets and Silver Lining Mat Wraps are $28. 

SPECIAL OFFER FOR SAVVY READERS: Use Code SAVVY for 15% off any purchase. Can be combined with current web promotion of a free ZipPocket or Mat Wrap with purchase of a reversible yoga mat bag. Click here to order.

Beke Beau can make your teen beautiful – outside and in (sponsored story)

If you know Beke Beau, you know this: her new summer makeup camp will be more than skin deep.

Because Beau –  who’s spent 30 years beautifying brides, MOBs and celebrities – is the thinking person’s makeup artist.

Which means your teen will go home with more than a nice set of makeup brushes.

Sure, she’ll learn the outward stuff, like healthy skin care, flattering colors and effective application techniques. (And yeah, she gets to take home the brushes.)

But she’ll also get life lessons: how to face the world with confidence, how to avoid cosmetic company come-ons and tacky looks promoted by so-called “beauty influencers.” In short, how to be a better beauty consumer.

Always one to speak her mind, Beau calls the cosmetic industry “out of control – the sheer scope of the products, the chemicals and the wasteful packaging,”

Those “glittering, shiny kits” at Sephora – they’re deliberately packaged like “grab and go” candy “full of hope and promise.” It’s makeup as hobby; they might as well sell it at A.C. Moore or Michael’s, Beau says.

And if your daughter looks a little too, uh, Kardashian, chances are she’s fallen under the sway of an Instagram/You Tube beauty influencer, Beau says. Cosmetic companies pay them to push product. It’s the pile-it-on approach to pretty. And it’s ugly.

“I hope young people at my camp will internalize the impact of the cosmetics industry on the world they’re going to inherit and the bodies they live in,” Beke says. “Plus, we’ll have some fun.”

Camp runs Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The day will be divided into segments: Learning Lounge, Color Play, Makeup Labs and Tool Time. During an hour of “free makeup play”  campers can capture their looks in the onsite photo booth.

It all happens in Beau’s spacious new Manayunk studio where she’s also just launched the Paint Makeup School for aspiring makeup artists.

Beau’s new Paint Makeup School in Manayunk.

Beau says the industry has “exploded” but there’s little quality control. “With social media, anyone can put up a website with a few photos on it and say ‘I’m a makeup artist.’”

Note to grownups: Beau also gives worthwhile three-hour seminars in makeup for “mature” women ($125). Next ones are June 10 and 12.

Paint School of Makeup Summer Camp for Teens (ages 13-17) will be held June 18-20, July 23-25 and Aug. 13-15 at Beke Beau Makeup Studio, 4100 Main St., Suite 401, Manayunk, 610-220-0042. info@bekebeau.com. Tuition $600/week. Only six campers per session.  Register here.

Ta dah! Introducing the Main Line’s newest school: St. David’s Episcopal Day School (sponsored story )

St. David’s Episcopal Day School on the grounds of the historic Wayne church.

Play small ball? Not at St. David’s.

The Wayne church is launching its own school in the fall. And as usual, it’s thinking big – (although not about class sizes – they’ll be nice and small.)

Not to be confused with St. David’s Nursery School – which rented church space but operated independently for some 45 years, the new St. David’s Episcopal Day School (SDEDS) is intimately entwined with the church.

The school’s being remade with bigger, brighter spaces, all new furnishings, a new playground and a new nature center near the church’s arboretum.

A view of the huge indoor play space at SDEDS.

An enlightened play palace – inside and out – that aims to engage the mind, arouse the spirit and nourish the body.

No drill-and-skill here; SDEDS will focus “process over product” and will “embrace creativity” instead of “following a model,” says Head of School Marissa Kiepert Truong, a Wayne mom who holds a doctorate in Educational Psychology from Temple, a master’s in psychology from Villanova, and has worked in early childhood enrichment, childcare, educational testing, parenting education and charter schools.

Head of School Marissa Kiepert Truong.

“The current research supports play-based, experiential learning,” she says.

And that’s just what kids will get at SDEDS: Show and tell, sure. But then dig in and do. (Doesn’t hurt that the church’s 39 acres provide a hands-on learning laboratory.)

To set itself apart from other schools, SDEDS is deliberately starting them young. Two years young. It’s Twos program is open to tykes aged 20 months to two and a half  – potty training optional.

The new Twos room at St. David’s Episcopal Day School.

Another SDEDS cornerstone: character development.

The school was “formed to further the mission of the church,” says Truong. And what’s that mission? “To raise up leaders who change the world through living their faith.” (Like we said, they think big at St. David’s.)

Although it welcomes students of all faiths, SDEDS children will attend weekly “chapel” led by St. David’s ministers. Activities and lessons will incorporate seven Christian virtues: respect, diversity, individuality, kindness, citizenship, perseverance and integrity.

A more practical plus: SDEDS will have “safe and inclusive allergy policies,” Truong says. Her own children have multiple food allergies, so she understands parents’ concerns.

Also worth noting: Several teachers have advanced degrees, including a speech and language pathologist, a reading specialist and an experienced special-ed teacher.

SDEDS programs include:

• Preschool Speech and Language – for kids with diagnosed delays as young as 2.
• Two Year Old – with two-, three- and five-day options.
• Nursery School – for ages 2-and-a-half to 4.
• Pre-Kindergarten
• Transitional Kindergarten – for summer birthdays, kids who missed the cutoff, or anyone who needs extra time.
• Kindergarten – 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. an intentionally happy medium between Tredyffrin/Easttown’s half day and Radnor’s full day.
• ­­Literacy Lab, library, technology, Spanish, service learning, Afternoon Adventure Clubs, before- and after-school care from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Also on tap: morning or afternoon enrichment options for public school kindergartners.  SDEDS’ bus will loop to New Eagle and Devon Elementary (for starters).

The School welcomes its first kindergartners Sept. 5 and its preschoolers Sept. 11.

“The response has been overwhelming so far,” Truong says. So best get that application in ASAP.

St. David’s Episcopal Day School, 785 S. Valley Forge Rd., Way, admissions@sdeds.org, 484-588-5643.

And finally, a big fat SAVVY thank you…

….to this month’s advertisers and sponsors. We SO appreciate the thumbs up!

Hope you’ll show these local businesses some love: Hope Chest in Haverford, Philly and Wayne, ThePureBag, Philadelphia Antiques & Art Show, Friends Central School Summer Programs, Makeup artist Beke Beau/Paint Makeup School, Mojo Fitness, Camera Shop of Bryn Mawr, Day Spa by Zsusanna in Wayne, Restore Cryosauna in Wayne and Haverford, Campli Photography, Danley townhomes in Bryn Mawr, Austin Hepburn Installs Windows and Doors, St. David’s Episcopal Day School, Hunter Reed Fine Homes & Estates, Woodlynde School, Christie’s and Long & Foster Realtor Sue McNamara, Your Organizing Consultants, Mulholland-Perrachia Real Estate Team at Berkshire Hathaway.

Want to showcase your biz to SAVVY readers? Contact SAVVY Sales Director Kathy@savvyml.com.

The post Peek inside posh new Life Time in Sub. Square; Tasting Ripplewood in Ardmore; The Switch; An opioid confession; Jane Winchester; Nifty Mom’s Day gifts & more appeared first on SAVVY MAINLINE.

A romantic lych gate at Villanova’s new Stoneleigh public garden evokes traditional English gardens and alfresco weddings.

The Main Line has a new treasure. Dusted off, spruced up, and ready for our viewing pleasure. 42 glorious green acres.

“Stoneleigh: A Natural Garden” makes its public debut on Mother’s Day.

Join the lawn games or pick a quieter day to meander its paths and soak in its charms.

There’s no rush; the garden’s not going anywhere.

It’s ours. Forever.

And it’s free.

When you visit, just be sure to lift your gaze skyward and salute the good folks who gave us this place: the late John and Chara Haas (Rohm & Haas heirs), who raised five children here and put the property into a conservation easement in 1996.

Bulldozers and subdivisions? Not on their land. Not ever.

Thank, too, the Haas children, who, when their parents passed, deeded the estate to Natural Lands, nonprofit conservators of open space. A Haas family endowment will allow Stoneleigh to be maintained and open to the public “in perpetuity.”

(That is, assuming Lower Merion School District doesn’t claim eminent domain and swipe a few acres for playing fields for a possible new school at the nearby Islamic education center. We’re now hearing there may be a move afoot to seize the whole place and district officials plan to revisit/size up the property up next week. But Natural Lands says nothing doing and invites the public to make its feelings known. #SaveStoneleigh could soon be trending. Should you care to weigh in, there’s a Lower Merion School Board meeting May 21.)

In the two years since it took over, a fistful of green thumbs has planned and built, pruned and planted.

Natural Lands staff at Stoneleigh: Horticulturalists Laura Cruz, Summer Sugg and Cody Hudgens, Stoneleigh Director Ethan Kauffman, Lead Horticulturalist Jason Wirt and Media Relations Manager Mae Axelrod.

Some 200 native species have been introduced.

A mile-and-a-half of walking trails – in eco-friendly “forest pave” and wheelchair friendly – have been laid.

Charming “garden follies,” like this pergola, have been restored.

New buildings that look old, complementing original structures, have risen.

Visitors and tour groups will gather at this newly constructed welcome kiosk near the parking lot. There’s a covered picnic pavilion, too.

“Natural Lands thinks in forever,” says media relations director Mae Axelrod, who showed us around last week. “We wanted to keep the character of a Main Line country estate, but we also want to show people how native plants can be used in a formalized setting. We’re giving them ideas to take to their home gardens.”

A trellis arch in the former rose garden overlooks the Rockery, designed by the Olmstead Brothers in 1925 to soften the geometric lines of Stoneleigh’s former landscape architects.

Theatrical performances may one day grace an Olmstead-designed circle garden. A covered pavilion welcomes picnickers. To assist visitors, a fleet of docents has been trained; small signs will point out noteworthy flora, like a majestic cucumber magnolia tree, a PA state champion. To further spread the gospel of native plants, Natural Lands plans to host garden workshops and school groups.

“This is what happens when a land conservation group takes over a formal garden,” says Axelrod, explaining that Stoneleigh is Natural Lands’ first public garden. “We’re bringing the values of a nature preserve – sustainability, conservation and joy in nature – into this space.”

Space that, by the way, couldn’t be better located: smack dab in the center of the Main Line, accessible by train and easier to find than say, Chanticleer in Wayne and Jenkins Arboretum in Devon. (For the record, those two measure 48 acres each, compared to Stoneleigh’s 42.)

The former Haas home, a turn-of-the-century Tudor Revival mansion, has also undergone extensive renovations and will be open for tours by prior arrangement. The Organ Historical Society is now headquartered there; a grand pipe organ has been installed and concerts are planned.

A London plane tree frames Stoneleigh mansion, built in 1877.

Truly, from County Line to Montgomery Ave., Stoneleigh is a splendid achievement; forward in its conservation, sensitive to its past.

And Natural Lands’ decision to debut on Mother’s Day, keeping alive the Haas family’s “Stoneleigh Stroll About” tradition? Bloomin’ brilliant.

Stoneleigh: A Natural Garden opens Sunday, May 13 for Mother’s Day, then Tues. – Sun., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free admission. Entrance and free parking off County Line Rd. Click here for info on special events and ways to support Natural Lands. 

Meet Parc’s Main Line cousin, The Bercy

Owners Joe Monnich and Justin Weathers with hostess Ann Marie Romano, who also seated guests for many years at The Bercy’s predecessor, Primavera Pizza Kitchen.

The Bercy opened – no, exploded –  into Ardmore a few weeks ago.

A tsunami of customers overran the French brasserie, formerly Primavera Pizza Kitchen, on opening weekend.

“Feel like I’ve been through a war,” co-owner Justin Weathers confided to SAVVY that Sunday night.

Draggy and downright pokey at times that first Friday and Saturday, service was swift by Sunday, our second visit.

The place itself is quite the looker. A total “gut job”, Weathers says, of the 100-year-old Lancaster Ave. bank building that he and his partner labored over, like a baby, these last nine months. Designer is White Dog Café/Autograph Brasserie conjurer Barbara Balongue, who served up her usual eyeful: twenty-foot windows, sketches of moody temptresses adorning a curvy bar,

mammoth chandeliers, empty gilt frames assembled as sculptural wall mural and such.

Menu’s mostly tried-and-true French bistro fare and includes charcuterie, plats du jour, a selection of steak frites, and raw bar with counter seating.

On opening weekend, some items were a tad drab, notably the Fire Roasted Shrimp Salad ($15), Moules Frites (mussels) ($16) and the Rotisserie Duck a l’Orange ($27).

But much was quite fab: the French Onion Soup ($12), the Asparagus and Mushroom Tart ($13), the Duroc Pork Chop $26, the Rotisserie Chicken ($23), although it could have stood some browning, and the Bavette Steak Frites. At $28, Bavette, akin to hanger steak, was cheapest cut on the dry-aged Angus-beef steak frites menu.

Desserts are to die for, particularly the profiteroles with house-made chocolate ice cream. Ooh la la.

Of course, it’s WAY too early to pick nits. With 240-plus seats, the kitchen – and service staff – is still finding its groove.

And we’re pretty sure these guys know what they’re doing. Co-owners Justin Weathers and Joe Monnich, both CIA-trained chefs, met at Parc in Rittenhouse Square, where Monnnich started as Exec. Sous Chef and Weathers was manager. The partners also own Al Pastor, a modern Mexican eatery in Exton, and Stove and Tap, an American pub that sparked the revival of Lansdale’s Main Street.

Why go French in our neck of the woods?

“We have 10,000 square feet here. We knew it needed to be busy,” says Weathers. Parc is Stephen Starr’s busiest spot in Philly and there was nothing quite like it on the eastern Main Line, he says. Plus, despite Ardmore’s abundance of casual joints, “we knew there were people here who want to dress up and go out and have a fancy dinner.”

The Bercy shows flourishes of grandeur but Monnich and Weathers also wanted a family-friendly “community restaurant” with a focus on value. “There’ a lot of price gauging on the Main Line,” Weathers says.

Hence, The Bercy’s $15 cheeseburgers, $11 omelets, $8.50 glasses of house wine and $30 carafes.

A first name, “Banque Brasserie” was passed over for “The Bercy,” a Parisian neighborhood once home to the largest wine market in the world. The Bercy’s wine program is but a drop by comparison. Still, Weathers claims his wine guys really know their stuff: a consultant from Philly’s Tria wine bars and sommelier Steven Gullo, formerly of Wayne’s Paramour. “We tasted a thousand wines” before settling on Bercy’s French/American list.

The Bercy, 7 Lancaster Ave. Ardmore, 610-589-0500, is open 365 days a year. Happy Hour Mon. – Fri. 4 – 6 p.m. Weekend brunch from 10 a.m. begins May 19. (Open for prix-fix Mother’s Day brunch May 13). Lunch from 11 a.m. to start in the next few weeks.

Imbibe Food & Drink now open in Conshy

It’s tippling time at Imbibe, an eclectic new eatery in the former Stella Blu space.

Unlike The Bercy, Imbibe practically tiptoed into Conshy last week, with a super-soft opening over a string of nights.

Owner is Sean Weinberg, who brought us Restaurant Alba in Malvern and Biga Pizza + Beer in Bryn Mawr. Straying from his Italian roots, he’s stayed closer to home this time out, with elevated versions of old-timey American goodies like hush puppies and pork bellies.

Nothing’s too pricey. Snacks and starters run $6 – $13; pastas and plates $18 – $25. Among the winners we tried: chickpea fritters ($6) and smoked trout toast ($12). A paper menu explains that items may change depending on availability.

