Whether or not you were able to explore Philadelphia’s vibrant independent bookstore scene during the Philly Bookstore Crawl in August, you may not know about Fitler Square’s own local spots. We’ve sat down with the owners of the three nearest shops to hear and share their stories.

Read more

Good morning,

A little something for supporting Fitler Focus: paid subscribers get 25% off their first Bathhouse Day Pass purchase.

The discount is available to anyone who has never purchased a Bathhouse Day Pass before, at the Philadelphia location or elsewhere.

Click HERE to use.

Enjoy the steam. Survive the cold plunge. And thank you for supporting
Fitle…

Read more

Bathhouse, the New York wellness company built around communal sweating and cold water, opened its first Philadelphia location on September 25 inside The Bellevue.

The main experience occupies roughly 31,000 square feet across multiple levels. A planned 7,000-square-foot outdoor terrace will eventually bring the full project to about 38,000 square feet.

I…

Read more

Back in January, we reported that the Center City Residents’ Association had ended its privately funded sidewalk cleaning program, leaving dozens of residential blocks in Center City West without the supplemental cleanup they had received for over a decade.

At the time, CCRA said it planned to shift its attention toward resident education, enforcement and closer coordination with city sanitation agencies.

Eight months later, the group thinks it has identified one of the biggest contributors to the litter left behind.

Recycling day.

For much of the year, a small group of CCRA volunteers has been studying sidewalk litter across Center City West, including parts of Fitler Square and Rittenhouse.

They held a public town hall, met with city agencies, walked some of the neighborhood’s most littered blocks and tracked where problems were repeatedly showing up.

Ruth Ranaudo, a CCRA board member who is on the neighborhood association’s trash committee, said one pattern became difficult to ignore.

“When it’s a windy day, those items fly all over the sidewalks,” Ranaudo said.

The problem, she says, is often less about the recycling itself than what it is sitting in.

Paper grocery bags and other flimsy containers can tear, collapse in rain or tip over before collection.

Once cans, cardboard and other loose recyclables scatter down the block, they may no longer be part of what gets picked up.

After months spent observing the problem, Ranaudo estimates that proper containerization could reduce sidewalk litter significantly.

Philadelphia’s rules already require recycling to be placed in an appropriate container, and residents do not need a specific city-issued bin.

Any suitable rigid container can work. City recycling bins are also available through pickup locations.

CCRA has spent much of the year trying to get that message out.

The association mailed information to property owners on blocks where it had identified recurring litter problems and distributed roughly 150 flyers across Center City West.

It has also worked with the Department of Sanitation and other city partners on education and enforcement.

Property managers have also been part of the effort.

That is particularly important in buildings where tenants may change frequently and new residents may simply not know Philadelphia’s trash and recycling rules.

The goal, Ranaudo said, is not to turn the neighborhood’s trash problem into another round of finger-pointing.

“We want to work with everybody because everybody is a part of the solution,” she said.

She also noted CCRA’s relationships with sanitation officials have helped bring additional attention to problem areas in the neighborhood.

For residents, the immediate ask is pretty straightforward.

Use a rigid container.

Secure your trash before putting it outside.

Know the collection rules.

And if a recurring sanitation problem keeps appearing on your block, report it through 311 so there is a record of it.

That does not solve every part of Philadelphia’s litter problem.

Collection, enforcement, property management and street cleaning are all part of a much larger system.

But after months spent studying what is actually ending up on Center City West sidewalks, CCRA’s argument is narrower.

There is one part residents can change immediately.

Use a bin.

^{The Fitler Focus is a reader-supported publication.
To receive new posts and support our work,
consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.}

Subscribe now

The Fitler Focus is a reader-supported publication.
To receive new posts and support our work,
consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Subscribe now

If you’ve been wondering why Monday recycling in parts of Fitler Square keeps hanging around until Tuesday, the city has an answer: crews are behind.

Philadelphia’s Recycling Office told Fitler Focus that collection delays have been happening across the city after a summer of major events, wildfire-related air quality issues, repeated heat waves and staffing shortages.

“It seems we have been playing catchup for a while now,” a representative from the Recycling Office said.

Read more

Paid subscriptions are coming back to Fitler Focus.

The newsletter itself is planned to always remain free. We want anyone to be able to read the stories we publish, whether they pay or not. That part is important to us.

What we do want is the chance to make Fitler Focus more ambitious.

More stories. More posts. More video, illustration, creative …

Read more

Before a burger leaves the kitchen at Grace Tavern, its English muffin is fork-split.

It would be faster and cleaner to use a knife. But the uneven surface created by the fork leaves behind the muffin’s familiar nooks and craggy edges, small pockets where the burger’s juices and house-made aioli can collect.

The detail is intentional. So is the E…

Read more

When Wanamaker Lewis takes the stage in Fitler Square on Friday, Aug. 7, he will be returning to a part of Philadelphia he once called home. Lewis spent a stretch at 22nd and Pine, only a few blocks from the park. He will arrive with decades of Philadelphia music behind him and the self-taught curiosity that has carried him from bluegrass banjo…

Read more

It was a Sunday morning in Fitler Square. We skipped over to the Schuylkill River Park and Odunde festival to see if there was any World Cup excitement. In this small pocket of Philadelphia we noticed the different backgrounds, personalities and people we came across in a short period of time.

Read more

Turns out, you agreed. We published nearly 100 articles, grew to over 1,700 subscribers, and focused on stories that took time to get right.

Today, I’m putting it on hiatus. Competing priorities have made it increasingly difficult to sustain …

Read more

Humans of Fitler Square is our take on the long-running Humans of New York project: brief, verbatim portraits of local residents, offering a glimpse into the people and stories behind the rowhouse doors.

Read more

In today’s issue:

1. How Tariffs Nearly Derailed a Fitler Square E-Bike Startup

2. A Night Un…

Read more

Humans of Fitler Square is our take on the long-running Humans of New York project: brief, verbatim portraits of local residents, offering a glimpse into the people and stories behind the rowhouse doors.

Read more

The retail space at 1611 Walnut Street has become something of a proving ground for direct-to-consumer b…

Read more

Nearly three years after neighborhood opposition derailed her planned café on Lombard Street, Jezabel Careaga is coming back to Fitler Square.

This time, she says, the business is different. The process was different. And the expectations, on all sides, may be different too.

“I’m …

Read more

Last October, Mad Cat Brewtique buzzed with Swiftie energy. The new Fitler Square shop, which opened in May 2025, joined other local businesses in celebrating the release of Taylor Swift’s 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl. What set Mad Cat apart was intention. Co-founders Traci Fairey and her daughter Cassidy were not chasing a gimmi…

Read more

When Nathaniel Margolies arrived in Philadelphia in the summer of 2020, the city was shuttered by COVID-19 and shaken by unrest. “Every storefront was boarded up,” he recalled. “I thought, oh my God, I made a huge mistake.”

Six years later, he leads one of Center City’s most…

Read more

After a massive sinkhole shuttered a stretch of the Schuylkill Riv…

Read more

On winter weekends, the Girl Scouts outside South Square Market have become a Fitler Square constant: the same folding table, the same bright stacks, and, increasingly, the same faces. Troop 93942 has so…

Read more