The Northern Liberties neighborhood extends approximately from 2nd street to 6th street east-west, and from Spring Garden Street to Girard Avenue north-south. Until about the 1960's, Northern Liberties was home to Philadelphia's breweries. Ortleib's, Schmidt's, and Ballantine. (These beers are tougher to find these days, but live on at Citizens Bank Park's (home of the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team) Brewerytown stand.) It fell into a disrepair once the breweries declined.
Today, however, it is quickly becoming the "New Manayunk" - an immensely popular neighborhood with trendy shops and bars. Northern Liberties is an excellent place to spend an evening out, with plentiful free parking, and a large number of unique bars and restaurants well within walking distance. http://www.northernliberties.org/ is a community bulletin board, while http://www.nlna.org/ is the neighborhood association website.
Get in
See
'''Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site''', Seventh and Spring Garden, [http://www.nps.gov/edal/]. W-Su 9AM-5PM. Free.
Do
Buy
Eat
'''North Third''' [http://www.norththird.com], 801 N 3rd St. A perfect balance of restaurant, outdoor cafe and pub, spacious, lively, not too loud. All kinds of beer: Big Belgian bottles...Great Food: Pierogies, Spring Rolls, Salads, Wings, burgers, etc.- a cut above your everyday bar food)
'''Soy Cafe''', 630 N 2nd St. Coffee, tea, smoothies, and sandwiches, with a focus on soy milk and other Asian foods
'''Higher Grounds Cafe''' [http://www.highergroundscafe.com/], 631 N 3rd St. This cafe has a pretty decent selection of coffees and teas, as well as a select of stuff to eat. They make sandwiches, salads, quiche, granola, bagels with a variety of spreads, and have some pretty good looking desserts too.
Drink
'''700 Club''', 7th & Fairmount St. Youngish hipster crowd in a gutted rowhouse. Always live on weekends with dancing upstairs.
'''North Third''', 3rd & Brown Sts. Good crowd usually Mid 20's & up Good music and Sidewalk seating
'''The Abbaye'''. Artsy Pub.
'''Ministry of Information''', 5th & Poplar Sts. Spacious, hip, Pool tables
'''Finnegan's Wake''' [http://www.finnigans.com], 547 N 3rd St. Large Irish drinking and dancing spot bordering on nightclub in scale.
'''Ortlieb's Jazzhaus''' [http://www.ortliebsjazzhaus.com], 847 N 3rd St.
'''Standard Tap''' [http://www.standardtap.com], 901 N 2nd St.
Sleep
Contact