Booze includes a nice selection of well-priced craft cocktails, brews and wines by the glass.

Décor didn’t strike us as especially different – maybe a tad sleeker and brighter.

Imbibe Food and Drink, 101 Ford St. Conshohocken, 484-368-3330. Dinner Tues. – Sat. from 5 p.m. Lunch coming soon.

So many choices, so little time

Not sure whom to choose in Tuesday’s primaries? Or even which Congressional district you’re in these days?

A couple Main Line guys hope you’ll cast your vote with VOHTE.

A new, non-partisan web app, VOHTE tells you which names you’ll see on your ballot and offers a roundup of “authentic” (neither extreme left or right) news articles about those candidates.

Because how many of us go into the voting booth and, well, wing it?

With VOHTE, you don’t have to study up or even glance at those obnoxious campaign mailers. Pull up VOHTE.com on your phone or tablet, tell them your location (and for the primaries, your party), do a little reading, then hit the polls. Informed.

Plus, your personal info stays personal. No selling; no sharing.

VOHTE was created Wynnewood’s Dafan Zhang, 41, and Merion’s Sean Danowski, 39, who met in a Wharton class on entrepreneurship.

Both have rather unconventional backstories. Zhang went to the Haverford School, dropped out of college, and tells us he was even homeless for a while due to “family issues.” He became a professional motorcycle racer, a job he held for ten years before returning to school and earning a Penn law degree. VOHTE was partly inspired by Zhang’s unsuccessful run for a PA House seat when he was a law student.

Danowski was a navy pilot and Top Gun instructor with 12 years of active service before he got his Wharton MBA.

They’d been toying with the idea of a user-friendly mobile election platform and when the PA congressional district lines were redrawn, they ran with it. Their thinking, according to Danowski: “Let’s crank this thing out so people can figure out what district they’re in and who they can vote for [in the May 15 primary.]”

Right now, all PA candidates for state and U.S. seats are included. The two plan a national rollout – to include all local/municipal races – in time for the November general election.

BTW, VOHTE is a for-profit enterprise. For less than the cost of one mailer, candidates can pay to use the platform for the whole election cycle. On the site, politicians respond to articles, post videos and stories about themselves, and directly engage with voters. And they can call out their opponents.

But you, dear voter, cannot. VOHTE’s not a social media platform so there’s no public commenting – and no trolling. Instead, it’s meant to function like an ongoing digital debate (once candidates start enrolling).

“VOHTE lets you ignore the noise and focus on what a candidate can do for them in their lives,’ Danowski says.

Refreshing idea, right?

Expanded Argyle takes root in Haverford

By Rebecca Adler

Peonies the size of grapefruits.

Stainless-steel pruners sheathed in walnut.

Handmade dragonfly jewelry crafted of tiny, shimmering sequins and beads.

Just a few of the fab finds at The Argyle Bouquet’s new outpost in Haverford.

Heather King at her new Argyle Floral-Home-Garden in Haverford.

Loved Argyle’s flower stand at the Ardmore Farmer’s Market? You’ll flip for her two-story digs at the old Saxby’s coffee shop.

“People thought Argyle was just a farm stand,” owner Heather King tells SAVVY. “Although we were putting out quality work comparable to Robertson’s and Valley Forge Flowers, we weren’t really projecting that we do 500-person events.”

And with Albrecht’s leaving down the road, the time seemed ripe for an upscale flower shop in the area, King says. A Terrain with a personal touch.

Argyle will populate the oversized urns on your front step or fly in rare flower species. “I get [flowers] from Japan and Morocco and Israel,” says King. “Someone comes in and they want peonies or lilac and it’s just not in season here. We find it somewhere else.”

The new store will also offer workshops (think wreaths, succulents, arrangements), private event space and a wider array of home décor, art and accessories handpicked by King.

King’s affinity for florals was born in Malvern, where she grew up on a farm. She launched the business out of her garage seven years ago, as a stay-at-home mom. Her first big jobs: an aunt’s wedding and a nephew’s bar mitzvah.

Why Argyle? It’s borrowed from the Berwyn street she lived on with her husband and three kids. And it embodies King’s design aesthetic. “Argyle is different shapes and colors and textures combined together to create this whimsical pattern.”

Price points – like her wares’ origins – are all over the place.

“You’ll find me wearing something from Neiman Marcus with a pair of Target shoes,” she says, pointing out a very convincing $25 faux-tulip bouquet tucked next to a spectacular $850 silver box dotted with chunks of turquoise. “If it goes together, so be it.”

Argyle Floral-Home-Garden, 346 W. Lancaster Ave., Haverford, 484-422-8553, is open Mon. – Sat. 9 a.m. – 6 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. 

Intimidated by yoga or Pilates? Try MovementRx

Partners Irina Marsh and Christine Sturgis with business manager Steve Reiss at their new Wynnewood studio.

In a sea of Main Line workout studios comes the new MovementRx in Wynnewood, swimming strongly against the tide.

And possibly ahead of the curve.

Its founding philosophy: meet clients where they are – nursing an injury, recovering from surgery, weak from chemo, or in good shape but wise enough to know they’re just a swing away from tennis elbow, a bad back or sore knees.

The newly renovated Movement Rx Studio in Wynnewood West Shopping Center includes showers, towel service, organic toiletries and plenty of free parking.

Movement – expertly taught and properly executed – is medicine, after all. An Rx for infirmities of body, mind and spirit.

The studio’s primary instructor and co-owner is Christine Sturgis, mother of five Reiss Conestoga grads. A former marketing executive and volunteer EMT, Sturgis is a certified yoga instructor and outdoor enthusiast with a physical therapy assistant’s associate’s degree and certifications in FMS (Functional Movement Systems) and SFMA (Selective Functional Movement Assessment).

She created her own workout: Phytoga, branding it “yoga’s sturdier cousin” and started teaching private clients and classes around the Main Line. MovementRx, in Wynnewood – near the old Whole Foods – is her first studio.

Christine and her handpicked crew of experienced, diverse teachers lead classes she feels best address stability/balance, mobility, strength and flexibility issues: Phytoga I and II, Beginner Yoga, Yoga Strong, Yoga Pilates Fusion, Tai Chi and Qigong, Vinyasa Flow, Meditation and LaBlast Dance Fitness.

The point? Keep your body moving as nature intended – through midlife and beyond. So you can, say, pick up your grandchild and travel like a trooper.

Note to anyone who’s recently had a joint replaced or spinal surgery: this studio’s for you.

“A lot of people post-physical therapy are delicate,” Sturgis says. “They don’t believe fitness classes will keep them safe. We wanted to create a bridge between PT and other classes, here or elsewhere.”

On the radar at MovementRx: classes and workshops for people dealing with MS, stroke, Alzheimer’s and cancer. For people with Parkinson’s, Rock Steady Boxing Main Line starts this summer.

MovementRx Studio, 333 E. Lancaster Ave., near Tepper’s Pharmacy in Wynnewood, 610-896-1575, is open weekdays 7 a.m. – 8 p.m., Sat. 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., Sun. 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Twenty-percent off class cards/memberships for new students. Students, seniors and veterans discounts.

Mercy spirit questioned at Merion Mercy

Turbulent times at Merion Mercy Academy.

The independent Catholic girls high school is looking for a new Head of School after Sister Barbara Buckley, 64, abruptly – and sorrowfully – announced her resignation last week.

Her departure comes after senior Zenia Nasevich posted an explosive “open letter” and online petition April 25, signed by about 1,000. (But view it now and it lists only 12 signatures.)

The letter claims that former Waldron Mercy religion teacher Margie Winters, whom you may recall from her controversial firing in 2015 because she was married to a woman, was “escorted out of the [high school] building” April 25.

According to Nasevich, Winters had been invited to be interviewed by Merion juniors for a school project about homelessness. She had a visitor’s pass and permission from the theology department chair, Nasevich wrote. “The project had nothing to do with her sexuality, and the harshness with which she was treated is uncharacteristic of what one would expect from an accredited Mercy school.”

Winters’ eviction was “the breaking point” for Nasevich, whose letter alleges other incidents of administrative non-action re: threatened violence and racially-tinged incidents on campus. “Our school is so focused on keeping students, parents and faculty in the dark,” the letter reads. “To deliberately choose not to discuss these social issues undermines the very principles upon which Merion is founded.”

In her resignation letter eight days later, Sister Barbara Buckley, a Merion alum who served the school for 25 years, acknowledged “many complex issues” that “have arisen” and said she was “deeply saddened by any hurt I have inadvertently caused.”

Nasevich followed with this written statement, posted on the petition page. “My petition was rooted in love for my school. I definitely didn’t expect it to blow up like this, and I didn’t know what was going to happen as a result. I want to sincerely thank each and every one of you who signed. I am hopeful that a new change in leadership will make MMA a better place for past, present, and future students.”

Un-Friendly federal suit filed against Friends’ Central

Remember when Friends’ Central fired those two teachers after the brouhaha over their invitation to a Palestinian professor to speak to the school’s Palestinian peace club last year?

Well, the two teachers sure haven’t forgotten. Ariel Eure and Layla Helwa this week brought a federal lawsuit against Friends’ Central and its top officials.

The 59-page suit, filed by attorney Mark Schwartz, claims the termination violated the teachers’ civil rights. It also alleges that the Head of School and select board members engaged in a defamation campaign against the two. The suit says Eure, who is gay and African American, and Helwa, who is gay and Muslim, felt they were pushed to get involved with students on matters of sexuality and race and that the two “came to resent this racist, ‘You are one of them, so you deal with it,’ attitude.”

The teachers seek punitive damages, back pay and other compensation.

Friends’ Central attorney David Fryman released a statement, saying the school “engaged in a thorough and thoughtful Quaker process before deciding not to renew [the teachers’] contracts. We expect the court will agree.”

Hints for homeowners who are downsizing

Team SAVVY picked up some tips for downsizers from Your Organizing Consultants’ Anna Sicalides at Valley Forge Flowers last week. Among them:

• Expect it to be emotional – we’re attached to our belongings and change is hard.
• Schedule an appointment with yourself once a week to start purging.
• Tackle the garage first because you’ll need it as a marshalling area for trash, donations, recycling and give always.
• Set hard deadlines for your adult kids to remove their stuff.

• Master organizer Anna Sicalides and Sage Realty’s Linda Walters talked downsizing at Valley Forge Flowers May 3.

Conestoga junior making serious waves

The Upper Main Line Y swimmer Brendan Burns just broke three national records at the YMCA Short Course Nationals.

Four months ago, he recorded the second fastest time in history for his age group in the butterfly.

Only guy ever faster? Uh, Michael Phelps.

This and That

Hope Chest has folded its Wayne store. The fancy underpantsy and lingerie store that serves A to G cups is happy to size you up – and help you shop for Mother’s Day – in its original outpost in Haverford Square.

Bryn Mawr families are still mourning the loss of Bertucci’s, closed last month when the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Maybe drive to Wayne? It’s still open, one of 59 Bertucci’s still standing.

Keystone Shops, operators of one of PA’s first medical marijuana dispensaries in Devon, just opened another location on Henderson Rd. in King of Prussia. Meanwhile, TerraVida Holistic Centers is set to open a dispensary at 249 Planebrook Rd. in Malvern on May 20.

Mini-golf – that’s not especially mini – is coming to Margate. Congo Falls Adventure Golf says it will open on Ventnor Ave. next to Wawa in time for the July 4 hordes. Margate businessman Ed Blumenthal sued to stop Congo Falls, calling it a “monstrosity.” He claimed the zoning change that allowed the course would open the door to tacky businesses. Blumenthal dropped his suit after he got 18 inches shaved off the height of the two-story course and a won a promise to keep a tight rein on hours.

Call it The Clooney Effect. The 2019 PA Women’s Conference set for Oct. 12 at the Convention Center is already SOLD OUT. Amazing what a keynote speaker named Amal Clooney can do for ticket sales.

Never content to sit on its considerable laurels, St. David’s Episcopal Church in Wayne is growing again. On May 11, the Church will christen The Art Gallery at St. David’s, a permanent offshoot of its nifty gift shop, with a cocktail reception and inaugural show by landscape artist Anne Leith. Like the gift shop, all profits from the gallery will benefit the Church’s outreach ministries in Uganda, Guatemala and Haiti.

A SAVVY shoutout to Episcopal Academy do-gooder Parneeth Alla who just got a pat on the back from Olympic skier Lindsay Vonn at the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards in DC. The EA junior was singled out for creating a computer program to help track and raise funds for a nonprofit serving India’s rural poor.

Have a child with autism? There’s a huge conference for parents at Penn State Great Valley May 11-12: “Listen, Learn and Take Action for Your Child With Autism.” Top medical minds will offer the latest on seizures; cannabis for autism; Lyme disease; teen hormones, rage and aggression; improving language and behavior, mitochondrial disorders, diet and autism, and much more. Tickets are $100 at the door; $150 for couples.

Still stumped for Mother’s Day? May we suggest revisiting our shop-local gift guide in the last SAVVY. It’s a legit list; no kickbacks:-)

Sometimes feel like you’ve got S#%T for brains? Well, so do we. That’s why we’ve tapped some SERIOUS CRANIUM – like Penn Med’s Neurology Chair – for our next SAVVY Gathering. Hope you’ll put a big fat star on your calendar for Tuesday, June 19. Your brain will thank you later. Plus, it’ll be fun. Promise.

(P.S. Contact Kathy@savvyml.com to talk about becoming a local biz partner at the event.)

KingsHaven: Classic-with-an-edge shopping in downtown Paoli (sponsored story)

An artisanal aesthetic born on the Main Line and housed in a rehabbed historic building?

No, not the world’s first Anthropologie in Wayne but what might be its 21^st-century successor, KingsHaven in Paoli.

Bespoke furnishings showroom, distinctive décor store and nifty gift shop – all bundled into smashing quarters across from the train station and tied with a tasteful Tudor bow.

And on a serious roll.

Its signature lighting won KingsHaven a much-coveted booth at this year’s Architectural Digest Design Show in NYC.

The KingsHaven crew at their booth at the Architectural Digest Design Show in March: President/CEO Lauren Wylonis, VP Mimi Boston Johnson, CFO Edward Wylonis, Paoli store manager Lisa Devine, and South American Operations Director Axel Miquez.

And a jolly good show it was, with KingsHaven-created fixtures earning raves for their versatility, clean lines and intriguing mix of exotic woods and elegant iron.

Piggybacking off its NYC triumph, KingsHaven also plans splashy spreads in Architectural Digest and other glossies.

And heading to a bookstore near you (likely in 2019): a gorgeous new coffee table tome, At Home With KingsHaven.

Still, national presence aside, here at SAVVY we like to keep it local. So, what makes KingsHaven’s flagship so worth your visit?

Depends.

For homeowners and interior designers: Look-at-me lighting, furniture and accessories.

In the running for a prestigious national design award, KingsHaven-crafted lighting is a revelation: sophisticated, timeless but on trend in its geometric lines, almost always customizable, and sold at prices that aren’t stratospheric.

The company also makes distinctive mirrors, occasional tables and vanities. And carries soft seating from quality names like Sherrill. A conference room is lined with upholstery fabrics, ripe for the picking. Buy off the floor or place an order.

The reigning aesthetic: classic with an edge.

“We love to put something modern next to something antique,” says KingsHaven CEO Lauren Wylonis, a Newtown Square native who lives in Berwyn. In a nod to Main Line tastes, her Paoli showroom leans transitional. But many of KingsHaven’s California, Florida and New York clients swing contemporary, she says.

For collectors: original paintings, hand-painted pottery and other artists’ wares.

