Meet Our South Philly Heroes (Part 2)

/ unexpectedphila

In our last two posts, we told you about our uplifting new holiday windows, featuring 27 South Philadelphia Essential Workers (click here to read more about the project). We also introduced you to a dozen of our glowing subjects (meet them here).

The new view from our corner at East Passyunk Avenue and Tasker Street in South Philly, with windows lit from 4:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. daily through January 10.

Today,  we’ll introduce you to the remaining 15 local heroes lighting up East Passyunk Avenue’s popular “Singing Fountain” plaza.

MEET OUR LOCAL HEROES (PART 2)

Some you undoubtedly know from local restaurants and shops….

Heather was our longtime favorite server at Cantina Los Caballitos, while Jesus can be found delivering takeout orders from P’unk Burger.

Others are in the public service sector….

Still making house calls is Philadelphia Gas Works’ repairman Fnu. (And, yes, like all our conscientious subjects, Fnu donned his mask as soon as we snapped his socially distanced photo.)

Read on to meet them all….

GROCERY  &  RETAIL  SHOPS

Dean is the popular manager of Acme’s wine and beer department. He’s also a martial arts aficionado who is working towards his online organizational leadership and management degree from Southern New Hampshire University.
Scott is a 13-year Acme employee and South Philadelphia native who can most often be found helping customers in the self-service lanes.
Tom is the third-generation owner of Bertolino’s Pharmacy. He started running deliveries there when he was only 8 or 9 years old, and has been the store pharmacist since 1987.
Heather is the owner of two Halo Hair salons who sacrificed profits (and delayed the grand opening of her new Old City shop) for our safety during the long spring COVID-19 lockdown. She is a bike rider, dog owner, and punk rock bass player.
Eric is a CVS supervisor and has been a welcoming presence there for 17 years. You may also recognize this East Passyunk area native from his waiter gig at Broad Street’s Ristorante Pesto.

RESTAURANTS

Shane is a Bing Bing server (and former Black ‘n Brew counter man) with a goal of making customers’ lives as normal as possible in these scary COVID-19 days. He enjoys kicking back with his family and pup in his spare time.
Nate is a Noord restaurant sous chef and Dallas native with a saucy alter ego as the drag queen Hyde Eclair.
David is the Tamalex restaurant owner who partnered with his brother-in-law Alejandro to donate 165 free food packs to Latino families in the early days of the COVID-19 shutdown. He then joined forces with several other South Philadelphia businesses to give away hundreds more food bags.
Heather is a longtime popular server at Cantina Los Caballitos who recently transitioned to her dream jobs of costuming and theater work. She performs drag as Grampy Knockers.
Jesus is the always reliable P’unk Burger bicycle delivery person. A native Californian, his hobbies including bike riding (surprise!) and music.

PUBLIC SERVICES

Steve is a 27-year U.S. Postal Service letter carrier, working against tough odds this year to deliver mail along with our full 19147 and 19148 post office staffs. (And yes, Jason, we’re looking at you, too….!)
Paul has racked up 30 years as an always-dependable Philadelphia Inquirer delivery man. He enjoys cooking and life in South Philly “with so many things to offer”.
Fnu is a cheerful Philadelphia Gas Works in-home repairman whose COVID-19 pastimes include biking around the Navy Yard.

WHICH  BRINGS  US  TO…..

Of course, there’s one more vital link in our neighborhood’s Essential Worker chain and that’s, well…the rest of us.

Nissa & Devin are our newest East Passyunk neighbors, who always keep their masks on to protect us and all these Essential Workers. Nissa is a social worker who loves puppeteering, reading sci-fi and speculative fiction, and biking the city. Devin loves computer programming, making music, playing with synthesizers, and watching cartoons.

AND, YES, THERE’S MORE….

Needless to say, our holiday windows barely scratch the surface of the thousands of selfless Philadelphians who have put themselves on the line for us this year in both medical and non-medical roles….

….or the many beloved service and restaurant people who continue to lose their livelihoods due to the pandemic.

We owe them all a debt of gratitude and honor this season.

Happy (safe) holidays!

Kate & Dave

One thought on “Meet Our South Philly Heroes (Part 2)”

  1. Dear Kate and Dave, These photos and write ups are so touching..thanks for doing this and it is strengthening your community so much, especially in these trying times.

    When this craziness ends we look forward to checking out some of those Mexican restaurants with you.

    Carol and Elliot

    Sent from my iPhone

    >

    Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.