Meet three of Philly's homegrown fashion trendsetters.

So we started to collaborate and that was the birth of Chalk Press.

Coffee, baked goods, and flowers.

See how this cafe is fostering community.

Realizing how important small businesses are to a community.

Plus, we look back with one of the beloved owners of the now closed Metropolitan Bakery.

We've been open for 32 and a half years.

There was such an outpouring.

It's more than just a bakery.

And the zero proof bar with drinks so good you don't even miss the alcohol.

The mission is to create the best thing that I can create.

Welcome to the show.

Nowadays, more people are choosing to drink less or not at all.

It's not because they have a problem with alcohol, but because their relationship with drinking is shifting.

And at places like Bar Palmena in Philadelphia, this shift is showing up in a whole new kind of bar experience.

Under the El in Fishtown, there's a bar where no one is ordering alcohol.

It's called Barb Homina, a zero-proof craft cocktail bar owned by Nikki Graziano.

I want to make very, almost obsessed over, thoughtful, intentional drinks for adults that are just not an afterthought.

The mission is to create the best thing that I can create, with the same discipline as a craft cocktail bar.

Alcohol nearly killed Nikki.

She received a liver transplant in 2022 and is sober now.

Nikki doesn't miss getting drunk, but what she does miss is having a bartender make a beautiful drink for her.

The muscle memory was still there.

Like, I still wanted to be holding something and sipping something while interacting with my friends and my family.

Using sophisticated flavors like Earl Grey, fresh ginger, and yuzu, Nikki is crafting craveable cocktails with the same care as any bar.

It's a bar.

There's just not any alcohol in the drinks.

Half if not more of the people that come in are drinkers.

We have people in recovery.

We have people on medication.

We have pregnant women.

We have people who are training for the Broad Street Run.

People who are, I mean, everyone's sobriety looks different.

What Nikki is seeing here at Barb Homina reflects a much bigger shift happening across the country.

I asked food and health writer Joy Manning to meet me and talk about this cultural shift away from alcohol.

Gallup did a poll over the summer and found that 54% of Americans don't drink alcohol, American adults.

And that's actually the most since I think sometime in the 1950s.

Why?

Why are American adults drinking less?

I think that there are several reasons, but one of the biggest I think is the science.

The new research tells us is that alcohol is actually quite bad for us.

It's a carcinogen in the same class as cigarettes and asbestos.

The World Health Organization has said no amount of alcohol is safe to drink.

So I think that those reasons are making people, especially health conscious people, rethink their whole relationship with alcohol.

Including Joy, who quit drinking almost 10 years ago.

After dry January 2017, I noticed a friend of mine had posted on Facebook that she stopped drinking altogether and felt great and was having all these great work accomplishments.

And I remember thinking, "Oh, that's allowed?

Like, I'm allowed to just not drink just because I don't want to?"

And even at the time, I thought it would sort of peter out, but it's such a, it is such a life upgrade that, you know, I never looked back.

It's funny how you say, like, you didn't know you were allowed to not drink, because I think if you're of a certain age, drinking is what you did.

The dominant cultural narrative is that it's part of the good life.

It's part of being an adult.

Do you think this is just a passing trend?

I really think it's here to stay, especially as we come to understand the health consequences of drinking any amount of alcohol.

And if you look to the younger generations, they're drinking less.

And so I think that we can let the kids lead the way and show us all, you know, that you can have a fun, full social life without alcohol in it and do all the things that you want to do.

And as more people choose to drink less or not at all, zero proof bars like this one are changing what a night out can look like.

Joy started the Instagram account Better Without Booze to connect with other non drinkers.

All this is big beverage companies and more restaurants are offering more non alcoholic options.

This next story is about using the pain of tragedy to become a force for change for individuals with disabilities.

I work at Thomas Jefferson University.

I'm an assistant professor there and I have my office downtown in Center City.

I was teaching last fall in my class and I get out of class and I had a missed call and a voicemail from Governor Josh Shapiro saying, "Hey, I'm reaching out because you were nominated to receive this President's Award due to your advocacy."

