How to have the Perfect Philly Day, according to Center City’s biggest champion Prema Katari Gupta

Prema Katari Gupta spends a lot of time thinking about Center City, even if she doesn’t live there.

Katari Gupta, 47, became the CEO and executive director of the Center City District last year, a job that has captivated her since she was a master’s student at the University of Pennsylvania in the early 2000s and obsessed with understanding the relationship between urban planning and a city’s economic vitality.

» READ MORE: From 2023: Many people say Center City is unsafe, but Prema Katari Gupta wants to change that perception in her new role

Under her leadership, Center City foot traffic and retail occupancy has nearly rebounded to prepandemic levels as other cities’ downtowns continue to struggle. Katari Gupta’s signature program has been CCD’s series of Open Streets pop-ups, which close parts of Rittenhouse Square and Midtown Village to traffic to spur more strolling, shopping, and dining.

The initiative brought more than 115,000 visitors to the area in its first year — and so much whimsy that Katari Gupta regularly fields pleas for the street closures to become permanent.

That’s not in the cards yet, Katari Gupta said, though Open Streets is expanding this fall. CCD will pedestrianize seven blocks near Rittenhouse Square for six consecutive Sundays from Sept. 7 through Oct. 12.

“It’s easy for us to construct narratives about things going horribly, and that’s not to diminish all that’s going wrong in the world,” Katari Gupta said. “But I think one of the reasons Open Streets has captured a lot of attention is that it feels like progress.”

» READ MORE: Editorial: Could Philadelphia’s embrace of the Open Streets program spur more civic innovations to come?

Katari Gupta lives in bucolic West Mount Airy. But to no surprise, a perfect Sunday brings her right back to Center City for a day of shopping and sightseeing (and a little bit of work) with her daughter.

Here’s how Katari Gupta gets the most out of a Sunday — which, of course, includes Open Streets.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

I wake up early because I like to start the day with a quiet house, but that’s changed since we got a puppy six months ago. She’s a Portuguese water dog named Gusty. My daughter, Leela, named her that after the Taylor Swift song [“August”].

I usually walk Gusty around the neighborhood before going on a run along the Wissahickon or to a weight-training class at Balance in Chestnut Hill. They have really good music, lots of ’90s hip-hop.

If you don’t weight-train yet, start. I really wish I hadn’t waited until my 40s to do it.

I come back in time for breakfast. My husband, Anuj, is a phenomenal cook. He takes Sunday breakfast really seriously. I’m gluten-free, so he likes to make me a quiche and pancakes or waffles for the kids.

Afterward, Leela and I will take a morning train on the Chestnut Hill West Line into Center City for Open Streets. I think she’s come to almost every single one with me. ... Leela loves Open Streets. As the mother of a 16-year-old daughter, it’s nice to have an event where she genuinely likes to hang out with me.

It’s actually really funny. If I walk on the sidewalk during Open Streets, she [chastises] me. Her line is “Commit to bit. Walk on the street.”

We always aim to get to Open Streets between 10 a.m. and noon to see the bubble magician. ... It’s the most joyful thing you can imagine. These little kids have been told their entire lives to not leave the curb, so they start off so cautious. But once they realize the street is open to them, they start running around to chase the bubbles. It never gets old.

One of other things Leela and I like to do first is get a caffeinated beverage. Coffee for me and lately matcha [green tea] for her. We try a different place every time, but our favorites lately have been Black Turtle Coffee and The Grounds Rittenhouse.

As Leela and I walk through the [Open Streets] footprint, I like to check in with our staff about what they’re seeing.

This is the point where my daughter will often get annoyed with me and my yapping, as they say, and run off to do some shopping on her own. She loves Urban Outfitters, Mejuri, and the third-floor sales rack at Anthropologie. (Thank goodness for my wallet.) I feel really safe with her wandering around during Open Streets as a parent.

I also do some window-shopping on my own, which is when I’ll ask store managers and employees what they think of Open Streets. No one expects this random middle-aged Indian lady to have anything to do with the event, so I get really honest feedback.

Sometimes, though, Leela and I shop together, so she can make sure the jeans I buy from Madewell aren’t too cringe. Recently she helped me pick out a pair with a wide-leg and a slight crop. Certified not cringe.

The breakfast my husband made is usually so big that Leela and I don’t need a full lunch, but we do need ice cream.

There’s so many good ice cream options in Center City right now, but I really love Malai on 18th Street, just south of Rittenhouse Square. It has really wonderful Indian-inspired flavors that remind me of the desserts my mom used to make, but my favorite is their [Masala] Chai.

I don’t do toppings. In fact, I’m an ice cream purist. I will often judge an ice cream establishment on the quality of their vanilla. It has to taste fresh.

After this, Leela and I would walk to the Barnes Foundation for an hour or two. I was an art history major [at Bowdoin College], and Cézanne is my favorite painter, so I go to the Barnes whenever I can.

My daughter loves art museums almost as much as I do. I’m actually amazed that I gave birth to someone who can outlast me in an art museum. She’s fun to go with because she likes contemporary art, so different things catch her eye and we get to have very insightful discussions.

By now, my son, 12-year-old Ren, will be done with baseball, so he and my husband will come into the city to meet us for dinner.

We go to Amma’s [South Indian Kitchen]. My family is actually from southern India, so that’s the food I grew up eating and that my late mother used to make me. Amma means mother, so it’s doubly meaningful.

We like to get all the basics, especially the dosas and the idli.

My perfect nightcap is a Phillies game.

My husband will tease me for saying this, but I am a fair-weather Phillies fan. I mean that very literally. I do not care if the team is playing very well or very poorly. I care if the weather is nice. The ideal is a cool Sunday evening in September.

My husband and son are not like me, though. They’re diehards.