Manayunk

[Andrew Fenton]

In another thread, MysticMilt asked what to me seems like a very good question:

Katie, in your opinion why is it that Manayunk is becoming a graveyard? I mean, I agree with you, what with the closing of KC Prime still fresh on the brain, but I can't figure out what the problem is over there. It's a cute area, it's teeming with people who can appreciate a good meal ... you'd think that quality restaurants wouldn't have a problem staying open.

Which got me thinking: I never go to Manayunk. Probably haven't been in like two or three years. My favorite thing to do over there was to go to the farmers market, and that's closed. And this may be a misperception on my part, but it seems like a hassle to get over there, especially without a car. And if you do have a car, parking is a pain.

But it is a cute area, and you'd think that there would be room for some good restaurants. But I can't think of one that I've heard of.

So... Manayunk: What am I missing? Why is it a graveyard? (Too hard to spell?) Discuss.

[Furious Flav-or]

I always found most of it too pretentious.

The only two places that I've been to in the neighborhood are Manayunk Brewing and The Bayou Bar.

I guess I can shoulder my own bit of responsibility for its failure. Or, we can just admit that everything has a cycle, 'hoods included.

[menton1]

Sorry, please disregard...

Edited August 31, 2004 by menton1 (log)

[xtian]

Andrew-

I feel much the same way you do, however on my first visit in a few years on a recent Saturday night I found the place to be as hopping as ever. People are in fact still going there in droves, especially on a nice night.

Why? I think the answer lie more in the high fashion shopping and variety of gift galleries... Take a look around and 7 out of 10 women will be toting their Prada bags with their hair perfectly coiffed. People are here to spend their $$, which is not as easy to do on a Saturday evening anywhere in Center City. Point being-- Its not about the food.

I would point out however, that the reason for MY trip there was the fact that it is really a convenient meeting spot for those in the outlying suburbs, as it is easily accessible from the Main Line, Upper Montco, City Line Avenue, etc.

Having lived in Manayunk a few years back, it is really a dissapointment to see some the food gems dissapear, such as the Farmers Market, and very few quality restaurants to remain. (On a recent query, both Grasshopper and An Indian Affair were reccommended, as well as Jake's.)

I personally put my hopes on the fact that East Falls will soon emerge as a Manayunk for "real" people with taste buds. Also interesting to note, that a grant was recently issued to Roxborough to research viable development options for Ridge Avenue, making a special note that the effort is not one aimed at replicating Main Street's atmosphere.

My two cents...

[KatieLoeb]

I think it's a little bit of what Furious Flavor suggests, that Manayunk is just on a downswing in being the "trendy" place to be. With the entire new galaxy of Starr restaurants to visit downtown there just aren't enough days in the week to get all the way to Manyunk anymore. And the locals in Manayunk aren't supporting the local businesses in the same way that I can count on the upper middle class and upper class Rittenhouse Square denizens to keep my restaurant in business. Manayunk is still fundamentally a blue collar neighborhood. Trendy (read: pricey) restaurants and clubs have to rely on potential customers to travel to their location. That's great when you ARE the trendy place to be, but when the novelty wears off, you're doomed.

It's also a little bit of the vicious cycle that's created when the customers start to drop off, there's no big demand for high standards anymore, the restaurants start not to care, or begin to understaff and cut corners to make up for the loss in revenue and then everything is of a lower caliber so the remaining visitors see no reason to come back. It's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Plus it ALWAYS has sucked to park there. That really doesn't help.

[stephenc]

Manayunk had a long-standing moratorium on new restaurants that was just lifted last year.

[gabe]

My wife and I really liked hanging out on a lazy weekend day at La Colombe on Main Street when we lived in the burbs, and I've always liked Sonoma. But we moved to Bella Vista and ditched the car... now there's no real reason or easy way to get to Manayunk.

[menton1]

There used to be a good Vietnamese/Fusion place over there, the name excapes me. Heard that that place had great food. Anybody know if it'still there? Le Bus is nice for breakfast, lunch, or....bread!

As far as parking, I love the residents that block off their personal spots with red traffic cones... Try to move them, and you risk your life, and your car. Surely illegal for them to do that, but there's no enforcement...