There's some days I'm like, "Is anybody even listening?

What's the point of this?"

Sometimes I get very frustrated like that, like I shouldn't even do anything.

And I actually was at that point kind of when he called me and that was the boost that I needed because if you're not seeing a lot of improvements, a lot of action and accessibility, you get frustrated.

You know, it just wears me down and it's exhausting.

So to have that boost that, "Oh, somebody's watching.

Somebody, this is making a difference even if I can't see it on a day-to-day, I can see it as a whole how it's impacting people."

On May 19th, 2021, my friends and I just finished one of our kickball games.

While we were sitting at the benches and tables in the park, out of nowhere we hear gunshots.

So close, so loud, so piercing.

As soon as I heard the sounds, I felt the sting of something in my side.

I immediately lost all control of my lower body and fell backwards onto the ground.

In that split second of all of this happening, I thought to myself, "You're one of your patients.

You're in it now."

The initial phase of recovery, it was like a newborn baby learning new skills again.

My background is I'm an occupational therapist.

I've been one for 15 years.

Before my injury, I looked at the world with a lens of what I've known from occupational therapy, my education, knowledge of disability.

I have been recognizing all of the accessibility problems that I never even noticed before as an OT.

The things that I advocate for, I do it because I'm seeing these things and it's for me.

to get sidewalk cracks fixed down the block.

That's for me.

But that's not what I'm thinking about.

I'm thinking about the tourists with disabilities, the people that live here with disabilities, visual problems, strollers, elderly who can't walk as well.

There's two other advocacy things that I'm working on.

One is at Jefferson, we are developing educational competencies for OB/GYN clinics when working with persons with spinal cord injuries.

Another thing that I'm doing is I'm teamed up with a non-profit organization, Blue Journey.

Their founder, Bruckner Chase, he does adapted paddle boarding sessions.

For anybody with spinal cord injuries, it makes you feel more included because when I'm on that board, you wouldn't be able to tell who has a spinal cord injury.

You feel included.

The perception after my spinal cord injury of my body, my life, in the moment was really scary, but I have found that I've become more aware of what I want out of life.

I've become a better person than I was before and happier with my life.

I think a good soul is someone who's thinking of others, thinking of their community, thinking of ways to inspire hope in people and make somebody's life a little bit better.

I actually can feel my soul at times and that's what moves me.

Hi, how can I help you?

Do you have any bread left?

We are sold out for the day.

We've been selling out really early because of the news.

The Metropolitan Bakery brought fresh baked, high quality goods to Center City so long ago that it's become part of my normal routine.

The staff is so friendly and so welcoming.

There are a lot of people who come in here from the local condos and apartments so I know that they will be very much missed.

It's more than just a bakery.

Everyone knows who the people are behind the counter and vice versa and that makes it sort of a special institution.

Wendy, since announcing that you were going to close Metropolitan Bakery, we have heard from so many people who have said they're going to miss the bread and your cookies.

And they seem genuinely emotional about this decision and they are connected to this place.

What has it been like hearing from customers who have supported you for all of these years?

It actually floored James and me.

Not because we didn't understand that our customers appreciated us, but there was such an outpouring over two solid weeks, and they all took the time to come and express to us or to our associates at the bakery how they felt.

And they had big feelings.

So when did you know it was time to close and how difficult was that decision to make?

We've been open for 32 and a half years and James and I sadly aren't getting younger.

We've been thinking about it for the last four or five years.

But until Pete Mertzbacher who is a trained baker with his own bakery really came along, we never felt quite right about letting it go.

We wanted the bread to continue if possible.

If we were going to sell, then let's sell it to somebody who can carry the tradition on.

Back in 2012, WHYY produced a short documentary about Metropolitan Bakery.

We spoke with James Barrett and we saw how the bread was made, how much care he put into it and how it all really came from a single starter.

What matters is that you constantly perpetuate the starter and you take care of it as if it were one of your children.

James's very precise technique for sour started breads and crusty crust the way it's baked really set us apart and it is the quality that I think has endured all through the last three decades and has made its mark on people's minds about what bread is really all about.

