Enter Philly’s Italian Market, situated in the midst of the Bella Vista neighborhood, and you will be surrounded by food. Endless restaurants, grocery stores, butcher’s shops, and cheesemongers line the area’s streets. There are a few spots in this culinary sphere that stand out. One stretch features a community garden. Around the corner, a small space is occupied by a tutoring center. Walk a few blocks north to 1010 S 9th St. and you’ll find Molly’s Books & Records. Established in 2009, this used cookbook and record shop is part of a community brimming with culture and history. 

Molly’s Books & Records

Map outlining the Bella Vista/Wharton area

This piece of Philadelphia has a population of almost 40,000 within its 1.3 square miles. The majority of its residents are white. The median age is 36, with most of the population being young adults and over. Most households consist of one or two people, with no children. The average household income is between $50,000-$75,000/year. However, higher income groups come second and third to this majority, suggesting that the Bella Vista/Wharton neighborhood has its fair share of upper-class residents. 

Race/ethnicity of Bella Vista/Wharton Residents

Average Household Income in Bella Vista/Wharton neighborhood

Although it markets a different set of goods from its neighbors, Molly’s presence makes sense in an area with such a heavy focus on cuisine, and diverse cuisine at that. Of course, the neighborhood features various Italian joints, such as restaurants like Paesano’s and Villa di Roma; butcher shops, such as Cannuli’s and Cappuccios; and produce shops like Giordano’s and Gargano’s. However, the streets are infused with the culinary influences of various cultures. There is a notable presence of Mexican restaurants in the area. Across the street from Molly’s is Alma del Mar. A few blocks south is Taqueria La Prima,  and around the corner Palenque Restaurante. Vietnamese and Thai restaurants are also present in the neighborhood. Right next door to the bookstore is Fante’s, a kitchenware shop. The two form a perfect pair. I find it difficult to think of a better excursion than the one the Italian Market offers: fresh meals, preloved cookbooks, and new equipment to make the recipes inside them with. A foodie’s dream day trip. 

An overview of the various fixtures in the Bella Vista neighborhood

Molly’s invites food enthusiasts passing through or living in the community to take part in the culture of cooking that is so alive in the Bella Vista/Wharton area. It feeds off of the thriving connection of culture and (literal) consumption around it while giving back by promoting the worldly cuisine that lines its streets. 

The idea that “[w]hen humans invest meaning in a portion of space and then become attached to it in some way (naming is one such way) it becomes a place” (Cresswell 10) is clearly reflected in the neighborhood where Molly’s Books & Records resides. The Bella Vista/Wharton community is made up of places that represent all of its inhabitants. It is the culmination of each person, each culture, and each small community, creating their own place in the area. The Italian Market specifically is an example of a place filled with places, one of which is reserved as Molly’s. 

Cresswell goes on to assert that the idea of place is “…not so much a quality of things in the world but an aspect of the way we choose to think about it – what we decide to emphasize and what we decide to designate as unimportant” (11). Evidently, the neighborhood of Bella Vista/Wharton has chosen to emphasize one thing in particular, a thing that I think accurately reflects the community’s values. Food is something that can be almost perfectly translated across place and time: with the same recipes and ingredients, food can be timeless. The neighborhood’s vast population of restaurants and stores with food-related wares communicates a desire to preserve its residents’ culture.

Photos of places in the Italian Market area

 

Music is another timeless product. Bookstores have been known to change and shift according to their surroundings. By fusing two such lasting elements with the classic medium of literature, Molly’s appears to claim a pretty solid place in its community. 

In Reluctant Capitalists, Laura Miller suggests that “[c]ommunity implies social bonds based on affective ties and mutual support…[and] evokes a past steeped in tradition as opposed to a constantly changing present” (119). Molly’s Books & Records is the epitome of this definition. It works within its environment to promote the independent businesses surrounding it, which in turn drive traffic through its doors. The shop’s products mirror the diversity of the residents in its community, shown through the variety of establishments that have taken root as places in its streets. These products are timeless representations of the past and present of the Italian Market and the larger urban community it is within. The bookstore is a worthy jewel in the Bella Vista treasure chest.

WORKS CITED