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PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Customers are thrilled the original Jim's West Steaks & Hoagies in West Philadelphia is back in business, and they formed a line around the building. "I'm so excited," said Nitah Dunham from West Philadelphia. "The food has always been good." "In my opinion, it's the best cheesesteak in town," said William King from West Philadelphia. But now, customers can expect to see armed agents out front. "The violence has spiked," said Co-owner Cortez Johnson. "It goes up and down. You want people to feel safe and be safe. So when they come out and eat, they don't...

The cheesesteak is a sandwich beloved by many. It's a quintessentially American meal that comes from one of the most historic U.S. cities: Philadelphia. Now, nearly a century after Philly restaurant owner Pat Oliveri (owner of Pat's King of Steaks) created it, the cheesesteak is an essential part of American food culture

A landmark Philly cheesesteak stand has removed a sign posted a decade ago that told customers to order only in English. Geno’s Steaks in south Philadelphia made headlines in 2006 over a small sign posted at the shop stating, “This is AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING ‘SPEAK ENGLISH.’” …

THE LOW POINT of Joey Vento's career probably was facing trumped-up charges that dragged him before the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations. He was accused of discrimination, but no matter how high the kangaroos in the court jumped, they couldn't produce anyone who was discriminated against at his neon-loaded, nurse-clean sandwich shop. At the time of the hearing, Joey told me CHR "violated numerous civil rights of me." The high point of Joey Vento's career was showing up at Geno's before daybreak to prepare his iconic sandwich shop for the day's business. The 5-foot-5, tattooed, gold chain-laden South Philadelphian was...

South Philly legend Joey Vento, who opened Geno's Steaks at 9th and Passyunk in 1966, died today of a massive heart attack. Vento was 71.

A testy U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry yesterday blamed clueless voters with short attention spans for the uphill battle beleaguered Democrats are facing against Republicans across the nation. “We have an electorate that doesn’t always pay that much attention to what’s going on so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than the facts or the truth or what’s happening,” Kerry told reporters after touring the Boston Medical Center yesterday. Conservative political blogger William Jacobson, who writes Legal Insurrection, immediately pounced on Kerry’s comments, saying that attitude is why voters are looking to shake up Capitol Hill by electing...

PHILADELPHIA—Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin takes her cheesesteak with Cheese Whiz and onions. The Republican vice presidential candidate made a brief campaign stop at Tony Luke's steak shop in South Philadelphia on Saturday evening. Wearing jeans and a beige raincoat, Palin greeted curious onlookers, signed autographs and posed for pictures before ordering two steaks to go. "Sarah, your steak is ready," a cashier said over the loudspeaker a few minutes after she ordered. As dozens of onlookers crowded around her, Palin headed back to the window to pick up the order. The cashier told her the order was on the house,...

Philadelphia - While the Commission on Human Relations may think the fight against cheesesteak tycoon Joey Vento is out for the count, the steak slinger himself said he's got one more round in him. Advertisement From the brick walkway honoring fallen Philadelphia police officers outside Geno's Steak in South Philadelphia, Mr. Vento, flanked by his attorneys, said he is giving the Commission on Human Relations 30 days to decide whether or not to change a vital piece of its policy - or else they will sue. On March 19, the commission, in spite of pressure from City Council to press...

Philadelphia police continue to look for two men (in surveillance footage above and below) accused of attacking a Geno's Steaks employee. The owner of the business is offering a reward. Police say it was around 6:30am December 27th when two males started to argue with a female employee at Geno's Steaks about the now notorious sign there "this is America, when ordering please speak English". A male employee, Tony Chestnut, was power-washing the sidewalk when he went to his co-workers aide. Chestnut, who is recovering at his south Philadelphia home, describes what he says happened next. "When I just waved...

SO I'M lying on a sunshiny beach in Florida earlier this week, enjoying 84 degrees of warmth, and find that I'm thinking about Joey Vento. No, I wasn't yearning for a "cheeze-wit." I was reading about a language dispute even more insane than the decision by the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission to haul Vento into court. As we all know, Vento is charged with discrimination for asking his customers to speak English. (The sign at Geno's reads, "This is America. When ordering, please speak English.")

