I had finally gotten through listening to the insanity of the West Whiteland Zoning Hearing Board meeting when a new headline for Savvy popped up. DiBruno’s which is now NOT really them any longer, it’s owned by another company now – Wakefern is closing the Ardmore and Wayne locations. A 3rd store in Philadelphia I guess someplace also is closing according to Michael Klein in the Philadelphia Inquirer. So the company that purchased them in 2024 is related to ShopRite as in that guy Jeff Brown who ran for mayor in Philadelphia a few years ago.
Apparently the original store on 9th Street in the Italian Market and the center city Chestnut Street location will survive. I will admit for DiBruno’s my heart belongs to 9th Street. That was a big part of growing up, going there with my father.
I covered the opening of the Ardmore store in 2011. The soft opening launch of it all was March, 2011. I covered it for Ardmore Patch at the time.
March 31 marked the grand opening reception for Philadelphia-based Di Bruno Brothers new store in the Ardmore Farmers Market in Suburban Square.
Di Bruno’s began in 1939, when brothers Danny and Joe Di Bruno opened a small market on 9th Street in the heart of the Italian Market in South Philadelphia. I grew up going there with my family.
My great aunts lived not too far away in South Philadelphia and as a small child my family lived in Society Hill before moving to the Main Line. Some of my earliest memories were treks to the market and to Di Bruno’s.
When you walked into the long and very narrow store that was Di Bruno’s on 9th Street, it was a feast for the senses: cheeses and cured meats were suspended from the ceiling and shelves lined the walls with all sorts of foods and coffees. Large oak barrels filled with olives, pepperoncini, and other brine-soaked treats stood at attention like soldiers. Their spicy, salty aromas saturated the store.
People were greeted with a smile and the brothers were always helpful. You could truly trust them to give you something fabulous when you asked for, say, a suggestion on a cheese or cured meat.
One of my late father’s favorite stories about Di Bruno’s took place one Christmas time, and centered around an older woman in the store who was dressed in neat but threadbare clothes. As he told it, the woman was struggling with what she could get with the very little money she had, when one of the Di Bruno brothers asked if she needed help. She showed them what she had, and they said it would be fine and filled two large shopping bags with food for her. It was obviously far exceeding what she would have been able to pay for, but that was just the way they were. They were kind and they treated all their customers like family.
That feeling and legacy have survived throughout the generations and informed every store Di Bruno’s has opened.
While their latest opens for regular business on April 5in the Ardmore Farmers Market in Suburban Square, Di Bruno’s opened their doors on March 31 for a grand opening celebration that was heaven on earth for foodies.
The Ardmore Market is a very clean and well lit modern space, yet Di Bruno’s, as they have with their other stores, has maintained the feeling of the Italian Market. They spared no expense and treated all of the guests to the delectable treats that made them famous, in addition to samplings from their catering menu.
If the crowd at the grand opening is any indication, Di Bruno’s will be not only a welcome addition to the Main Line food scene, but an incredibly popular one as well.
Buona fortuna Di Bruno’s and welcome to Ardmore!
Here are some photos I took at that launch party:
I only went to Wayne a couple of times because well, Carlino’s in West Chester is out here. Wayne was a big gamble for them when it opened in 2021. I wondered how it would do over time. At the same time they opened Wayne, it seemed like Ardmore was just less than it was before. But I also heard the rents in Suburban Square are crazy expensive around that same time, so was it unexpected to me this news today? Actually yes. I always figured when Wayne opened, eventually Ardmore would be phased out because the Ardmore Farmer’s Market has been a fauxmer’s market for many years, dating back to when DiBruno’s opened there in 2011. As a matter of fact, it was DiBruno’s that got me to go back to the Ardmore Farmer’s Market at all.
Anyway, it’s a major bummer, and I feel sorry for the employees. That will be a BIG empty space in Wayne across from the farmers market there. In Suburban Square? Meh. Kimco will plug some drek in their spot in the fauxmer’s market.
So Savvy Main Line blew the lid off of Radnor Township School District and the book banning of it all. The complainant ONCE AGAIN was the SAME guy who tried before, only this time, Radnor’s current unimpressive Superintendent of Schools Ken Batchelor who has obviously forgotten all about the diverse communities he once served, and STILL serves, seems to be capitulating to this dude’s whims?
My opinion on Batchelor is overwhelmingly he needs to go.
What is this man who oops started this again really afraid of? Did Superintendent Ken Batchelor misplace his balls somewhere? Yes, I just did say this because libraries? Libraries are supposed to be a peaceful place. A refuge. A haven. A safe place. I was and still am a bookworm. I loved libraries as kid. It was a place to escape, to visit foreign lands, learn something new, develop your own intellectual curiosity.
A library (again) is supposed to be a safe space.
This same man who has been wreaking havoc in Radnor probably embarrasses his kids, but are they allowed to have their own opinions? So he can keep his own kids out of the library and away from certain books and I have to wonder if he knows what his own kids get up to on the internet, social media, at the mall, etc.? Probably not.
I think this Radnor secret committee is also BS. I hope more and more people jump on this and give the Radnor librarians and librarian everywhere facing these issues back their libraries. And if these committee members are so proud of what they have done, why don’t they stand up in public?
And for every book that is banned, people need to open little free libraries of banned books everywhere.
