Their star power in turn attracted more high-end restaurants, which has helped make the area highly desirable.
In 2004, two local restaurateurs, Marcie Turney and Valerie Safran, opened the elegant Mexican restaurant Lolita, the first of what has now become a mini-empire of eateries between the two women. Among other historical highlights, Ben Franklin flew his infamous kite-and-key combination during a thunderstorm right at 12th and Chestnut streets. The neighborhood’s current incarnation, as one of the thriving hubs of LBGT life in the city, might have only been since the ’70s and ’80s, but this neighborhood has a long and lustrous history.
