The business lunch \u2013 or the martini lunch, or the \u201cpower lunch\u201d, whatever it might have been called in your culture \u2013 is now largely a thing of the past. It would be easy to blame the recent plague, specifically the devastation wrought upon civic life by the performative social and political reaction to it, for this demise; however, multiple managers of old Philadelphia clubs have assured me that weekday lunch, once a staple not only of club life but of downtown life in general, had and has been on a continuous downward trajectory since the late 1970s (Jimmy Carter famously attacked the decadence, not to mention the deductibility, of the \u201cmartini lunch\u201d, and one might think of this as a cultural inflection point on the matter).\u00a0<\/p>\n
So we might be right where we would have been, pandemic or no, in downtown Philadelphia and everywhere else. In any case the practice is largely illegible to the youngest generation of white-collar workers (if they wear collars at all; usually not), to the point where, as with some ancient ritual once passed down by a now-broken oral tradition, they might not even know how to do it even if they wanted to. But fear not, and lament not: for as with any symbolic death there is opportunity in rebirth.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Sodden Prometheus\u201d<\/p>\n
On a Friday in June, I and a group of other gentlemen began, warily, to attempt a reanimation. Like figures from Shelley (Mary or Percy, take your pick from the Gothic pair), we gathered in the mahogany-paneled dining room of our club as though around a page torn from some Victorian anatomy book \u2013 or even spellbook \u2013 without fully understanding the strange physicking behind what we sought: a thing necessary to satiate our hubris but which, if improperly summoned, might rise from the table to kill us. We started with the rudiments, the base ingredients we knew to be correct: club members only (no guests), men only (no women), and a commitment from each man to a full three (3) martinis. Of course some circumvented this last point with an array of legal loopholes and accounting tricks, the most salient of which was the \u201cespresso martini\u201d, but still the magic held. The menu, too, stuck to the prescription: no, not eye of newt and toe of frog, but perhaps surprisingly close: turtle soup, fried oysters, chicken salad. (An aside: many transplants or latter-day folk might not realize that turtle soup is an old Philadelphia staple, perhaps our most distinctive one, and is typically topped with hardboiled egg and dry sherry; it is often called \u201csnapper soup\u201d on menus, not for the fish but for the snapping turtle, and now you know).\u00a0<\/p>\n
The results of this resurrection were grand: a convivial gathering of a dozen or so young men, half in their 20s, half in their 30s, and all of them stumbling home after cigars around 5pm (which might sound civilized until one recalls the Noon start time). In future for this ritual we might consider modifications \u2013 steaks or guests or even women \u2013 but for a first stab at necromancy you really want to go by the book; we have all seen the movies where they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
There was one deviation from the past, however, one which really made the whole thing work. It was not the attendees nor the menu but this: the lunch was not for \u201cbusiness\u201d \u2013 that is, it was not for insurance brokers, by light of a cigar, to sell other insurance brokers insurance on still some other insurance broker\u2019s insurance \u2013 but rather entirely social, and it was not centered around a particular industry but instead ran the gamut. Invitees ranged, occupationally speaking, from the bland and standard (wealth management, real estate; these days those really can\u2019t be helped) to more exotic fare (a portrait artist, a clothing store proprietor, a sculptor\u2026 even a pseudonymous cultural columnist!), and all gathered for camaraderie and community.<\/p>\n
And this is a microcosm of Philadelphia\u2019s strength as a city, for all its foibles. Business lunch can decline; business itself can decline downtown; but, ah, people do enjoy it here for other reasons. We have never been an Austin, a Nashville, a Miami, cities that boom when winds blow their way but which are vulnerable to the inevitable bust. We have our issues, Lord knows, but the city remains robust, energetic, and surprisingly resilient, even without the obvious advantages of other places: without the lucrative jobs markets of Boston (biotech), New York (finance), or DC (palm grease).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why? Because people mainly live, and do not merely work, downtown, and they like doing so; more so, in fact, than almost anywhere else in America. I have seen it cited many times (there is no single source or metric, but the assertions are out there) that Philadelphia has the largest downtown residential population of any American city outside New York. People actually live here, and in houses, too, with quaint relics like staircases and basements and neighbors they know; not in dystopian, identical \u201cluxury units,\u201d aseptic layer cakes of strangers that might as well be portals to hell.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a result, property values are surprisingly steady, even growing, not because of a booming jobs market or the concomitant influx of transplants that attends it, but because, by and large, our Center City is walkable, livable, eatable, and drinkable for the people who are from here \u2013 not to mention historic, civilized, and beautiful. In fact, a New York Post writer, of all people, marveled at Philadelphia in a 2024 article: \u201cWhile NYC descends into chaos, Philadelphia is a model of urban order,\u201d read the bold headline. He railed against the scourge of endless scaffolding in New York, and the hordes of \u201cunlicensed junk sellers\u201d lining the streets, while standing in awe of our complete lack of the same. \u201cGrand, genteel, and civilized, Philadelphia feels like New York as it should be.\u201d I could have kissed him.<\/p>\n