If you don’t want your kids to read something, that is your personal choice as a parent, except if you think your kids will just not check something out that you said no to like a simple book, were you ever a kid? For me it was Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret, yet I think some of those novels like Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Tom Jones or Valley of the Dolls were a lot more racy.
To follow is the excellent Savvy reporting and Radnor School District won’t allow embedding of their videos so follow this link for the March 11, 2025 Policy Committee Meeting. I also dug up some old articles from when this guy started the witch hunts and book banning circus before.
Here’s hoping Radnor finds a new superintendent along with reversing this book ban. Parents need to parent in their own homes, not an entire school district. Would that this man who is at it again be so passionate about drugs, alcohol, and bullying. And well this angry dad could put his kids in Catholic school or a Christian school. But no, he wants Radnor taxpayers to pay for his phobias. Radnor taxpayers is that ok with you? It would not be ok with me.
Choice. Look it up, Mr. Phobic. Here’s hoping you allow your kids to have choices.
Well I know this has been brewing a while but wowza. I feel sorry for the neighbors. I don’t play pickleball, so it means nothing to me. I have friends who play and love it. However I do know that it is unusually noisy.
I did a little nosing around and found out this has been going on for a while (as in more than a year? Maybe two years almost?) AND if you listen to the entire meeting somewhere a neighbor says pickleball courts were built without permits? I did a screen record of the meeting because Easttown has their meeting on You Tube but unlisted so that makes me think they could disappear so….
I found the Upper Main Line Y response ineffective. I am told that the Brandywine Y (which I guess owns them now?) has or has had similar issues? I remember a big issue when they wanted to put pickleball in Lionville a year or so ago.
So things about the meeting that made me laugh out loud: kind of asking Eattown to pay for or pay towards noise mitigation with some special fencing? Umm I am still wondering HOW they built the courts without permits?
Back to the meeting. The residents were well spoken and polite. Many of the Upper Main Line YMCA (“UMLY”) supporters and patrons…less so.
One person, can’t recall her name, was as rude and dismissive as could be…and is the apparent chair of the Willistown Planning Commission? Well we all know how Willistown residents get so wonder how she would be feeling if it was next door to her ?
Some of the patrons of UMLY were pleasant-ish and polite, as I mentioned. But so many of the others? Asshats with a misplaced sense of entitlement. I did not hear any neighbor say take away the pickleball courts, only that the noise HAS to be dealt with. Some of the most immediate neighbors, like on Longcourse Lane (a great street, incidentally) are showing by my research as being in Tredyffrin. So accomplishing anything is harder because UMLY is in Easttown.
Here is where UMLY is on the zoning map. Notice the R-1 AKA Residential:
Here is the another attachment – a land use table- I found in e code 360 on zoning:
So again, not a zoning professional. Not an attorney. But I can read. And I have to ask if UMLY is playing a game they can win? And yes I suggested a land use lawyer to a friend to pass along to the residents. Ask the residents in Narberth and even Willistown who have used this man and they will tell you worth every penny.
I added the lighting component of the zoning code because that is also a consideration. Hypothetically, lights might be on later than needed in part to liability concerns. However, I also have to ask WHY those courts are not locked up at the close of every day and even seasonally when it’s too cold to play pickleball or tennis for example? I am asking because residents said at this meeting where pickleball was continuing AFTER operating hours at UMLY? And I will note at present in Radnor an elite private girls school is being rude to neighbors with super daylight bright lights at night shining into windows of neighbors. They lock their courts but say they have to keep lights on and they are not down shielded so I have been told you can wake up at 1 AM and it’s like noon. That is light pollution and that also has serious environmental impacts. It affects bird migration and other things.
Residents are entitled to a reasonable expectation of quiet enjoyment, and people might like playing pickleball at UMLY but the residents do indeed have to be considered. And they are not being considered. Neighbors have apparently been trying to deal with this for a couple of years? These neighbors are far nicer than UMLY deserves. Personally I would have given them six months.
UMLY needs to be told a cautionary tale: the tale of Dink City Pickleball that opened for a brief time at Valley Forge Military & College….and closed because the neighbors in Tredyffrin had enough of the noise rather quickly.
Dink City Pickleball was forced to close due to a violation of the township’s R1 (residential) zoning code. The business received a notice of violation in July 2023, giving them 30 days to appeal or cease operations. No appeal was filed, and the business announced that August 14, 2023 would be its last day.
Finding the holy grail – a place to play pickle – just got easier, Main Line.
Two enterprising locals just opened what they say is the largest pickleball facility in the northeast: Dink City Pickleball at Valley Forge Military Academy & College.
And unlike YMCAs, country clubs, and Malvern’s new Bounce Pickleball, you pay only for your reserved court time. No need for a membership….With the tagline “community at play,” Dink City is more than cushioned courts, painted lines and regulation nets.
“It’s all the social things around pickleball that we offer – that’s the differentiator,” Norton tells SAVVY.
Think food trucks, corn hole and music on weekends, plus lessons, clinics, leagues, tournaments, pro shop, private events and birthday parties….“I love getting out on the court and getting a good sweat on,” says Norton who’s played pickle for nine years. “But just as much as that, I like hanging out with friends and family afterwards, maybe having a beverage or a taco or something from a food truck. That enhances the experience for everybody.”
