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Old 04-23-2013, 07:43 PM
 
Location: Cumberland County, NJ
8,632 posts, read 12,989,467 times
Reputation: 5766

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Quote:
Originally Posted by pman View Post
some people just refuse to believe anything nice could exist in north philly. theyre part of the problem not the solution
I'm not one of those guys. It's just that areas like West/East Oak lane, Cedarbrook, and Olney always had a distinct feel to it that separates it from the rest of North Philly. I don't separate areas like Fairmount and Spring Garden from North Philly because those areas more of a result of gentrification.
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Old 04-23-2013, 07:45 PM
 
Location: Philadelphia, PA
1,567 posts, read 3,115,025 times
Reputation: 1664
Wikipedia would not be my final authority on any topic.
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Old 04-23-2013, 07:55 PM
 
Location: Midwest
1,283 posts, read 2,224,881 times
Reputation: 983
Quote:
Originally Posted by Summersm343 View Post
That's because they consider NORTH PHILADELPHIA to be THREE DIFFERENT PLANNING DISTRICTS.

1. Lower North Philadelphia
2. Upper North Philadelphia
3. Olney/Oak Lane District

I've said this several times.
I am unaware of the city officially recognizing the Olney/Oak Lane District as part of North Philadelphia. I have seen your maps from Wikipedia with Olney highlighted along with the rest of North Philadelphia, but I can't find any evidence the city did the highlighting. I'm not above being proven wrong though - so if you do find something official, I can live with that. Like I said before, I don't really care too much about that. It might have to be something we'll agree to disagree about. I do stick by what I said before, which is that everyone I know who live in Olney or the Oak Lanes, which is quite a few people, don't consider it North Philadelphia. And that's good enough for me, as historically it has always had it's separate identity.

The thing that I disagree with you very much on is Fishtown, Port Richmond, Kensington, and Bridesburg being part of Northeast Philadelphia. They are not. I'll go in circles with you for that one till the end.

And just to set the record straight on other things - I'm in agreement with you on several other points - such as Lower North Philadelphia neighborhoods obviously being part of North Philadelphia.
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Old 04-23-2013, 07:57 PM
 
123 posts, read 291,329 times
Reputation: 85
Wow my thread has really taken off! Okay heres what I have to say about the whole neighborhoods argument thing. First let me speak on Olney. The reason there is so much argument about Olney, is because Olney is not the typical north Philly ghetto like other neighborhoods. Its a very diverse neighborhood (economically and racially) with a successful business district ("5th Street"), and transportation station. Wikipedia even has it as northwest Philly (not that I'm putting stake in Wikipedia lol). Its amazing how crossing the Boulevard from Hunting Park to Olney how different they are. So I understand why Olney is argued. The Oak lanes ( especially west Oaklane) are right there from Mount airy. The big well-maintained homes, clean streets, and Black middle class puts me in the mindset of Northwest Philly. Even riding through the Oak lanes they seem like different territory than the rest of North Philly (parts of Olney too). You wouldn't put Olney with Nicetown. You wouldn't put West Oaklane with Hunting Park. You wouldn't put East Oaklane with Fairhill. Until whoever has the power to formally change where the neighborhoods are considered to be, the debate will continue.
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Old 04-23-2013, 08:16 PM
 
Location: University City, Philadelphia
22,632 posts, read 14,933,513 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Summersm343 View Post
Funny, because back in the day, the wealthy elite lived in North Philly, before the Main Line and similar areas like Chestnut Hill were constructed.
Well ... back in the day the very wealthy lived in West Philly, too.

Ever hear of the Hamilton Family's estate and mansion "The Woodlands"? Some architects call it the most magnificent late Eighteenth Century Federal-Style mansion in the country.

