Burbs, Philly, Old Chicks, WaWa (Philadelphia, Chester: crime, home, buying)

[GreenerGrass]

1) Looking to scoot from Southern Cal; I may be pursuing work at Boeing in Ridley Park. Are some burbs in Deleware Co. more preferable for a single guy for one reason or another? (Ridley looks sooo small and isolated in the snow on its web site.)

2) What I read about Philly crime breaks my heart, but there are places in my "native" Boston too that most wouldn't dare go. If you want to take a date to Philly and stick to the touristy/historic areas, are you both going to come home alive?

3) 40% of Boston gals 25-35 are still single, never married., which makes sense for a college-city. But City-Data gives the same figure for Deleware County; 'also says the average gal age is 41, 37 for guys. That's higher than many SoCal "cities" that are basically soccer-family/retirement communities. What gives? Do you people breed? Is that why the population is falling?

4) Dunkin Donuts! - west coast knows nothing like 'em. But what is WaWa?

Chris

[BPP1999]

1 - Check out Center City Philadelphia, Manayunk (a section of Philadelphia). Also, you might want to check out Conshohocken, West Chester, Ardmore (not all of these are in Delaware County). Delco is small and relatively old. The eastern portion near the river (i.e. where the Boeing plant is) has lots of industry. Some parts of the eastern portion of Delco are not great, like the city of Chester.

2 - If you go on a date in "safe" part of the city, you will be fine.

3 - Like I said in #1, Delco is older.

4 - WaWa is like 7-11, only WaWa's are cleaner and better, IMO.

[Wanna Leave Penciltucky]

Wawa is the stop/gas/munch/get milk and all kinds of other stuff. It is also a dairy. Fresh milk ice cream etc. If you are coming home from someplace you cna stop and get a something to grab and go.

[toobusytoday]

Wawa is also a place. The corporate headquarters are still in Wawa, PA in Delaware County. ATM's without fee's, great amoroso hoagie rolls, etc.

My daughter and I did a Mom and daughter overnight in Philadelphia and stayed in the historic section. I felt safe in the day and at night when we went to the Ritz movie theatre.

[CityofBrotherlyKilling]

WaWa is a type of bird im pretty sure but in the store sense, its like a quicky mart. They are cheap low priced stores. And where I live are easy targets for robberies. In most around here parking is a b**ch because the parking lots are so small.

[leighland]

I'm new here from San Diego. I love Wawa, no comparison to 7/11, it's the best thing about Philly. I also like the Main Line a lot (20 minutes from everything and easy SEPTA acess) but I'm a suburban Mom. In Philly, tourist areas are safe.

[BeenAroundTheBlock]

Wawa makes great sandwiches!

[Icy Tea]

I really hate WAWA. They have this tendancy of buying up local businesses or historic buildings and tearing them down to put up another crappy store. Their sandwiches are okay( for a gas station) but nothing compared to a regular sandwich shop. I don't like Sheetz much either but I'll go to them first.

[stigs84]

I live in Ridley and I love it. It's not small and isolated at all, it's actually pretty big, there's 7 elementary schools in the district.

Anyway, we have some kick ass bars here. My ultimate favorite is Barnaby's, especially on Thursday nights cuz they have dollar miller lites. Bootleggers is good, too.

[rainrock]

Delaware County is kind of split into 3 categories. 1. Upper class, very family oriented with emphasis on residential communities.2. Lower class social service dependent. and finally 3. Which is where Ridley park area is concerned. Blue collar hard working town. Corner bars, chain restaurants, average retail restaurant options. Walmart rather than Macys. Pretty boring place if you don't have a family..... If you are single your best bet by far is Center City/University City Philly. Manayunk section of Philly would also be an option, although keep in mind if you live In Philly city limits Philadelphia will wack your paycheck with a 4% wage tax eventhough you will be working outside the city. One reason why 75% of the metro population lives out in the suburbs.

Back to the burbs. The Mainline area which has about a dozen small liberal arts colleges plus Villanova is a place you can enjoy if you are single.King of Prussia + Conshohocken would be worth looking into. West Chester is a cool college town with plenty of good restaurants and bars but its a good 30-45 minute commute to Ridley Park.

Wawa blows 7-11 doors off. Its a clean, efficient operation. There are over 700 wawas from DC to Ct. Cheapest gas around, decent coffee and about 30 vareities of sandwiches,soups.wraps etc..Their meatball sandwich with extra provolone is very tasty.

Good luck.