More pop-up pleasures around Philly this summer

TEMPORARY, free-to-enter hangouts are popping up all over town.

Independence Beer Garden: Opens July 4, construction willing.

The front of the old Rohm & Haas building - all 20,000 square feet of it - will serve summertime comfort food from former "Top Chef" competitor Travis Masar out of food trucks, plus ping-pong, bocce, craft brews and more, right across the street from the Bell.

Groundswell's doing the landscape design on this space, too.

100 Independence Mall West, 6th and Ranstead streets, open daily (11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Tuesday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-midnight Friday, 9:30 a.m.-midnight Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday), 215-922-7100, phlbeergarden.com.

PHS Pop-Up Garden: Opens early July.

The Horticultural Society picked the yard next to the Jamaican Jerk Hut for its fourth such summertime location. They plan cabanas, hammocks, lights and a rotation of performers, plus beer, dark 'n' stormies, watermelon and, naturally, food trucks, plus the Hut's jerk chicken, oxtail and ackee.

1438 South St., open daily (11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-midnight Friday, noon-midnight Saturday, noon-10 p.m. Sunday), through mid-October, phsonline.org.

The Oval: Opens July 16.

The sometime parking lot, sometime staging area facing the Art Museum got its first summertime face-lift last year. Now, the oversize chess and checkers, nine-hole putt-putt and white umbrellas are back, as are - wait for it - food trucks, outdoor movies and, new this year, local art and bright sandboxes.

2601 Ben Franklin Parkway, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, noon-7 p.m. Saturday-Sunday through Aug. 17, theovalphl.org.

- Lauren McCutcheon