A Field Guide to Philly Facial Hair

Walk anywhere in the city and you’ll see them: men who have chucked their Bics and taken the five o’clock shadow to new lengths. Here, a primer on our bewhiskered set—where you’ll find them, who’s sporting what stubble, and how long it’ll take you to grow your own

Handlebar

Indigenous to: Fishtown; NoLibs. Seen on: Hipsters at the El Bar; bike messengers; steampunks. Growing Time: Six to eight weeks. Maintenance: High. Notable Wearers: Franklin Fountain owner Eric Berley; Henri David; mixologist Christian Gaal.

Nick Stuccio’s Live Arts and Philly Fringe Picks

The festival’s producing director lists his must-see shows

It’s damned unfair to ask the guy who spends his whole year handpicking the most amazing performers from around the world for our Live Arts Festival to choose favorites—but we got producing director Nick Stuccio to do it anyway. (And while we were at it, we made him predict three standouts from the 190 Philly Fringe offerings, too.) His picks got us really excited about this year’s festival, which runs from September 2nd through 17th. Check livearts-fringe.org for performance dates, times and venue details.

Stephen Starr’s Best of Philly

Plus: Lists from Shane Victorino, Joan Shepp, Inga Saffron and more

STEPHEN STARR

Best Philly discovery: Smith playground in Fairmount Park. Best block: Delancey between 3rd and 4th. Best concert ever seen in Philly: Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars at the Tower Theater. Best food trend of 2011: Aimee Olexy and Talula’s Garden. Best sandwich: The turkey sandwich at Top of the Hill Cafe [in Chestnut Hill]. Best hairstylist: Whoever can see me in five minutes. Best Shore town: Stone Harbor. Best Phillie: Chase. Best place to take out-of-towners: Reading Terminal Market. Best Philly legend: Mario Lanza.

Q&A: Adam Mansbach

Professor, novelist, author of "Go the F**k to Sleep"

Your hilarious new book—a bedtime story about one frustrated parent’s attempts to put his kid to sleep—is blowing up the buzz meter. The legend goes that this project began as a gag on your Facebook page. Yeah, I put up a status thing, like “Look for my forthcoming children’s book called Go the Fuck to Sleep.” I joked around for a couple of weeks with this idea, all the while getting slightly more serious about doing it.

In Defense of Philly Pizza

Why did we eat 1,000 slices of pizza for the July issue? BY TREY POPP

There's something wrong with the pizza in Philly …If you’re a stranger to that lamentation, you obviously haven’t lived here long enough. Or haven’t been paying attention. It’s usually phrased a little more colorfully, sure—like with the authoritative disdain of a pie-eating journeyman who calls Tacconelli’s “an expensive joke,” or with an air of exasperation verging on misanthropy, such as that of the Foobooz commenter who declares herself “sick of people thinking the garbage in Philadelphia is decent pizza.”But that’s just the mild stuff. Because apparently we live amidst pizza slices so deficient that the mere memory of them fuels the revenge fantasies of budding arsonists: “Marra’s,” wrote another commenter, “sucks so bad I want to burn that place down.”

Photo of the Day

A vintage car stall transforms into an urban Eden

[caption id="attachment_16151" align="aligncenter" width="432" caption="Photography by Sam Oberter"][/caption]Where: English Village, on the 2100 block of Saint James Place.What: A soaring, skylit, 98-square-foot greenhouse.  Who: Architect Tim Kerner of Center City’s Terra Studio and cottage owners Heather and Michael Ascher, a Pennsylvania Horticultural Society board member and a begonia buff, respectively.Why: To many urbanites, a private garage is a luxury. To the Aschers, theirs—so narrow only a pre-1990 BMW could squeeze in—was an opportunity to recreate scenery from the Philadelphia International Flower Show. The sunny space, with Devonian bluestone flooring over hydronic radiant heating, thermostatically controlled glass louvers, custom shelving and...

More Photos From The Shore Issue

See outtakes from Ryan Donnell’s lifeguard shoot

As we promised last week when we unveiled our 2011 Shore Issue, we've got some special online extras to keep you lusting after a Jersey beach vacation. (Have you rented your Shore house yet?)  Click through to see beautiful black-and-white outtakes from photographer Ryan Donnell's lifeguard photo shoot. Whether you're in it for the eye candy or the scenic ocean shots, there's no way this won't make you consider jetting out of work early to pull up a patch of sand.

Q&A: Bart Winokur, Partner, Chairman and CEO of Dechert LLP

Why he’s stepping down, what he really wanted to be when he grew up, and how stressful it is to manage a few thousand people

You’re going to keep practicing law, but you’re stepping down as Dechert’s CEO this month. Why now?I’ve done this job for 15 years. That’s a very long time.Growing up in West Oak Lane, did you want to be a lawyer?My dad was a lawyer. He came home from work every day, sat at the dinner table and told stories. They all had drama to them. But I wasn’t going to go to law school. I was going to graduate school to study Chinese.

Photo of the Day

Cheering with the Sons of Ben

[caption id="attachment_16146" align="aligncenter" width="438" caption="Photography by Ryan Donnell"][/caption]Person: Corey Furlan, 29Place: The parking lot outside PPL ParkThing: Marching with the Sons of Ben into a Philadelphia Union matchAre you an original member of the Sons of Ben? Yes. I’m one of the elders now, the game-day coordinator/capo—the guy who leads all the songs and chants.Is this howling victory walk a recurrent thing? We march into the stadium before every game, hooting and hollering the whole time.Feel guilty for cursing in the chants? Do parents get angry? Sometimes, yes.Nice jersey. Authentic? It is. My lovely girlfriend bought it for me, like,...