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Bar opening at the top of One Liberty Place

A pop-up bar, with Di Bruno Bros., will open on five consecutive Thursday evenings starting Sept. 29.

You might say that Philly is raising the bar on its bars.

There are XIX on the 19th floor of the Bellevue and R2L on the 37th floor of Two Liberty Place. Even on smaller buildings, the bar scene has become more scenic. Consider Bok Bar on the ninth floor of the old Bok Vo-Tech in South Philadelphia and the eighth-floor Assembly Rooftop Lounge at The Logan hotel (where the Four Seasons was) on the Parkway.

Over the summer, SkyGarten, an indoor-outdoor beer garden, really kicked things up by opening on the 51st floor of Three Logan Square (formerly the Bell Atlantic Tower), at 1717 Arch St. The 51st floor is 676 feet above the street, according to management.

But even in traditionally low-rise Philly, the bar scene can go still higher - all the way up to the One Liberty Observation Deck on the 57th floor of One Liberty Place at 17th and Market Streets.

On Sept. 29, deck operator Montparnasse 56 will run a bar on five consecutive Thursday evenings.

Talk about putting the "up" in "pop-up."

Bar 57, as they're calling it, will be open from 5 to 8 p.m. on those Thursdays, allowing patrons to catch the setting sun from the indoor deck, 760 feet above the street. Di Bruno Bros. will sell beer, wine, and snacks.

Patrons still have to pay admission, which amounts to a cover charge. It's usually $19 for adults, but during Bar 57, Montparnasse will knock off $5 at the door and $7 for tickets bought online. Helping to soften that fee somewhat are the happy-hour drink prices from 5 to 7 p.m.: $5 for beer and $7 for wine. (SkyGarten has no cover or admission fee.)

Could Bar 57 extend beyond the five weeks? "We'll see," said Evan Evans, who runs the deck.

All this talk about building height may have you wondering about the Four Seasons Hotel that will open in 2018 atop the new Comcast Innovation and Technology Center, at 18th and Arch Streets.

A Comcast rep tells me that the hotel's 60th-floor check-in and lounge will be 879 feet above the street. (The 59th-floor restaurant, whose operator has not been identified, will be 865 feet above the street.)

Note: This post has been updated with new information about the height of One Liberty Place's 57th floor, which had been billed as 883 feet up but is, in fact, 760 feet off the sidewalk.