Wonderland Pier closed almost two years ago. Now, Ocean City has declared part of the former amusement pier unsafe after a wall beneath the decking began caving in. Developer Eustace Mita says the iconic Ferris wheel — which his original hotel proposal called for preserving — is in such bad shape that it will have to be “literally torched” and cut into pieces to come down.

Oof.

For generations of families, that Ferris wheel was part of the Ocean City skyline. You could see it from the beach, the boardwalk, blocks away. Even after Wonderland closed, it was still there.

There’s plenty of debate over what happens to this property next, including Mita’s proposed hotel. But whatever eventually replaces Wonderland, this part is just sad.

Did the Phillies, Eagles, and Flyers collectively break a mirror? Walk under a ladder? Open an umbrella indoors?

Because in the span of 11 days, three of the most important players on three Philadelphia teams got hurt.

First, Phillies All-Star starter Jesús Luzardo landed on the injured list with a sore shoulder, just as the postseason approached. Then the Eagles lost three-time Pro Bowl guard Landon Dickerson to injured reserve with a bone bruise in his already twice-repaired right knee. And Tuesday, Flyers MVP Dan Vladař left a preseason game injured after a collision.

The Phillies were counting on Luzardo as a major part of an October rotation. The Eagles already look like they desperately miss Dickerson in the run game. And Vladař was the heart of the Flyers team that finally made hockey fun around here again last season.

Bad luck comes in threes, right? Well, apparently not.

Thursday night, Luis Arráez sprained his left ankle trying to beat out a grounder against Milwaukee and had to be helped off the field, unable to put weight on his leg. X-rays were negative, but with the playoffs days away (hopefully), it’s unclear when he’ll be able to return.

So much for completing our allotment of sports misery.

Whatever dark cloud is following Philadelphia sports around, please find another city. Four is plenty. We’ve officially met our injury quota for the month.

Finally, fall in Philly actually feels like fall. The autumnal equinox arrived Tuesday, and somehow the weather timed it perfectly: cool mornings, highs in the 60s, and just enough color starting to show up in the trees.

This is the good stuff. Open windows, sweatshirts, and walks that don’t end in sweating. It’s the beginning of leaves changing along Kelly Drive and the few glorious weeks when sitting outside is actually pleasant.

Of course, Philly weather couldn’t just let us enjoy this. A powerful early-season nor’easter is expected to bring heavy rain and winds that could gust to 45 mph in the city this weekend, with even worse conditions and significant flooding possible at the Shore.

Fall arrived right on time. Apparently, it also brought weather.

After years of hearing what SEPTA might have to cut, it’s refreshing to hear what SEPTA might actually add.

The agency unveiled an ambitious 10-year vision this week that includes new trolleys, new El cars, more accessible stations, and a pretty wild idea for Regional Rail: trains every 15 minutes or better on several lines. SEPTA says the change would essentially give the region another 75 miles of subway-level frequent rail service.

And people are riding again. SEPTA says it’s now carrying more than 800,000 daily riders, after reporting a summer spike tied in part to Philly’s huge slate of events.

There is, naturally, a very SEPTA-sized catch: Someone has to pay for all of this. The agency still faces a $192 million operating deficit next fiscal year, and much of this vision depends on additional funding.

But after years of “save SEPTA,” it’s nice to spend a week imagining a SEPTA that gets better instead of merely surviving. Regional Rail that comes every 15 minutes? Keep talking.

Speaking of SEPTA, it may have accidentally discovered its next funding source.

Philadelphians have spent years complaining about SEPTA. Turns out, we like to own pieces of it.

SEPTA dug through its vault and put old transit signs, maps, and TransPass sheets up for sale this month, and people went nuts. More than 100 decommissioned signs sold, some for $350 apiece, and the old Broad Street Line signs were among the first to go. (Duh.)

The sale came about because riders kept asking what SEPTA was doing with the old signs as it switched the Broad Street Line to the “B” — a name change many Philadelphians are still politely declining to participate in.

And apparently nothing says the Broad Street Line will always be the Broad Street Line quite like paying $350 to hang the evidence in your basement.

For 84 years, one of the most spectacular buildings in the Philadelphia region has been sitting in Elkins Park with its doors closed to the public, but not anymore.

Lynnewood Hall, the 100,000-square-foot Gilded Age mansion built for industrialist Peter A.B. Widener, is now open to the public for the first time since 1942. And naturally, a house this over-the-top is reopening (through Oct. 4) with thousands of flowers and a show inspired by HBO’s The Gilded Age.

But the really exciting part is what happens after the flowers leave.

The mansion sat abandoned for decades before the Lynnewood Hall Preservation Foundation bought it for $9.5 million in 2023 and began the enormous job of bringing it back to life. Now, the group is planning more public programming for 2027.

There are plenty of old buildings around Philly that people wish somebody had saved before it was too late, so it’s pretty nice to watch one actually get a second chance.

Six friends from a 55+ community in Moorestown have embarked on a mission to find the best cheesesteak in South Jersey, trying a new spot every month and debating the important things: bread firmness, hot peppers, meat-to-money ratio and whether Cooper Sharp was actually the right call.

There’s a spreadsheet, but no real scoring system. They mostly decide whether a sandwich is “good” or not while talking about sports, movies, and whatever else comes up.

So far, Chick’s Deli is winning. Donkey’s lost points for the kaiser roll. And they refuse to cross the bridge because there are too many cheesesteaks in Philly and, as they put it, they’re not sure they have enough time to eat them all.

Forget pickleball, these guys have retirement figured out.