Lining up for $1 treats!
The stretch of commerce along Baltimore Avenue between 50th and 43rd streets in West Philly offers a fantastic variety of restaurants, stores, and services. At least, that is the conclusion I came to after checking out the Baltimore Avenue Dollar Stroll on a recent date. Tonight (July 8th) and again on August 12th, from 5:30 until 8:30 pm, participating merchants will be showcasing their wares and enticing passerby with special, one-night-only offerings for $1. Starting off with $1 pizza slices at Dock Street Brewing Co. and ending with $1 ice cream cones at Milk & Honey (with $1 theater tickets and cat toys in between), we had a great time: discovered some new places to put on the we-should-come-back-here-sometime list, picked up some free books (that we probably should have just put down), and ended the evening by watching the fireflies light up nearby Clark Park.
How cheap we talkin’: With 15 vendors at last count, you could spend up to the budget on $1 coffee, cookies, sandwiches, beer, records, clothes, etc. We spent about $8 each, and still ended the night full and happy.
Why this will impress your date: Because of the confidence with which you can pick up the tab and say, ”I got this.”
Score extra points: By coming up with a game to play to pass the time while waiting in line. Rock, paper, scissors is a good one. Or I-spy.
The inside game: If there is something you know you want to try, go there first. In some places supplies were limited.
Next date: The 2010 season is over. Hopefully they will reprise this event in 2011!
As early as 5:00, the crowds started to thicken along Baltimore Avenue. With events like this, lines are inevitable, and if you want things to run smoothly it’s important to have a strategy. Of course, this goes for the vendors too; our first stop, Dock Street Brewing Co. at 701 S.50th street was clearly lacking in line management strategy. After milling about for awhile in what appeared to be a takeaway line (er, mob), we grabbed a table instead, hoping that sit-down slices would still be $1. They were! The place was clearly overwhelmed with demand, and we waited a good while for our order, but the pizza came out hot and fresh and it was worth the wait.
After we devoured our pizza, we headed south on Baltimore, browsing $1 items set out flea-market style on card tables set up on the
sidewalk. The lines for $1 tofu skewers at the quaint Vientiane Café and for $1 pastries at The Gold Standard Café proved longer than our patience, but we walked right up to the table set out by the Curio Theatre Company for what I thought was the best deal on the street – $1 tickets to preview performances of any show in their forthcoming season. Our attention was next captured by the array of free books outside of the A-Space, a collectively run anarchist community center and art gallery at 4722 Baltimore Avenue. Apparently, A Space has free stuff outside everyday, but it was still fun to paw through their selection and compare finds.
We saw people enjoying $1 cans of beer outside the Ethiopian restaurant Queen of Sheba, but decided instead to try the tiny vegetarian eatery and juice bar down the block at 4505 Baltimore Avenue, Atiya Ola’s Spirit First Foods. We were not disappointed. Their $1 raw food sampler was light, crunchy, and very flavorful.
Delicious raw food from from Atiya Ola's
Finally, feeling full but wanting to end the night with something sweet, we headed over to Milk & Honey Market at 4435 Baltimore Avenue. There was a wait, but unlike Dock Street, these guys appeared to have crowd management down to a fine art. The line weaved quickly through the market and around to the counter, where two diligent scoopers presented us with a choice of vanilla, chocolate, or coffee – cup or cone. We took our cones across the street to the part of Clark Park affectionately known as “the bowl” and watched people, dogs, and lightning bugs for awhile. Then the sun went down and the mosquitos showed up and we knew it was time to go home.
Let's hear it for ice cream!