“We believe in the eclectic: using what you love to decorate your space,” Wylonis says. “We help people choose art and fixtures that make their creative spirit come alive.”

There’s hand-painted Talavera pottery from Mexico; “Oil and Light,” a local painters’ show, runs until May 16.

At the opening reception for “Oil and Light” at KinsgHaven: store manager Lisa Devine, artist Georganna Lenseen, CFO Edward Wylonis, artists Monique Sarkessian and Brian Cesario, CEO Lauren Wylonis, VP Mimi Boston Johnson and artist John Dorchester. Not pictured: artist Ellen Cooper.

And for last-minute Mother’s Day shoppers: a surprisingly affordable array we haven’t seen anywhere.

Like Himalayan Soy Candles ($32- $64) and hummingbirds handcrafted in the mountains of Ecuador ($32 – $39).

Next time you’re in, ask Wylonis about her five-hour trek through the jungle to reach Ecuadoran village artisans. Yowza.

“I go to the ends of the earth to find craftspeople. It’s my favorite part of the job,” says Wylonis, who takes eight buying trips a year, foraging for aboriginal art from Australia, Wounaan baskets from Panama, and alpaca blankets from Argentina, among other finds.

Remarkably, KingsHaven is a second career for Wylonis, a Johns Hopkins-trained forensic psychiatrist who’s been painting, throwing pottery, and making and refinishing furniture since childhood.

To better accommodate her kids’ schedules and because she adored design, she launched all things KingsHaven: a real estate redevelopment company, KingsHaven Properties, in 2012; an interior design firm, KingsHaven Design, in 2013; and KingsHaven, a retail and to-the-trade lighting and home furnishings store, in December of 2016.

Wylonis’ end game: make “KingsHaven a national and international design company that started in Paoli.”

From where we’re sitting, it’s well on its way.

KingsHaven, 10 W. Lancaster Ave., Paoli, Open Tues. – Sat. 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. or by appointment, 844-546-4799.

Devon Horse Show – and its splashy hat contest – are heading our way (from SAVVY Sponsor Devon Horse Show and Country Fair)

You’ll have to hold your horses a few more months for Devon Yard.

Urban Outfitters tells us the Terrain/Anthropologie/Amis complex is on track to open in mid to late August.

Devon Yard under construction at the old Waterloo Gardens.

But Devon – the horse show – is just a gallop away. T-minus-12 days (give or take) and counting.

Which means a cast of colorful characters will soon descend on Dorset Ave. Among them: some the world’s finest horse handlers and riders, shopkeepers on the show circuit, the local horsey/society set, and a chipper volunteer army that keeps the burgers frying and the Ferris wheel flying.

With the royal wedding around the bend, we thought it high time you met a Devon regular with, shall we say, a more genteel assignment.

She’s a perennial Ladies Day hat contest judge who happens to have a direct line to the House of Windsor.

Truly.

Each spring, milliner Brenda Waites Bolling trains in from NYC to help TV fashionista Carson Kressley, yours truly and others choose the year’s most splendid chapeaux.

Brenda Waites Bolling (at far) right with Devon Ladies Day hat contest judges in 2017.

Like Devon’s riders, Bolling is world class.

And classy.

Brush up against her and you’re practically brushing with royalty.

We can’t reveal the name of the person she’s dealing with from across the pond – those Brits insist on tight lips. But know this: she’s “conversing“ with a member of the royal family (at the very highest level) about creating a wardrobe for a post-wedding trip to the U.S.

High falutin’ stuff, right? And it’s not even her first royal rodeo.

Queen Elizabeth wore one of Bolling’s creations during her diamond jubilee in 2012. A blue number – the Queen’s fave color – with gold “ecclesiastical” accents.

Bolling’s design for QE2, more than fit for a queen.

Bolling also supplied hats for the nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton. The milliner’s father is from England, enabling her to comply with the Crown’s insistence that all designers be British.

Bolling jokingly calls herself Meghan Markle, a reference to their shared African American/British Isles heritage.

She also designed hats for the wedding of Prince Albert of Monaco and served on a committee for the Princess Grace Foundation.

Other exalted clients: Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga (who went gaga for a fedora), Sharon Stone and socialites galore. Safe to say Bolling has turned many a head at The Royal Ascot, the elite Central Park Conservancy Hat Luncheon, The Kentucky Derby, Page Six weddings and the like.

A Chicago native, she parlayed early design work in macramé and furs to high-end hats. An equestrian herself, she began selling hats in Bob Ermilio‘s shop behind the Devon grandstand in 1998. The next year she rode in – and dressed heads – in Don Rosato’s carriage at Devon.

But her biggest break came when she opened a hat shop at the iconic Plaza Hotel in 2009.

Owned by a Saudi family, The Plaza was a “mecca for celebrities,” Bolling says. “And word got out that you just had to see the hat store. Hordes of people would come in.” Among them: stars and their stylists. She made toppers for men and children, too. and developed lines for American Girl dolls and the Eloise At The Plaza shop. From 2009 until 2013 (when her store was replaced by a food hall), Bolling says she worked seven days a week, taking off only on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

These days, she works out of the stylish Redbury New York Hotel, once the iconic Martha Washington Hotel for women.

Bolling’s signature hat is the English jockey, designed as an answer to the “helmet head” she’d get after riding horses in Central Park.

Bolling with “experiential travel” pro Chloe Johnston at Devon in 2015 and wearing her signature jockey hat.

Custom-designed hats for “luxury lifestyle” clients run around $1,200.

An investment, yes. But one that’s meant to be worn forever. Her bespoke hats are made with waterproof and crush-proof crinoline. Most adornments are removable for easy transport and for dressing up or down. Lots of women wear her hats to parties AND to the beach, she says.

Personally partial to large, sun-shielding brims, Bolling also designs fabulous fascinators.

Her advice for the scores of women who will sashay before her on Ladies Day morning at Devon? “We look for originality and creativity but it should be neat and tasteful. And the whole outfit matters.”

A group mugs for the cell phone camera held by Devon Ladies Day hat contest judge, 6ABC’s Adam Joseph.

Not feeling especially creative? There’s still time to order a Bolling beauty for Devon. Check out her Instagram (@brendawaitesbolling) or give her a buzz at 212-935-9500.

Themed “Rosé All Day,” Devon Horse Show Ladies Day is May 30. Tickets ($65) include cocktail reception, light hors d’oeuvres and participation in the hat contest. Click here to join the festivities and see judging categories.

The Devon Horse Show & Country Fair kicks off with First Night at the Devon Art Gallery on May 23. Family Day, Community Night and THE Dog Show at the Horse Show follow on May 24, with reams of special events after that. LOOK FOR OUR FULL PREVIEW OF THE 2018 DEVON HORSE SHOW AND COUNTRY FAIR IN THE NEXT SAVVY!

The post Lucky us! Swell new Stoneleigh public garden in Villanova, The Bercy Ardmore, Imbibe in Conshy, Argyle & MovementRx Studio; Plus, KingsHaven, Devon hats & more appeared first on SAVVY MAINLINE.

Nora and Sandy Nissenbaum outside their Wayne home.

With recent school shootings very much on their minds, some T/E Middle School parents are taking aim at the district’s response to an alleged threat of gun violence and bullying.

They sent e-mails. They made phone calls. They met with school officials.

Then scores of them showed up at a school board meeting Monday night.

The district was ready. Message (already) received, loud and clear.

The Superintendent announced the creation of parent focus groups to evaluate T/E’s threat-response policy and suggest changes if needed. He also said the district will explore “best practices” of other districts across the country and review relevant research.

And on Tuesday, the principal of T/E Middle School sent an extraordinarily long e-mail to parents explaining how, as a parent himself, he takes students’ safety personally.

The hubbub started in early February. It simmered, then boiled over last week after a TEMS family, the Nissenbaums, told their story to the AP.

And it ran in newspapers across the country.

Shortly after she went public, Sandy Nissenbaum provided new details to SAVVY. Her hope is that her family’s turmoil shines a light.

“We have a bullying and kindness crisis in our country that time and again results in tragedy. You cannot take a threat of gun violence too lightly. You can’t take anti-Semitic comments and repeated harassment too lightly.”

According to Nissenbaum, her daughter, Nora, 12, and a boy in her sixth-grade class each thought the other was “cute” and began “text dating. They’d never been anywhere together.”

But then Nora “became aware that the boy was bullying girls at Junior Capers [a dance cotillion program], saying mean things to them,” Nissenbaum says.

Nora immediately ended things. “You’re not nice to my friends,” she wrote to him.

“He turned on her and starting sending texts,” Nora’s mother says. Horrific stuff like a picture of Hitler and messages calling Nora “a dirty Jew” and telling her to “go back to ur concentration camp.”

“What’s better baked? 6 million Jews,” one text read. The boy “bragged about sending the texts” and word got around school, Nissenbaum says.

For weeks, Nora “was handling this herself.” Her parents noticed their daughter had been “feeling sad” but “hadn’t pinpointed why.”

The Nissenbaums stayed in the dark until a friend reached out in March to say her son was being asked why he was hanging out with Nora because “she’s a Jew.”

“This is hate speech. This is a crime,” the Nissenbaums explained to their daughter. They called the boy’s parents, who apologized and said “all the right things.” But a few hours later, the Nissenbaums say the boy was back on House Party, a popular online video chat app.

The couple reported the alleged hate speech to school officials March 10. (The family has also sought advice from the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Federation.)

The threat intensified just two days later, when the boy – who was reportedly facing a five-day suspension –  allegedly told a girl he was going to bring a gun to school to shoot 33 classmates. A friend told the Nissenbaums, who immediately reported the threat on March 13. “It was our second time in four days to call in a crime related to the boy,” Nissenbaum says.

As soon as authorities were alerted, about an hour before dismissal, Nora and her older brother were pulled out of class and held at the police station. Authorities soon located the boy and his mother, Nissenbaum says.

Charged with misdemeanors related to bullying and making terroristic threats, the boy awaits a hearing in juvenile court, according to the Nissenbaums, who’ve hired an attorney and expect to provide a victim impact statement.

But the boy is still in school.

And Nora, who began getting panic attacks and was being treated for PTSD, is not.

For two months, the Nissenbaums say they worked with school administrators – “good people bound by bad policy” – to make Nora feel safer at school.

According to Nissenbaum, the district said it couldn’t expel the boy because psychologists had determined he was not a threat. They agreed to move his locker and remove him from her classes but said they couldn’t switch his team or make any further accommodations. Which meant their daughter would see the boy in the hallways up to eight times a day.

Not good enough, they said. Because Nora was “still in trauma,” according to Nissenbaum. She was in “talk therapy but wasn’t able to speak.” Therapists told the Nissenbaums that Nora “was re-living the trauma by seeing him every day.”

On May 7, they went to Principal Phillips’ office and told him they’d had enough. They were taking Nora out for the rest of the school year. She has since begun homebound studies with a T/E tutor.

“We’d been trying to hold our ground,” her mother tells SAVVY. “We thought she had a right to maintain an education in her school with her friends. She’s a straight-A student; she hadn’t done anything wrong.”

Nora, 12, and her mom Sandy Nissenbaum in happier times.

In the end, they felt the district’s “current measures” …  “were working for him” (the alleged perpetrator) but they “weren’t working for her. That’s what’s so upsetting.”

(For the record, we can’t provide district or police comment on specifics. Federal law prohibits school and law enforcement officials from talking about cases involving minors or even confirming their existence.)

As word slowly circulated then exploded with the AP story, Nissenbaum says the community has been overwhelmingly supportive of Nora and upset by the district’s reaction.

Nora herself began rallying troops in late March after she was told not to talk about the incident. Her mother says “Nora pointed out how hypocritical the school’s anti-bullying policy is in telling kids to A.C.T. = Acknowledge, Care and Tell and in this situation, we spoke up and their answer was to sweep it under the rug and tell Nora to be silent.”

She and her mother designed “Bullying Stops Here, Kindness is Power” pins for Nora and others to wear on their backpacks in silent protest. A companion logo is splashed across supportive parents’ Facebook pages.

Shortly after Nora left school, a friend re-purposed a school spirit day into a “Be Kind” day. Half the school wore red t-shirts in support of Nora, her mother says. Conestoga Youth Lacrosse joined the chorus and the go-red campaign has reportedly shown up at Valley Forge Middle School and Conestoga.

TEMS students wear red “Be Kind” t-shirts during Spirit Day.

Parents have been vocal, too. After sending emails and making calls, a group met with top T/E brass last Friday: Superintendent Richard Gusick, Director of Assessment and Accountability Mark Cataldi and TEMS Principal Andrew Phillips.

On Monday night, they sounded off at the school board meeting.

A big issue for many has been the district’s alleged lack of communication, transparency and safety assurances. Several parents – some who prefer not to be named – have told SAVVY they knew nothing about the threat until they heard it from other parents. (The day the AP story appeared, Principal Phillips emailed parents with a copy of the district’s “Response Protocol to Reported Threat,” which doesn’t mention notifying parents.)

“As a parent, I’m appalled that the school didn’t give us the opportunity to talk to our kids about the situation, about the threats their schoolmates were hearing,” says Amy Holzapfel, who has a child in Nora’s grade.

Her husband Drew tells SAVVY that “a lot of parents felt blindsided.”

He’s also worried that the school’s “lack of response will discourage other children from coming forward.”

We’re told at least one classmate is switching schools and others are thinking about it.

“We moved to the area and we picked this house because of the school district,” Drew Holzapfel says. “It feels to me that Conestoga has been in the news for all the wrong reasons the last couple years. I’m looking for leadership from the school to show me my choice was a good one.”

Meanwhile, T/E School Board President Scott Dorsey says parents willing to serve on the focus group should e-mail the school board or Superintendent Gusick. “We’re as concerned about safety and security as we are about education,” Dorsey tells SAVVY.

He hopes the focus groups will wrap up their work by the end of June. Any policy recommendations, he says, would then go to the board’s policy committee, which in turn would send any proposed changes to the full school board, ideally by September.

New Main & Vine bistro poised to crush it in Villanova

Better book your reservations now for Main & Vine. The crush is coming (and we’re not talking grapes in vineyards).

Because Main & Vine, it turns out, is the perfect intersection.

Where California-cool meets warm and friendly.

Where clean and organic ingredients join polished preparation.

Where a smashing square bar faces off with a curvy pizza bar.

All executed with surprising precision, considering the place just opened last week. If the quality stays high and word gets out, well… you’ve been warned.

Main & Vine is Wine Country come to us – dishes from Monterey to Mendocino, a West Coast wine and craft-beer list, even a long, winery-style tasting table in a private alcove.

Talk about Napa know how.

On the menu: Starters ($8 – $13), Sociables for sharing ($15 – $20); From The Vine salads ($11 -$14), Mains ($20 – $30), Napa-style Sourdough Pizzas ($15 – $17) and “The Family Table” of regular nightly specials ($20 – $29).

Wines are West Coast but all over the place, price-wise: House pours are $7, Prestige Pours (including The Prisoner) are $22 – $26, but most are $9 – $13.

A few Main & Vine faves we devoured:

The virtuous, lovely (and “sociable”) Vegetable Crudités ($15) accompanied by three Golden State-centric dips: avocado green goddess, Point Reyes blue cheese and beet hummus.

The chicken-fried oysters with bearnaise aioli ($12)

The Wild Isles (sustainable) salmon ($27) and the black grape & blue cheese sourdough pizza with hazelnuts, rosemary and local honey ($16).

Fun fact: Pizza is theater here. Twelve seats surround a pizza chef and oven, the sole remnant from former occupants Maia and Avenue Kitchen.

