Attention single people!

Old and busted: Doing rails off the floor of L'Etage with Jersey chicks.

Soon to be hotness: Lunching at the Kimmel.

Congratulations to the Kimmel Center, for addressing a major problem, in the most ass way possible: six years too late.

Don't get me wrong. The Kimmel Center is a gorgeous building, and when it went up my first response was that it's nicer than Philly deserves. Early on in its life, I even took to eating a brown bag lunch up on the top floor under all the sunshine that streams in that unbelievably dramatic glass roof. But I haven't repeated those lunch trips in years. YEARS! Why? Cause yeah, the building is unwelcome as hell. You just don't feel like they want you in there when there's no concert going on, and it'll take more than replacing some bricks with glass and ropes with shamrocks to remedy that.

"Right now, blank brick walls run for long stretches on the Kimmel's three public sides, Broad, Spruce and 15th Streets. The few street-level windows that exist are either frosted or curtained. Worst of all, Vinoly squandered the site's greatest asset, its Broad Street corner. He marks the high-energy spot where the city's pedestrian grid converges with a dull, black granite cube that houses, of all things, a work room for the box office."

Making the Kimmel more welcoming to the public is a worthy proposition. I just wish they could've gotten it right the first time. And I fear that they'll get it wrong again. I get the distinct feeling the result will be more akin to the atmosphere at the outdoor tables at Bliss than the Roman Forum. Which is a shame. Publicly supported buildings such as the Kimmel should hold their role as public space as central to their mission.

Here's an idea- during the holiday season, get Santa in the atrium (I think Milton Street's available), holiday music playing all around (including pumped out into the streets), throw open the doors, and get the kids in there.