West Philly’s University City District just proudly announced the installation of 71 new street lights along Baltimore Avenue from 45th to 50th Streets: A stretch of the Avenue that has, in recent years, been a focal point for community revitalization in that part of town. Throwing a little light on the subject is always a good idea, and we can’t help but wonder if those new lights played a part or not in when and how The Gold Standard Cafe fell prey to a fairly vicious attack of vandalism last week. According to the Gold Standard’s proprietors,

Last Wednesday upon arriving for another busy morning, we at the Gold Standard Cafe were greeted by a senseless act of misinformed vandalism to our recently opened storefront at 4800 Baltimore Avenue. The focus of the act was rebellion against the presumed gentrification in the Cedar Park area as represented by our establishment. What the vandals who committed this crime probably do not realize is that we, the owners and operators of The Gold Standard Café, have lived in West Philadelphia for over 40 years. For almost 30 of those years, we’ve run an independently owned and operated restaurant. We are proud of the fact that our customers have consistently been among the most diverse set of people exhibited in any restaurant/café/bar in this city.

Fortunately, the email goes on to say, the owners of the Gold Standard have been thoroughly wowed by the outpouring of support they’ve seen from their immediate community. But unfortunately, the whole incident — not to mention things like the installation of the lights — is charged with an uneasiness about just what West Philly is doing to itself these days; or, in some cases, what is being done to West Philly. But in a way, that uneasiness is a good thing: It shows that, ridiculous acts of vandalism notwithstanding, people have thought about where they live, in a meaningful way, and how they want it to be. Contrast that with, say, Fishtown, where change and newcomers are greeted with full-on class war immersion and, well, this is really a lot better. So it’ll take some paint and elbow grease and long talks. In the long run, West Philly will be better for it. We think. Ask us again in five years.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 11th, 2009 at 11:45 am.