Note to late-night munchers: The Pizza bar stays open until 1 on weekends and midnight weekdays.

Main & Vine Operating Partner Jay Stevens, Chef Charles Vogt and General Manager Ray Pouncy.

What’s sort of shocking: This is operating partner Jay Stevens’ first restaurant. A boy from the Northeast who always liked to cook, he broke into the biz as a dishwasher at age 12. Among other places, he’s managed at Parc and Morimoto in Philly, Dettera in Ambler, the Freight House in Doylestown, and most recently, Morton’s in King of Prussia.

He and wife Kylene (who’s a QVC model) have a soft spot for all thing Californian:

French Laundry, Chez Panisse, sunny winery “pizza decks,” cozy vineyard tasting rooms.

Hence, the sourdough bread and crispy pizza crust (where toppings are generously spread end to end), the Oakland-bred Rocky Road pudding, the liberal sprinkling of California figs and walnuts.

The vibe too – from New Hope’s Gacek Design Group – is an earth-meets-sky mod mix with intentional touches of Villanova blue.

Seems Stevens has carefully cultivated every last vine. He deliberately partnered with Kim Strengari (Conshy Girls restaurateur) because of her Main Line connections. He put his servers in blue, subtly signaling “Wildcats welcome here.” He even handpicked the eclectic playlist that pumps in the lounge.

At Main & Vine, you can spend a little (relatively speaking) or you can spend a lot. Your call.

“My goal is to feed a wealth of people, not just wealthy people,” says Stevens, who turned away reservations over busy graduation weekend because he didn’t want to overwhelm the staff. “I’ve waited 32 years to do this; I need to get it right.”

Main & Vine Bistro, 789 W. Lancaster Ave., Villanova (near Azie), 484-380-3688, opens at 4 pm daily. Lunch/weekend brunch coming soon. Private parties for up to 40. Reserve on Open Table.

Surging campaign to #Save Stoneleigh

Lines outside Monday night’s LMSD meeting.

In two weeks, folks have all but stormed the barricades to keep the Lower Merion School District from seizing Stoneleigh, a new public garden at the former Haas estate in Villanova.

In a blink, 12,000 people signed a petition.

Umpteen lawn signs popped up.

Hundreds emailed LMSD officials and wrote postcards.

And an army clad in red “Save Stoneleigh” t-shirts turned out in protest at Monday night’s school board meeting.

(Photos courtesy Natural Lands)

The meeting was so packed – 300 attended, by one estimate – that the proceedings were livestreamed into an “overflow room.”

First, LMSD Superintendent laid out the problem: exploding enrollment (21.5 % increase – tops in PA – in ten years; T/E grew by 10.7 %), the need for a new middle school, and the many properties explored. Among them: St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Ashbridge Park, 1860 Montgomery (Islamic center), and, yes, Stoneleigh.

Then reps from, among others, the Haas family, Lower Merion Conservancy, Natural Lands (the folks who own and maintain the new garden), rose to speak out against the district’s proposal to take part or all of the Stoneleigh by eminent domain for either a new school or playing fields. Their arguments? The need to preserve open space, gardens, native plants, pollinating insects and historic landscape architecture.

Monday night’s fireworks came just three days after Lower Merion School District officials followed through on their promise and inspected Stoneleigh personally.

Last Friday, “they did indeed tour the entirety of the 42-acre property,” Natural Lands Communications Director Kirsten Werner tells SAVVY.

The board made no decisions Monday night.

But if goes the Stoneleigh route, Natural Lands says it will take LMSD to court.

Idle threat?

Based on the campaign the nonprofit pulled together in two weeks, no way.

The Superintendent’s presentation Monday night made one thing clear: there’s a little tug of war playing out here. Copeland said the district could put a school at the Islamic center but only if Lower Merion Township allows them to put playing fields at Ashbridge Park. If that were to happen, the whole Stoneleigh thing could go bye-bye. Hmmm.

Over and out for Paoli’s Eatnic

Open just a year and a half, Eatnic is no more. The urban farmhouse BYOB in Paoli closed right after Mother’s Day.

Which was a bit of a surprise; the place always seemed fairly busy when we stopped by.

Owner John Scardapane (creator of the Saladworks chain) gave two reasons for closing to the Inquirer’s Michael Klein: the pancreatic cancer he’s been fighting for three years that now requires more surgery, and a 50 percent drop-off in business after so many new restaurants opened, most in nearby King of Prussia.

“It was like being a mom & pop hardware store and having Lowe’s and Home Depot open at the same time a few miles down the road,” said Scardapane via email.

Time will tell if Eatnic heralds a wave of restaurant shakeouts. There are, after all, only so many places we can eat.

Gail and John Scardapane at Eatnic short it opened.

Heading to the shore for Memorial Day?

Look for a longer schlep over the sand and a little less room to spread out this summer if you’re headed Downbeach.

Here are pics – taken last Sunday – of the new dunes covering large swaths of Longport’s beaches.

The view north from Longport’s Ocean Plaza condominiums. (Photos by Marianna Curran)

Our first thought: a bald guy with fresh hair plugs.

We jest, but the dune installation has a serious purpose: preventing flood damage post-Sandy.

And it’s seriously disrupted little Longport.

Some have flipped beachfront homes to keep their killer ocean views. Others have sought FEMA grants to elevate their homes.

Here’s hoping they wrap up the walkways over the dunes soon. Without them, it’s darn near impossible to comply with the borough’s “no walking on the dunes” directive.

Walkways over the new dunes at the Pelham Ave. beach in Longport. Wheelchair friendly entrances are at 16th, 27th and 33rd streets.

Meanwhile, folks in neighboring Margate continue to fume over the state’s infamous ‘duneboggle.’

Installed by the Army Corps of Engineers last year, the dunes have caused pools of standing, yucky water, aka Lake Margate, between the dunes and the bulkhead. (Some engineers.)

To fix the problem, five massive outfall pipes are being installed to drain water. At low tide, the pipe system is reportedly five feet high, making a nice stroll along the beach, well, a real stretch.

One way around the duneboggle? A boardwalk. A growing chorus is asking the city to build one. Margate’s last boardwalk was clobbered by a hurricane back in 1944.

The pipe installation is ongoing so it looks like another beach season will be disrupted by work crews and heavy machinery, at least in the early going.

Misery, thy name is Margate.

Sports stars to converge in Radnor

Emlen Tunnell in his Radnor yearbook and immortalized in bronze.

When we heard pro sports stars will soon converge on Radnor to celebrate Emlen Tunnell, we thought, “Emlen who?”

Shame on us.

Turns out Tunnell’s exploits – on football fields and battlefields – were legend.

A Radnor High Class of ’42 football star, he was the first African-American inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame (50 years ago this August).

And during his WWII service with the Coast Guard, he rescued two men: dousing a fire with his bare hands to save one, diving into frigid waters to save the other.

Tunnell died from a heart attack at age 50 but his memory, rightfully, lives on.

There’s an Emlen Tunnell Park in the Garrett Hill section of Radnor. And his newly-cast 7 ft. bronze statue will soon stand sentry at the Radnor Township building, which also houses the Sports Legends of Delco Museum.

The statue will be officially dedicated at 2 p.m. on June 2 by Tunnell’s family and special guests. Among them: former NFL pro Billy “White Shoes” Johnson, also a Delco native, who will speak; Great American Pub owner and Tunnell’s childhood buddy Chuck Emcher; former NY Giant Don Clune who was coached by Tunnell; and Ernie Beck, a Philadelphia Warriors legend.

Next time we pass the Radnor Township Building, we’re thinking a small salute may be in order.

Racist rant has local roots

A Haverford School alum was all over the news last week – and boy, was it U-G-L-Y.

In case you missed it: Aaron Schlossberg, Haverford School Class of ’94 and a Merion native, ranted about employees speaking Spanish in a NYC restaurant and threatened to call ICE to have them “kicked out of my country.” Expletives deleted.

Naturally, Schlossberg, an attorney, 42, was caught on video that went viral.

End result: It’s Schlossberg who’s been kicked out – of his Manhattan office by his landlord.

Other fallout: a few NYC politicos want him disbarred, a deluge of nasty Facebook/Yelp reviews, a Mariachi band fiesta outside his Upper West Side apartment, and Governor Cuomo tweeting at him in Spanish.

Seems Schlossberg’s an equal opportunity bigot. He’s also been spotted in videos from an anti-Muslim protest led by alt-right folks.

Locally, former high school classmate Michael DiDomenico told Philly.com that Schlossberg “was always a jerk.”

He apologized on Tuesday, saying the rant didn’t depict “the real me.”

St. Joe’s rugby player nominated in memoriam

The late Mark Dombroski holding a rugby ball in Bermuda.

We were pleased to read that Mark Dombroski, the St. Joe’s student from Media who died in a tragic fall during a rugby tournament in Bermuda, is in line for a posthumous honor. He’s a finalist for the Life of Significance Award, given annually to a collegiate rugby player in the Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Tournament who exemplifies integrity, commitment and respect.

Dombroski’s disappearance in March sparked an exhaustive search. His body was found at the base of cliff. Remembered by many for always wanting to help others, the 19-year-old was active with Habitat for Humanity and church mission work.

Also nominated, among others: Malvern native Riley Curtin, a St. Joe’s Prep alum who’s a sophomore at BC.

The winner will be announced at the CRC Tournament the first weekend in June.

Devon duo launches small-batch Bar Spoon cocktails: Pour, stir, enjoy for Memorial Day

Erich Sizelove and Becky Caldwell bellying up to the Bar Spoon Beverage display at UpHome in Malvern.

By Rebecca Adler

What makes a good cocktail?

Ask Erich Sizelove and the answer’s simple: convenience. Drinks you can whip up at home – no bartending skills required.

Fresh, versatile flavors that pair well with spirits don’t hurt either.

Enter Bar Spoon Beverage, Sizelove’s liquid labor of love: all-natural, ready-to-pour cocktail mixes born in Devon, bottled in West Chester, and popping up in stores across the Main Line.

Laid off from a 20-year career in healthcare consulting but not missing it a bit, Sizelove started, well, sizing up what he loved. “I’ve always enjoyed cocktails – making them, reading about them, testing them.”

His first test audience: Devon Elementary School parents, who lapped up the “French 75 cocktails” the Sizeloves donated to the school’s annual fundraisers.

When Sizelove mentioned his plan to take the cocktail mix to market to Becky Caldwell, a Tredyffrin mom with a sales background, she signed on as a partner.

Bar Spoon Beverage’s highly concentrated mixes make 8-12 drinks per bottle. Add your favorite spirit and a splash of sparkling water.

First bottled last September, Bar Spoon Beverage’s four mixes keep it simple: a handful of ingredients, 50 percent fruit juice. Sizelove and Caldwell cook the small batches themselves at the Artisan Exchange in West Chester, although help is on the way. They just hired two cooks.

Local stores selling BSB include: Valley Forge Flowers, Cornerstone, Sassano’s in Wayne, Trove General Store in Paoli, UpHome in Malvern and Mr. Bottle and soon-to-open Terrain in Devon. Look for mixes this summer at Avalon Supermarket and at Passion Vines in Somers Point.

“Word travels quickly here,” says Caldwell of their somewhat swift success, 2,600 bottles later. And neighborly support goes a long way. When their cocktail mix wasn’t a good fit for Malvern Buttery’s daytime crowd, the owner happily walked the bottle down the street where it found a home in UpHome. “The Main Line is a big place, but it’s really a small world.”

BSB’s Memorial Day Weekend Mix: Bar Spoon Beverage Cardamom Lime with tequila, a fresh lime wedge and a splash of club soda.

Ready for its closeup: Actors Lab Philly expands in Wayne

Actors Lab Philly teachers Marti Keegan, Bryan Fox and Denise Parella at their new Wayne digs.

Busting a gut, Actors Lab Philly is bustin’ a move.

To the other side of Lancaster Ave.

“We were above a movie theater; now we’re below a TV station,” says acting coach/owner Bryan Fox, referring to the lab’s much larger digs near Radnor Studio 21.

A “happily retired actor” and Conestoga graduate, Fox says he’s more coach than teacher, his actors like athletes in training, rather than students taking classes.

Coach Bryan Fox with actors Mike Sutton and Eric Melaragni.

In five years, Actors Lab has mixed up a winning formula: grooming actors for film and TV and helping them with auditions. Just last month, his actors landed principal roles in Creed II, House of Cards and Shades of Blue. Before that, there were parts in, among others, McGiver, Mr. Robot, soap operas­­­­ and films with Schwarzenegger and Cranston.

Actors Lab has also gained a rep for producing high-quality “self-tapings,” aka video auditions for out-of-town roles – no plane fare required.

“Casting directors have been asking where the tapings were done so there’s a lot of word of mouth,” Fox tells SAVVY.

A career-change experiment for Fox, Actors Lab Philly has a “solid heartbeat of a business to build on,” he says, with actors from Harrisburg, Delaware and Jersey all finding their way to Wayne –  and joining a supportive community when they arrive. “Acting’s a team sport,” Fox says.

Contemplating a career change yourself? According to Fox, there’s a strong demand for “fresh faces” – non-union film/TV featured actors who “aren’t 18 anymore.”

Never say never, right?

Actors Lab Philly offers classes and private sessions for adults, teens and youth. Pro services include self-taped auditions, interview prep and public speaking coaching. ALP’s new home at 110 W. Lancaster Ave. Wayne is set to open June 1.

Critics wild about Wild Blues

Devon author Beth Kephart and artist husband Bill Sulit in Kennett Square.

Devon’s First Woman of Letters, Beth Kephart, is launching her new book in her own backyard. OK, a mile or so away.

Still.

Come shake her hand at Wayne’s Main Point Books at 7 p.m. on June 5 and pick up a copy of Wild Blues (Simon & Shuster). Count on the usual luminous prose and thought-provoking plotlines.

Set in the Adirondacks, this one’s extra special for the award-winning author of 22 books and counting. Her husband, artist Bill Sulit, provided the color illustrations (below) based on drawings he made when the two were dating. Kephart also weaves his Salvadoran story into the narrative.

A page from Wild Blues, illustrated by Kephart’s husband.

Wild Blues is listed for ages 10 to 14 but Kephart says grownups are going for it, too. And the reviews have been splendid.

From Luckiest Girl  to Favorite Sister

Homegrown bestselling author Jessica Knoll and the cover of her new novel.

Villa Maria/Shipley grad Jessica Knoll just penned another beach read: The Favorite Sister.

Real Housewives fans: this one’s for you. It’s about a dead cast member on a reality TV show.

The Favorite Sister comes three years after Knoll’s hit debut novel, Luckiest Girl Alive, caused a sensation after Knoll admitted that the gang rape depicted in the book actually happened to her in high school. (Here’s our interview with Knoll.)

Before it became a bestseller, Reese Witherspoon optioned Luckiest Girl Alive for a movie, to be produced by Lionsgate with the script written by Knoll. According to IMDB, the movie’s status is “unknown” although we do know Knoll’s script was approved.

Eye-opening show headed our way

We need all the empathy and understanding we can get these days. Cue “In the Heart of the Other,” coming to the Baptist Church in the Great Valley in Devon in a couple weeks.

Taking the stage in a Christian church: a Muslim storyteller (Arif Choudhury) and a Jewish storyteller (Noa Baum).

We hear these two are world-class performers and that you’ll laugh, you’ll cry and you’ll learn a little something, too.

The show is Saturday, June 9, 2 – 4 pm. Tickets are $15.

