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FOLLOW US ON Vol. 67 NO. 2 ■ January 9, 2014
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Len Davidson’s antique soda bottle collection sat on the Carpenter Street sidewalk across from the crumbling 7UP factory. S ta f f P h o t o b y K at h r y n P o o l e
■ Hungry? Sample this page-turning selection of items available for order from neighborhood eateries. You may want to have the phone handy. See Page 19.
NO RESERVATIONS
■ A decade into its existence, Mazza continues to draw rave reviews for its Stuffed Cabbage, slated to become a February special on its thriving menu. See page 28.
SPORTS
7UP plant goes down ■ By By B Bill illl Chen il C Chenevert henev eve ert R e v i e w S ta f f W r i t e r
■ A sharpshooting senior is plotting success for his Girard Estate basketball team.
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Len Davidson led a sing-along in the cold of Saturday afternoon in the Italian Market while cans of 7UP sat wedged into the snow drifts of Carpenter Street. “Hootin! Hootin! Hootin! Hootin!” he compelled a handful of curious history-loving Philadelphians to join him. “Nothing does it like 7UP, 7UP / Nothing does it like 7UP, 7UP.”
A dilapidated Bella Vista bottling plant is getting razed for incoming townhomes. The small crowd gathered on the sidewalk across the street from 816 Carpenter St., a former 7UP bottling plant that is set to be razed and repurposed into 25 townhouses. Before construction begins, Joel Spivak, an architect by trade and Philadelphia
Freeze frames
historian by passion, led a send-off to the former bottling location by inviting two historians to share some insight. Davidson, a resident of the Art Museum area, has South Philly ties thanks to his father. He loves soda
there many and th and ther eree we were re man m anyy to con cconsume onsu sume me in in Philadelphia Phil d l hi as a child, hild way more than there are now. Namely, Frank’s, a brand born of Jacob Frank, a Russian immigrant who made soda on the streets of Philadelphia and specialized in fresh-squeezed lemon soda, stood out. “Frank’s Orange and Black Cherry Wishniak were all over the city,” Davidson recalled fondly. See 7UP PLANT page 10 >>
The chill in the New Year’s Day air wasn’t enough to stop the Mummers or their passionate fans from ringing in 2014 Philly style.
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