Question About PA (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Reading: school, college, camping)

[bluecountry]

Somebody told me, and I wanted to know if this simplification is somewhat accurate, that PA is a weird state.

You have Philly on one side, a Northeast city.
Pittsburgh on the other side, a midwest city.
Then Alabama in between the two metro areas.

Clearly again this is an oversimplification, yet I wanted to know

1) Is this true?
2) Would you consider Philly and their metro area to be a Northeast City?
3) Would you consider Pittsburgh and their metro to be a Midwest City?
-If not what is Pittsburgh, it seems to not fall as a Northeast or Mid Atlantic city.
-I'd say it's the rust belt/appalachia but not many cities fall into that category.

4) What if any of those cities does the state of PA identify with most?
-If you go into say Mass the identity of Boston mirrors the state.
-Similarly if you go into Indiana you get the same thing with Indianapolis.
-Oddly with New York the state of New York may not identify with the city but NJ for the most part does.
-What about PA, do any of these cities grab the identity of the state?

5) What about Philly, is Philly more or less simply a highly populated metro area they may take up a plurairty of the state population but really is not an icon for the state at large or any of the Philly tri state region?
-Is it true once you get out of the Philly metro region PA is a far different region and hardly allies itself with Philly?
-It seems odd given how large the market of Philly is yet it seems the region is really a minority like northern VA is to VA and hardly symbolic for the rest of the state, is this true?

6) Lastly the misnomer about the area in between the two being Alabama, is this somewhat accurate?
-If so, how is it PA not only votes democratic but is and was during the Civil War considered a northern state?

[toobusytoday]

Interesting questions but unless one has LIVED in all the different areas of the state how can you accurately speak with authority or knowledge? I've lived in several counties in eastern Pennsylvania and still can't tell you much at all about how the people in Scranton-Wilkes Barre view Philadelphia.

Each of comes to the discussion with our own baggage and background. My oldest son (who is 20 and in college out of state) will tell you that his hometown is boring. However, having grown up in a small town in lower Delaware I find this town vibrant and fun and I can always find something to do. So, no help, no answers but great questions!

okay, an opinion of Philadelphia - Yes, it's a northeast city but once out of it's surrounding suburbs the rest of the state does not identify with it except for it's sports teams.

[Marodi]

Originally Posted by bluecountry

Somebody told me, and I wanted to know if this simplification is somewhat accurate, that PA is a weird state.

You have Philly on one side, a Northeast city.
Pittsburgh on the other side, a midwest city.
Then Alabama in between the two metro areas.

Clearly again this is an oversimplification, yet I wanted to know

1) Is this true?
2) Would you consider Philly and their metro area to be a Northeast City?
3) Would you consider Pittsburgh and their metro to be a Midwest City?
-If not what is Pittsburgh, it seems to not fall as a Northeast or Mid Atlantic city.
-I'd say it's the rust belt/appalachia but not many cities fall into that category.

4) What if any of those cities does the state of PA identify with most?
-If you go into say Mass the identity of Boston mirrors the state.
-Similarly if you go into Indiana you get the same thing with Indianapolis.
-Oddly with New York the state of New York may not identify with the city but NJ for the most part does.
-What about PA, do any of these cities grab the identity of the state?

5) What about Philly, is Philly more or less simply a highly populated metro area they may take up a plurairty of the state population but really is not an icon for the state at large or any of the Philly tri state region?
-Is it true once you get out of the Philly metro region PA is a far different region and hardly allies itself with Philly?
-It seems odd given how large the market of Philly is yet it seems the region is really a minority like northern VA is to VA and hardly symbolic for the rest of the state, is this true?

6) Lastly the misnomer about the area in between the two being Alabama, is this somewhat accurate?
-If so, how is it PA not only votes democratic but is and was during the Civil War considered a northern state?

Since I had a bit written down then compy crapped out, here it is condensed. I havent actually lived in pittsburgh, or philly, but basing my oppinion on relatives/siblings/parents that have lived there all or part of their lives, and from my limited understanding by living in Reading, which is very connected to philly in every means, socially, culturally, economically, etc.

1) yes
2) yes
3) more or less it's own identity
4) No comparison for the rest of the state. The diffrent regions identify with their neighboring state. Philly with NJ. South central with Maryland/DC. Pittsburgh with WV and Ohio.
5) PA is diffrent than the philly area. I went to school in Reading, which is one of the philly leeching cities, and dosen't share any cultural connections to south central. Plus the rest of the state hates philly because it's given large sums of money because the people in charge there are so corrupt they waste their own money, such as their mass transit.

Pittsburgh had a similar problem, but since it's neglected by the state, it's trying to fight it's way out of it's fiscal problems and deteriorating infrastructure. South central only gets money cause of it's rapid growth and due to it being the center of the region and the capital.

6) Well, it is very republican and largely rural. If you look at how counties voted in past election, if you had no idea of where pittsburgh and philly are, you could tell by the coloring in the map where they are. Also, central PA has one of the largest concentrations of white supremecists outside of the southeast US, hence the alabama thing. It's usually called pennsyltucky just cause it's easier to say then pennsylbama.

As for why PA votes democratic, philly metro makes up roughly half of PA population and then adding in pittsburgh, you can equate it to why Illinois votes democratic.

[BackToTheCityMouse]

Originally Posted by bluecountry

Somebody told me, and I wanted to know if this simplification is somewhat accurate, that PA is a weird state.