This and That

After 27 years as head basketball coach, Academy of Notre Dame’ Mary Beth McNichol has called it a career. She announced her retirement last week. Among her accomplishments: A 507-258 record and coaching 36 players who’ve moved onto Division I, II and III college programs. She’s in Vaillanova U’s Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Delco Athletes Hall of Fame in 2016. McNichol’s daughters have carried on the family tradition. Kacy McNichol coaches at Harriton, Kylynn at Springfield.

A SAVVY shoutout to NBA star and Haverford dad Jameer Nelson who picked up his St. Joe’s diploma last Saturday. He told Philly.com he was scared to go back to school but had promised his mom, wife Imani, and late grandmom that he would get it done. Jameer Nelson Jr. is a junior at the Haverford School and their daughters are 12, 10 and 5. Nelson says “there’s a 100 percent chance they’re going to college.” A member of the senior class of 2004 at Hawk Hill, he graduated in the Class of 2018 with a degree in sociology.

With last weekend’s Radnor Hunt Races in our muddy rearview mirrors, there’s still time to tip your hat to the man behind them. “The Way Back: The Paintings of Frolic Weymouth” runs until June 3 at the Brandywine River Museum. Freymouth passed in 2016.

Anyone else spot Scoops ‘N Smiles’ new ice cream truck tooling around town? Love how the Main Line has embraced this little-engine-that-could in downtown Malvern. Lines aren’t quite as long as the ones at Handel’s, but just you wait…

A SAVVY shoutout to the cast and crew of Nice Work if You Can Get it. The Conestoga High School musical won four Cappies last Sunday, including best musical. Meanwhile on Monday night, Episcopal Academy’s production of Grease took home three Philadelphia Independence Awards for High School Musical Theater. Bravo.

Oh yeah, um, you know, before we, uh, forget…

Can’t remember names? Lose things? Feeling sluggish upstairs? Learn how to keep the fuzzies away – and have some fun – at our second SAVVY GATHERING: “Brain Fog: Clearing up the confusion for a sharper, saner you,” heading your way Tuesday, June 19 at 6:30 p.m. at the Saturday Club in Wayne.

First, we’ll chitchat over wine and tasty bites and salads (courtesy of ANEU and Simply Good Jars).

After that, we sit down for a casual powwow with some real dynamos(below): supersmart but approachable neurologist Frances Jensen (Neurology Chair at UPenn’s Perelman School of Medicine) and Wayne-based functional medicine/anti-aging MD Seema Bonney. Also adding her two cents: brain food pro and holistic nutritionist Meridith Coyle.

Tickets on sale starting next week on the SAVVY website.

Afraid “Brain Fog” will slip your mind? SAVVY e-mail subscribers get first dibs (and gentle reminders) so sign up pronto:-) 

Great Valley Pet Hotel in Malvern: a Bed & Biscuit, but better (sponsored)

Check in at Great Valley Pet Hotel and Fido’s treated like family. Where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came.

Cheers, but minus the hooch.

Like perennial bartender Sam Malone, the dog-tenders stay put at this intimate, immaculate watering hole/inn.

Deedee Francis has been a hands-on owner since 2003. General Manager Andrew Feimster’s been working there 13 years, since his days at Great Valley High. “Precious Paws” groomer Christine Dolinger has been clipping for 15 years. Manager Brooke Hartzell just started her fourth year on staff.

We could go on.

Also hotel regulars: Canine guests who come for day camp, boarding or both.

Guests like Shana, a Papillon mix who’s been a day camper for more than seven years.

Manager Brooke Hartzel with longtime day camper, Shana Lastner.

“It’s a trek from where I live but I like the place; I like the family here,” says Shana’s owner, Gary Lashner. “It’s Shana’s home away from home.”

Lashner says he drives 30 miles out of his way each weekday so Shana can hang out at the GV Pet Hotel while he works. Which for this little lady means running with the pack and lounging on her pink throne. (Ok, bed, but she’s called “Princess Shana” in these parts.)

Another plus for Lashner: GVPH’s bright-eyed and bushy-tailed 6:30 a.m. start time. Other doggie day cares don’t open until 7, he says.

Francis gutted “The Kennel” when she bought the two-acre compound, once a private home, 15 years ago. She divided the outdoor space into eight separate play yards of varying sizes: four grass and four gravel.

For guests willing to pay a bit more for privacy. she installed seven luxury suites with TV’s tuned to Animal Planet. Upstairs includes a nap room (for pooches too tuckered out to be social), a room for cats, and an indoor dog run for rainy days.

When it opened in 2003, Great Valley Pet Hotel had five dogs. “If we get up to eight, we’ll think business is booming,” Francis remembers thinking.

Ha.

Within a year, the Pet Hotel was caring for 120 dogs at a time. (They also had chickens and a miniature goat, but we digress.)

“We were bursting,” Francis says. “We couldn’t grow at this property.” So the Francises built a second, much larger boarding and grooming facility, Wagsworth Manor, on six acres just three miles away.

If Wagsworth is the Four Seasons, Great Valley Pet Hotel is a nicely maintained Hampton Inn, with great care, fewer frills, and lower rates.

Francis says GVPH was one of the first kennels in the area to offer day care. “It was a bit of a risk to have dogs play together.”

Great Valley Pet Hotel Day Camp Supervisor Fred Downey with a few furry friends.

But it worked. Dogs are closely supervised, divided by size and get lots of outdoor play time. And if a pooch prefers to play alone, there are private yards for that, too.

A pet hotel is a hospitality business, after all. Personal service is paramount. “We really get to know the little things about our dogs,” Francis says. “We’re homey.”

Great Valley Pet Hotel, 25 Davis Ave., Malvern, 610-296-8330, offers day care Mon. – Sat. ($27/day; $18/half day). Daily boarding from $36. 

Top 10 reasons we’re going to the Devon Horse Show … and you should, too (sponsored)

All Devon Horse Show photos by Brenda Carpenter.

#10   IT’S WORLD CLASS.  And getting classier every year.

Some of the BEST riders in the world are coming, including three out of four on the 2016 U.S. Olympic Show Jumping Team: McClain Ward (9-time Devon Grand Prix champ), Beezie Madden and Kent Farrington, now ranked #1 in the world.  Or catch a rising star like Devin Ryan. (A happy naming coincidence? We think not.)

McClain Ward takes a bow after winning Devon’s Grand Prix in 2017.

The stakes, btw, are higher than ever. Winner of the Sapphire Grand Prix pockets $250,000 –  double the purse from just three years ago.

In total, $87,500 in prize money has been added in 2018 – lots of moolah to go around.

#9   IT’S HEART POUNDING.

Thrills, chills, spills and hard knocks – Devon’s got ’em every day. Show jumpers and arena eventers play beat-the-clock, each just a slip-and-fall away from dashed dreams and rough landings. It’s also crunch time for those engaging in less (dare)devilish pursuits like the prancing Saddlebred classes. Watch their faces as they exit the Dixon Oval and the (newly christened) Wheeler Ring. You’ll know if they’re in the money or will have to hope for a better ride next year.

#8   IT’S ARTSY.

Artist Shaw Faust with his winning painting at the 2018 First Night at Devon on Wednesday.

Now in its 15^th year, the Art Gallery at the Devon Horse Show has also upped its game. Snagging a spot in this juried show and sale is more competitive than ever. Plus, the Gallery features eleven new artists this year. We’re hearing supersize equine sculptor Andy Scott could be joining the party this year. Pick up a print of the 2018 poster by Shawn Faust or an original piece for that lonely wall.

#7   IT’S PATRIOTIC.

There’s a rousing Tribute to Heroes on Memorial Day night at 6:30 p.m.  Cue the equestrian color guard at Valley Forge Military and and honor guard of local first responders.  All active and retired military, police, fire and EMTs and their families get free admission May 28, courtesy of, who else, Patriot Chevrolet Buick GMC. A new Devon sponsor, Patriot is also donating a two-year lease on a 2018 Buick Encore SUV to the Devon Derby raffle. Winner picks the color. Oh say can you see yourself behind the wheel of this beauty?

#6  IT’S WAY MORE FUN THAN THE MALL

Lots of fresh new shops join local faves like Polka Dots and Eastcote Lane this year. So get your shop on – for Father’s Day, graduation, wedding gifts and maybe take home a little sumpin’ sumpin’ for yo’self.

Want some swag but can’t swing a visit? Devon’s all-new online souvenir shop  is always open.

#5   IT’S FOR THE DOGS

Pooches on parade in costumes? Two paws up.

The Dog Show at the Horse Show on no-charge “Community Night” May 24 already has more than 100 entries. Can’t make it? Leashed furry friends are always welcome on the show grounds.

#4   IT’S A KIDDIE CARNIVAL

Who needs the Boardwalk (and the shore traffic) when we’ve got a Ferris wheel and amusement rides, duck pond, games of chance and fried Oreos in our own backyard.

Discounts on the Midway, food and souvenirs on Family Days, May 24 and May 29. Free guided back barn tours 3 p.m.  – 6 p.m. on May 29.

#3  IT’S A VISUAL FEAST (AND WE’RE NOT JUST TALKING HORSES).

Ladies Day morning offers the best people-watching in the burbs and, frankly, it’s not even close. Gawk as the hordes gather for the can-you-top-this hat contest and attendant festivities. Click here to Rosé All Day on Wednesday, May 30. (BTW, if you see us on the judging stand, please come by and say hi.)

Not competing? Not a problem. Wear a hat and you get in free.

#2   IT’S LOCAL.

Local riders during Junior (Memorial Day) Weekend, local shopkeepers and 2,000 local volunteers. All harnessed together, pulling for a local cause: Bryn Mawr Hospital.

#1  IT’S DEVON. IT’S WHAT MAKES THE MAIN LINE THE MAIN LINE. PERIOD.

With two hoofs planted in tradition, two hoofs trotting jauntily toward the future, our 11-day, historic horsefest rides for the 122^nd time May 24 – June 3. The showgrounds just get spiffier and the amenities nicer. And with exciting additions like Musical Kur, Arena Eventing and an influx of truly elite riders, the show, well, it just keeps getting better.

Devon Horse Show and Country Fair, 23 Dorset Ave. runs May 24 – June 3. See you there!

The post T/E probes policy after alleged gun threat & hate speech rattle middle school parents; Gotta go to Main & Vine & Devon Horse Show; #SaveStoneleigh, shore dunes and much more appeared first on SAVVY MAINLINE.

Devon Horse Show 2018 is history –  but whoa, Nelly.

There’s a move afoot that could change the look of “downtown” Devon almost as much as URBN’s fast-rising Devon Yard.

The horse show’s chairman and CEO wants to put a three-level parking garage between Devon Yard (the new Terrain/Anthropologie complex) and the show grounds.

Because, let’s face it, parking can be a pain at Devon.

The garage would start at the gas station on Lancaster Ave. at Devon Blvd. and extend in an L-shape halfway down Dorset Rd. across from the main gate, says Wayne Grafton, the show’s President and CEO.

It would be entirely on horse show property. Three stories are allowed under Easttown zoning code, and the decision to halt the garage halfway down the block was deliberate, Grafton tells SAVVY. “We want to be sensitive to neighbors.”

Good thinking. You may recall Berkley Road neighbors killed plans to put a three-level parking deck and multilevel apartment building in Devon Yard.

The garage would add well over 300 spaces – all cars, no horse trailers or heavy trucks.

It would also include “some storage” to replace the loss of the gray gas station, where the horse show’s been stashing stuff for years.

The parking garage would begin on this former gas station lot on Lancaster Ave.

“Spectators, competitors and municipal officers have all been saying we have a parking problem,” Grafton says.

He’s been quietly working on the garage solution for a year. Architects have drawn plans, which we saw in his office but weren’t allowed to photograph.

Next step: bring the proposal before the horse show board for a vote. Estimated cost: $13-$14 million. The money’s there, Grafton says, alluding to Devon Horse Show Foundation money “set aside” and other dollars pledged.

The look of the garage would be in keeping with Devon Yard, soon to open next door. “Devon Yard is setting a trend, a certain look,” he says.

The parking garage is just one check mark on the chairman’s list of action items.

Since he took the reins in 2015, Grafton’s been in full gallop.

Devon Horse Show Chairman and CEO Wayne Grafton (Photo by Brenda Carpenter)

The horse show had been happily trotting along but losing its competitive edge – falling from a #3 national ranking 15 years ago to #11 or #12 in 2014, according to Grafton.

It’s now back in the top 10, he says, thanks to a five-year, $5 million capital/philanthropic campaign, swelling cash prizes, the lure of “points” that count toward Olympic berths, and crowd pleasers like arena eventing.

Photo by Brenda Carpenter

Also helping the cause: amenities like the Devon Club, new party-style boxes, this year’s reborn “Groom’s Kitchen” eatery – a hit right out of the gate – and the somewhat controversial crackdown on freebies and late-nite rowdiness at Clydesdale’s Corner. (Yup, those were cops – current and retired – back there tending bar.)

Still, there’s a super-long wait for box seats, with Young Devonaires and Young Friends of Devon champing at the bit already. Grafton’s got answer for that, too: add new box seating by “eliminating obsolete E boxes” near the committee stand.

It’s all a rather delicate balance: regaining top-tier footing means tinkering with tradition.

And ’round here, tradition counts. (Anyone else wonder what onetime horse show chairman Hope Montgomery Scott would make of the electronic billboards now dotting the show grounds?)

But for now, for this chairman, the push is parking: getting his board’s blessing and the township’s OK, then dropping a pre-fab garage down on Dorset Ave.

“This won’t solve our parking problem but it’s one way to make a dent in it,” he says.

**SNACK ON SELECT LADIES DAY ‘EYE CANDY’ after our story on Woodlynde School below****

New Goldfish Swim School: dunkin’ munchkins in Malvern

Dang, where was Goldfish Swim School when we were guppies?

Opening today in the old Staples in Malvern, Goldfish takes all the old-school swim-lesson downers.

And drowns them.

So, sayonara to stinky chlorine, frosty water, immodest changing rooms, sopping suits and hair, and athlete’s foot-inducing floors.

Because Goldfish has a 21^st-century solution.

Lapping kiddie aquatics at YMCAs, swim and country clubs, and even swanky Life Time Athletic, Goldfish – a fast-growing national chain – specializes in just one thing: year-round swim lessons with a focus on fun.

And in a ‘tropical’ venue so chipper and well-conceived, your kids will forget it’s freakin’ February outside. You might too.

No pool sharing with adult water aerobics at Goldfish. Student-teacher ratios are no more than 4 to 1. Because the pool is just 4-feet deep, instructors tend to have education, not competitive swimming backgrounds and are trained in the Goldfish “SwimPlay” method.

Malvern owners Greg DeRise (with son Luca), Stacy Liberatore, Anthony Pistilli and Alexandra DeRise (far right). and GM Adam Flora (second from right). Inspired by Luca’s experience at a Goldfish Swim School in Wycoff, NJ, DeRise and Pistilli left jobs on Wall Street to buy the franchise rights for the Main Line and southwestern burbs.

A state-of-the-art water purification system uses salt water, banishing harsh chlorine smells. Pools are kept at 90-degrees. Pool deck air at 92-degrees.

No need to go home wet. Goldfish provides warm showers, swimsuit drying wringers and a hair-drying bar with blow-dryers. Personal changing rooms, too.

Plan on $89 for one child per month for weekly, half-hour lessons. Discounts for extra kids.

Malvern too far to swim? The area’s franchisees are already scouting sites in Bryn Mawr, Media and Downingtown.

Goldfish Swim School, 309 E. Lancaster Ave. Malvern, 484-325-551. Lessons for ages four months to 12 years. Family swims, birthday parties, free Grand Opening swim party Sat. June 16, 2 p.m. – 5 p.m.

