Hena Choi | Phoenix Staff

A new sign adorned 112 Park Avenue, where the new BYOB restaurant Rudi's on Park will be located.

BY MARTHA MARRAZZA

In print | Published September 18, 2008

Recent revitalization efforts and real estate reshuffling in the Ville are bringing new businesses to the town center.

After previously being slated for the old site of Da Vinci’s Café, the new BYOB restaurant Rudi’s on Park will be located at 112 Park Avenue across from Borough Hall, Town Center Coordinator Marty Spiegel said. “[112 Park Avenue] is the largest space, and it will provide a lot more seating accommodations,” Spiegel said. “The new space is set up really well for having private parties and events, and it will have a tremendous outdoor seating availability.”

Last spring after the abrupt closure of Da Vinci’s Café, Rudi’s on Park initially planned to move into the space at 1 Park Avenue. However, Jack Cavanaugh, Vice President on the Board of Directors of Swarthmore’s Town Center, said the new venue at 112 Park Avenue will allow for more extensive seating.

“The space will have four separate dining rooms on two floors as well as a beautiful space for outdoor dining, weather permitting,” Cavanaugh said in an email. “We will be able to seat 90 patrons at one sitting inside.”

Spiegel said that Rudi’s on Park would likely open in mid- to late-December. “We were hoping to do something closer to the start of school opening, or maybe before Thanksgiving, but I don’t think that will be terribly feasible,” Spiegel said.

The status of the space previously occupied by Da Vinci’s Café is not finalized at this point, Spiegel said. “I just noticed that the ‘For Rent’ signs are gone. I did speak to someone a few weeks ago who had been looking at that space as another food venue, but I don’t really know if that’s been finalized,” Spiegel said. “I think there’s a good likelihood that there will be another food venue in that space, but I don’t know what the time frame is. I would hope that probably in the next two months another food venue would arise in that spot.”

The closure of another Ville staple, the Village Restaurant, has opened up more real estate in the town center. Spiegel said that the expansive restaurant space has been subdivided into two spaces for future use.

“Part of the old Village Restaurant has been rented out and it will be a professional office,” Spiegel said. “The other part of the space is still available, as far as I know. Again, it would be nice to think another food venue would come in, but it’s hard to open things that have such high operating and construction costs involved.”

Vivaan Nehru ’09 said students would support some of the new offerings in the Ville. “If there were more restaurants in the Ville, I would definitely go in more,” he said. “I am always happy when new stuff happens in the Ville because it’s so convenient. If something interesting opens, especially a BYOB restaurant or something with a chill coffee shop environment, I think that people will definitely use it. There’s usually a hunger for new stuff,” Nehru said.

Besides the new restaurants that are cropping up around the Ville, businesses such as the Creative Living Room are increasing traffic to the town center. The Creative Living Room, a new creative and educational arts space, recently opened at 15 Chester Road. Run by four women, the new space will have classes, workshops and performances in music, dance, theater and the arts, Spiegel said.
“The Creative Living Room will cater largely to children, but it’s for all ages,” Spiegel said. “It has everything from yoga to acting to drawing to dance, so it’s going to be a very active learning space as well as a performance space. I expect it to be a real boom for the downtown area,” he said.
Lynn Falk, Director of the Dance Program and a co-founder of the Creative Living Room, said she and the other three founders represent different disciplines but have come together to collaborate in this shared space. “The Creative Living Room is a hub of activity, and it’s been very well received so far,” she said. “We had our open house of classes last week, and almost all of the classes are full.”
Falk said that the Creative Living Room does not only cater to children, but will actually feature a number of teen and adult classes and even an adults-only entertainment series.

“The Creative Living room is not mainly for children; that’s one of the misconceptions around town. Most of the classes are for children, but there are a lot for teens and adults,” Falk said. “There will be a First Friday series that will be entertainment for adults only. We also have a family performance series, and you can also rent out the space for parties.”

Falk also said that Swarthmore students should take advantage of the Creative Living Room’s offerings. “You can drop in for a yoga class, singing class or acting lesson and pay the student rate,” she said.

Disclosure note: Vivaan Nehru is Assistant Chief Copy Editor for The Phoenix but had no role in the production of this article.

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