CLOSE UP Video Interviews CLOSE UP Video Interviews - Person on the street or elsewhere spontaneous video interviews

Master violin repairer and designer Harold Golden shows off exquisite work

Harold Golden came to his calling as violin maker and repairer by first building a kit guitar as a teenager. He then discovered he had a talent for fixing friends’…

April 29, 2026

BUILDINGS CHESTNUT HILL CONSTRUCTION

Condos block historic church’s sunlight

Faced with condo developments rising high and very close the senior pastor of the 200 year-old Chestnut Hill Baptist Church turns to inviting in the new neighbors and welcoming contributions from the developers for very necessary repairs.

February 17, 2026

BUILDINGS BUSINESS CHESTNUT HILL

We tour run-down train stations before makeovers

Developer Ken Weinstein hosted open houses of five dilapidated train stations along the SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) regional Chestnut Hill rail lines in Philadelphia. Through his company, Philly Office Retail, he has undertaken to renovate them. “Bring your ideas. All are welcome!” a flyer announces. The buildings once housed ticket offices but are now vacant and have fallen into substantial disrepair.

February 11, 2026

ART HISTORY

He makes beautiful art, eggshell mosaics and..

Manayunk artist Tom Sonnenberg makes beautiful eggshell mosaics. He believes he's among a small number of people in the United States who practice the art. The technique, he says, originated…

January 26, 2026

16 day-old piglets suckle at mother pig at Pennsylvania Farm Show

ANIMALS EVENTS FOOD + DRINK

Hungry piglets suck at sow

10 baby pigs at a sow while she lies on her side. An 11th pokes around in a basin of mushy creep feed. The pigs are in an open display,…

January 18, 2026

Wyck House descendant with traditional family New Year Cake mold

EVENTS FOOD + DRINK HISTORY

50 years on, Wyck heir gives New Year cake 2nd try

Sam Rhoads tastes a special cookie-like “Cake”, again, after a fifty year hiatus. Here he is at the Historic Wyck House and Garden annual new year tea. Rhoads, treasurer of…

January 16, 2026

Resident Donna Di Giacomo talks about the electric transformer that crashed down just outside her house.

ENVIRONMENT NATURE PUBLIC SAFETY

Storm causes electric transformer to crash down

A large electric transformer crashed down on the unit block of West Walnut Lane June 29th, 2025 during a thunderstorm. The storm was marked by the sudden onset of very…

July 16, 2025

BUILDINGS THEATER

Lantern Theater gets ready to renovate Mt Airy church sanctuary

The Lantern Theater Company gets ready to renovate its new location in Mt. Airy. The Lantern, a well-known professional theater troupe based at St Stephen’s Church in downtown Philadelphia, is…

May 14, 2025

BUILDINGS INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

We work away in the lovely Czech Republic

Your correspondent and his spouse spent about 2-1/2 weeks in the Czech Republic mostly doing a longer and a shorter “workaways” (work for room and board). And obligatory sightseeing!

July 18, 2024

ART INTERNET JOURNALISM

Graffiti Art takes the stage on alternative Prague tour

An “alternative Prague” tour, had us taking buses and trains and walking lots to learn about graffiti art, ethical hackers, communist era dissident politics through neighborhoods like Holosevice and visits to artist spaces and hip hangouts.

July 18, 2024