Bowled over in Wayne

Beachy-keen times keep rollin’ in downtown Wayne. Playa Bowls just opened a seashell’s throw from Pipeline Tacos and Anchored on the Main Line.

Playa peddles healthy goodness by the lovin’ spoonful. Choose acai, pitaya (dragon fruit), green (kale), banana, oatmeal, chia pudding, coconut and poke bowls ($8 -$11), along with juices ($5 – $7) and smoothies ($7 – $8).

The base of each bowl is a smoothie. Flagship acai bowls blend “pure” anti-oxidant rich Amazonian superfruit with bananas, then tops it with whatever floats your inner tube: organic granola, honey, berries, pineapple, Nutella, chocolate protein, peanut butter, etc.

Vibe is rustic, surfside swell – not that you’ll be hanging ten here. Order at the counter or online. Then close your eyes and say Avalon.

Playa Bowls, 150 E. Lancaster Ave. Wayne, 203-374-3194, is open daily, 8 to 8, Fri. and Sat. 8 a.m. – 10 p.m. New locations in Stone Harbor and on Ocean City Boardwalk. 

Unsolved murder making news

Denise Barger was found slain in her home on Heatherwood Drive in Berwyn’s upscale Daylesford Estates June 17, 2016.

On June 17, it will have been two years since widow Denise Barger was brutally slain in her bedroom in Tredyffrin’s Daylesford Estates.

Her killer – likely someone she knew, police say –  is out there somewhere.

No arrests to report but that’s doesn’t mean the case isn’t getting LOTS of attention.

The Inquirer ran a story a few weeks ago, the Daily Mail in the UK picked it up, and a national Fox News reporter Andrew O’Reilly (a Devon native) has been poking around, too.

Meanwhile, despite the details alleged in these stories, the trail of hard, actionable evidence remains cold. (Trust us. We check with authorities regularly.)

Both the Tredyffrin detective and the Assistant DA assigned to the case keep Barger’s photo on their desks. Are they frustrated? You betcha. Law enforcement takes this case personally. No one wants an unsolved murder – particularly one so shocking and horrific – hanging around.

BTW, Barger’s isn’t the only unsolved homicide on Tredyffrin’s books. The killer of Wayne resident Michael Caulder back in 2007, also found slain in his bedroom, remains at large.

If you have ANY info that might help break the Barger case, please reach out to 215-546-TIPS.

There’s a huge reward ($100K). Better yet, you’ll give this woman’s heartsick family and friends closure. We gotta believe somebody knows something. If that someone is you, please do the right thing and call it in.

New Nam Phuong Bistro rides Ardmore’s ethnic wave

Darren Young inside his new Nam Phuong Bistro.

By Susan Greenspon

Did you know you could travel the world to eat and never leave Ardmore?

Just start at Ardmore Ave. and stroll east on Lancaster to savor flavors of Mexico, Hawaii, Italy, France, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Ireland and more – no passport needed.

Crave Mexican? Try the sopas, smothered with beans and topped with marinated steak at El Limon.

How about a Hawaiian poke bowl bursting with citrus salmon and edamame at PokeOno?

In a French frame of mind? There’s fragrant bouillabaisse at A la Maison, tender steak frites at the new Bercy and decadent desserts, crepes and baguette sandwiches like jambon fromage at Delice et Chocolat.

The Bercy and Delice et Chocolat bookend Ardmore’s new French Quarter. Can a Bastille Day bash be far behind?

There’s even a global approach at Local Wine and Kitchen where brews and spirits skip across the pond to France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Scotland and beyond.

Step into Marokko for authentic Moroccan dishes like kefta kebab with marinated beef and lamb over saffron rice – and a side of belly dancing on Saturday nights.

Leaning Asian? Snag a counter seat for the beef gyoza dumplings and veggie Yakisoba at Maido, a “marketplace of Japan.” Try Korean bibimbop in a sizzling stone bowl at Bam Bam Seoul Kitchen. Inhale the curries and coconut-infused Thai dishes at Siamese Princess and Mikado Thai Pepper. For sublime sushi, head down Rittenhouse Place to Jason’s Toridasu. And for something really different, try Taiwanese sweet bubble tea at Yi’s Boba.

“At least a half-dozen new restaurants have opened in the past six months,” says Christine Vilardo, retired exec. director of Ardmore Initiative. When she started back in 2000, Ardmore “was mostly pizza shops and Chinese food, with one Indian restaurant,” says Vilardo as she lunches on Vietnamese vermicelli with grilled shrimp at the new Nam Phuong Bistro on Cricket Avenue.

A view of Cricket Ave. with One Ardmore Place going up at left and the new Nam Phuong at right.

Today, Vilardo says, there are 50 restaurants around town. Nam Phuong owner Darren Young stops by Vilardo’s table to serve Vietnamese coffee – a bold drip sweetened with condensed milk and poured over ice. He chats about siting his sleek new spot across from “Ground Zero,” the massive One Ardmore Place project.

“When we arrived to look at the space, that was just a parking lot,” says Young, pointing at the now looming façade out his front window. He and his brother and co-owner, Jeff Young, were forewarned of the construction which would bring 110 luxury apartments, retail and a garage for 225 cars. Another 50 apartments are coming to a complex on the same block as their bistro.

What drew the brothers to make the leap to the burbs from their South Philly flagship?  The  “international restaurant scene here,” Young says.

He shakes his head when asked about the process of rehabbing and opening the space. “It took us over a year to get it ready.” Nam Phuong had to jump through extra architectural hoops because it’s in a historic district.

Despite Cricket Ave.’s parking crunch, the joint’s been jumping since its auspicious Friday the 13^th April opening. Train commuters phone Nam Phuong for takeout and locals walk over, Young says.

“People find the parking,” says Howard Lavin, a real estate broker who stopped in to Nam Phuong. He sold the building the Youngs occupy, as well as the one with Bam Bam Seoul Kitchen and the new Ripplewood Whiskey and Craft. “By next year” when construction is finished, “no one will remember there was a problem with parking,” Lavin adds.

Uh, if you say so. (Until then, check out this map.)

Lavin’s jazzed about Ardmore’s renaissance. He’s involved in more deals for more eateries, he says, but wouldn’t share specifics.

“Ardmore’s got great diversity now,” Lavin says of the food scene. “The town was sleeping, just waiting to wake up.”

T/E bullying victim spreads kindness campaign to community

The victim of hate speech at T/E Middle School, Nora Nissenbaum, 12, has struck a chord.

After our story about the school district’s response to the Nissenbaums, several friends of the boy’s family have asked us – and others – to “tell the other side.” (We herein renew our offer to speak to the boy’s family and share their story.)

In the meantime, Nora is expanding her kindness campaign. She plans to ask local businesses to post her “Bullying Stops Here; Commit to Kind” posters in their windows. At press time, A Go Fund Me campaign to pay for the posters, posted ten days ago, had raised more than double its goal.

Wayne Music Festival’s a free for all (literally)

‘WXPN Presents Wayne Music Festival’ rocks it to us again this Saturday, June 9.

Joan Osborne (“What if God Were One of Us”) headlines at 9 pm – followed by fireworks and after-party bands at North Wayne Ave. watering holes. But the party starts hours earlier. Transistor Rodeo and Matt Santry take the stage at 2 – actually, they’ll take two of the festival’s three stages.

Admission is free but do patronize Wayne restaurants and vendors. (And consider training or Ubering in.)

Music to our ears: this year’s fest is helping sick kids at CHOP. Seems festival organizer Kenny Kearns and Charlie Houder created a new nonprofit, the Music Is Love Foundation, which raises funds for pediatric care at CHOP through music events. (You may recall Kearns from our story about downtown Wayne’s hoppin’ new music venue, 118 North.)

And to think it started in little old Malvern…

President/co-founder Kristen Waterfeld celebrates the school’s 20th anniversary with students in Malvern June 1.

A golden apple to … The Malvern School, founded 20 years ago this month and now the largest, privately owned preschool provider in Greater Philly.

Malvern School made waves – introducing college-degreed educators and innovative programming to the childcare world. From two locations in Malvern and Frazer, the school’s exploded to 26 sites across Southeastern PA and Jersey.

Accents on Main leaving Wayne for points west

Stop in while the sales are hot at Accents On Main.

After two-and-a-half years next to the Gap, the women’s resale clothing store will fold into Berwyn’s popular Chic and Simple for Her shop at June’s end.

Until then, it’s 50 percent off store-wide in Wayne. “It’s been busy but there’s lots of good stuff left and jewelry boxes are being refilled all the time,” owner Diane Wulk tells SAVVY. Berwyn’s going bonkers, she said. On Tuesday alone, Wulk had 22 appointments with people looking to sell her their castoffs.

In another tweak, Wulk also folded Last Chance into the adjacent Chic and Simple Resale, her original home furnishings store. The store’s been a treasure trove for years: selling gently loved items from downsizing homeowners as well as furniture from model homes and factory closeouts in North Carolina.

A one-woman machine, Wulk has become a force in the resale world. She’s consulted with owners of new resale shops in Maryland, Pittsburgh and beyond.

This and That

Yet another reminder not to leave valuables visible in your car. Radnor Police report several car break-ins this week at Overbrook Golf Club, Skunk Hollow Park and Dittmar Park. And the Felony Lane Gang just hit up Bucks County.

Haven’t yet taken advantage of SAVVY’s half-price tix ($15!) to a Friday night comedy show in King of Prussia? What are you waiting for? Love that shows start at 8 – so it’s not a super late night. We also hear Joey Kola (this Friday’s show) is a hoot. Venue is The Vault inside Radisson Hotel at Valley Forge Convention Center. Order any show here. Use promo code SAVVY. See ya there!

CAN’T WAIT to eat, drink and be brainy with you June 19. Tickets are going fast for our SAVVY Gathering on “BRAIN FOG” at the Saturday Club in Wayne. Count on a little chat ‘n chew, then some smart talk. Our lineup of heavy hitters  – experts in neuroscience, holistic health, longevity, nutrition, even exercise – will each take a swing at brain fog, those confounding memory blips that make us think we’re losing it. Seating is limited and the price goes up June 12. So don’t you be dallying. Order here. (P.S. Yummy food by Aneu Catering & Simply Good Jars salads. Wine by us. P.P.S. Some guys are coming, too.)

Hope you’ll do us a solid and show our late-spring sponsors some love. We couldn’t bring you SAVVY without fine folks like: Great Valley Pet Hotel in Malvern, KingsHaven and Village Square Townhomes in Paoli, Devon Horse Show, The Camera Shop and Danley Townhomes in Bryn Mawr, HunterReed Fine Homes and Estates, Solutions4Health in Wayne, Campli Photography, St. David’s Episcopal Day School and Woodlynde School in Wayne, Friday Night Comedy in The Vault KOP, Mulholland-Perracchia Team at Berkshire Hathaway, Restore Cryosauna in Wayne and Haverford, newly expanded Day Spa by Zsuzsanna in Wayne, Realtor Sue McNamara, Hope Chest in Haverford, Your Organizing Consultants/Anna Sicalides, Friends’ Central Summer Programs, ThePureBag (for yoga), Austin Hepburn Installs Windows and Doors, Mission 5 & 2 Camps and Mojo Fitness in Wayne and Paoli. Want to join them in supporting relevant and real community news, contact kathy@savvyml.com or call 610-304-4996.

Gateway’s Solutions 4 Health retools as ‘integrative retail clinic’ (sponsored)

Owner Chris Conway at his store in Wayne’s Gateway Shopping Center.

Tucked next to Trader Joe’s, Solutions 4 Health seems a mere sliver of a store.

But good things come in slim packages, right?

In an age of sinking retail, Solutions is sailing along with the wind at its back. Because it’s rocking – no, capsizing –  the medical boat, one satisfied patron/patient at a time.

Owner Chris Conway has long sold healing in a jar: physician-formulated vitamins, oils, protein shakes and the like. (He’s been selling in the same spot for 24 years.)

But what he’s really peddling of late is personal service – the kind you can’t find online.

“I think this is the future,” he says. “I call it an integrative retail clinic. Business has never been better.”

Tell Conway what ails you – either in person or in an online-scheduled 15-minute “mini-consult.” (Text him anytime @ 610-291-8152.) Then he offers supplement advice – but only “if the data supports it.”

And not data from any old lab. Conway only trawls research from the big boys at, say, the National Institutes for Health.

He’ll even order lab tests for you – the same blood, nutrient and allergy tests that a functional medicine doc might charge you hundreds to order.

“The challenge in functional medicine is that it’s cost prohibitive for a lot of people,” Conway says. “I give you the identical testing [at your local LabCorp] at a more economical price.”

Of course, he knows his limits. If your issue has him stumped, he simply calls on his stable of integrative MDs –– among them pre-eminent integrative cardiac thoracic surgeon, Gerald LeMole (Dr. Oz’s father-in-law) and renowned functional medicine oncologiest Dwieght McKee and Paoli internist and integrative medicine specialist George Steele MD.

Indeed, Conway will be the first to tell you he’s no doctor. (He majored in finance at UNC-Wilmington, where he went on a soccer scholarship.)

But when your son is born a congenital heart defeect, hypoplastic left heart symdrome – a trauma like that, well, it changes you.

It makes you ravenous for information.

It makes you respect the doctors at CHOP who hold your boy’s life in their hands – even as you question them. Repeatedly.

And yes, it sets you a path, a calling to share what you’ve learned and to learn more.

For the record, Conway says he has a “very good relationship with CHOP and they’re supportive” of what he does, despite his history of, er, second-guessing. “I was always pushing them to think outside the box. Take this medicine; take that medicine. That’s not the world I live in.”

No over-the-counter pill pusher, Conway will tell you straight out that the cornerstones of health are diet and exercise. But supplements fill the gaps, he says. Heavens knows, our genes and our lifestyle choices aren’t perfect.

“You don’t wake up one day with cancer or Parkinson’s or MS or other chronic disease. It develops over a period of time,” he says. “They’re all preventable or addressable even if there’s a genetic predisposition. We might not cure it but we can improve quality of life immensely. That’s life altering.”

Younger generations don’t want all those meds they see their parents taking, he says. As a society – especially here on the well-educated Main Line, “we tend to be proactive. There’s a tremendous self-care shift going on,” Conway says.

His top-selling supplements? Thrive shakes (sold out when we visited), plant-based calcium, DIM (eliminates “bad estrogen”), inflammation-fighting turmeric (a no brainer), and CBD oil (a new but proven stress-fighter if formulated and dosed properly), he says.

And what should everyone take – if anything? According to Conway, a good multi-vitamin, a healthy-fat fish oil and a probiotic. Be sure you check your vitamin B12, Vitamin D and magnesium levels and supplement if needed. And if you have a specific health problem, make sure to understand why you have it and what you can do to stop its progress. “The proof’s in the plasma,”  he says.

Solutions 4 Health, Gateway Shopping Center (next to Trader Joe’s), Wayne, 610-293-8152.

Why Woodlynde works wonders for kids who learn differently (sponsored)

By Rebecca Adler

Choosing the right school can be daunting – especially on the Main Line, where there’s no shortage of first-rate public and private schools.

But if your child learns differently, look no further than the Woodlynde School, an independent, co-ed K-12 college prep school in Strafford.

For over 40 years, Woodlynde has been accepting children who, in their previous schools, were defined by their test scores. Instead, the focus is on potential – In a warm nurturing environment that gets results.

Point of pride: A 100 percent college acceptance rate, including Woodlynde’s Class of 2018.

For a group of students with learning differences, that’s a big deal.