But our success as a city is a two-way street. Yes, it requires public officials charged with the task to create a quality of life worth living, especially for those free to take their tax dollars elsewhere (and, generally speaking, the people for whom it is easiest to up and leave have the most tax dollars to take). But it also depends on those who love our city to stay and live in it, to raise children in it, and to commit themselves to civic causes so that what we have had for centuries is not lost. Too often we see rootless (might we say mercenary?) millennials treat cities as fungible commodities \u2013 what can this city do for me, and at what price? \u2013 rather than as permanent places, their family seats, their communities, their home.<\/p>\n
So clear your calendar one afternoon \u2013 Thursdays and Fridays are best \u2013 gather your friends, head to your club (they even have \u201cnew ones\u201d now; the Fitler Club is one), and pat yourself on the back as you finish your third martini: you might just be saving our city.<\/p>\n
\u201cParks & Recreation\u201d<\/p>\n
The following week brought me to the \u201cBall on the Square\u201d, the Square of course being Rittenhouse. If you have ever looked around and marveled at the uncommonly well-maintained greenery, statuary, grass, benches, and fences, you owe a debt to the Friends of Rittenhouse Square, who do all this the old-fashioned way by raising private money rather than waiting around for City Hall. Their flagship event \u2013 a large, big-ticket, black-tie ball under a massive structure built in the center of the square for the purpose \u2013 raises a large amount of money for this maintenance (between this event and their general fundraising throughout the year, they really have assumed the bulk of the financial responsibility for the entire park; how amazing, and how admirable).<\/p>\n
Each year the organizers tinker with the format, one year holding the main ball on Thursday and then a \u201cYoung Friends\u201d event \u2013 slightly more casual, and much more financially accessible \u2013 on Friday, while all the infrastructure was still up. This year the plan was different still: the Young Friends party, which I attended (the perqs of being Perennial), began indoors at the Curtis Institute right on the Square before joining the main party around 10pm for dessert and dancing with an impressive live band under the big tent.<\/p>\n
The benefits of this format were many. First, it introduced a large crowd of young professionals to the Curtis Institute, astonishing not only for its physical buildings but for its world-class reputation. It was shocking to me how many in attendance had never heard of the Institute, nor even of the building in which they stood. (How anyone could daily pass by a string of enormous and pristine Gilded Age Beaux-Arts mansions at the corner of 18th and Locust \u2013 in fact, one stares directly at them from the real seat of Philadelphia power, Parc \u2013 and never wonder or ask about them is beyond me; but we are working on that.)\u00a0<\/p>\n
For those who still don\u2019t know, Curtis is the best classical music conservatory in the United States and is regarded by some as the best in the world. \u201cBetter than Juilliard?\u201d my guest, who has lived directly across the street for years, asked in utter disbelief upon hearing me describe it this way. To which I gave the only answer a true Philadelphian could give: \u201cYes.\u201d Indeed many argue that Curtis\u2019s exclusive focus on classical music (there are only enough spots to maintain one full symphony orchestra and opera program at any given time; no \u201cdrama\u201d or \u201cdance\u201d divisions here), combined with the fact that the school is fully endowed for everyone (it is approaching an astounding one hundred years without charging a single dollar of tuition to any admitted student) allows it to attract the most competitive musicians and makes it the most selective conservatory of its kind. It is a compelling case.<\/p>\n
A second benefit was that all the supporting institutions were classic Philadelphia ones. Raffle winners received memberships to Andalusia, the historic Biddle family estate on the Delaware, and to the Barnes Foundation, as well as tickets to the ballet and the orchestra; while our own tickets to the party went directly toward the beautification of Rittenhouse Square and, indirectly, raised awareness among the young \u201cfuture-philanthropist\u201d set of Curtis as one of our city\u2019s most venerable and important institutions. We were also treated to a classical violin performance by a current Curtis student. This was all remarkably sober, judicious, and admirable on the part of the event\u2019s organizers, especially in light of the seemingly ubiquitous tendency of Young Friends groups to program for an audience they wish they had rather than for the one they actually do. (Believe it or not, even young people do not require classically trained musicians to play pop and hip-hop \u201cmash-ups\u201d in order to enjoy a performance).<\/p>\n
Finally, we ventured out to the Square to enjoy its once-a-year transformation into a lavish, outdoor ball. Again, one of our city\u2019s greatest strengths is the desirability of its downtown as a place to live, not to work; so while to some near-sighted readers a drinking (as opposed to a working) lunch, or a party in a park instead of a protest in one, might seem frivolous, they may just be the breath of life.<\/p>\n
Join me next time as I journey across the many semiquincentennial spectacles our city has on offer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The business lunch \u2013 or the martini lunch, or the \u201cpower lunch\u201d, whatever it might have been called…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5400,12501,6033,102224,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-237369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-clubs","tag-cocktails","tag-culture","tag-food-and-beverage","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}