The courts have lights for evening play and will be available year-round. “There are some hard core pickle-ballers out there who will play in the cold,” Norton says. “It’s like paddle – once you get moving, you warm up a bit.”…The two decided to cash in on the craze but make it community-oriented rather than an exclusive club. A real estate broker connected them to Valley Forge Military, which has been seeking new revenue streams to offset falling enrollment. (Since 2010, VFMAC has sold 20 acres to Eastern College, five acres to Bentley Homes, and most recently, 23 acres to developer Rockwell Custom for a new senior living complex.)
“The quickest win,” the partners say, was repurposing the lightly-used tennis courts on Radnor Road in the Tredyffrin section of campus. They loved the “heart of Wayne” location – a stone’s throw from St. David’s Golf Club and close to multiple schools, campuses and country clubs.
And if all goes well, outdoor courts in Wayne could just be the beginning for Dink City. VFMAC is in early talks to turn its equestrian center into a sports complex that might include Dink’s first indoor courts. Craft and Norton are also looking at properties in and around Philly and Maryland – although they haven’t yet quit their day jobs.
Yeah and then a few weeks later, it was sayonara Dink City, again I refer to Savvy Main Line:
IN A PiCKLE IN RADNOR. Just two months after they cut the ribbon on a popular new 16-court pickleball facility at Valley Forge Military Academy, Dink City Pickleball is closing.
The trouble began with a “handful of complaints” about noise from neighbors, according to Tredyffrin Zoning Officer Erin McPherson. When she investigated, she found the commercial business was operating in violation of the township’s R1 (residential) zoning code. She sent a notice of violation on July 14, giving Dink City 30 days to appeal for zoning relief or cease operations. No appeal was filed, she says, and today Dink City announced that Monday Aug. 14 will be its last day.
“This is not the end,” wrote owners Bryson Craft and Robbie Norton in an email. “Dink City will be back better and stronger than ever.”
The partners – both young local fathers and pickleball enthusiasts – had leased four lightly used tennis courts from Valley Forge Military Academy and invested big $$ converting them into a state-of-the-art pickleball center with leagues, clinics, “Dink and Drinks” nights, summer camps and more. (See our story in the June SAVVY – link in profile and scroll down.)
“We tried to resolve the issue with the township but they wouldn’t accept our proposals,” co-owner Craft tells SAVVY.
Dink City will refund Open Play memberships and any account balances as of Aug. 15
Pickleball noise is a real problem. There is even a group on Facebook devoted to it – all areas of US and Canada:
IMPULSIVE/IMPACT SOUNDS: By definition, an impact sound is simply the solid collision between two objects, such as hammering, dropped objects, a door slamming shut, metal-to-metal impacts, etc. Impulse sound is defined as the product of a force and duration with which the force is applied. More specifically, impulse is the time integral of force from an initial time to the final time, the force being time dependent and equal to zero before the initial time and after the final time (ANSI S1.1–2013). – ……. The measurement of impulse noise is becoming increasingly common within the industrial hygiene field. Issues for measuring impulse noise issues include dynamic range, frequency range, anti-aliasing, microphone/preamplifier/power supply, sampling rates, etc.. Whether an SLM, dosimeter, or computer-based recording system is used, good impulse noise measurements are not trivial to make. The limits of the microphones may be reached. The influence of nonlinear acoustics can dramatically affect the measurements. – Taken from The Noise Manual, 6th Edition.
Like many pickleball players, when I hear (another) story about how noisy pickleball is, I simply roll my eyes and spew a few snarky remarks about how some people just can’t let others have any fun.
So, you can imagine my response when I discovered there was a Facebook Group called the “Pickleball Noise Relief Group.”
My eyes rolled back, my lips curled, and I prepared to write something blasting a bunch of Karens for wanting to shut down pickleball.However, after a few conversations with the group’s leader, Nalini Lasiewicz, and actually listening to what they had to say, I realized that automatically labeling them as a pickleball hate group that just wanted to ruin our sport was completely off base.
And my preconceived notions about people complaining about pickleball noise couldn’t have been further from the truth.
Basically, I was … I am wrong. And so are many of us who think that pickleball doesn’t actually have a noise problem.
Because for these people and many others who are too afraid to speak up, it’s a serious problem that’s causing them health and mental issues.
Pickleball players: it’s time we admit that there is a pickleball noise problem.
Meet Nalini Lasiewicz
Nalini Lasiewicz is a resident of a Los Angeles suburb who first got involved with pickleball noise issues during the COVID lockdown….Nalini says this exact scenario has played out countless times since she became an administrator of the Facebook Group created by Rob Mastroianni, a Cape Cod resident who had to sell his family home due to the noise becoming too much to deal with.
The group is dedicated to finding and supporting others across the country in similar situations. For many, it’s a platform that allows them to find ways to regain the peace they’ve lost in their neighborhoods.
Look, NO ONE IS SAYING NO PICKLEBALL. But UMLY needs to do right by the neighbors. And that doesn’t mean Easttown Township and taxpayers should be paying for noise mitigation. And If Tredyffrin shut it down at Valley Forge Military Academy and College, zoning is not so different from municipality to municipality given that the Municipalities Planning Code of the Commonwealth of PA guides it all, correct?
I have no horse in this race, but I have been watching pickleball issues out of curiosity for a while. So Easttown and Tredyffrin residents near UMLY, I hear you and I am not hearing anything other than wanting your environment back. You aren’t being unreasonable. But UMLY and Upper Main Line Y? They are. And still I ask…how did they build pickleball courts without permits if that is indeed true?