While public schools and some independent schools may provide support services, Woodlynde’s ability to educate the whole child – academically, socially, emotionally – is in the school’s DNA.

The student body includes kids with language- and math-based learning differences (e.g. dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia), executive function disorder, ADD/ADHD, and auditory processing disorders – as well as kids who learn best in smaller settings with easy access to teachers.

Woodlynde’s distinct education model is completely personalized:

• Everyone gets an individual learning profile that’s shared among teachers, counselors, administrators and parents. It’s a dynamic document that grows with your child.
• Instruction throughout the school is multi-sensory: students see, say, hear, write and feel what they’re learning. Woodlynde is a nationally recognized Wilson [Reading System] Accredited Partner School.  Literacy is taught daily in grades K-5 and as needed after that.
• The Responsive Classrooms approach combines social skills with academics. (Think group problem solving and re-charging “brain breaks.”)
• Metacognition strategies helps kids hone in on their unique learning strengths as well as challenges, while affirming that they are indeed intelligent, talented individuals. Woodlynde helps level the playing field for college by teaching students to advocate for themselves.

“We come across so many kids who, as they get older, have no idea how to learn,” says Dorinda Shank, an assistant head of school, grades 9-12. “No one taught them how to organize a paper, study [for a test] or take notes. Many people … need to explicitly be taught how to do these things.”

Which is why Woodlynde accepts students at all ages and stages, even as late as senior year. “It’s never too early to come to Woodlynde,” says Lisa Ketcham, director of advancement. “But it’s also never too late … we will help you be successful.”

On the flip side, the school provides exit points for students who’ve met Woodlynde’s benchmarks for success and want to transition to another school.

Because you don’t leave your learning disability at the classroom door, teaching philosophies – and teachers! – are ingrained in extra-curriculars, too.

Woodlynde offers 17 varsity sports, wide-ranging school trips, and a plethora of after-school and weekend activities in which students are encouraged to try new things and take leadership roles that boost self-confidence.

Another huge Woodlynde plus: its concierge-style college guidance program.

Students write college essays in school, they work on applications during college guidance period (an actual class!) and meet with the director of college guidance as early as eighth grade to help students choose schools that match not just their criteria, but also their likelihood for success.

Woodlynde School’s Director of College Guidance Jason Hoffman works with a senior.

A few more reasons to love Woodlynde:

• A free before- and after-school program (grades K-6) for working parents includes snack, homework help, and plenty of play-time.
• A free after-school Homework Assistance Program (grades 6-12) all but eliminates kitchen table clashes. “Our son is empowered with the tools he needs to help himself when he gets stuck,” says one current parent. “We no longer need to supervise daily assignments.”
• Qualified seniors can take classes and prep for college life at Cabrini and Landmark College through Woodlynde’s free college dual enrollment program. Seniors take those college credits with them when they graduate.
• The College Assistance Program pairs graduating seniors with Woodlynde teachers who serve as mentors during the first year of college (and often beyond). “It shows how passionate the faculty is about what they do,” says Ketcham. “They want the kids to be successful at every stage, even beyond this school.”

Since the school’s founding, Woodlynde alumni have graduated from over 140 national and international colleges and universities and are leading successful careers in law, business, technology, education and more.

The Woodlynde School, 445 Upper Gulph Rd, Strafford, PA 19087. Pop in for a visit this summer. Open house Sunday, July 17 or call 610-293-6554 to schedule a personal tour.

Celebs and ‘pro-am’ hatmakers revel in ‘Rosé All Day’ at Ladies Day at Devon Horse Show

In the hat contest winner’s circle (from left): Lauren Carlson and Charlotte and Amy Holzapfel (Best Group); Best Hat to Toe contestant; Kathleen Kenneally (Best Hat and Purse); Best in Show Zoya Egan; Best Fascinator (all human hair) Jessica Palladino for Studio H; and “Rosiest.” (Photo by Brenda Carpenter)

6ABC weather guy and Devon neighbor Adam Joseph (and his son) have judged the hat contest for the last three years.

Emmy-winning actress and Philly native Kim Delaney takes her first turn as a hat judge with SAVVY Main Line’s Caroline O’Halloran. (Thanks for bringing a little Hollywood to Devon, Anne Hamilton.)

Milliner Tiffany Arey’s topper was bubbling over with creativity.

Unofficial artist in residence at Ladies Day, Dori Spector paints the festivities. Paoli retailer Deborah Van Cleve purchased this year’s finished canvas.

A few more head-turners. Milliner and contest judge Brenda Waites Bolling (above left) created a hat to perfectly match her floral dress. (Photos above and below by Brenda Carpenter)

The post Big ‘downtown’ Devon news; Splashy new swim school; More ethnic eats in Ardmore; Crime news; Solutions 4 Health, Devon hats, Woodlynde wonders and more appeared first on SAVVY MAINLINE.

Rendering of proposed Swedesford Plaza apartment building

Holy Lazarus! A long-stagnant stretch of Tredyffrin has a pulse.

The owner of Swedesford Plaza wants to bulldoze the old HH Gregg and build luxury apartments in its place – 250 of them.

After approaching umpteen stores, fitness chains, health systems and grocers for its two empty anchors, Echo Realty is throwing in the retail towel on one of them. In partnership with Bozzuto, Echo plans to build a four-story, 250-unit apartment building at the old HH Gregg site, a permitted use under zoning code.

Bozzuto/Echo Realty would bulldoze this 60,000 sq. ft. building and replace it with a 90,600 sq. ft. upscale apartment complex.

Putting the plan in perspective: Eastside Flats in Malvern has 190 apartments; Indigo 301 at King of Prussia Town Center, new and fully leased, has 360. Both were built by Bozzuto.

(Note to duffers: The building’s current tenant, Golf Galaxy, is moving to bigger space at the old Pathmark down the road. GG will take half of the old supermarket and Echo is in talks with two potential retailers for the other half.)

The initial sketch plan for Swedesford Plaza shows the proposed apartments at right, a new retail building off Contention Lane (in center in red) and the old Pathmark (at left) divided roughly in half.

Blueprints floated last week to Tredyffrin planners show one- and two-bedroom luxury units in a green-certified complex with interior courtyard and access (via easement) to the Chester Valley Trail behind it. It’s dripping in amenties: resort-style pool, bocci courts, fire pits, game room, business center, a bike repair and storage shop and more.

Target audience: yo-pros, millennials and active empty nesters.

Projected rents: $1,600 to $2,800 for 700 to 1,500 sq. ft. apartments.

Impact on T/E schools: 15 total in grades K – 12, plus two going to private schools, according to a demographer’s study commissioned by developers.

So, if they build it, will they come? Absolutely, says Echo/Bozzuto, pointing to market research that shows 91 percent of local workers commute into the area and existing housing not turning over fast enough.

While it’s not transit-oriented, Swedesford Plaza residents could walk for a beer at McKenzie Brew House, a manicure at Cuticle Corner or a haircut at SportClips. Or pedal to work or Wegmans on the trail.

The shopping center would get a minor facelift under the proposed plan. A new restaurant has been signed to replace Cosi.

Less tied to their cars, residents would also get discounts on Lyft, as Indigo folks do, said Bozzuto VP Pete Sikora.

The apartments would be built into the rear hill, Sikora said, so they’ll look just three stories tall from the rear. The back would be “heavily landscaped” and the “treeline maintained.”

Echo/Bozzuto’s requests for zoning variances for slightly more impervious surface and significantly less parking got the thumbs down from township planners Thursday night, which likely sends Echo/Bozzuto back to the drawing board. “We are looking at ways to adjust the plan to address the commission’s comments but haven’t figured it out just yet,” Sikora tells SAVVY.

Whatever they draw up, know this: big infill redevelopment projects like this take time. Plan on 15 months, give or take, to get through the township, then another 18 months to build.

In a financial pickle, Chesterbrook swim club sells tract to developer

There’s a land battle brewing in Chesterbrook and it’s shaping up to be a doozy. (Although it’s nowhere near the knockdown drag-out that ensued when the 865-acre community was first proposed in the 1970s).

This one’s a local skirmish but it pushes buttons relevant to 21^st century Main Line life: development, taxes, historic preservation, and swim clubs in this age of two working parents and, yes, Life Time Athletic.

It’s also, sadly, pitting neighbor against neighbor – with Chesterbrook Civic Association (CCA) on one side, the Picket Post Swim & Tennis Club board and membership (in effect) on the other, and some residents straddling the fence.

In a nutshell: Picket Post, for various reasons, has been taking on water for years. Losing members, the club has struggled to pay for maintenance and improvements.

Three summers ago, the club bit the bullet and closed its Chase Road pool (one of two it owns) and tried to sell the Chase complex –  just under 5 acres – to Tredyffrin Township for a dollar.

The current state of the drained Chase Rd. pools where the only creatures swimming these days are geese and ducks.

The township said thanks, but no thanks. It was already spending plenty to maintain its own properties, including the 90-acre Wilson Park across the road.

Also scaring officials: the cost of filling in the pool and renovating the property’s 130-year old barn, a Class 1 historic structure, which the club uses for storage. (Tredyffrin still has no ordinances protecting historic buildings – Class 1 or Class 101. Not kidding.)

Kids once played ping pong under the eaves of the historic Chase Rd. barn, which has since fallen into disrepair.

With a township deal off the table, the club was treading water, kept afloat by its paddle program, and, to a lesser extent, its swim team. Although smaller than it once was, its Chase Rd. tennis program has continued, there’s a new pickle ball court, and the club recently brought on a new tennis/paddle pro.

Still, bills continued to pile up and needed upgrades to its Bradford Rd. complex were kicked down the road. And even though Chase pool was closed, it was costing a bundle – reportedly some 100K annually in insurance, basic maintenance and taxes.

The club’s all-volunteer board voted to list the property for $1.5 million, eventually taking a $1.3 million offer from David Ludin of Green Bridge Development. “I’m the equity owner today. My deposit went hard in June,” Ludin tells SAVVY. (So no, it’s not a contingent-upon-approvals sale.)

A real estate developer, Ludin naturally has no plans to run a club.

He wants to shore up the 5,000 sq. ft. barn and turn it into four condos, an “adaptive re-use.” And so far, nobody’s squawking at that idea.

A rendering of proposed condos at the Chase Rd. barn.

No, what’s raising a ruckus are the six, six-packs of townhomes (36 total) he’s proposing for the pool and tennis areas – frankly, the part of the plan that makes his $500K+ outlay to save the barn worth his while.

The latest Green Bridge renderings show townhomes with barn-like design elements.

But there’s a rub. Ludin has to get a zoning change from RC (Rural Conservation) to R-4 (Residential).

Spooked by the 125 “Parkview” townhomes rising near Chesterbrook Shopping Center (Too tall! Too dense!), some neighbors have been crying foul. Approve Ludin’s inch and, just wait, he’ll take a yard. So will other developers, they say.

“Don’t lump me into Parkview,” counters Ludin, whose project, in fairness, is way smaller. He’s held two meetings with neighbors and says he heads to Chesterbrook every day to talk to neighbors. (Parkview, btw, was already zoned Town Center, which allowed mixed use.)

Rallying opposition to Ludin’s plan and flexing its political muscle is the Chesterbrook Civic Association, whose president, David Miller, has huddled with township officials and has sent a few detailed letters to residents.

CCA’s chief complaint revolves around open space and the old slippery slope. If this zoning change is approved, developers will rush into Chesterbrook and carve up the “beautiful planned community we moved into,” one letter reads.

But Ludin contends the Picket Post parcel hardly qualifies as open space as it’s already been developed into a parking lot, swimming pool, kiddie pool, clubhouse and tennis courts. “There’s actually more green space under my plan,” Ludin says, which he contends takes the tract from 54 percent impervious down the mid-40s. And stormwater management – a bugaboo for some Chase neighbors – gets “radically better” under his plan, he says.

BTW, Chesterbrook’s original developer, Fox, put in the Chase pool and tennis courts to attract buyers, then sold them to Picket Post.

Ludin also says the Chase property doesn’t even meet the township’s stated purpose for RC zoning: to preserves stream valleys, woodlands, and steep slopes in rural areas (Ord. 208-11).

An aerial view of the Chase Rd. complex and neighboring Chesterbrook “villages.”

But we digress.

Ludin says his sketch plan has evolved to reflect neighbors’ concerns. He “nestled” the 36-38 ft. townhomes so they look a few feet shorter (R-4 code would allow him to go 40 ft.). He tweaked the aesthetics so his townhomes blend better with the neighborhood. He added 7 street parking spaces.

Another rendering of Ludin’s proposed redevelopment.

As for the worry about burdening T/E Schools with kids, he uses Parkview’s track record to deduce that his new community will house 26 students. (Clearly, that’s just an educated guess; he hasn’t commissioned a formal demographic study.)

All units would have three bedrooms and interior two-car garages and would sell in the high $500K to mid $600K range. Because neighboring townhomes sell for less, Ludin claims his project will raise property values.

Chesterbrook Civic Association, though, is not buying any of it.

Miller’s letter says his group is “working with township supervisors and Picket Post on a solution that satisfies everyone.” It also urges residents to voice their opposition to township officials and suggests they help shore up Picket Post by becoming members.

This group means business. You may recall the CCA effectively squelched a T/E school district plan to put playing fields on RC-zoned woods behind Valley Forge Middle School back in 2002.

As a township, Tredyffrin is notoriously, er, thrifty, so it’s hard to envision it ponying up to save the barn and create and maintain a new pocket park in Chesterbrook, which, of course, is most neighbors’ dream solution. Private funds – with endlessly deep pockets – to the rescue?

Ludin goes before the township planning commission July 19 and hopes to be on the board of supervisors’ agenda in August.

Watch the fireworks fly.

A new ‘people’s house’ at the Willows in Radnor

Willows Mansion with later solarium addition (Photo by Carla Zambelli)

An anonymous donor put up $1 million. (Thank you, kind Sir/Madam.)

Radnor Township kicked in another $1.8.

And just like that, Willows Mansion is saved.

A band of do-gooders, Willows Park Preserve, just inked a wondrous 10-year plan to preserve, maintain and lease the Radnor park’s historic mansion. A 10,000 sq. ft. gem, it’s been collecting cobwebs since the township couldn’t afford to maintain it and closed it in 2012.

The plan, a private/public partnership, turns the circa-1910 country estate – site of many a Main Line wedding – into the “people’s house,” a place for families to hang, maybe play a parlor game, and take in the pastoral views.

To make the place self-sustaining, the property will host about 25 events a year: food and arts festivals, live shows, environmental programs and the like. It will also be rented for a limited number of private affairs.

Refurbishment – as planned by Wayne architect Warren Claytor, who’s cut his fee in half – will happen in stages and include:

• Turning the south wing into an indoor/outdoor porch retreat with rustic/cozy seating, table games and books, and a fully-retractable glass wall that opens to a landscaped patio.
• Renovating and improving the flow of first- and second-floor public areas with new French doors opening to park views.
• Replacing the solarium addition with a garden inspired by noted landscape architect Thomas Sears, who designed the original grounds.
• ­­­­Phase 2, assuming funds are there, will restore the fountain wall and the wishing well courtyard and patio and create a new 2,000 sq. ft. Pond View annex. The group is also applying for National Register designation, which should help with fundraising.

Own a home improvement business? WPP is asking local businesses for help with upgrades to moldings, light fixtures, bannister, cabinets, furniture and appliances. Donate enough – as an individual or company – and your name goes on a room.

The public is invited to help give the mansion some TLC this Saturday, June 30. Report at 9 a.m. sharp to 490 Darby-Paoli Rd., Villanova, to help clean beds, prune plants, sweep and power wash. BYOT (tools). Want to volunteer permanently? The expanding Willows Park Preserve is accepting nominations.  

