Half the field has already been eliminated in the Curbed Cup, our annual award to the Philadelphia neighborhood of the year. This week we'll have one matchup per day—with the polls left open for 24 hours—and by Friday only four contenders will be left vying for the prestigious fake trophy. Let the eliminations continue!
Today it's more of the highly controversial South Philly neighborhood of East Passyunk, but this time Passyunk Square is the contender. PSquare crushed Kensington in the first round—which may say something trenchant about the digital divide, but that's another story. Let's look at some of what's happening in the neighborhood there, which is Tasker to Washington, Sixth to Broad. Green Eggs Cafe on Dickinson is applying for outdoor seating; the South Philly Bar & Grill was voted Best Sports Bar for 2012; Termini Brothers just held its annual Gingerbread Person contest; and, perhaps most crushingly, Carman's Country Kitchen shuts its doors.
Contender No. 2? Graduate Hospital, G-Ho, South of South—again, a confusingly named Philadelphia neighborhood—bounded by South Street and Washington Avenue, from Broad Street to the Schuylkill River. GradHo beat out Fishtown in Round 1, and there's no question the nabe has had a good year, with so much new home construction, it's hard to keep track. There's also a massive Toll Bros. development in progress which will likely make the area more competitive for buyers and renters alike. The report "Center City Housing: The Rebound Continues" showed that housing prices in Graduate Hospital have zoomed up this year, more so than other neighborhoods in the city.
· Curbed Cup Archives [CPHI]