Philadelphia... WTF

[jonnyd]

mugged in University City? i doubt it.

way west of Uni City? how far is way west? 50th? 60th? Darby?

philly really isnt that bad.

[Freerollin`]

I've lived in the city for all my 29 years. There's no need to declare a state of emergency here. This is more Daily News nonsense.

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mugged in University City? i doubt it.

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You have zero credibility based solely on this statement. I live in Chestnut Hill now, one of the nicer sections of the city, and there are crimes committed here.

[Jackie Onassis]

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You have zero credibility based solely on this statement. I live in Anytown, USA now, one of the nicer sections of the city, and there are crimes committed here.

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FYP.

FWIW, I agree that is statement is dumb since muggings in Univ. City are not uncommon, but your logic was poor.

[DougOzzzz]

thread hijack -

as someone who is moving to Philly in 3 weeks and doesn't want to get shot, where are some good places to live?

a guy I will be working with (who is on vacation until I am already there) gave me a long list of places and rules:
Center city, nothing numbered above 900, no street above 40, or something like that
Manayunk
a bunch of surrounding towns that he said were nice (don't have the list on me)

I've never lived in a city, so not sure the idea appeals to me. I'd be willing to consider it though, assuming I could keep my car with me without it costing too much. Looking for 1 BR/studio for around 1K/month - could go higher if it's either really nice, or is very close to where I will be working (Market St, I think). If not in the city, then I'd need to be close to a train station - do not want to drive into the city, or have a commute over 40 mins to work.

[jonnyd]

i have many friends in Uni City (and as someone who lives in the city) that have never been mugged there. Surely there are crimes committed in Chestnutt Hill, i never doubted that.

What i doubted was that EACH of his friends had been mugged MULTIPLE times. seems a bit extreme and probably too small a sample size to declare UCity as unsafe.

But you're right. i have no credibility and Chestnutt Hill > Badlands.

[classicist]

I guess it took a Philly thread to get me out of Lurker status - I apologize for the length in advance.

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thread hijack -

as someone who is moving to Philly in 3 weeks and doesn't want to get shot, where are some good places to live?



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If you're working in the Market st. area public transportation during work hours will be extremely easy from almost anywhere in the city or suburbs.

There are a bunch of great neighborhoods in the city that are still somewhat affordable: Queen Village and Bella Vista are near market st., south of Olde City (which is nice but probably very expensive now) in the low numbers (front/1st through 8th). Really, anywhere in center city between front and 28th on the number sts. (after that you're across the river and in the UPenn area, which gets bad around 40th), and between washington (a little fuzzy on the souther border here) and spring garden is pretty good. However, the parking is a bitch and it's very much city life.

Moving just north of center city is a little better in terms of parking and price, and also easy in terms of public transportation or even walking. The area around the Art Museum, Fairmount (where I grew up), has seen a big increase in restaurants, bars, and general sprucing up the past 10 years, and is a mixture of young families/professionals and long time residents. The large apartment housing in that area is probably a little over your price range. However, there are plenty of sub-divided brownstones and even small houses that could be great. This is where I would probably live if I moved back to Philly.

Also North of the city is Northern Liberties, and beyond that Fishtown - the new hip, gentrified area of town - similar to fairmount except with more loft style apts, slightly trendier scene, and probably not as safe (still not completely gentrified). The prices are all over the place and the neighborhoods are patchy in terms of safety, not sure about parking.

Outside the downtown area you have two options - semi-urban (Manayunk/east falls) straight west of the city, or the main line area SW of the city. Manayunk/East Falls has a lot of reasonably priced houses, and a few new, expensive, and generally swanky apartment buildings. There's a good restaurant/shopping/nightlife scene around Main st. there, as well as a ton of good dive bars - parking can be an issue but isn't too bad. You also have easy access to the Wissahickon area of fairmount park - 20 miles in trails 4 miles from city hall - pretty nice for exercising. Also, good 25-35 scene.

The main line has a bunch of colleges (St. Joes, Villanova, Haverford, Bryn Mawr), and the neighborhoods range from extremely wealthy blue blood to working class. Due to the college presence, there's lots of affordable hosuing, and public transportation during working hours is easy (but terrible for evenings and weekends). I livd out there (Ardmore) for two years and was not particularly thrilled with it, but my roommates loved it.

If you're worried about living in a city, Manayunk seems like a good inbetween area - there's a bunch of stuff available there on Craigslist. There are obviously a bunch of other neighborhoods - Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy (NW of center city) come to mind. It's an easy city to get a map and drive around in for a day, and the neighborhoods can change dramatically every 5-10 blocks, to it's worth it to look all over the place.

in review:
center city: hard to go wrong, lots of beautiful little neighbords - expensive and crappy parking

North of city: a little hit or miss, but lots of potential, especially around the art museum

Manayunk: good mixture of everything

Main line: can also be good, definitely not city living - if you like catholic college girls with lots of makeup you'll love it (actually, that can go for most of philly).