Havertownies HQ was in the house at the Haverford Middle School concert on Wednesday, December 6th 2017 at 7:00pm at the Haverford High School auditorium. Our district's music program is pretty kick-ass, and the concert was yet another demonstration of it. You don't have to know much about music to appreciate the performance, shown below in music director's Alex Gittelman's video (that's Mr. Gittelman conducting). You just have to know what it's like to herd cats, and imagine those cats wielding fireworks. This is what it is like getting a bunch of 11-, 12-, 13- and 14-year-olds to play complicated band and orchestral pieces together. We were really impressed. This video doesn't do the full sound justice, but it still sounds good and you can get an idea of all the work everyone put in. Congrats, players and directors, and frankly, sincere congrats to the teachers and administrators who create and handle a-thousand-moving-parts schedules of said cats every week, month and year. Good job and great show! Thank you, all. … [Read more...]
2 Htown police press releases, 1 story
Havertownies HQ's middle-schooler asked us last week why there was increased police presence in H-Town. After we fainted from shock at said middle-schooler's (usually-nonexistent) observation skills, we offered up the run down of the knife-point hold-ups on Eagle Road. Today, the police released information about apprehending the knife-wielding suspects. Here are both press releases (link to pdf page. Safe to view). Press Release-Armed Robberies (Eagle Road) Press Release-Armed Robberies (suspects apprehended) … [Read more...]
Election Day Nov 7 2017
Committee of Seventy has all voting information. Check it out. … [Read more...]
L’Angolo-West Review
In November 2016, the Inky’s famed restaurant reviewer Craig LaBan named L’Angolo in South Philadelphia as one of his favorite Italian BYOBs. We, the mom and pop proprietors here at TownieHQ, had yet to try out it’s H-Town sister, L’Angolo-West. LaBan said the South Philly restaurant was a “gem … for garlicky artichokes, grilled seafood, and braised duck pappardelle.” We were excited to try our local versions. Friday night, June 22, we headed over to celebrate our 20th year of marriage. The problem, which if one is truly Italian isn’t a problem at all, was that we couldn’t get a reservation until 9pm. 9pm is the early crowd in Italy. We’ve been to Italy. The only people dining out before 9pm are the Americans. No worries. The weather was holding, so we walked over to Crossbar to have a beer while we waited. We said hello to people we knew sitting under the umbrellas at Crossbar. We went in and found seats at the counter. On our right, we met a nice young man in fatigues, tattoos and a jarhead haircut who recommended Jai Alai beer (can). He said it was a popular beer akin to Sierra Nevada that he serves a lot in his bartending job. (The conversation went by quickly so we didn’t catch the establishment where he works.) On our left was a young couple who are expecting their first child in September. They are moving to Htown from Roxborough, mostly for the schools and the easier commutes. Sounds just like us, but back in 2000. We welcomed them and told them to look for community groups on Facebook to join. 9 pm rolled around. We walked up to Eagle past the Oakmont Pub. L’Angolo’s was hopping, with most of the outdoor seating occupied. We opted to sit inside. We were greeted warmly by Loraine, the hostess, at her tiny stand right by the door. The entrance to L’Angelo-West is a double doorway with a ramp in between the doors. The entrance seems like it could be redesigned to add for more waiting area. We were the last stragglers of the evening though; Loraine … [Read more...]
Let’s get Swoop & the Eagles Cheerleaders to a Fords Football Game!
"Game of the Week" is an event covered by the Philadelphia Eagles media department (which gets local news coverage). If you have a twitter account, please vote for the Fords game scheduled for October 14th at home. Here's what you do: Go to the current GAME OF THE WEEK. Click on the middle option "@mntigers vs @fords_football". Click through to tweet it out. The most tweets wins! You can tweet it as many times as you like. Right now, we're waaaay behind so we need some help. Voting ends at 11:59 on October 9th. The Fords are 4 and 2. They are having a great season and this team, the band, the cheerleaders, the boosters, the fans, the coaches and everyone involved in HHS sports deserves some recognition! (And heck, you can always delete your tweets after October 10th). If you know any Tigers football advocates, ask them to tweet too. Tweets don't have to be regional, so get the cousins involved, too (we know you have a ton!). Send them the link. Let's do this for our kids and our awesome athletics at HHS! … [Read more...]
Gallery Mall downtown looks like a post-apocalypse scene
Here's a pic from Hidden City Philadelphia's Instagram account: This pic made us wonder about the good old Granite Run Mall, demolished last year. It turns out that "Abandoned Malls" is a thing. We'd heard about "urban exploring" or "decay" seekers wandering around the old Swell Bubblegum Factory in the space now occupied by the YMCA. Apparently "Abandoned Malls" is a popular pastime with these type of folks. A YouTube guy named Dan Bell did visit and tape the Granite Run Mall before it closed, when only a handful of stores were still open. Meanwhile King of Prussia has a brand new wing. The new section's shiny bright newness makes the rest of the mall look like total crap, but hey, that mall is KICKING. Thank god. And Springfield is hanging in there too despite being the bridesmaid for Mall Rats 2. … [Read more...]
Veterans Park, Broomall
The scene tonight at Veterans, when we were on another Pokémon Walk … [Read more...]