Stoneleigh saga not over yet

Natural Lands supporters enjoy the June 8 Stardust at Stoneleigh fundraiser (above). Actor Leonard Haas (below), who grew up at Stoneleigh, got choked up as he spoke at Stardust about Natural Lands’ beautification of his boyhood home. (Photo by Patrick Gardner)

On the heels of its Stardust gala comes stellar news for Stoneleigh, the Main Line’s new public garden in Villanova. In what had to be record time, Harrisburg – yeah, those notorious slowpokes –  just passed a law that could block Lower Merion School District from seizing Stoneleigh for a new middle school.

Introduced by Reps. Kate Harper, Warren Kampf, Marcy Toepel and Sen. Bob Mensch with bi-partisan House co-sponsors, the law forces governments and school districts to get court approval before taking property under conservation easement, as Stoneleigh is. The district would have to prove in court that there are no “reasonable and prudent alternative” sites.

And earlier this month, another twinkle of hope: Lower Merion School Board voted to buy the nearby Islamic Foundation Center for $12 million for a new school.

Still, no one’s popping corks.

According to the township, all the stars have to be aligned for the Islamic center deal to go through, including:

• A location for playing fields – possibly at Stoneleigh – because there’s no space at the Center.
• Possible zoning issues.
• Township officials’ potential reclassification of the Islamic center as a protected Class 1 Historic Structure. “That would make demolishing the buildings very difficult and would mean the site would become impractical and cost-prohibitive for a new school,” said LMSD in a statement.

Meanwhile, Molly Morrison, president of Stoneleigh owner Natural Lands, calls the new law “an additional obstacle” for the school district but says the matter’s still not settled. Indeed LMSD has not yet taken Stoneleigh off the table.

Still, there’s been an unintended silver lining to the controversy, Natural Lands Media Relations Director Kirsten Werner tells SAVVY. There’s been an “outpouring of support for Stoneleigh and Natural Lands,” she says. “…thousands of people have discovered our organization and Stoneleigh who might never have visited. And the fact that legislators recognized the senselessness of conserved land being taken by eminent domain, and pushed through Act 45 with lightning speed, means this crisis has resulted in a win for ALL Pennsylvanians.”

Another reason to hit Handels for ice cream: the new Village Play Space next door.

Freddy and Sara Martino and son, Joseph, at their new Village Play Space.

A new romper room just opened in Berwyn.

Like your rich friend’s rec room or the poshest preschool classroom – but better –  Village Play Space is 900 sq. ft. of climb-on, please-touch fun.

Its centerpiece is a custom-crafted, kid-sized “village” with changeable shops. Around it are a puppet theater, homemade sensory jars, dress-up and musical instrument bins and a themed reading nook. If it sparks the imagination and tickles the senses, it’s here.

Joseph Martino climbs to the second floor of the “village.”

Playthings are rotated in and out, so things stay fresh for regulars.

Geared to babies through age 6 (with adults in tow), VPS is pay to play, by the day: $10 for the first child (age 1 and up), $5 for siblings and babies 6 mos. to 1; under 6 mos. free.

Floors are spill-proof foam and there’s a small café area for kid-watching and snacks, soft seating for breastfeeding, a changing table and small kitchen.

It’s all been lovingly created by young mom and former teacher Sara Buchanan Martino, who plans to be a hands-on owner, and her husband Freddy, who’s keeping his day job. Sara’s father, Buck Buchanan, owns Handels and is the couple’s landlord.

Family-friendly BYOB Happy Hours and evening “Play Soirées” for grownups are in the works.

Village Play Space, 4 Midland Ave., Berwyn, 610-644-0000, is open Mon. – Fri. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday birthday parties. 

Worth the schlep: East Goshen’s inspired new playground

Hey, parents and grandparents: a nifty new “destination playground” just opened slightly west of the Main Line in East Goshen Park.

Local kids even helped design it. The township asked 600 elementary school students to pick their favorite play features during recess.

Making the cut: a 75 ft. zipline (at top right of site plan), a Jurassic Park-inspired “dinosaur experience,” an Imagination Playground (155-piece giant erector set) …

… a parent/toddler swing, and a walking labyrinth, which calms sensory-overloaded kids including those with autism and ADHD. There’s even a Little Free Library boulder area where Malvern Library will host toddler storytime.

It’s the largest playground in Chester County. It’s in sync with the trend toward play spaces that focus on the free play in nature that today’s parents and grandparents enjoyed as kids. And it’s free.

The playground’s price tag was a hefty $800K, but because it’s considered a destination, state grants covered $475K.

East Goshen Playground is at 1655 Paoli Pike, West Chester, PA.

Resting on The Laurels

After 200 years interring people, West Laurel Hill is handling pets, too.

This week, the Bala Cynwyd cemetery officially opens The Laurels, a final resting place for pooches, on three landscaped, wooded acres with walking trail.

The cemetery offers various pet packages including Aquamation, a new, eco-friendly alternative to flame cremation.

Facelift and expansion for Wayne spa

A haven for all things beautifying, Day Spa by Zsuzsanna just had a gorgeous makeover of its own.

Zsuzsanna Beyer took over the first-floor former monogram shop, doubling her space and adding a “beautique” for wellness, gifts and skincare goodies and special rooms for blowouts and chilling before and after treatments.

Zsuzsanna’s new first-floor “beautique” (above) and relaxation room (below).

Designed by Chris Mullen Interiors and architect/builder Denise Lehmann, the whole place exudes a sleek, zen vibe with a tasteful dash of bling.

Kathy O’Keeffe, Barbara Bigford, Deanna Doane, designer Chris Mullen, Caroline O’Halloran and owner Zsuzsanna Beyer at the spa’s June 7 expansion party.

Giulianna The Brave draws a crowd

Photographer and campaign captain David Campli with Guiliana’s mom Christy and McKenzie Wyner, Giulianna “The Brave” Troiano and Kendall Foster at the June 21 Malvern Stroll.

An extra refreshing Malvern Stroll last Thursday, as folks flocked to the Alex’s Lemonade Stand in front of Campli Photography to meet young Giulianna the Brave and donate to her campaign.

Giulianna Troiano is in her fifth year of remission from Stage IV neuroblastoma. Scans in July will determine whether she can graduate to the survivors program at CHOP.

The campaign was organized by photographer David Campli who tells SAVVY the turnout was great and people have been generous. Click here to donate.

This and That

Headquartered in a cute-as-can-be shoebox in central Wayne since 2015, Christine Shirley Sewing & Design Studio is moving to bigger digs next door, just vacated by Hope Chest of Haverford. The switcheroo will give owner Paige Sullivan more sewing, camp, and boutique space, plus more room for rentals.

As usual, Sullivan’s not going it alone. She’ll be bringing along two roomies: Chrissy Piombino Bennet Custom Floral Design and therapist/counselor Dina Previti.

Artisanal apothecary and candle creator Zoet Bathletier (pron. Zoot) has a new flagship and showroom at 148 E. King Street in Malvern (below). It’s open to the public Thursdays through Saturdays, 10 to 5.

The new Zoet Bathletier HQ in Malvern Borough

Teen heartthrob Bobby Rydell, now a chipper 76, thrilled folks at Tredyffrin Public Library this month. The Philly-bred “Volare” and “Wild One” crooner signed copies of his tell-all bestseller, Bobby Rydell: Teen Idol on the Rocks – A Tale of Second Chances. A good sport, he also signed photos and memorabilia for fans.

Tredyffrin Public Library staffer Kathy Gallagher poses with her idol. A fan since 1960, Gallagher says Radnor police once ticketed her for speeding while she was lost in car karaoke to Rydell’s greatest hits. (Photo by Chris Swisher)

A SAVVY shoutout to Tredyffrin mom MaryBeth Heilmann, who bravely shared the heartrending story of her son Grady Finn’s heroin death on “Faces of the Main Line” on Radnor Studio TV. She asked as many people to share it as possible, so here goes:

Grady Finn was 19 when he passed in August of 2014. “People often ask me how I have survived so much,” Heilmann wrote recently on Facebook. “Faith, family and friends, along with prayer, meditation and trying to help others….”

Make plans now for Ardmore Restaurant Week. Actually, weeks: July 16 to 29. The Prix Fixe lunches ($15) and dinners ($25-$35) are so popular, the town runs them for two weeks. Click here to see who’s on list.

Right out of the gate, The Rip is roaring. The new Ripplewood Whiskey and Craft in Ardmore came out of nowhere to snag two of five prizes at the 2018 Philly Burger Brawl. The Rip’s Tongue and Cheek Taco (Braised veal tongue, beef cheek marmalade) took the ‘Taco Takedown’ and its Cutthroat Cocktail (Maker’s Mark, carrot, ginger and lemon juices with rosemary tincture) took the ‘Specialty’ category. The Brawl raises money for literacy initiatives in Philly’s public schools.

School’s out for summer and our thoughts drift to … books. Our kids (hopefully) will read lots of them. Kids in poverty-challenged areas, not so much. That’s why Clubs2Classrooms, a new charity founded by T/E mom Jenifer Thomson caught our eye. C2C harnesses the power of the Main Line’s many book clubs to a greater good: the transformative power of reading for kids in every zip code. Your club adopts a grade and supplies them with new or used children’s books. (Or you can hold a book drive.) Either way, Clubs2Classrooms will pick up and deliver. A+ idea, right?

Feel Main Line proud when you shop the sewing aisles at JOANN, Hobby Lobby and Walmart. We know one Villanova mom who does. Longtime owner of the Narberth-based Handwork Studio (and its many camps), Laura Kelly has partnered with Simplicity on four, beginner sewing patterns now in stores across the country.

Owner Laura Kelly assists a student at the Handwork Studio.

Don’t know a thimble from a bias cut? No problem. Handwork’s cute patterns (a stuffed animal, a handbag, etc.) require no sewing experience.

It’s won one or two “Best Girls Night” honors, but guess what? The Bryn Mawr wine studio, What Am I Drinking, has nights geared to guys. On the WAID summer calendar: “Discover: Scotch, Whisk(e)y, Bourbon” events July 7 and 13, a sparkling cocktail-making class on July 20, and beer appreciation class with the guys behind Delco Lager, 2SP Brewing Company, July 15. Sips and swigs always included. Reserve online.

SAVVY Street Teamer Aly McBride with owner Serena Zelezny at What Am I Drinking in Bryn Mawr.

What we learned about Brain Fog. (Hint: LOADS)

A huge thank you to everyone – SAVVY readers, guests, sponsors, exhibitors and speakers  –  for making last week’s Brain Fog “party” such a smash.

Clearly, the topic struck a chord. We sold out The Saturday Club a week in advance and, sadly, had to turn many away.

For those who couldn’t snag a seat (and for foggy friends who might like a refresher), here are a few key takeaways:

• Brain fog isn’t a medical term and it’s not dementia. It happens to all of us. When we’re distracted, we can’t retrieve memories.
• Learning happens at every age. “The more you learn, the more you learn.” The human brain seeks novelty so keep challenging it with new things throughout your lifetime. Repeating someone’s name really does help cement the memory. Brain Fog = Dementia of the Preoccupied.
• Recent studies show dancing may be the best antidote to brain fog – you’re challenging related processes (sound/rhythm and movement) at the same time. Endurance training has also been shown to be effective.
• Sleep helps consolidate memories. If you’re not getting enough, see a sleep specialist.
• Diet affects structural elements in the brain which could lead to brain disorders and dementia. Eat clean and organic. Cut sugar, add healthy fats and reduce oxidative stress by eating anti-inflammatory foods like turmeric. Supplement Vitamin D; you’re not getting enough.
• Lots of things masquerade as dementia: depression, vitamin deficiency, low blood sugar. Your genes, your diet, your education and activity levels can all prevent the progression of dementia.

Special thanks to our expert panel: Dr. Frances Jensen, MD, Chair of Neurology at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine; Dr. Seema Bonney, MD, who practices functional medicine in Wayne; and Meridith Coyle, holistic nutritionist – whose catering company ANEU (along with Simply Good Jars) kept our noggins nourished that night.

Click on SAVVY’s Events page for photos from the big night. Note to attendees: be sure to use that $25 gift card to Louella boutique before it expires.

Please send your feedback and/or suggestions for our next SAVVY Gathering to Nicole.dresnin@comcast.net or caroline@savvyml.com. We value your input!

Team SAVVY: (front) Lisa Kazanjian, Kara O’Halloran, Courtney Mullen, (back) Nicole Schaeffer, Caroline O’Halloran, Barbara Bigford, Kate Miller and Kathy Stevens. Not pictured: Aly McBride.

And finally, The best of both fitness worlds: The Sporting Club Main Line (sponsored)

TRX and X-Force training at the newly overhauled Sporting Club on Haverford Rd. in Bryn Mawr.

Trying on health clubs for size and finding them either too big and impersonal or too small and specialized?

Goldilocks, we’ve got your happy medium.

Because, well, have you seen the Sporting Club Main Line lately?

Freshly renovated, newly svelte and neither big box nor boutique, it may be just right.

Ahhhh.

Somehow, the club manages to be both full-service (jam-packed with offerings) and locally owned and intimate.

Owner is Tim Rubin, a Lower Merion grad whose family real estate firm owns the building. Rubin bought the business – then Main Line Health & Fitness – from Roger Schwab, the area’s original muscleman. (Schwab says he only sold his 40-year-old baby to the Rubins, longtime friends and clients, because he knew it would be in good hands.)

Three generations at Sporting Club Main Line: Tim Rubin (center), his son, George, and his father, George.

“When we took over three years ago, it looked like a Main Line office building with fitness equipment in it,” says Rubin. (By then, Schwab was focused on bringing X-Force – a revolutionary strength-training program from Sweden – to the Main Line and beyond.)

Rubin, who also owns the much larger Sporting Club at the Bellevue, rebranded as the Sporting Club Main Line. He brought in “new blood from the Bellevue,” added equipment, then began the club’s 18-month, piece-by-piece “right-sizing” total makeover.

The new SCafé serves healthy fare that helps members power through and recover from workouts.

Cutting-edge cool, the SCML now boasts:

• A full roster of yoga classes in a zen Mind-Body oasis on the third floor.
• State-of-the-art equipment, like X-Force (a SCML exclusive), Keiser bikes in the Spin Room, and MedX strength/rehab and bio-mechanical Hammer Strength machines.
• A smoothie/juice bar, healthy and gluten-free fare, and La Colombe coffee in the fresh new SCafé.
• Open every morning, SC Kid Care offers crafts and games in a bright and chipper playroom tucked away on the third floor.
• Top-flight instructors (some Bellevue imports) teach a range of classes in the redone group exercise studio – everything from kickboxing and dance fitness to cardio-barre and TRX.

• SCML’s state-of-the art Spin Room with a view.

Another huge SCML focus is personal training. “That goes back to Roger,” says Rubin. “He was all about having the best trainers.” There’s also nutritional counseling and massage, even on-site car detailing.

And the price is right.

Pay by the year ($850, $700 for each extra adult) or the month ($125) or drop-in anytime for $20. Special rates for students, too. And yes, your first visit is free – including X-Force.

Rubin never closed during renovations, admitting SCML lost a few clients but “they’re coming back. We’re local and we’re personal and we’re small,” he says. “People like that.”

Sporting Club Main Line, 931 Haverford Rd. Bryn Mawr, 610-527-2200, is open Mon. – Fri. 5 a.m. – 10 p.m., Sat. and Sun. 7 a.m. – 6 p.m.

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