Half a block from my house is the "Horace Trumbauer Mansion" - a stately Beaux-Arts style mansion in beige Indiana limestone and block from there is a fine brick Victorian built for real estate developer Clarence Clark (the guy Clark Park is named after).
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Old 04-23-2013, 08:18 PM
FBJ
 
Location: Tall Building down by the river
39,605 posts, read 58,989,104 times
Reputation: 9451
Quote:
Originally Posted by FamousBlueRaincoat View Post
I am unaware of the city officially recognizing the Olney/Oak Lane District as part of North Philadelphia. I have seen your maps from Wikipedia with Olney highlighted along with the rest of North Philadelphia, but I can't find any evidence the city did the highlighting. I'm not above being proven wrong though - so if you do find something official, I can live with that. Like I said before, I don't really care too much about that. It might have to be something we'll agree to disagree about. I do stick by what I said before, which is that everyone I know who live in Olney or the Oak Lanes, which is quite a few people, don't consider it North Philadelphia. And that's good enough for me, as historically it has always had it's separate identity.

The thing that I disagree with you very much on is Fishtown, Port Richmond, Kensington, and Bridesburg being part of Northeast Philadelphia. They are not. I'll go in circles with you for that one till the end.

And just to set the record straight on other things - I'm in agreement with you on several other points - such as Lower North Philadelphia neighborhoods obviously being part of North Philadelphia.

So I guess lower North Philadelphia is considered "North Philadelphia East"?
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Old 04-23-2013, 08:46 PM
 
Location: back in Philadelphia!
3,264 posts, read 5,648,898 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WestPhillyDude75 View Post
So I guess lower North Philadelphia is considered "North Philadelphia East"?
Apparently by you it is.
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Old 04-24-2013, 01:03 AM
 
Location: Bella Vista
2,471 posts, read 4,015,708 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Summersm343 View Post
Yes, they do. Oak Lane is in NORTH Philadelphia, which is NORTH of Center City. Fishtown and Kensington are in the Riverwards which is a subset of NORTHEAST Philadelphia which is NORTH and EAST (NORTHEAST) of Center City. Why is this so difficult? I do not understand. I have posted links and described this several times yet you still refuse to believe it.
It's not that people don't understand. It's that they don't agree. Just because you posted a link to wikipedia doesn't really settle anything.

It's not like it was ever decreed in a law that the riverwards are a subset of Northeast Philadelphia. I never considered Fishtown and Kensington as having anything at all to do with Northeast Philadelphia. The wikipedia lists seem to follow the guidelines set forth in some of the maps you've posted which are used by the city for planning purposes, creating vast regional sections of the city that all neighborhoods then fit into. Reality is not always so neat and tidy however. Just because some planning commission decided that the riverwards shouldn't have their own regional section and should be lumped in with Northeast Philly doesn't make it so.

I'd be a lot more interested in how many people who lived in Fishtown, considered themselves to be living in a part of Northeast Philadelphia. That means more to me than some wikipedia list or a few random maths.

You act as though this stuff is set in stone and handed down from god. it ain't. you're young and I don't believe you even grew up in philly. it's pretty arrogant to go around telling people who lived here a lot longer than you where they live and what's what. I've also never heard of the riverwards being associated themselves with North Philly and it seems just as far fetched as an association with northeast philly, but if you polled the residents of Fishtown and 90% of them said that Fishtown was part of North Philly(not saying this would be the case, in fact I know it wouldn't, just saying for example), who are you to tell them they ain't?
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Old 04-24-2013, 06:34 AM
 
Location: Philly
10,227 posts, read 16,810,254 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gwillyfromphilly View Post
I'm not one of those guys. It's just that areas like West/East Oak lane, Cedarbrook, and Olney always had a distinct feel to it that separates it from the rest of North Philly. I don't separate areas like Fairmount and Spring Garden from North Philly because those areas more of a result of gentrification.
Seems pretty sensible. it seems that these areas became lumped in with north philly as they became run down. you are right, they are not historically part of north philly afaik. west oak lane and cedarbrook are much newer. for the most part philly moved north first, then west (there was no permanent bridge until 1873 I think , right around the time that penn moved out of center city)
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Old 04-24-2013, 08:53 AM
 
Location: Crooklyn, New York
32,084 posts, read 34,672,030 times
Reputation: 15068
Oak Lane and Olney are not a part of North Philly. Period. That's where I went to high school.

FWIW, there's a Facebook page for people who grew up in Northwest Philadelphia. I sure as hell see a lot of people reppin' East/West Oak Lane and Olney on there. The title of the page reads: "Don't get it twisted...all of this grass is so you don't crack your head after you get knocked out." LOL.

Last edited by BajanYankee; 04-24-2013 at 09:03 AM..
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