HHS student to host free, huge Quidditch tourney at Haverford College Oct. 8th, 2016
By now you may have heard that Chestnut Hill puts on a big Harry Potter Festival. This year's festivities will be held the weekend of October 21-22nd. HavertowniesHQ attended the festival in its fledgling early years. This will be the first year they shut down the street to auto traffic. The event is also getting some widespread press. We suspect it will be quite big. But guess what? We're going to have our own Harry Potter coolness right here in the Township! AND with lots of parking. Haverford High School Senior Jack McGovern started his own 501c3 non profit Quidditch league and there will be a free admission, open-to-the-public day-long college Quidditch tournament at Haverford College on Saturday October 8th! (Haverford Township Day is the weekend before, October 1, 2016). Here's a bonus: If any of your university-bound Harry Potter fans are interested in any of the institutions participating (Rutgers, Villanova, Virginia), this tourney could be a good time to talk to some of that college's students. Think about it - fun atmosphere, honest feedback. But what a fun event for the little ones, too! Free to go, easy to park (see the parking directions to the South Lot here). There will be some snacks available but bring your own food and drink if you want something more substantial. This is will be a great way to connect with the fandom and see a once-fictional, very exciting sport in real life. And it was all arranged by one of our own. Here's a note from Jack McGovern on how he got into this whole thing: "Real-life quidditch, which was adapted from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books in 2005, is a co-ed, contact sport that incorporates elements of rugby, basketball and dodge ball. The 8 teams at the tournament will be some of the best college quidditch teams in the country including Villanova, Rutgers, North Carolina and Virginia. I went to my first quidditch tournament as a sixth grade student at Haverford Middle … [Read more...]
School year starts for us after labor day
Seems like lots of parents from other parts of the Commonwealth and beyond are posting back-to-school pics. Not Townies! The Haverford School District begins after Labor Day. According to this 2013 article, our district is one of 57 out of about 500 in PA that begins after the holiday. We all seem to be OK with this. For now, anyway... because the Atlantic Ocean is still cold in the early part of June and an overwhelming amount of us seem to head down the shore for one last hurrah over the Labor Day weekend. It's like when the kids in the Poconos have off the first day of hunting season: may as well give 'em the day because they won't show up to school anyway. We here at HavertowniesHQ think the logic is the same. We like our late summer days down da shore! Plus, we need the extra days to get everything on the supply list. What do you say? Would you want the school year to start earlier? … [Read more...]
Someone painted a swastika on an H-Town mom’s garbage can. Here’s how our community is responding.
H-Town resident Esther Cohen-Eskin woke up early in the morning of August 19, 2016, to see a swastika spray-painted on her garbage can. Esther and her family are Jewish. She took to Facebook to share her dismay: "I walked outside this morning to take out the trash, and on my can someone spray painted a swastika. We have lived here for almost 20 years. I have happily raised my kids and celebrated the openness and safety of this town. I am so saddened by this occurrence..." Esther was distraught. But then a neighbor brought up her spirits with a little spark of wisdom that lit up the creative fire in Esther. As she explains on Facebook: "...I was mad, scared and angry, and then our fellow neighbor and one of my dearest friends said, 'nothing conquers hate more than love.' So I am asking you, in this neighborhood, (and beyond if you want to share), paint something positive on your trashcan! We can, in our little way, turn this symbol of hate into something beautiful. A flower, a peace sign, an animal, a doodle... anything your imagination can come up with." An artist by trade, Esther quickly put her talents to good use. She broke out her paints and set out to obliterate the hate. Here's the before/after Esther shared, a few hours later: Esther's post is being shared amongst Townies and beyond. Today, some photos of "improved trash" cans have come in, to Esther's page and the Havertownies Facebook page. Click on the pic for a slide show of 20+ cans so far: So, Townies, what do you say? Break out your own spray paint and tape, stickers, streamers, whatever you like. Let's show 'em what we do with trash. :) Send your pics to admin -at- havertownies -dot-- com or see us on Facebook. We'll add them to the slide show! … [Read more...]
Hidden Place, H-Town
We don't really have an Adventure Tourism guide for Haverford Township. We have found some remote, quirky places tucked away in off-the-beaten track trails and roads, though. Do you recognize this? No? It's part of the CREC trails. The plaque commemorates an old railroad that went through that spot. It's a bit grown over at the moment, but that adds to the adventure part of it! P.S. If you want some help finding this spot, there's a hike this Saturday! HIKE: Saturday, August 20 – Reserve North / Under the Blue Route Hike 9 – 11 am Meet in the first parking lot on the right after you enter the Reserve from Darby Road (~1000 Parkview Drive for GPS/Maps). Hike all north and west trails from the PECO trail to the Blue Route trail. Moderate difficulty 3 mile hike with a few short but steep climbs. Stream views, mostly shaded. Passing under one of the busiest Interstates (I476) into a quiet wetland preserve, traverse an old rail right of way with great views, and then return using the Backwoods and Athertyn trails. Good walking shoes, long pants/sleeves or repellent suggested. … [Read more...]
Irish brothers would fit in well here
The Donovan brothers won a silver medal in rowing at Rio's 2016 Summer Olympics. Lots of things to say about that, in a *very* thick accent. It may take you non-Irishy Townies twice through to understand these lads, but it's worth it. Hilarious interview! Nothing like the Irish humor, is there? Go over to the Irish channel RTE on Facebook to suss out what these two told all the folks back home who apparently are "mad" for rowing now. … [Read more...]