Red Sky and Amici both closed, the expansion of Society Hill Hotel scrapped. Gigi and Jager's sold. Rumors that Cebu, Spice, and Patou are next. Does anyone have any other news ?

It really doesn't. Jeager's, Patou, Red Sky and Gigi have all been on the market for a very long time. Old city is being hurt by the fact that less people from Philadelphia want to hang out there, there are hundreds of competitors in a few short blocks, and there is little business down there during the day. This is a perfect storm that would doom any poorly planned food/drink establishment. Although it is not uncommon to do 70% of your sales on Thurs-Sat. that is the norm in old city. A couple of bad weekends and it could screw up your year. The number of new places that have opened in Rittenhouse and Fairmount and Midtown and South Philly, and along Bainbridge have contributed to the temporary slow down in old city. I have been looking for a restaurant for a while now and trust me it is common knowledge that Old city is not where you want to be. Old city will survive however, thanks to Jerseyites and tourists.....

Just found this

http://philadelphia.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/s tories/2008/06/09/story1.html?b=1212984000^1645691

As far as I know, the Society Hill Hotel expansion wasn't scrapped because of economic woes--it had more to do with getting approvals.

I'd never seen Amici busy since I moved to the neighborhood about four years ago. It's a real shame, because their pizzas were fantastic. And Patou is another one that never seems busy. I've only been for food once; had the Patou Steak Sandwich for brunch, which I highly recommend. Hopefully Patou will stick around...

Red Sky was loud as hell. I don't think many folks in the neighborhood will miss them much.

If I understand correctly the owners of Red Sky are behind the recently opened Pearl near 19th & Chestnut.

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I don't think its the economy as much as OC seems to be in transition. I see it as a good thing in a lot of ways. I've lived here for 3 years now and just see this as editing...it used to be almost anything could come in and stay. I've definitely noticed that only established places and more intrguing concepts are making it now...you cant just open your doors, do a mediocre job, and expect to rake it in. I think its good in the long run.

The fabric of the neighborhood is definitely changing. This is good or bad depending on who you ask. I think its definitely becoming more stable-lots more condos vs. apts, etc. Some of the more interesting shops are getting pushed out by boutiques and home stores that are actually succeeding-this is a different type of gentrification.

I think we'll start to see the neighborhood fill in and clean up over the next few years, and with that a lot of transition from a party n'hood to a more established one. Basic services-drugstore, groceries, etc-will fill in as the stable density increases. I'm already noticing a ton more families w kids moving in.

I think the restaurant scene is reflecting this...there has been a lot of push by residents to reign in the club scene-lots of "restaurants" are more like clubs that serve food in addition to attracting a crowd that leaves residents less than thrilled. So as OC becomes less "cool" as a hangout spot for certain crowds (good, imho), its becoming more of a n'hood place. Weekends are still crazy, but I dont mind losing our street cred with the jersey crowd if they find somewhere else to go.

I'm finally seeing 2nd between market and chestnut start to clean up-some of the shells are finally being renovated-and I think we may be on the cusp where the land is more of a cash cow than the club that occupies it.

I got a bit off topic; I think the adjustment in "restaurants" is healthy overall-the strong survive.

It appears my last post was blocked by the moderators, so I'll give you the PC version of what I tried to post earlier.

Old City crashed and burned because the area at night time is no longer pleasant (Is that PC enough, moderators?). The demographic that is present after 10:00 is not the crowd that is patronizing art galleries, upscale restaurants and bars. This newer demographic tends to be extremely disrespectful toward women and will go into bars and restaurants with no intention of spending any money. You may have noticed that some restaurants started charging a cover after 10pm. Once you see this happen in a neighborhood, you can bet that this new demographic is a problem, and the neighborhood has officially jumped the shark.

There are many Old City business owners that invested a lot of money and hard work only to see it all disappear. If you ask anyone that owns a business there, they will not sugar coat how they feel. If that new deomgraphic would have stayed away, the neighborhood would still be thriving.

It's a shame that business owners, patrons, and the city as a whole have to suffer because of an uncivilized demographic group.

Are two things at work here?

1- The nature of an always changing "HIP" factor.
2- The nature of an always changing economic factor.

#1- a good thing for OC. (finally)
#2- a scary thing for all (not just the failing businesses).

I think many of the "hip" businesses of days gone by are an unfortunate loss, and the businesses exploiting the OC "HIP" factor will be of no loss. The business in between will survive #1. I hope they can survive #2.

A lot of good points in these posts.

The last neighborhood this happened to was Manayunk.

I think its actually a lot simpler then that- when the delaware avenue crowd began to migrate over patronage in old city by people who actually live in Philadelphia went down- has nothing to do with the hip factor or the economy, has to do with the metal detectors that started to show up at places