Easttown Township needs to deal with this and not play kick the can. Tredyffrin Township could step into help residents if the supervisors can stop contemplating their collective navels long enough, yes? Expectation of quiet enjoyment? It’s a real thing. So pickleballers? This is a real issue. It’s not the noise you all are hearing, it’s what the residents are hearing and that is NOT the same thing.
Pay attention to the Model Noise Ordinance video I embedded here. They talk about the expensive anti-noise fences/barriers. They are discussing how it doesn’t work….
Ok Christmas is not going to decorate itself around here. Have a good night.
Is Instagram now really The Diary of a Malignant Narcissist? High on the hog of her Main Line Tonight interview, she’s back on Instagram proclaiming not sure exactly what?
My true unfettered amusement on this first screenshot is she still doesn’t get how the Main Line works. Not my job to educate. Also, what is she responding to? My opinion?
This above? Just wow, right? Words are cheap and she sure is slinging them like mud, oui? Like at our local journalist and all around wonderful lady, Caroline O’Halloran? For real? You are going after her too? All those court dockets are just lies too? Police reports? Does she live in an alternate universe or does Melissa Jacobs have it right when she refers to her as Hillary White Jean: The Main Line’s Anna Delvey? (Careful, Melissa, you are probably next. as everyone takes a turn in her blame game, don’t they?)
I’m not quite sure what the point is with the posts about Tehrani brothers? She’s not exactly the wounded party here, is she? I mean this is just one of two retail store leases she skipped out on in Wayne isn’t it? Did they have to accept what she purportedly proposed?
I don’t really know Nancy Volpe Beringer, other than who she is and I watched her on Project Runway and cheered her on. But what do these posts prove? Because if you think about it, of course, Nancy can wear her own pieces. She either designed them, or actually owns them, correct?
And once again, she pivots back to a subject of some obsession doesn’t she? Why so obsessed with publicist, Sarah Doheny? After all, if you bounce checks to someone and stiffed them on the total amount of what you agreed to pay them, how is that other person supposed to feel? Wasn’t there someone different as a publicist down in Glen Mills? Seems a wee bit stalkeriffic as a whole, doesn’t it?
I don’t pretend to have the answers here, I am following along with popcorn like everyone else. But I just don’t get it and I have to wonder if victims are feeling victimized yet again?
First Savvy Main Line then Main Line Tonight seemed to have established that what happened in Wayne is a repeat pattern from other businesses in other places, right?
Also curious? Why she leaves out text messages like to her former publicist, Sarah Doheny? Like these two (she does all of the talking it seems except for a polite blue reply which is Doheny?) :
Curiouser and curiouser. Where are you hiding Keith Morrison?
has declared bankruptcy five times in three states since 2011, most recently on Jan. 30 of this year.
has been repeatedly sued for alleged nonpayment of bills and has had at least four court judgments entered against her since 2021.
has been arrested three times since arriving in Wayne: twice last summer for passing fraudulent checks and once three weeks ago for witness intimidation, harassment and other charges at her preliminary criminal hearing before Radnor District Judge Leon Hunter. The Delaware County DA and Radnor and Newtown police have all confirmed ongoing investigations of Jean.
To the public, she was a smart businesswoman, a former hairdresser from Haiti with a sharp eye for style and a winning personality who worked hard for the designer clothes she wore and the Range Rover she drove.
Jean marketed herself as both “the first black business owner in Wayne” and a fashion pioneer who was upping the Main Line’s style game. “We’re bringing Rodeo Drive to the Main Line,” she once told SAVVY with a 100-watt smile….
But court and police records and our interviews with multiple sources reveal a woman who repeatedly changed names, addresses and businesses and stiffed people and companies whose fashions she sold, whose space she rented, and whose services she engaged.
In the last two years, Hillary White Jean has opened and closed three stores: Lady M Boutique (M was for millionaire) in Glen Mills, HJ Boutique at 106 E. Lancaster Ave. in Wayne (now the home of Wheelhouse Cards) and JWH Boutique at 209 E. Lancaster Ave. at the former Mattress Factory/Tehrani Rug Co. building, also in Wayne…..In an early January email to customers dotted with all-caps exclamations, Jean called her time in Wayne “phenomenal … We MADE HISTORY. ASK SIRI … We were named the New Beverly Hills Fashion Boutique in Wayne.” She blamed “unfortunate unexpected circumstances” for her store’s closure and invited customers to shop online.
“Perhaps it’s just temporary,” she wrote. “We are in the middle of a renegotiation. We’re NOT sure how it will work out.”
But according to her Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy filing on January 30, 2023, she owes nearly $476,280.42 to her first Wayne landlord, School Lane Holdings Co., with whom she signed a five-year lease with a personal guarantee, and $67,103.42 to her second Wayne landlords, Reuben, Benjamin and Youda Tehrani.
A certain bizziness “lady” at present from Wayne (I say at present because there is always a chance for moving – New York, Delaware, Glen Mills, a quickie jaunt to Miami and more, right?) is due in court soon. Two different police departments seem to have taken issue with her. Newtown Township, Delaware County and Radnor Township, Delaware County.
She, blithe spirit that she is, has been taking to social media to air her grievances and promises doom and gloom on her website where she seems to be selling what used to be in her store. (She accepts GPay and Credit Cards, natch!) She also has to tell you how fab she is because if she doesn’t remind you, how else will you know?
