History & local legend
Cresheim Cottage in Philadelphia’s Mount Airy neighborhood has housed several restaurants and one recurring ghost tradition. The presence is called Emily, a girl associated with the second floor. In 2005, Cresheim Cottage Café general manager Kenneth Leger told The Temple News that objects disappeared, lights flickered and the computer malfunctioned. He also said Emily occasionally appeared in photographs, describing her as a playful presence rather than a frightening one.
The story continued when Edgar and Kim Alvarez opened Avenida in the same stone building in 2009. Edgar told a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter that late at night he could hear doors closing upstairs, which he attributed to Emily.
Sources
- The Temple News, October 25, 2005, interview with Cresheim Cottage Cafe general manager Kenneth Leger
- Michael Klein, The Philadelphia Inquirer, December 17, 2009, chef Edgar Alvarez describes the late-night sounds
- Philadelphia Architects and Buildings, Cresheim Cottage property record
- The Philadelphia Inquirer, the later Jansen restaurant and its scheduled 2025 closure