It was really the most like European style breads.

We've become a community institution, the neighborhood bakery.

As we've become that institution we've also developed our own consciousness about what our role in the larger community is.

Metropolitan was also a pioneer in using the bakery as a community resource.

In other words, giving jobs to folks who may have been formerly incarcerated to homeless people, those who were in the throes of addiction.

How important was that to you to incorporate that into your business model?

I have such a strong drive towards community and it's something I'll probably work in from here on which is sort of it's not about I or me it's about we or us.

When you look back at everything that you and James have built here.

What are you most proud of.

I think the fact that we were able to preserve the quality of our products so much so that over two weeks thousands of customers came and we sold thousands of loaves of bread.

But we also were so struck by the community that we had built.

So many people felt part of that community.

I mean that was what was demonstrated.

And you don't always see of course the product of what you're doing.

But that was striking and that we are both proud of very proud of as well as the quality.

So much to be proud of.

Well as Wendy mentioned Metropolitan's bread will live on.

Artisan baker Pete Mertz Bacher's bakery in Germantown will preserve Metropolitan's bread line and granola selling to retailers throughout the region.

Our next story is about a Skippack woman who had a dream of opening a cafe with a small eco footprint.

She found a way for guests to have coffee surrounded by beautiful plants.

It's always been in the back of my mind to own a cafe.

It's a more relaxed environment sometimes and going into a restaurant.

Maybe I could do that someday.

I had a great career as a chief operating officer and working in the corporate world.

Learned a lot there.

Living in Skippack at the time, it's a town of all small businesses.

It's a half mile of nothing but unique small businesses.

We would come here to the garden center at Floral and Hardy on the weekends to do workshops.

Just realizing how important small businesses are to a community, to an economy, and to the people that live there in the village.

I was mentioning it to Lowell, who owns Floral and Hardy.

So we had become friends with him through all of our visits here.

And he said, "Well, why don't you just open it right here?"

And I looked around, "Well, there's no kitchen.

How's that going to work?"

And we said, "We're just going to figure it out."

So since the coffee shop, two major changes have taken place.

One, we realized men exist in this world.

They only came the first week of May to buy their plants.

Now they drink coffee, so they're here every day.

The other is the demographic, the age of the demographic reduced down to about 20 to 40 versus 40 to 60.

We changed from an older clientele type of merchandise to a mother's with strollers, which is why now we have a whole baby section and kid section in the store.

And it's worked out really well so far.

You can come have a meal have a coffee sit amongst the flowers and the plants and really enjoy that space.

And I think there's so many things that we do as families and friends that food is the centerpiece.

We really wanted to focus on the baked goods, having them be memorable.

So we serve our muffins in flower pots.

That is a nod to our neighbors here at Floral and Hardy, but it's also just another memory that we're making.

And it has not been hard to find great quality food and partners locally.

Our coffee is from La Colombe.

They're right out of Philly, founded in Philly.

And then our food, we use a local farm for our quiche.

So we've really had a great time of finding and connecting with other local businesses to create our menu.

We plan events, whether they're just blossom events, or we partner with Florham Hardy for an event or a workshop.

Giving back in any way is important to me.

Finding other businesses that are businesses that have great platforms or have great programs like Human Kind Water.

All of the proceeds from their water bottles go back to clean water initiatives.

So we partner with them for that.

So we've been able to really donate $5,000 a year to different causes.

I wanted to have a small footprint from an eco perspective.

So I focused on finding items that were compostable so they'll break down in the earth and so they don't leave waste behind.

What I would tell a female thinking about starting a small business is just go for it.

Try it.

You never know where it's going to go.

It might not work right away, but if you think there's something to it, there probably is.

Three young entrepreneurs are stitching together a new venture on South Street.

Seeing the stuff you create out in the wild never gets old.

They were looking at a bunch of spots down here and I was like, well, if you're setting up at South Street, I'd like to be there.

You see the wheels turning in someone's head when they come in.

Oh, this was me.

[MUSIC PLAYING] Me and Adam met when we first started at Drexel University.

We ended up becoming best friends.

We were in the same group, hung out all the time.