She also has been posting comments of “supporters” which most people call sock puppets, so are they designer sock puppets?
What is a sock puppet? So glad you asked:
I am sure she will strike a pose in court. I am sure she will call anyone who objects to her behavior or has had le bounce bouncy checks, etc., etc. racist. She is pure of heart, it’s the rest of the world who is wrong. If your on her good list will she toast you with some vino from the Hamptons?
Oh my, she’s discovered me. Shockers. Give me a minute.
Then it was edited.
So. First things first. I am nobody says the woman who arrived here and expected everyone to lap up her bougie B.S. (Note I said bougie not boujee.)
Alrighty then. To her I am nobody. That’s fine. I don’t know people who do things like what Radnor Police etc. have said what she did. (Refer to Savvy Main Line article.)
Now the other day she had plenty to say about Caroline O’Halloran and someone else it seemed like. Maybe now it’s my turn, I suppose? Is she threatening me? Calling me out behind the gym? Why? Did I create her issues? It seems to me she’s a grown woman who made her current choices, oui?
Now she talks about 15 minutes of fame? Maybe just maybe that’s a little light projecting on a Saturday? You see I hypothesize that she wanted her 15 minutes of fame, but this wasn’t the 15 minutes of fame that she probably envisioned, right?
I wonder if she thought after leaving NYC, then going to Delaware, then Glen Mills, PA, that Wayne, PA was going to be the golden mile because it was the Main Line? I don’t know and none of us can get inside her head, but it seems a mite *crowded* hating on people, doesn’t it? Does hating everyone instead of owning her actions make it easier to deal with? Again don’t know, that would be a psychologist’s job.
The Main Line is a funny place. Even more today than it used to be. But one thing has never changed. You can’t just move there to belong. Much like any other affluent suburb. You have to be invited to belong, if you feel you need to sit at the ultimate popular girls table. This is a nuance that so many don’t get.
Hillary doll, I grew up on the Main Line. So I don’t need 15 minutes of anything, nor do I have to seek or do seek relevance. I am sure next you will vaguely or not so vaguely refer to me as, or call me a racist. Do you do that to everyone, I wonder? You seem to have patterns, and for a smart woman, you’re not being smart. And that is my opinion. Just like it is my opinion, that on some level this is a tragedy in many acts. You are a woman who is obviously extremely bright and attractive, so why is this the path?
And oh by the way, my blog doesn’t even have an Instagram presence. That was a fraudulent account God knows who created that was reported to Instagram a long time ago. So you probably should block it to be safe.
Also, the media and police are all watching your socials. And they read my blog. I am sorry for your troubles, but I didn’t cause them and neither did Caroline O’ Halloran.
On Tuesday, I’ve been put on this lady’s front page (swipe left) to see page. Surprise , I’m either the last one or never heard before . Batching my name and my character for something that could have a civil matter with parties involved. Instead, they made it criminal. Where there are some much far worst things in this neighborhood that are being kept (under the radar)”ushhh”
But I became their pray. NO ONE I mean NO ONE cares to ask me what’s my side of the story.
This story will go much farther I promise you. I will get many people involved with (Facts, receipts, emails, texts, etc..)
Stay tuned to hear my side of the story very soon!
I am astounded. This is so ugly. A second day of she was wronged, but no explanation as to how that happened or did I miss something?
Where did Savvy Main Line go wrong? By reporting what happened? Public court dockets? Court dockets of a person who made themselves a PUBLIC FIGURE vis à vis somewhat shameless self promotion? Oh and that’s opinion, covered under the First Amendment, much like Caroline O’ Halloran as a journalist.
What did the article get wrong? Or is it more like the article got it right and this is a diversion so the public doesn’t peek behind the wizard’s curtain and see that it’s not all glam and designer?
Are the police lying? Is she saying Radnor Township Police got it all wrong?
How was the Savvy article or what has been said racist exactly? The answer is this has NOTHING TO DO WITH RACE AND NEVER HAS. This is about right and wrong. Doing the right thing. Paying your rent, paying your suppliers, paying others who did work for you? HOW IS THIS REMOTELY RACIAL IN NATURE? It kind of begs the question of if this person herself is behaving in a racist manner because the person who wrote the story she doesn’t like is a different race than she is?
Is this just a cancel culture attempt?
Do you know who Caroline O’Halloran is to me? She is a woman who bore witness to me ringing the bell after breast cancer treatment. That is who she is. And she is a gifted writer who was all fine and dandy to this person when they were giving a nice positive review of the now closed store when it opened, right?
*Also Note* The post at opening of this post keeps changing. It was recently edited again and will show version that opened post and edited version. What is up with editing? Is what happened supposedly one person’s fault as in OTHER than the boutique owner?
Appeared 3/2/23 InstagramEdited late 3/2/23 into 3/3/23
Yet another version she corrected because of the fact she used a certain word:
Below is the link to the Savvy Main Line Article. Read it for yourselves. I am sorry if anyone is disappointed that I think calling the race card here is out of bounds. Racism is a terrible, horrible thing. But to weaponize it, just is not right.
FEBRUARY 28, 2023 / BY CAROLINE O’HALLORAN / 43 COMMENTS /
Hillary White Jean wafted into Wayne on a cloud of luxury perfume, designer heels, extravagant cars and personal charm.
Sixteen months later, her splashy store, JWH Boutique, departed in the December darkness, leaving a string of angry landlords, fashion vendors and small business owners in her wake.
