On June 6, a day after the hot wheels had cooled and the crowds had dissipated, it was my turn to tackle the Wall. I was ready to conquer, but in my own way and in my own time.
The clock I followed was set by a procrastinator. Not that I didn’t want to climb the Wall; I just wanted to savor Manayunk without having to explain the blood and the limp.
The Wall is on Levering, a side street off Main Street, which is a (flat) six-block historic district dressed in red brick and bright awnings. The neighborhood sits fewer than 10 miles northwest of the city center but feels far removed, encased in a bubble that wards off the traffic, the noise and the crowds.
“It’s not urban and it’s not suburban,” said Elizabeth Paradiso, a five-year Manayunk resident who opened her cupcake shop, Sweet Elizabeth’s, last week. “You get the best of both worlds.”
The neighborhood, named after a Lenape word that translates to “the place we go to drink,” is surrounded by lumpy hills and the slow-moving Schuylkill River. In the evenings, competitive rowers paddle sleek dragon boats along the water, the coxswain's voice rising above the honks of Canada geese. Behind the commercial district, a church spire shoots up like a Renaissance-era antenna. Bikers, runners and pedestrians with dogs nipping at their heels intermingle with al fresco diners and shoppers. Though they’re hardly wide boulevards, the walkways successfully accommodate wheels, sneakers and paws.
“It’s a young, pep-in-your-step place,” said Paradiso, before dashing into the kitchen to check her orange cinnamon pound cake cupcakes, part of a beer-and-cupcake pairing event. “You won’t even feel like a tourist; you’re part of the neighborhood.”
To really fit into the Manayunk scene, you need a bike helmet, a four-legged friend or a cup of frozen yogurt. I chose the accouterment that required neither a fitting nor a rabies shot. It must have worked, because as I plunged into my bowl of birthday cake and red velvet fro-yo, a woman approached my outdoor table looking for the nearest Starbucks.
Manayunk advocates independently run shops and restaurants, though one or two chains (including Starbucks) did sneak in while the neighborhood was sleeping. The community’s business spirit stretches back centuries, to its beginnings as a center of mill activity.
In the 1800s, Manayunk’s water-powered mills churned out wool and other textiles, including Germantown wool used by Native Americans in their rugs and blankets. The Manayunk section of the Schuylkill Canal became a watery highway of mule-drawn boats piled with soft goods and coal. But in the first of many economic downturns, the Reading Railroad’s appearance in 1833 squelched Manayunk’s industry.
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