They got a new garden & a mural

SUDDENLY, THERE'S a new garden and mural at East Passyunk and Wharton Street in South Philly where there once was dilapidated mess. But things are still a bit of a mess.

For decades - since 1947, according to lot owner Maria Olivieri - the concrete plot was a parking area and a Dumpster area for Pat's King of Steaks. (Back then, Pat's belonged to Harry and Pat Olivieri, her father and uncle.) In recent decades, the slab had become an eyesore encased in drooping chain link. Its main use? As a place for steak stand patrons to take a (non-cheese) whiz.

But in the past few weeks, America's TV cooking sweetheart, Rachael Ray, changed all that. Two days ago, Ray taped an episode of "The Rachael Ray Show" next to the lot. It will air this month and will feature Ty Pennington, a "Grill-Off," Patti LaBelle, Boyz II Men - and the lot, now sporting a cheerful, two-building mural of Harry Olivieri, snowcapped mountains and fruit labeled "Passyunk's Finest Pears." There's also a stunning garden with 16 tall containers of vegetables and herbs, a green-roofed shed and a 2,869-gallon rainwater-collecting cistern.

It's cool - a definite improvement. Still, there's something . . . weird. At least, that's what nearby resident A.J. Mazzu thought while watching the taping. "What do pears have to do with Philly?" he wondered.

Francis Cretarola, the owner of Le Virtu, an Italian restaurant on the Avenue who last year worked with the community and the Mural Arts Program to create a scene of Abruzzo on a vacant wall next to his outdoor dining area, agrees. "I don't understand exactly where the mural even fits into any idea of South Philadelphia," he said.

Police Officer Ace Delgado, who helms community relations for the district and attended the taping, got a good chuckle from the scene. He asked, "What do you think might be better? Tomatoes? Basil? Peppers? Garlic?"

Said Jimmy Reds, of nearby Geno's Steaks, "Harry was a great guy. But pears? I don't know where they came up with that. Maybe it's something to do with the show."

Turns out, Reds is right. When the producers wouldn't pay the fee the Mural Arts Program wanted for supplies, paying an artist and assistants and maintaining the work, Ray's peeps gave the paint job to the show's coordinator, Delancey Birzin, who happened to have worked on a mural here before.

Birzin said his main concern was doing the mural in three to six days - and impressing the boss. He chose pears because it began with a "P," just like Passyunk. He got some local artist pals to help, patched crumbling spots in Olivieri's building's wall, and "threw the paint at the wall as fast as we could." Hurricane Irene did some immediate damage. He patched that up for the show.

Mural Arts representatives are concerned the mural will be forgotten by the show and its crew. But Birzin isn't worried. "I can come back," he said.

The bigger problem might be the garden. Ray's team enlisted a landscape architect from Florida, its own New York crew and the Camden Children's Garden in, obviously, Camden, to do the planting. They'd like the Camden organization to oversee it. But CCG executive director Mike Devlin has watered the plants and locked the gate for what might be the last time in some time.

"We're not coming back here in Philly to start a program. We just want to do the turnkey thing and turn it over to local folks to take care of it," he said.

Unfortunately, Devlin doesn't know the neighborhood so well - he even asked this reporter several times if she gardened, or would like to learn, so she could volunteer there. Fortunately, the community has a growing number of green thumbs.

"We have enough folks nearby who are dedicated and will take care of it," said Renee Gilinger, of the East Passyunk Avenue Business Improvement District.

So far, however, she's not sure if anyone's signed up. She hopes Devlin will find volunteers. "It's odd when stuff happens in such a quick fashion," she said. "You can't do a community project in that amount of time, but you can do a TV show."