Court and police records show that Jean:
has declared bankruptcy five times in three states since 2011, most recently on Jan. 30 of this year.
has been repeatedly sued for alleged nonpayment of bills and has had at least four court judgments entered against her since 2021.
has been arrested three times since arriving in Wayne: twice last summer for passing fraudulent checks and once three weeks ago for witness intimidation, harassment and other charges at her preliminary criminal hearing before Radnor District Judge Leon Hunter. The Delaware County DA and Radnor and Newtown police have all confirmed ongoing investigations of Jean.
To the public, she was a smart businesswoman, a former hairdresser from Haiti with a sharp eye for style and a winning personality who worked hard for the designer clothes she wore and the Range Rover she drove.
Jean marketed herself as both “the first black business owner in Wayne” and a fashion pioneer who was upping the Main Line’s style game. “We’re bringing Rodeo Drive to the Main Line,” she once told SAVVY with a 100-watt smile.
Everyone and everything in Jean’s orbit looked the part. Her clothes were chic, her stores were sleek, her website polished.
And the media lapped it up.
She ran prominent ads for a year in Philadelphia Style, including a pricey full-page spotlight as a “Dynamic Woman” of 2022.
She made the rounds of TV news shows and newsmagazines.
And she threw showy shindigs, most notably last fall’s “Cocktails and Fabulosity” party to celebrate the opening of her second Wayne location. The e-vite asked guests to “dress to impress;” she hired a “Real Housewife of NYC” to up the glam factor….….But court and police records and our interviews with multiple sources reveal a woman who repeatedly changed names, addresses and businesses and stiffed people and companies whose fashions she sold, whose space she rented, and whose services she engaged.
In the last two years, Hillary White Jean has opened and closed three stores: Lady M Boutique (M was for millionaire) in Glen Mills, HJ Boutique at 106 E. Lancaster Ave. in Wayne (now the home of Wheelhouse Cards) and JWH Boutique at 209 E. Lancaster Ave. at the former Mattress Factory/Tehrani Rug Co. building, also in Wayne.
At 3,700 sq. ft., JWH Boutique was her most largest and most exalted emporium yet. Like the others, it lasted mere months until, faced with a court-ordered repossession by her landlords, Reuben, Benjamin and Youdi Tehrani, she quietly moved out on New Year’s Eve…..According to her own handwritten bankruptcy filing, Jean owes nearly $1.4 million to 27 different entities. While the bankruptcy claim is pending, creditors must stop collection efforts. If the bankruptcy goes through, Jean’s debts will be wiped out.
Among her listed creditors in addition to her two Wayne landlords: $44,189.85 to the fashion label Camilla Australia (a top vendor), $46,000 for a Land Rover car loan, $40,000 to Modern Luxury (owner of Philadelphia Style), $7,210.96 to PR agent Sarah Doheny of YUB PR, and a total of roughly $10,000 to the party planner, florist, and photo/video team she hired for “Cocktails and Fabulosity.”
In her bankruptcy filing, Jean claimed these were all personal – not business – debts. She filed under the last name “Jean Joseph.” On every other court and police record we reviewed, she is named “Hillary White Jean.”…On June 10, 2022, Jean was arrested, charged with four counts of passing bad checks and one count of deceptive business practices. According to court records, she was confined to Delaware County Prison briefly on July 18 until she was able to post $10,000 bail.
On August 15, Radnor Police arrested Jean a second time and charged her with passing bad checks and “theft by unlawful taking”…She did, however, attend her Feb. 9 preliminary hearing on criminal misdemeanor charges in Delaware County District Court. The hearing never happened because witnesses saw Jean moving closer to and pointing her iPad at alleged victim Volpe Beringer in the waiting area, presumably to take photos in violation of posted PA law, according to Reuben Tehrani, Volpe Beringer and a third alleged victim who wishes to remain anonymous.
Jean was also overheard repeatedly saying “bitch” as she spoke to a companion “in a foreign language,” according to the Newtown Township police report.
At Judge Leon Hunter’s direction, Jean was arrested. Police charged her with witness intimidation (a felony), harassment, disorderly conduct and unlawful use of a recording device in court, the report states.
If convicted, she could be fined, put on house arrest or jailed.
So once we all got over oh le shock because of all the schools for scandal which have popped up on the Main Line, this one is a true doozy position, yes? So this morning, this is what popped up on Instagram:
I thought wow, she’s playing a card I didn’t see coming. Maybe I should have. We’ll start with the obvious: explain the “lies”? One of the folks she is in dispute with has shared this which was posted on social media:
So….there was also NYC. Found this video, which if it ends up like other social media will disappear, but for now there is also “in the beginning“:
So obviously this is an extraordinarily bright and resourceful woman, yes? So why did it all lead to this? And how? And her post today, which I am today was maybe not the only one? Is she someone who has literally been caught doing not such nice things and her response is to play the race card?
Yes there ARE two sides to every story BUT #alsharpton #protest #blackmainline REALLY? Is she saying this happened to her because she is black? Is she trying to get a civil rights thing going to cover up what was reported or distract from it? That just sat funny with me. So I called black friends to ask them their opinions. After all, I am a white middle aged woman and I don’t know what it is to be anything other me.
