South Philly East/West: what is the difference? (Washington, Girard: houses, neighborhoods)

[oneblock]

hi

im trying to select an area to move in in South Philly
and it seems Bella Vista or zip 19147 is kind of an upscale - hi end area
To buy a decent house it costs 140K

versus the lower side or zip 19145 (south Philly west) and 19148 (south Philly south Philly east) seems to be cheaper

i d like to ask, what is the difference bw the two sides in terms of demographics?

is it generally safe in these two areas?


thank you so much

[rotodome]

You can buy a decent house in Bella Vista for 140K??? Buy it!

[Angus215]

Generally, south philly west of broad is ghetto, with the exception of the "graduate hospital" area just south of South St. South philly east of broad ranges from working class to higher end and will get less expensive as you go from north to south. There are small pockets of not-so-great areas in eastern south philly, typically around low-income housing.

[killakoolaide]

South Philly west of broad is bad. East of broad is decent.

[2e1m5a]

Not all South Philly west of Broad is bad. Everything below Snyder on the West side is The Girard Estates neighborhood which features beautiful 2 and 3 story twins-a rarity in South Philly. Below Girard Estates is Packer Park, another nice neighborhood.

[selhars]

I second the comments about Packer Park and Girard Estates. Some other areas are fine as well....IF you can take not being able to park your car if you have one. Decades ago friend lived near 10th and Oregon. I am also from So. Philly. The lack of parking is insane....but then that's South Philly for you. It's for people who don't mind 'close quarters.' Whether it's Old City, South Street, Queen Village, Bella Vista, Moyamensing, or 17th and Passyunk, or 7th and Bigler...it's crowded.

[phillies2011]

Originally Posted by killakoolaide

South Philly west of broad is bad. East of broad is decent.

while generally true; this is just far too broad to be helpful. There are parts east of broad that are terrible and parts west of broad that beautiful. Blanket statements about south philly just don't work.

west of broad is good for the most above Washington. Although the closer you are to Washington the dicier the area is generally. Point Breeze is one of the worst neighborhoods in Philly, I wouldn't buy a house there for 25 grand. Once you get further south though, below snyder, it starts getting nice again. Parts are real nice... other not so much.

east of broad overall is better, but has it's crummy areas. Bella Vista and Queen Village above washington are of course really nice for the most part. As is the stadium district, the small neighborhood below Oregon. East Passyunk keeps getting nicer and nicer.

Honestly though I think this is the most block by block neighborhood in the city. I mean this in the sense that you walk down one block and it's nice, the next is awful. Now for the most part none of these neighborhoods are as bad as point breeze but there are some ugly dirty grimy blocks with some unsavory people living on them.

I mean honestly walk east on porter from broad. Look down the blocks you pass. Some of them will be perfectly manicured homes that look beautiful and the block is covered with trees. The next block will just be bombed out with a bunch of abandoned houses and trash everywhere. And it's totally random too. It's not like there a nice area, and then a bad area. There's seemingly no rhyme or reason to it.

Basically there's no substitute to a first hand look. Walk around. Come by during the day. At night. On a tuesday, on a friday. No one here would be able to give you any information about south philly that will be totally useful unless they literally broke it down, block by block.

[MsChelle]

Originally Posted by oneblock

hi

im trying to select an area to move in in South Philly
and it seems Bella Vista or zip 19147 is kind of an upscale - hi end area
To buy a decent house it costs 140K

versus the lower side or zip 19145 (south Philly west) and 19148 (south Philly south Philly east) seems to be cheaper

i d like to ask, what is the difference bw the two sides in terms of demographics?

is it generally safe in these two areas?


thank you so much

140k for a rowhouse in Bella Vista is a bargain!

[bryson662001]

This great census map was posted by someone on this forum earlier this year. It is 10 years old but I think it still applies except the Asian population has increased. (South Philly is inside the green circle)

[checkmatechamp13]

This map's more up-to-date: Mapping the 2010 U.S. Census - NYTimes.com