Michael Rovner, one of the founding members and publisher of Globorati.com, has been dispensing “jet set intelligence” to travelers looking for the utmost in luxury on the website since it first launched a year and a half ago. Designed by a team of travel experts-- some former (and current) editors at Conde Nast Traveler-- Globorati is a one-stop shop for luxury travel news, taking the hassle out of high-end. The recently re-launched site now makes it even easier for vacation-hunters to plan and book their upscale escapes. As Rovner explains, “We’re putting the same amount of rigor into this that goes into a magazine. We do breaking news, big panoramic photos, and easy bookings for Expedia. It’s now a full-service site with great contributors from around the world, letting us know things you can do today and that couldn’t do yesterday.”

With that much insight into the best offerings worldwide, who better to give the in’s and out’s of his own hometown of Philadelphia than the reluctantly nicknamed jet-setter himself. psychoPEDIA chatted with Rovner to find out more about the city known best for being home to the Liberty Bell, Fresh Prince, and famous heart-stopping cheesesteaks:

What is Philly known for, according to the locals?
I recently got into a fight with someone from Baltimore who said it’s "Murder City," because I’m certain Philly is. It’s been referred to a lot lately as "Killadelphia.” If you get killed there, you don’t even make the news.

Having grown up in Philly, what’s your take on the atmosphere?
Philly is a great food city and it’s a pretty easy place to get around. It also feels very non-cosmopolitan. You know you’re not in New York, because there’s a real sense of regionality. But I’ve heard a lot of people, because of the Pennsylvania elections coming up, talking about how close to the surface race is. It seems like it’s a subtext in most conversations.

Your work deals primarily with luxury, so what would you consider the utmost in luxury in Philly?
One of the best meals I’ve ever had was on Walnut Street at Le Bec-Fin. It’s long been Philly’s best French restaurant. You need to give yourself four hours to get through it– it’s course after course after course. I would highly recommend that, even if you can just go in for desert.

The city holds many of America's most historically important landmarks. What are some that you frequent regularly?
Having grown up there, it seemed everywhere you went on a field trip at school, George Washington had spent the night. But there are great places, if you can get a bit into Bucks County, like the Franklin Mint. And the Curtis Institute, a music school in Rittenhouse Square, is a place I go to just look around. It’s very inviting.

What are your favorite museums or galleries?
I’m a big fan of the Please Touch, because they want you to touch stuff– it’s for kids. And then there’s the Franklin Institute, which is fantastic. There’s a neighborhood called Fishtown that’s sort of the new Old City. It has a lot of galleries, furniture stores, and little bohemian restaurants. It was very working class-industrial and now has become more artistic and gentrified area.

The most relaxing place?
It’s great to walk down near the Delaware River— there’s tall ships, Old City, Society Hill– a lot of cobbled streets right off Washington Square. There’s a great coffee shop there called The Pink Rose. It’s very mom and pop, almost like Magnolia Bakery, but Philly’s version. That’s a good place to kill a Saturday morning.

Best spot for catching some entertainment?
I’m an arts-house movie guy, so The Ritz—where I saw Cinema Paradiso. What’s so wonderful about that place is, since Philly wasn’t New York, it didn’t have a ton of options for that kind of entertainment when I was in college. It became a real magnet hub for people were enthused about it being there.

Philly is famous for its cheese-steak sandwiches. Where's the best place to get one?
There’s Pat's and then there’s Geno's. They’re across the street from each other and have been there for about a hundred years. It’s a real source of contention. People are pretty die-hard about it. But I’m a Pat’s guy. It’s not something majorly off-the-radar, but for your money, it’s the best option.

Other places to get great cuisine?
I always go to Bookbinders for hard-shell crabs. There’s also an Italian restaurant in South Philly called Ralph's where a lot of regulars who just run a monthly tab, that I try to drop in on. And my favorite vegetarian is Govinda's. They do tofu like no one else. I tried to create it myself, and it’s just never worked out.

Favorite bar?
There’s a really fun place called The Continental on Market Street. It’s owned by the same guy who owns Morimoto— Stephen Star. Terrific cocktails and really fun crowd. I recently took my grandma there and got her drunk in the afternoon.

Most unique places to go shopping?
There are great boutiques up and down Walnut Street. The army-navy store called I. Goldberg is amazing because they have really interesting stuff you can’t find anywhere else– cool T-shirts and jackets. And there’s a couple fantastic used bookstores, like the Book Trader on South Street and another one on Market Street that has Vanity Fairs from the 1920s. It’s been there forever.

Other places not to be missed?
A lot of Philadelphia is fantastic corner bars and little places to stumble upon. Center City isn’t the most interesting part, so if you go to somewhere like South Philly or Fishtown, it’s a fantastic mix of old and new, with old-man bars right next to great new furniture shops.


Go There:
The Pink Rose Pastry Shop, 630 S 4th Street. (215) 592-0565
The Book Trader, 7 N 2nd Street. (215) 925-0511


First photo, courtesy of Globerati.com
Third photo by henk via Flickr
Fourth photo by sccfernandez via Flickr
Sixth photo, courtesy of Please Touch Museum
Eighth & ninth photos by c diddy via Flickr
Tenth photo by F.X. Enderby via Flickr