I spoke with black and bi-racial friends. I sent them the article from Savvy and the screen shot above. I asked them their thoughts. These friends are from various areas, including the Main Line (and not from living there as of five minutes ago.) They all said they found what she implied distasteful and one friend in particular said that it is wrong and just bad form to cry wolf after getting caught doing something potentially terrible and saying it’s a racial issue. A black female friend said black women have to work twice as hard as other women so why do something that may be classified as God don’t like ugly?
I marvel at this whole sad tale, and it is sad. Again, obviously a bright woman, so what happened? What is the disconnect? There is a lot wrong with the Main Line, no one can ever deny that. But to imply if she was white this wouldn’t happen? Nope sorry. If anything, I think she actually didn’t research the area she was coming into enough. And underestimated what would happen when she went from a smaller stage in Glen Mills and Delaware prior to that to a larger stage in Wayne, PA. And she started in New York, right? Huge city, blink and people are onto something else. But the Main Line? Over priced fishbowl. You could be a pink pussycat, it would still happen.
And let’s talk about that whole coming to Wayne. She got lots of press. She had a publicist who placed it well. That put a giant spotlight on her. Television and magazine and more. I have to wonder if the designer Caycee Black from Project Runway really hit her DMs up on Instagram?
The Main Line is a funny place. Always has been. However, even though it is more nouveau Main Line these days, you still have to watch how hard you try to climb. People keep book. It’s true. I actually have warned some others in the past who didn’t pay attention to that. While they didn’t have the scandal factor, it still didn’t work out how they planned. But this lady? Check her debtors list for the bankruptcy, it’s quite the who’s who. And seems like most aren’t talking. Why?
One thing I do not get is how did this all get so far? It’s genuinely a head scratcher for sure. Maybe we will never know. Maybe she will move away and the scandal will be forgotten. Except this happened in Radnor Township. Tongues wag there as fast and furious as in Lower Merion….and well when you pose for faux society photos….and I did have to laugh that these were still posted on the photog’s website of “society” because face it, Main Line “society” as it were doesn’t really exist anymore anyway.
Is this a story that will grow legs, or die on the Main Line and off? Too early to tell but I have to ask, are they opening a store in the Hamptons? If she thinks the Main Line is a tough crowd, oy wait until the bloom falls off the rose up there, right? Is she still pals with her housewives?
Hillary White Jean wafted into Wayne on a cloud of luxury perfume, designer heels, extravagant cars and personal charm.
Sixteen months later, her splashy store, JWH Boutique, departed in the December darkness, leaving a string of angry landlords, fashion vendors and small business owners in her wake.
Court and police records show that Jean:
has declared bankruptcy five times in three states since 2011, most recently on Jan. 30 of this year.
has been repeatedly sued for alleged nonpayment of bills and has had at least four court judgments entered against her since 2021.
has been arrested three times since arriving in Wayne: twice last summer for passing fraudulent checks and once three weeks ago for witness intimidation, harassment and other charges at her preliminary criminal hearing before Radnor District Judge Leon Hunter. The Delaware County DA and Radnor and Newtown police have all confirmed ongoing investigations of Jean.
To the public, she was a smart businesswoman, a former hairdresser from Haiti with a sharp eye for style and a winning personality who worked hard for the designer clothes she wore and the Range Rover she drove.
Jean marketed herself as both “the first black business owner in Wayne” and a fashion pioneer who was upping the Main Line’s style game. “We’re bringing Rodeo Drive to the Main Line,” she once told SAVVY with a 100-watt smile.
Everyone and everything in Jean’s orbit looked the part. Her clothes were chic, her stores were sleek, her website polished.
And the media lapped it up.
She ran prominent ads for a year in Philadelphia Style, including a pricey full-page spotlight as a “Dynamic Woman” of 2022.
She made the rounds of TV news shows and newsmagazines.
And she threw showy shindigs, most notably last fall’s “Cocktails and Fabulosity” party to celebrate the opening of her second Wayne location. The e-vite asked guests to “dress to impress;” she hired a “Real Housewife of NYC” to up the glam factor….But court and police records and our interviews with multiple sources reveal a woman who repeatedly changed names, addresses and businesses and stiffed people and companies whose fashions she sold, whose space she rented, and whose services she engaged.
In the last two years, Hillary White Jean has opened and closed three stores: Lady M Boutique (M was for millionaire) in Glen Mills, HJ Boutique at 106 E. Lancaster Ave. in Wayne (now the home of Wheelhouse Cards) and JWH Boutique at 209 E. Lancaster Ave. at the former Mattress Factory/Tehrani Rug Co. building, also in Wayne….according to her Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy filing on January 30, 2023, she owes nearly $476,280.42 to her first Wayne landlord, School Lane Holdings Co., with whom she signed a five-year lease with a personal guarantee, and $67,103.42 to her second Wayne landlords, Reuben, Benjamin and Youda Tehrani….Perhaps Jean’s most high-profile alleged victim is the Philadelphia-based fashion designer, Nancy Volpe Beringer, a 2022 Fashion Group International “Rising Star” who made history as a finalist on Bravo TV’s “Project Runway” at age 64.
So the very active social media accounts, especially Instagram are disappearing faster than a politician under indictment. I will note that the next stop for this designing woman, or this woman that have designs on OPM based on the Savvy Spectacular. So I will post all of those. But first here’s a screenshot from somebody who really must not like this person very much:
Yes, Hillary Jean Crook is a Facebook page. Not much to it other than that screenshot above.
