Do you remember, toward the beginning of the film Ghost, when the main characters’ Sam and Molly emerged from the movie theater? Out they walked into an ominous-looking neighborhood, where litter blew like tumbleweeds and shady characters drifted on by. You just knew something bad was about to happen.

In 1990, the young couple that was my wife and I departed from Phoenixville’s Colonial Theatre after seeing that movie, and I recall joking with her then that Willie Lopez (the guy who comes out from the shadows, shoots and kills Sam) might be lingering nearby, since the real-life Bridge Street scene looked as similarly iffy as the one in the movie.

Reeling ahead to today, that same baleful street has become an illuminated and welcoming Restaurant Row-- "The New Manayunk" it has been deemed--a former steel mill town revitalized into a main thoroughfare full of tempting dining and shopping opportunities. Bright lights, little city: modern day Phoenixville is rising.

The contrasts to Manayunk, that once-gritty Philly-side burg, are startling. Both have blue collar, workaday roots; both are situated along the Schuylkill River; and each has seen an impressive renaissance. Delving deeper and you can find an actual rebirth reference point. Manayunk’s is Jake’s, the hip, high-end restaurant that helped to start it all in 1987. In Phoenixville, it’s the Colonial Theatre.

Barry Cassidy, director of the Main Street Community Development Corporation, an advocacy group that works on revitalization projects, has been one of the primary agents of change within Phoenixville, recognizing the theater’s historical and architectural significance. Now a turn-of-last-century town icon, the theater’s potential, along with a vast nearby populace--many of whom would rather stroll down a neighborhood main street than slog through soulless hallways in the nearby King of Prussia mall--have helped Phoenixville to burgeon.

Cassidy cites proximity to Routes 422 and 30 as a primary reason for this continuing growth. "Thankfully," he said, "all roads lead here. To have restaurants, you have to have people going to them."

And restaurants there are. Where, once, long ago, Phoenixville proper had a singular main draw (The Columbia Bar & Grille where a young Steve McQueen is purported to have ordered the pork chops while on location for his film debut in The Blob), it now boasts handfuls of notable eateries.

If Jake’s was a culinary catalyst for Manayunk, then, surely, Majolica, the cozy five-year-old restaurant on Bridge Street has been an alluring, upscale destination to Phoenixville. Since chef Andrew Deery and his wife, Sarah Johnson, opened their clean, quaint BYO (at a site that was its antithesis, once a cigarette smoke-stained shot-and-beer joint) accolades and buzz have followed.

Prior to Majolica, however, chef Guy Clausen’s Black Lab Bistro, situated just across from the Colonial, sat poised for years, ready to accept the downtown- discovering masses. Probably the funkiest of P-ville’s eateries with its cool canine décor, the Bistro offers a city-like vibe, creative New American cuisine and a fabulous a la carte Sunday brunch.

Quickly, the Del-based chain Iron Hill Brewery recognized the vast potential awaiting them in Phoenixville. Three years ago, its owners snagged a space of their own (while real estate was still affordable) and they’ve been doing solid numbers from this IHB outpost. With Iron Hill’s arrival, the restaurant floodgates opened and in poured...

Molly Maguire’s: The most prime spot in town to recently become available had been the northeast corner of Bridge and Main streets. Kildare’s own Dave Magrogan tried to snap it up, instead, two other brogue-ish gents, Declan Mannion and Conor Cummins, grabbed it and their Molly was born. Irish to its core, with Kildarian similarities to be sure, the duo has struck emerald-flecked gold there. To build on this success, they’ve also recently opened The Fenix next door, a martini bar with a tapas menu, open only Thursday through Saturday nights.

Other newcomers abound: 101 Bridge Street, located in the rehabbed Superintendent’s Building (a gloriously imposing manse), which serves a surprisingly ambitious menu brought to us by the Baxter’s crew (West Chester); Ryan’s Pub, another West Chester watering hole, has set up camp next to the Colonial Theatre; the brand new Pickering Creek Inn (37 Bridge Street), serving comfort food (and a stellar draft beer menu) in a bar that was the long-running Mansion House. Its chef/co-owner is Ken Kaufmann, who toque’d at the General Lafayette Inn (and had been a touring chef for The Rolling Stones); Spiedie Bistro (pronounced "SPEE-dee"), a healthy-alternative foods shop serving bison, veggie wraps, marinated chicken and pork dishes; La Creperie Café, possibly one of the more romantic Bridge Street spots with its tawny brick walls and tin ceiling, serving sweet and savory fare that’s a BYO nod to Breton; Marly’s (108 Bridge Street), a warm, eclectic BYO serving chef Michael Favacchia’s inspirations (fans are calling his Roquefort walnut-crusted filet mignon "the best entrée in town"); The Moon Saloon, a down-home boot-scooter with hot, curvilinear bartenders that are modeled after the ones in the flick Coyote Ugly.

And then there are the older-timers: The aforementioned Columbia Bar & Grille, still serving juicy chops, expensive martinis and boasting two of the more civilized bars in the borough; and Tyler James Pub, a rough-around-the-edges bar.

We can’t forget a few other notables: Steel City Coffee House, the original hipster’s hangout with good java and live entertainment; Los Mariachi’s (201 Gay Street), a real Mexican restaurant run by real Mexicans, and then, off the main drag, Sly Fox Restaurant & Brewery (some of the best micro brews in the commonwealth), The Epicurean (recently renovated and boasting a new tapas menu), Liki Japanese (243 Schuylkill Road), Twin Bays Café and, finally, Thai L’Elephant, authentically operated by Michael Roethong, who, as I’ve personally witnessed, has taken home award after deserving award this year at regional restaurant shows for his outstanding fare and spectacular presentations.

Creating the new Manayunk has not been conundrum-free. While the town has the prospective patrons to fill each of these places, it still lacks a rail system to get them there. Too, congestion and parking problems are quite prevalent, especially on weekend nights. And there are now enough (too many?) bars, pubs, taverns and saloons in town, though, for some, not enough eclectic restaurants. I can envision something like Stephen Starr’s original Continental, for one, or Jones, his comfort fare Brady Bunch-like living room abode, or maybe, something plain and simple, more family-friendly…

Still, Phoenixville’s bustling Bridge Street is a far cry from that ghostly, beaten-down boulevard of the last several decades. Gone are the slouching, suspect Willie Lopez types, and here come the refined folks from high atop Valley Forge Mountain, ready to catch a flick at the Colonial Theatre, followed by dinner, drinks and, maybe, an unchained melody or two, which pour forth most every night from all those new eateries and drinkeries in town.