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Bruce Benjamin is a realtor who has lived in many spots around Philadelphia: Oak Lane, Old City, Chestnut Hill, near the Art Museum and in Rittenhouse Square. Nine years ago he moved into East Passyunk, where he now lives with his rescue dog Daisy.
“It’s one of the great neighborhoods of Philadelphia that we have many of,” he said. “But one that I found fit best for me: proximity to Center City, access to interesting shopping and restaurants, public transportation, access to 95, diversity. I like it very much.”
He liked it so much he became president of the East Passyunk Crossing Civic Association.
“I’m a realtor and I believe realtors should be kind of super citizens, so I volunteered for an event to help them out with a thing they did and ended up getting just more involved,” he said. “It’s a great volunteer organization. We’re the registered community organization, so we handle zoning matters. We do monthly cleanups, community happy hours, and coffees.”
East Passyunk offers “tons of entertainment” and great restaurants.
In terms of recreation, there are a lot of parks close by including Columbus Square Park just a few blocks away. On the 13th Street side of that is Theater Exile, “a wonderful local theater company,” Benjamin said.
“We have the East Passyunk Community Center” at 1025 Mifflin St. “[It] has a new playground and lots of community events there. There’s athletic stuff for the kids. Also they cater to seniors as well. They offer after school (activities), the Girl Scouts is there. All sorts of activities,” he said.
The civic association promotes events including a semi-annual sidewalk sale, where neighbors come together to sell second-hand “treasures” at the same time. Each April and November, the organization hosts tree planting events to help beautify the neighborhood. In January (usually the first Saturday), it hosts its annual tree-cycling event at Columbus Square Park. For a suggested donation, trees are recycled into mulch instead of adding to landfills.
East Passyunk also has the Singing Fountain at S 11th St & E Passyunk Ave., a mermaid-topped landmark that plays music — hence the name. Opened to the public in 2004, it’s located on a small square with seating and hosts events. (Spoiler alert: the music is taped.)
“I like that basically every corner is a business,” said Katie Hansford, executive director of the East Passyunk Avenue Business Improvement District who lives in the neighborhood. “There’s always something new popping up, and it’s a pretty affordable place to live.”
“The walkability is kind of unparalleled, especially at this scale. Obviously Center City is incredibly walkable, but it’s also very busy,” she said. “East Passyunk is still busy, but not in a way that’s overwhelming. There’s always something new around the corner, and I think there’s a really nice diversity of businesses and people and communities all within such a small area.”
“We have the classic Italian-American restaurants and businesses that have been around for so long. There’s a strong history of a Lebanese population in South Philly, which is really interesting and still present here. And then we have some newer populations of Spanish-speaking folks and Southeast Asian folks, and it’s just really, everybody kind of lives next to each other and mixes really,”
“Passyunk” generally refers to Passyunk Square, a vibrant community bounded by Broad Street to the west, 6th Street to the east, Washington Avenue to the north, and Tasker Street to the south.
The diagonal road of East Passyunk Avenue likely began as a trail used by the region’s original inhabitants, the Lenape tribe, who cared for the land for thousands of years before European settlers arrived.
“Passyunk” comes from the Native American word pachsegink (or pahsayunk). In the dialect of the Lenape people who originally inhabited the region, it translates to “in the valley” or “place between the hills,” in reference to the low-lying terrain between the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. Long before European settlers arrived, the diagonal route now known as East Passyunk Avenue served as a major trade path for the Lenape.
As Europeans settled here, the road linked the city with a trading post, villages, ferries and farms along the Schuylkill River. Several immigrant groups, including those with Swedish, Irish, Eastern Europe and Italian heritage established communities and commerce along East Passyunk. As the area developed, the avenue became the main corridor and resource for daily life.
Where to eat
Locals like Benjamin recommend places like Sao at 1710 E Passyunk Ave., a Cambodian / Southeast Asian Crudo and Oyster Bar.
Le Virtu at 1927 E Passyunk offers cuisine of Italy’s Abruzzo region that showcases pasta & salumi, plus warm-weather garden seating.
Barcelona Wine Bar at 1709 E Passyunk Ave features a tapas-style Spanish menu with a large Spanish wine selection.
Cartesian Brewing at 1324 E Passyunk Ave is a local-origin brewery specializing in European-style pub ales, seasonal lagers, and various IPAs. Their rotating tap list frequently features traditional cask ales, dark milds, pilsners, Maibocks, and traditional European dark lagers.
Popular pizza parlors include CJ & D’s Trenton Tomato Pies, a tiny pizza pop-up located inside Cartesian Brewing at 1326 E Passyunk Ave and Pizzata Pizzeria at 1700 E. Passyunk Avenue which features New York-style sourdough pizza and boasts two International Pizza Challenge Division winners. The pie there was very good. It’s also worth a stop at Milk Jawn Scoop Shop at 1439 E. Passyunk Ave for their key lime pie ice cream – with bits of crust.
On a recent Sunday, several neighborhood businesses presented the “Pride of Passyunk,” a street festival featuring live music, street performers, and sidewalk offerings of food and drink. Thousands lined the blocked off street to sample the wares and see what’s available along Passyunk Avenue and adjacent streets.
Alexi Fanelli, owner of the Spellbound Studio hair salon, (1728 East Passyunk Ave.), which was one of the festival presenters.
She worked at another local salon from 2008-2016 and left the area, but said she “missed it,” especially the people. When she left the area she said the population was dwindling, but since returning in 2024, she said she and other businesses and residents are helping to bring people back to the neighborhood.
