Tales of the city
Vedge is ripped off just days after opening. Hop Sing Laundromat's owner is giving away parties.
The big question about Hop Sing Laundromat is not "when will it open?" - no answer to that one yet - but who will get a free party. As the finishing touches are being applied to the long-in-development Chinatown bar, the owner, Lee, is putting out a call to local nonprofits. He'll host five preopening parties this month, and he wants to offer them free to worthy nonprofits. Know any? Tweet a pitch in 140 characters or fewer to @HopSingLaundry.
Vedge owner Rich Landau got a lesson in city life shortly after the opening of his vegan restaurant at 1221 Locust St. As chronicled in the Washington Square West Civic Association newsletter, two omnivores snuck in shortly before 2 a.m. one morning and made off with five bottles of alcohol. Caught on camera. "Five and a half years off of South Street [with Horizons] and not one single incident," Landau told me. "Oh, well... It's Philadelphia - love it or leave it."