So something else worth mentioning is the next stop for this woman was supposed to be a store in the Hamptons. Now the baby Instagram page disappeared – this is what I snapped before it disappeared:
So, without further ado, here are the screenshots I grabbed. Accounts and related accounts. this whole thing just blows my mind.
Oh Joe Gale. Once I thought he showed promise. But it sadly has become apparent over time that he is nuttier than a fruitcake and so divisive. He seems hell bent on his personal agenda, which also seems as clear as mud some days, doesn’t it? And I find it fascinating that he does all this while living with his mommy, and what happens when he brings a girl home? For those wondering why I write about a Montgomery County Commissioner, it’s because I spent most of my life living in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County and when he was first running people I know and respect told me how wonderful he was blah, blah, blah and how he would be terrific for Montgomery County.
Wrong.
In Italy they call men like Joe Gale a mammone which literally translates to “mommy’s boy”. There have been a lot of articles written about mammoni (plural of mammone) and I find it all fascinating. Some of the articles ruminate about these guys having Peter Pan complexes. And CBS 60 Minutes even did a piece on mammoni years ago and maybe we should suggest Joe Gale for an updated piece?
Now I am not saying I have a problem with Joe because he’s young. One of our Chester County Commissioners, Josh Maxwell, is not much older than Joe Gale and somehow he manages to live on his own and is married and is an adult (and a heck of a nice guy too.) Josh became Mayor of Downingtown at 26. Sadly, Joe Gale is no Josh Maxwell.
Joe Gale doesn’t have emotional maturity, he seems instead somewhat stunted, and isn’t that sad?
Now I am not saying that the other two Montgomery County Commissioners are prizes, because oh hell to the no they are not. Montgomery County is a political swamp in need of a good draining and cleaning. And Montgomery County has surpassed the dysfunctional prizes once held by Delaware County ( see the chronicles of Delco Tom Paine before they disappear. Peter Porcupine is still a genius.)
Now if Joe Gale actually did anything for Montgomery County residents, well I probably would shut my mouth. But all he does is push his own somewhat clear as mud agenda from the comfort of mommy and daddy’s house. In June he released a very offensive statement concerning rioting, looting, and Black Lives Matter by any standards conservative or liberal in my humble opinion:
If you objected to his words, you were blocked on social media. He blocked me, which I realized on June 2, 2020 but I can’t say definitively it occured in June or before because I don’t follow him THAT closely. He’s not the first politician who has blocked me. I found myself blocked (for example) by our PA Lieutenant Governor, the Lurch-Like John Fetterman in July, 2019. Amusingly enough, I am still blocked. I just took this screenshot:
Now I don’t really care if John Fetterman blocks me. Or Joe Gale for that matter. But it is damn amusing that hater of everything non-Trumpian, Joe Gale would want to be like John Fetterman.
Anyway, constituents and others including my pal Caroline from Savvy Main Line took baby Joe to Federal Court and I applaud them:
It made for some interesting media and the Montgomery County Solicitor declined to defend Joe. Here are some of the articles I have read in the past few months:
Yes I got into PACER. First Amendment victories thrill me.
So hey this is what Joe Gale thinks of all of us:
My gosh Joe Gale, isn’t the First Amendment marvelous? I mean I know you think it should be subjective and all that but it gives you the right to literally call a divine Main Line lady,Caroline O’Halloran and the rest of us who simply do not agree with you the “Marxist Mob”. My gosh my golly I have not been referred to as anything so delightful since a white sneaker wearing tea partier spat in my face and called me a Socialist years ago (while I was a card carrying Republican, no less.)
So Joe Gale started out like a true Alex P. Keaton at 20 running for Plymouth Township Council I think it was. He lost. Ran for something again there in 2013 and withdrew. He ran for Montgomery County Commissioner in 2015. He has more political experience if you want to call it that, than actual work and life experience. He worked for about a year at a clerk position at Montgomery County Recorder of Deeds. He then had job for three years at some developer. Briefly in 2018 he ran for Lieutenant Governor. So the job he has held the longest is Montgomery County Commissioner, but what has he actually done?
Back when he first wanted to be a Montgomery County Commissioner I found his Alex P. Keaton-ish self meh but palatable. After all considering the legions of skunks who had been Montgomery County Commissioners how bad he could be?
Well….
Let’s look at how he has approached COVID-19? Is it just me or does he act like it’s not real? And look at all the photos he poses for, including with old people which makes you wonder is he doing contact tracing? Or is anyone doing contact tracing on him?
Joe Gale’s website is a marvel of spin and oh the giggles. However, he marches all over social media angrier than Trump and that is saying something. Do they tweet to each other from the potty? Oh and his Twitter account @VoteJoeGalePA says “Joe Gale’s Personal Twitter Account. This is Not a Public Platform or Official Government Page.” Oh alrighty Joe and I have a bridge you can buy in Brooklyn….but I digress….
A First Amendment victory against petty political tyrants like Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Gale is to be celebrated. However, I have zero sympathy for anyone in Montgomery County if you let this mammone get re-elected.
This post is brought to you by my First Amendment rights. If you live in Montgomery County, do yourself a favor and DON’T vote Joe Gale whenever he’s up again or for whatever he tries to run for next. Mail him some new binkies and call it a day. Or demand he gets recalled. There has to be a process for that somewhere right?
And all you loverly politicians out there who like to block constituents in Chester County? This ruling against Joe Gale is a very much more local not so distant legal precedent.