[mrbigjas]

i don't understand all this about how it's hard to get there without a car--it's totally easy, you just take the train to the manayunk station and walk three blocks and you're at main and green. or you get on the 38 or the 27 or the 9 bus from center city* and they drop you off where ridge and main split.

i don't go to manayunk because there's not much there for me that i can't find its equivalent in town. there's a good guitar repair guy out there, but i don't need guitar repair done that often.

restaurant-wise there was just nothing that ever attracted me to it, in part because derek davis owned all those places out there. i had dealt with him for one summer about 15 years ago when i was slinging coffee in the warwick hotel and he was chef at the restaurant there, and i decided he was a huge asshole and i would never patronize his restaurants. that was an easy boycott to maintain for all these years, since i never go out there anyway.

*edit: or the 61, 124 or 125

Edited August 31, 2004 by mrbigjas (log)

[Holly Moore]

As far as parking, I love the residents that block off their personal spots with red traffic cones... Try to move them, and you risk your life, and your car. Surely illegal for them to do that, but there's no enforcement...

That's all over Philadelphia. Some guy who lives real, real close to me has been know to do it on occasion.

[menton1]

Further research leads me to Grasshopper, on Main Street. It's not Vietnamese, but Chinese/French fusion. Heard a lot of good things about it, and it's been open for a long, long time. Anybody have a first-hand report on the place? Worth the trip?

P.S. Holly-- so it's really REALLY close to you, those traffic cones? (Some people use folding chairs... ) Someone from Channel 6 should do an undercover report, seeing what happens if somebody moves those chairs!!

[KatieLoeb]

Further research leads me to Grasshopper, on Main Street. It's not Vietnamese, but Chinese/French fusion. Heard a lot of good things about it, and it's been open for a long, long time. Anybody have a first-hand report on the place? Worth the trip?

P.S. Holly-- so it's really REALLY close to you, those traffic cones? (Some people use folding chairs... ) Someone from Channel 6 should do an undercover report, seeing what happens if somebody moves those chairs!!

Grasshopper is quite good. Although I've not been in a while, the few meals I've had there have always been outstanding.

Of course if you're fond of that type of fusion cuisine there's Nan (French-Thai) in West Philly and Le Me Toujours (French-Viet) in Marlton NJ. Both are BYO and excellent.

[Kim WB]

my two cents:Manayunk stores are becoming less funky, more main stream-can-be- found-in -the-mall type stores...I used to enjoy spending the day shopping ( esp. for home accessories, great serving pieces, crafted pottery) and then dinner..now the shops are a dime a dozen, and there isn't a destination restaurant in my opinion. Struggling with parking was worth it for a day and evening kinda trip..not worth it for dinner only.

[MysticMilt]

Andrew, thanks for splitting this off into its own topic. I'm really enjoying reading everyone's theories.

I, for one, hope that all of this is just part of a community's natural ebb and flow, and that Manayunk will rise again. Yes, the parking sucks, and yes, there has been an increase in the number of so-called mall stores, but I remain ever hopeful. As long as places like Pacific Rim and Le Bus can stay in business, there's hope.

What I hope doesn't happen is that Manayunk suffers the same fate as King Street in Charleston, SC. When I was in college there ten years ago King Street was a marvelous and picturesque strip of cool little boutiques and funky eateries. I went back there early this past spring for a wedding, and man, what a change. Most of the unique stores have been replaced by generic crap lik Restoration Hardware, Abercrombie & Fitch, Victoria's Secret, The Gap, .... on and on. It was heartbreaking to see such a formerly charming street subjected to the mass homogenization that is plaguing suburbia.

Anyway, I desperately hope that Manayunk is able to weather this down period without becoming just another glorified outdoor mall.

[mrbigjas]

I went back there early this past spring for a wedding, and man, what a change. Most of the unique stores have been replaced by generic crap lik Restoration Hardware, Abercrombie & Fitch, Victoria's Secret, The Gap, .... on and on.

welcome to south street

[KatieLoeb]

I went back there early this past spring for a wedding, and man, what a change. Most of the unique stores have been replaced by generic crap lik Restoration Hardware, Abercrombie & Fitch, Victoria's Secret, The Gap, .... on and on.

welcome to south street

Exactly.