You have Philly on one side, a Northeast city.
Pittsburgh on the other side, a midwest city.
Then Alabama in between the two metro areas.

Clearly again this is an oversimplification

Actually, I have found it to be true in general, but your mileage may vary.

Originally Posted by bluecountry

yet I wanted to know

1) Is this true?

I think so. (Have lived in central PA for over 17 years now.)

Originally Posted by bluecountry

2) Would you consider Philly and their metro area to be a Northeast City?

Totally! I'm from southwest/central NJ and the Philly burbs and the Jersey burbs kinda blend together, even more now that suburban development has filled in most of the formerly vacant spaces.

Originally Posted by bluecountry

3) Would you consider Pittsburgh and their metro to be a Midwest City?
-If not what is Pittsburgh, it seems to not fall as a Northeast or Mid Atlantic city.
-I'd say it's the rust belt/appalachia but not many cities fall into that category.

Dunno about much about Pittsburgh. Only been there once. My DH traveled there often on business, so based on what he told me I would say that Pittsburgh shares aspects of all 3: East Coast, Rust Belt, and Appalachia.

Originally Posted by bluecountry

4) What if any of those cities does the state of PA identify with most?
-If you go into say Mass the identity of Boston mirrors the state.
-Similarly if you go into Indiana you get the same thing with Indianapolis.
-Oddly with New York the state of New York may not identify with the city but NJ for the most part does.
-What about PA, do any of these cities grab the identity of the state?

As someone who is not from PA, I would say that Americans (from everywhere but the non-urban Southeastern US) know more about Philly than Pittsburgh, and know still less about Central PA (and that's not a bad thing). Boston doesn't really mirror Mass...Mass isn't all a Boston suburb. NJ identifies a lot with NYC because NJ is the most densely populated state, while lots of the state of NY isn't urban.

But Philly is a city, and its identity doesn't define PA. With several high profile violent incidents making international news in the last decade or so, I think the back stories from those incidents have shown outsiders that a lot of the geographical area of the state shares a culture having more in common with the rural SouthEastern and Western Mountain regions of the country than with the East Coast or MidWest. Lower adult literacy rates, low wage jobs, non-mainstream varieties of religion, and happiness is a warm (yes it is) gun.

Originally Posted by bluecountry

5) What about Philly, is Philly more or less simply a highly populated metro area they may take up a plurairty of the state population but really is not an icon for the state at large or any of the Philly tri state region?
-Is it true once you get out of the Philly metro region PA is a far different region and hardly allies itself with Philly?
-It seems odd given how large the market of Philly is yet it seems the region is really a minority like northern VA is to VA and hardly symbolic for the rest of the state, is this true?

In a word, yes.

Originally Posted by bluecountry

6) Lastly the misnomer about the area in between the two being Alabama, is this somewhat accurate?
-If so, how is it PA not only votes democratic but is and was during the Civil War considered a northern state?

Never been to Alabama, so can't say (seriously) if it's accurate. But open unselfconscious xenophobia, racism, sexism. homophobia, and fundamentalism are not uncommon in Central PA (cf. the recent Dover PA 'monkey' trial about Creationism in school). PA has been counted as a 'blue state' because the majority of the population is in Philly and Pittsburgh; most of Central PA votes 'red'. During the Civil War era, the population and cultural center of gravity was Philly. You will find plenty of stars-n-bars flags and decals on vehicles in Central PA...and in rural ares, proudly flying on poles instead of the Stars and Stripes. Enough said!

[bluecountry]

I'd like to amend a few questions

Since Central PA and S Central is largely rural and not part of the Philly region, does this area identify more with the Northeast or is it more or less the Mid Atlantic, S, and what sports teams and cities are most followed?
Philly, PIT, or Bal and DC?

[Marodi]

Originally Posted by bluecountry

I'd like to amend a few questions

Since Central PA and S Central is largely rural and not part of the Philly region, does this area identify more with the Northeast or is it more or less the Mid Atlantic, S, and what sports teams and cities are most followed?
Philly, PIT, or Bal and DC?

It's a mix between Baltimore, Philly and Pittsburgh here in South central. It really depends on where your family is from, since there is about equal pressure from all 3 metro's.

South central sits on the edge of 4 sphere's of influence, so it's hard to say which has the most impact. It really depends where in the region you are.

And rural would identify with Mid Atlantic. We don't really identify with NE such as mass or anything there, and don't identify with kentucky or NC or any of those. So mid atlantic since there are similarities with NY, MD and a some with VA as well.

[lpfan921]

Interesting question... i grew up near Philly but now am going to school at Penn State (in central PA). Philly is nothing like the rest of PA. I have never been to Pittsburgh but from everything I have heard about it it is more of a Midwest type of city.

Philadelphia has more Democrats, is more expensive, has a Northeast big-city feel, has great food but rather rude people, lots of arts, history and culture, and has better weather than the rest of the state. Most of PA is more like the Midwest than the Northeast. Politically it is more conservative. There is lots of farmland, camping, hiking and recreation, friendly people, terrible weather with cold, cloudy winters. Central and Western PA is really more of a Red State, like another Indiana (one of my favorite states I have ever visitied... even tho I'm a Democrat. The people there are just so friendly.)

[dugdogmaster]

Yoi! Double Yoi!

[HappyRider]

2004 Presidential Election by county.



It actually mimics the country kind of.

[nocturnal rooster]

PA is the Alabama of the Northeast