(These pictures will be added to as I take more and move pics over from different flickr sets, so check either my flickr page or back here to see a lot of other philly street art!)

[flickr matt.ohara 72157602211191670]

My friend David once told me an old neighborhood joke. It goes like this:
“Don’t stop to tie your shoe in Bella Vista.”
“Why?”
“You’ll have a mirror attached to your ass when you stand back up.”

For anybody that doesn’t know, Isaiah Zagar is a mosaic artist. If you’ve been to Philly before and visited South Street/Bella Vista you may have noticed that the neighborhood is sprinkled (some might say covered) with mosaic murals created out of ceramic, mirror, bottles, bicycle wheels and more. Take the time to explore the neighborhood and you’ll see doors, walls and whole buildings covered with mosaic tiles. I’ll add a whole bunch more photography of his work to the set above in the coming weeks.

Philly is also the home of a huge mural art program. Everywhere you go in the city you’re bound to run into some murals. Here’s a nice photoset on Time’s website.
Philadelphia Murals and the Stories They Tell (Amazon)
They’re all different shapes and sizes and styles and subject and places. Many deal with famous locals. Many more are focused on positive messages for the community. They all provide a nice bit of visual stimulation when you round a new corner and find a piece that you haven’t seen before. There’s one artist I like particularly and that’s David Guinn. His 4 seasonal pieces are abstract and depict simple, colorful cityscapes in each of the four seasons. I’ve found three (all in the photo slideshow above), but I can’t find the fourth! If anybody can help me locate it please let me know in the comments. Update:Thanks Art from Foobooz for the spot, now I’ve just got to go get a pic of it!

My favorite artists in philly are a lot less well known than Zagar or Guinn. They’re El Toro and Bob Will Reign and they work with markers, stickers and paint. They work on train cars, signs, newspaper boxes, sneakers, vinyl records and well, anything you can put a mark on. They’re two of the first artists I found when I first moved to philly. They have more coverage than Zagar and Guinn put together but I’ve talked to a lot of people who have never seen any of their stuff!

El Toro on flickr

A Bob Will Reign slideshow on flickr

Toro has huge horns and giant toofs. Sometimes he’s wearing a gasmask. Bob Will Reign (AKA Bob) has a big head with eyes way out on the side and sometimes some arrows. Try walking around philly and looking for Toro and Bob pieces (they’re together a lot of the time). Soon you’ll be spotting them everywhere! Give yourself more points for non-obvious ones (like newspaper boxes and stop signs). Look in the photoset above for the painting of El Toro as Captain Ahab (it’s hanging in my house).

Philly has a ton of other street and sticker artists. It’s really fantastic that they keep their work in the city on signs and boxes and dumpsters, as opposed to marking up any of the old buildings we have around here. It’s illegal art for the most part but they have respect for the older art and architecture. And each other! Check out the box in the photoset above and notice how nobody has stickered over somebody else’s piece. If you have any other favorites that you’d like to share please let us know in the comments!

Brown Betty Dessert Boutique
1030 N. 2nd Street # 601 (Northern Liberties Walk)

215. 629.0999

Elizabeth Ruthie Hinton passed down a valuable gift to the women of her family in her vintage cake and pie recipes. I have always had a weakness for a good cupcake. And since baking sweets does not come easily for me, I thank the lord for the women of Brown Betty Dessert Boutique!

[flickr matt.ohara 72157601599630284]
My first visit to Brown Betty was on their one year anniversary. I’m not sure why I was on the guest list, but the invitation said there would be pastries and champagne, so I brought my friend Harmony and we started sampling all the goods. At first we were only interested in the generous pours of bubbly, but once i had my first bite of vanilla sourcream cupcake, I knew it was a million times better than any cupcake i have ever had. You can order vanilla, almond, lemon, strawberry, pineapple, chocolate red velvet, coconut, and carrot. My favorite is vanilla. They are not stuffed or sprinkled or fancy, but they are for real, and they are huge! You can order on line at www.brownbettydesserts.com. If you’re in need of more than a dozen of these perfect treats call two days ahead for special orders. The store front in Northern Liberties Walk is closed on Mondays.

On a daily basis I am also lucky enough to walk past Naked Chocolate Cafe . These cupcakes are nothing to sneeze at. Quickly becoming one of their signature sweets, the bakers spread pistachio icing on vanilla cupcakes and stuff mammoth keylime cupckaes with lime curd. Excellent idea! It seems like they have new flavor every week.

An honorable mention must go to Flying Monkey Patisserie located in the Reading Terminal Market . It seems by the time I get there most of the cupcakes have vanished. But, I managed to select two, and then let them melt in the back seat of the car. My picks were a dark chocolate cupcake with lavender buttercream icing, and a poundcake covered in cream cheese, with a pinapple wedge. Next time, I hope I am lucky to try the peanut butter jelly dot on top…pound cake stuffed with strawberry preserves covered in peanut butter buttercream. Their website’s cupcake map can help you along with your decision and if you still can’t decide they offer the cupcake fleet.

Matt surprised me with the most darling accessory, an individual cupcake holder from Grocery on 13th and Chestnut.