Streets Dept Podcast – SN 3, EP 12: Tattooed Mom’s Robert Perry, Our Unprecedented Moment and An Iconic Philly Bar

Welcome back to the Streets Dept Podcast, y’all! The Streets Dept Podcast is one-on-one interview podcast where I, your host Conrad Benner, sit down with the creative minds shaping the world around us, from Philadelphia and beyond. Creative minds like street artists, poets, activists, politicians, small business owners, and community organizers.

And thanks for your patience as I paused this season to adjust to our new COVID-19 normal. For this podcast, that new normal includes recording our interviews over a phone/internet connection, which is something I was trying to avoid because as listeners of this Streets Dept Podcast road trip season will know I highly value in person conversations. Alas, the moment calls for social distancing, so that’s how I’ll be recording these interviews for the time being.

Today’s guest is the owner of the beloved Philly bar and restaurant Tattooed Mom (aka “Tmoms” or “Mom’s”), Robert Perry. Robert was scheduled long before the Coronavirus pandemic, we booked for a March interview last November, in fact. But the measures taken in recent weeks to slow the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic here in the U.S. have added an entirely new frame for our conversation.

Robert and I recorded today’s episode just over a week ago, on April 18th. At that time, more than five weeks into closing Tmoms for everything but take-out service, Robert had received no help from the local, state, or federal level. So, as you might expect, we use the first half of our conversation to dive into the challenges and fears of this unprecedented moment for him and his small business that has been one of the anchors of South Street for now 23 years. But we also talk about the history of Mom’s, about the ever-changing nature of South Street itself, and Robert tells us more about growing up in Hawaii.

Check out my conversation with Robert Perry below, or on any major podcast streaming platform by searching “Streets Dept Podcast”!

Be sure to subscribe to the Streets Dept Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, or any major podcast streaming platform to receive new episodes as soon as they’re published, and please feel free to rate and write a review of the podcast on those platforms to help others find it. (Truly, rating and reviewing podcasts, particularly on Apple Podcasts, helps us so SO much, so thank you for doing that.)

Season 3 of the Streets Dept Podcast is brought to you by our brilliant sponsors at the Spring Arts district, Elfant Wissahickon Realtors, and Kismet Cowork! Each episode is mixed and edited by our producer Mike Mehalick, and each Philadelphia episode of this season is recorded at Radio Kismet!

Listen to past episodes of Season 3 here:
SN 3, EP 1: Ernest Owens
SN 3, EP 2: Jane Golden
SN 3, EP 3: Christopher Plant
SN 3, EP 4: Jose Acevedo
SN 3, EP 5: Antoinette Cauley
SN 3, EP 6: Erika Rubio
SN 3, EP 7: Daphne Rice-Allen
SN 3, EP 8: DINKC
SN 3, EP 9: Sabrina Allie and David Sabados
SN 3, EP 10: Eriko Tsogo
SN 3, EP 11: Ginger Rudolph