Fishtown

IN HIS new book, "Coming Apart," sociologist Charles Murray does for working-class whites what he did for poor blacks in his 1984 book, "Losing Ground. " He blames them for their own troubles. And this time it's personal. To make his argument, Murray creates a fictional, white working- class area that he names Fishtown after the real Philadelphia neighborhood. Once the home of hard-working men and the families they supported, the current Fishtown is inhabited by male slackers who no longer want to work hard.

Cops seek suspect in armed robberies * Luzerne Street near K A surveillance camera recorded a man who is wanted in a string of armed robberies, and police are asking for help from the public to identify and arrest him. The man robbed a store at gunpoint on Frankford Avenue near Venango Street, in Kensington, on Nov. 2, police said. On Nov. 20, police said, the man robbed a Dunkin' Donuts on Girard Avenue near Berks Street, in Fishtown. He pulled a gun on employees, demanded money from the register and ran off with about $300, police said.

Sharon Van Etten is an itinerant singer-songwriter. Originally from New Jersey, she went to college in Tennessee, where she was involved in a destructive relationship that she mines in many of her direct, unflinching songs. She now resides in Brooklyn. Van Etten's career roots, however, begin here in Philadelphia. She recorded her first two brilliantly discomforting albums, Because I Was in Love (2009) and Epic (2010), with producer Brian McTear in his Fishtown studio, and Philly is her second home.

Charles Murray thinks I live in a bubble, and it worries him. He believes that people like me are influential but detached, and that the level of isolation in which we live jeopardizes the well-being of society. When he looks at me, here is what he sees: Main Line home, Ivy League law degree, kids in private schools, a Stairmaster in my office, and no domestic beer in my fridge. I tried to convince him that he is mistaken, highlighting that I grew up in Doylestown in a three-bedroom, one-bath home (with only a tub, no shower)

MARYELISE DOYNE told a packed courtroom yesterday about the early-morning robbery attempt by two men on a Fishtown street that ended with her boyfriend of 2 1/2 years being shot dead on Nov. 13. One man - later identified as Ryan McMunus of Kensington - had a gun, she said during a preliminary hearing, and the other pulled up his T-shirt to cover part of his face. In court she identified the second man as Richard Smith, 19, of Fishtown. Doyne said her boyfriend, Shane Kelly, 27, of Mayfair, argued with the robbers and told them, "If you're going to shoot me, shoot me. " She called police and stopped a passing female motorist at Thompson and Berks streets, and asked for help.

The robbers were young and nervous, and the victims didn't believe the gun was real. A tragedy of errors that led to the November killing of pharmacy technician Shane Kelly was detailed Wednesday at a preliminary hearing that ended with Ryan McManus, 20, and Richard Smith, 19, held for trial on murder charges. "I thought it was a fake gun," Maryelise Doyne, Kelly's girlfriend of 21/2 years, said of the small handgun held by the robber identified as McManus by another witness.

A 28-year-old Fishtown man has been charged with two bank robberies in Northeast Philadelphia, police said Tuesday. Brandon Shields was arrested Monday at an apartment complex in Wynnewood by members of the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force and Lower Merion police. Shields, of the 1100 block of East Eyre Street, allegedly robbed a PNC Bank at 6855 Frankford Ave. on Dec. 7 and a Citizens Bank at 6537 Castor Ave. on Jan. 6. - Robert Moran

Fishtown, on the whole, is an edgy, craft-beer kind of place. And Loco Pez has its share of brews to hit the required local (PBC Shackamaximum imperial stout), Mexican (Dos Equis amber on draft), and American craft (Dale's Pale Ale) touchstones. But the quality tequilas and margaritas here are clearly this bar's strongest suit. An already fine shot of Casa Noble, Herradura, or Milagro is even finer accompanied by a complimentary side of manager Sergio Ruiz's sangrita, a juicy tomato shot sparked with a distinctive fruity note of pineapple, a sweet dark tint of pomegranate molasses, and a pointedly hot finish of chile piquin.

Many restaurants take a year or more to open. "Or more" amply covers the long flight of the Pickled Heron in Fishtown, which opened last week. I first spoke with Todd Braley and Daniela D'Ambrosio in August 2008 as they charted plans for the French-inspired BYOB with the punny name at 2218 Frankford Ave. (215-634-5666). And then? "Life intervened," says Braley. That is, family situations and innumerable delays and snags. He and D'Ambrosio met nearly seven years ago as line chefs at the Ritz-Carlton.