Calm returns to South Street

The scene was laid-back yesterday afternoon in the 900 block of South Street - no trace of the teenage flash mob the night before - as Michael Solomonov reflected on the teeming crowds that had coursed through the block like a bad case of raging hormones.

"You don't think about this sort of stuff when you're making a business plan," he said.

He was eating lunch at Percy Street Barbecue, which he co-owns in addition to other restaurants and, where, for a few minutes late Saturday night, startled customers were left teary from pepper spray that police used to disperse thousands of teens who had swarmed South Street east of Broad, summoned by text messages and Twitter.

By 10 p.m., crowd control had become a cat-and-mouse game, the overflow on South Street shooed away only to resurface near the Clothespin sculpture at 15th and Market, where one witness reported a peak of 32 police cars and helicopters with searchlights.

No property damage or major injuries were reported, and police said they made only three arrests - two for disorderly conduct and one for aggravated assault.

But those low numbers didn't fully capture the terrifying moments some businesses experienced.

At Olympia II Pizza, 616 South St., pizza deliveryman Seth Kaufman, 20, displayed nasty scrapes and bruises on his face that he said he sustained from kicks and punches while trying to keep a rowdy crowd from entering the shop to join a fight in progress.

"He got beat up for us," owner Horula Psihogios said through tears. She has run the shop for 26 years with her husband, Pete.

Other witnesses described a scene that began innocently before sundown - young teens, most of them no older than 15, aimlessly strolling the funky avenue of steak joints, tattoo parlors, and head shops on a welcome balmy evening.

But after sundown and continuing until 10:30 p.m., the crowds grew, and so did the sense of menace and unease.

"It was 'concert-packed,' " said Barry Williams, who works at Olympia Sports, a sneaker shop.

"It was like Japan at lunchtime," said his coworker Lacy Brown.

It reminded some locals of the heavy-drinking Mardi Gras gatherings and Greek Picnic weekends that used to bring a surge of out-of-town college students to South Street.

At-times harmless teenage high jinks veered into threatening scenes. One witness said about 30 kids gathered in a scrum at the intersection of Sixth and South, jumping up and down until police dispersed them.

Several businesses blocked their doors by 9:30, or in the case of South Street Souvlaki, at 509 South St., closed early: "It's a bunch of young kids that are creating havoc," a manager, Barbara Bender, said, describing scenes of masses of teens running in one direction before switching and dashing another way.

Joey's Stone Fired Pizza locked windows and doors and kept customers inside for two hours, cook John DiSalvo said.

"It was scary," he said last night when the street was calm again. "It was not like there was one or two kids out there and you could defend yourself. There were hundreds."

On May 30, several people were hurt when a flash mob of at least 100 congregated at Broad and South.

Mobs of teens have disrupted Center City three times in the last three months. On Dec. 18, students from several city high schools responded to a call via Facebook to join a massive gathering in response to fights at the Gallery food court. Some of the teens randomly attacked pedestrians in Center City.

In a Feb. 16 melee, 150 teens spilled out of the Gallery east of City Hall during rush hour and rampaged through Macy's, knocking down customers and damaging displays.

After fights broke out March 3 near Broad Street, police made 28 arrests and charged several participants with felony rioting; trials are set for today and tomorrow.

The bad publicity that has stemmed from those episodes left merchants on South Street in a bind, some trying to minimize the events, others calling for prompter police response or restoring the mounted police that once patrolled the street.

Plus, the return of warm weather has finally brought customers back to stores and eateries that suffered from business losses during an unusually snowy winter.

"That crowd reminded me of what South Street looked like 10 years ago," said Frank Murphy, a tattoo artist at Eddie's on Fourth Street. "We wouldn't have minded a flash mob at all . . . if they were all 18 years old and had money in their pocket."