Adam had a clothing brand in high school and realized that I could sew and he really wanted to continue to make clothing.

So we both started to collaborate and that was the birth of our current brand Chalk Press.

We started out in the dorms screen printing and sewing just in our free time in between classes and it started as a fun little hobby.

Slowly evolved into releasing tons of new designs and clothing and work on stuff every day.

Ben and me kind of just got excited about what each other was interested in.

The ball just kept rolling after that.

Putting new ideas out there and really just trying to make them physical and just see them come to life.

I met Adam when I was working over at Philly Aids Thrift.

He was a volunteer one day and then a few years later he was working at the store Totem and Ben was working there too so that's how I met him.

I've been airbrushing full-time for about six years and then four years ago they were setting up a pop-up down here so they just invited me to come along.

It was a pipe dream, you know our end goal from working on retail on the block and wanting to do it ourselves and we had a bit kind of running with Mario is that whoever opened a store first we would just join in.

It was like a joke in a race but it was a little easier just to do it together.

We always knew we wanted to be on South Street because there's a lot of motion going on over here and a lot of history with clothing too so it kind of just worked out perfectly in that way.

Everyone kind of knew us and it felt familiar and safe and that gave us a little bit of confidence thinking we couldn't fail.

We're close to fabric row which is an awesome resource to be right here.

Majority of the fabrics we do get are blank undyed.

We do print, treat, everything in-house.

All of our fabric is also domestic, all natural materials, all natural fibers.

We kind of figure out what styles are best suited for the weight and texture of the fabric and then it immediately goes to color.

Very exploratory, very creative and up in the air and it keeps it fun that way.

A lot of what I do is either customs for people and then I also play around with just like wacky, funky characters.

One time I was in the Italian market getting pizza and there was this guy wearing a shirt that he'd bought from me maybe two or three days before and he's just super hungover and he's just there putting pepper on the pizza just probably a good 30 seconds.

So when he walked by me I was like nice t-shirt and I like took him a second but he double take thing like that's the guy.

It always was something fun and it just kept snowballing to now something that supports us and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

It's the best feeling.

Action.

Ahead of America's 250th anniversary, we're revisiting a moment in history when Native Americans came close to achieving statehood.

Here's the story from arts and culture reporter Peter Crimmins and videographer Emma Lee.

During the era of the Revolutionary War, it was not uncommon to see indigenous people here in urban Philadelphia.

They were as familiar with the streets of the city the rooms of Independence Hall.

They were savvy political negotiators.

It's like going to the UN there's gathering of minds from different nations.

The Revolutionary War was often called the war of i was, but it was also very a war about land.

It was about colonists wanting to push west into Indian territory and to restrict that.

The American Revolution is just a continuation of every conflict that's been occuring occurring on this continent the 1600s and now by 1775 conflict of who's gonna own land going to make money.

You know, it's it's it's the same story as we as we hear today.

Chief White Eyes.

He was representing the Lenape people of Ohio and he came to Philly to strike a deal with the Continental Congress.

He wanted the Lenape to be a 14th state in the Union and have representation in Congress.

So White Eyes originally sought the protection of the British but after the war broke out he changed gears and reached out to the Patriots.

Americans often think about the Revolutionary War or the American Revolution is just sort of you know good versus evil they think about it as a war between two sides and if they think about Native people at all they probably think well you know they sided with one side or the other they're ultimately most interested in their sovereignty and independence so they they are all fighting their own wars of independence White Eyes came here to Independence Hall to tell Congress that they have the support of the Lenape people.

I will apprise you of everything that passes in the Indian country we much fear the Mingos who do us and you some mischief Let us start against it ultimately through a series of councils treaties negotiations between 1775 culminating in 1778 in the Treaty of Fort Pitt the agreement that is made is that It will be recommended to Congress to create a 14th state which would mean Native American representation in Congress So just a few months after that White Eyes died he was killed and that agreement with Congress never happened The great tragedy for the Delaware people is that all of those groups?

No matter which Strategy they chose kind of ended up the same And that's our show.

Have a good night, everyone.

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