A what's really a shame is that with the galleries and boutiques, Manayunk was seeming like "South Street for Grown Ups" for a while. But now it's just another sea of Starbucks and Restoration Hardware. :shrug:

[stephenc]

C'mon. South Street gets a bad rap. but it's really not that bad.

Just off the top of my head, I can only list about 5 or 6 McBusinesses on South Street.

Gap, Starbucks, Mickey D's, Tower Records, ummm, can anyone name any more?

[herbacidal]

A what's really a shame is that with the galleries and boutiques, Manayunk was seeming like "South Street for Grown Ups" for a while. But now it's just another sea of Starbucks and Restoration Hardware. :shrug:

Yea, when I first stopped by there in the mid 90s or so, I did think of Manayunk as South St. for 30 year olds.

Gap, Starbucks, Mickey D's, Tower Records, ummm, can anyone name any more?

KFC-Taco Bell combo, Haggen Daas, Blockbuster, Rita's, Bain's Deli

[Furious Flav-or]

I don't think that McBusinesses are the entire issue.

There's nothing fun about South St. when it's to the gills with "plasticpeople."

It reminds me of an unseen conversation behind my back years ago at an "El Torito" up in North Jersey.

"Oh, God, I don't know, I've been here so many times, I don't know. I guess I'll have the New York Strip, medium, with a baked potato and a side salad."

Who eats even chain Mexican and orders Ponderosa food?

[mrbigjas]

Gap, Starbucks, Mickey D's, Tower Records, ummm, can anyone name any more?

KFC-Taco Bell combo, Haggen Daas, Blockbuster, Rita's, Bain's Deli

johnny rocket's, dairy queen, soon-to-be abercrombie & fitch, pietro's (well, it IS), etc.

south street is still a viable place, to me. there are still enough small places to balance out the chains... for now. and people go to south street to see and be seen and to shop, not as a dining destination. manayunk is in a similar position. and that's why all its restaurants are going away, if you ask me.

[Andrew Fenton]

and people go to south street to see and be seen and to shop, not as a dining destination.

Let's see: Azafran, NEXT, Beau Monde, Dark Horse... Django, for crying out loud.

Just sayin', is all.

[mrbigjas]

you got me there--and you forgot overtures. but have you been down there on a friday night recently? the vast majority of people down there are there to chill. in fact, those of us who are going down there to eat have to fight our way through crowds of people posturing and posing for each other on the sidewalk. those people are the major crowd of south street, not me.

but either way, we're supposed to be talking about manayunk. sorry for the diversion.

[menton1]

I don't agree with the analogy to South Street... No tattoo parlors and body-piercing salons in Manayunk (yet) And South Street has Zero decent restaurants (save Django on a side street) while Manayunk still has a few...

Manayunk still has a bit of a Bohemian feel to it, while South Street looks like a teeming mass of graffiti....

[Andrew Fenton]

I don't agree with the analogy to South Street... No tattoo parlors and body-piercing salons in Manayunk (yet)  And South Street has Zero decent restaurants (save Django on a side street) while Manayunk still has a few...

I'm surprised to hear you say that. I can (and in fact, just have) listed several South St. restaurants that are decent or better than decent. There are others: Overtures, as Jas pointed out, is really good, and there are other, less fine-dining spots that are good too (such as South St. Souvlaki).

Whereas Manayunk: okay, Grasshopper has been mentioned, and Le Bus (a chain, of course; not that that's a bad thing). What else?

I'll grant you that South St. has an awfully skanky vibe, especially on weekend nights. But there's also a lot to do there, both restaurant-wise and otherwise. I can't make an equivalent list (of restaurants or anything else) for Manayunk.

[stephenc]

KFC-Taco Bell combo, Haggen Daas, Blockbuster, Rita's, Bain's Deli

Sure on Blockbuster, KFC, maybe Haagen Daz.

But I wouldn't exactly consider small regional chains such as Rita's and Bains Deli, McBusinesses.

In fact, I would consider Ritas a very welcome local addition to the street. In almost the same way that the smaller chain French Connection is a welcome "boutique" style clothing store, as opposed to the mass-market Gap or Abercrombie.