THEY SAY YOU can't fight City Hall, but last Friday Joey Vento stood tall (at 5-foot-5) in the center ring of the circus to answer a discrimination complaint filed against him by the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations. Vento's been a handy punching bag for the press. Local editorial writers and columnists have vilified him as a racist, a nativist, a know-nothing, a do-badder, because of his (now world-famous) 4-by-9-inch sign at the window of his Geno's Steaks that reads: "This is America. When Ordering, Please Speak English." Some believe that is hate speech. For some reason (hate, perhaps?) the...

PHILADELPHIA - A small sign that asked customers to order in English at a famous cheesesteak shop was never meant to be offensive, the shop's owner testified Friday at a hearing to decide whether the policy was discriminatory. Joe Vento, the owner of Geno's Steaks, defended his policy before the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, which filed the discrimination complaint. "This country is a melting pot, but what makes it work is the English language," Vento told the commission. "I'm not stupid. I would never put a sign out to hurt my business." Vento posted two small signs in October...

English-only cheesesteak fight continuesBy PATRICK WALTERS Associated Pres The battle over an English-only ordering policy at one of Philadelphia's signature cheesesteak joints is apparently far from over. The city's human relations commission found evidence that the owner of Geno's Steaks may have discriminated against immigrants by posting a sign telling customers, "This is AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING 'PLEASE SPEAK ENGLISH,' " according to a letter sent to owner Joe Vento last week. Vento's attorneys had hoped the matter would be dropped, but the commission said in the Jan. 31 letter that it found probable cause that discrimination occurred and was moving...

PHILADELPHIA – Harry Olivieri, who with his brother Pat was credited with inventing the Philly cheesesteak in 1933, had died. He was 90. Despite a heart condition, Olivieri had showed up at Pat's King of Steaks almost every day until about three years ago. He died of heart failure Thursday at Atlantic City Medical Center in Pomona, N.J., his daughter Maria said. Harry and his older brother opened a corner hot dog stand near south Philadelphia's Italian Market in 1930. Three years later, they made the first version of the sandwich that helped put the city on the street food...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Bistec con queso? Not at Geno's Steaks. An English-only ordering policy has thrust one of Philadelphia's best-known cheesesteak joints into the national immigration debate. Situated in a South Philadelphia immigrant neighborhood, Geno's - which together with its chief rival, Pat's King of Steaks, forms the epicenter of an area described as "ground zero for cheesesteaks" - has posted small signs telling customers, "This Is AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING `SPEAK ENGLISH.'" "They don't know how lucky they are. All we're asking them to do is learn the English language," said Geno's owner Joseph Vento, 66. "We're out to help...

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Does Governor Ed Rendeel need to worry about winning a second term? You would think he doesn't, given the fact that he trounced Mike Fisher with a majority of 332,951 votes just a scant two years ago. ... So if you were Governor Rendell woudl you worry? Yes! The Governor looks at figures a little closer than most Pols do. And the figures that are striking is just how close President George W. Bush came to taking the Commonwealth from Sen. John Kerry. The governor early on election eve congratulated Congressman and Democratic Party Chairman Bob Brady on a record...

The Regular Guys For Bush, a 527, want to remind the people of the Delaware Valley of the grave transgression Presidential Candidate John Kerry did to the people of the Tri-State area, at Pat's Steaks (South Philadelphia) in particular, on August 11, 2003.

We've all heard of Senateur John Le Kerry's little faux pas in Philly the other day: If Sen. John F. Kerry's presidential aspirations melt like a dollop of Cheez Whiz in the sun, the trouble may well be traced to an incident in South Philadelphia on Monday. There, the Massachusetts Democrat went to Pat's Steaks and ordered a cheesesteak -- with Swiss cheese. If that weren't bad enough, the candidate asked photographers not to take his picture while he ate the sandwich; shutters clicked anyway, and Kerry was caught nibbling daintily at his sandwich -- another serious faux pas. "It...

<p>W.C. Fields said it best: Better there than dead - but not by much.</p> <p>There's a reason a half-million people have left Philadelphia over the last 50 years.</p> <p>They don't want to be there.</p> <p>This is not some new phenomenon. W.C. Fields would pick Philly only if the alternative was internment.</p>