I need info on FISHTOWN (Philadelphia, California: transplants, to rent, low crime)

[shannybannany]

Hubby and I are in our 40s...(no kids). We are lookin to Philly. Heard great things about Fishtown. Share????
Thanks for your time.
Cheers!

[twinmma]

Originally Posted by shannybannany

Hubby and I are in our 40s...(no kids). We are lookin to Philly. Heard great things about Fishtown. Share????
Thanks for your time.
Cheers!

only was there once and I will never go back. I hated the area. BUT, then again, I don't like the city too much and this is row home after row home. Good luck!

[irishkenzo]

Let's see Fishtown is proably one of the best in the city for working class folks low crime nice homes for under 120.000 good schools good pepole not to far from anything .

[treeluvr]

Originally Posted by shannybannany

Hubby and I are in our 40s...(no kids). We are lookin to Philly. Heard great things about Fishtown. Share????
Thanks for your time.
Cheers!

Do not move from California to Philadelphia without first visiting and spending some time here. All of Philadelphia is hugely different from any where in CA. (Fishtown itself seems a bit gloomy and run down, but I haven't been there for several years.) I grew up in CA and lived in various places there until I was in my forties. I moved to Philly 8 years ago. There are many great things to do in this city and those things can be exciting for a couple of years. But depending on where you are coming from in CA, actually living here will be a huge culture shock. The level of poverty, rudeness, and racial tension can be disturbing. Although your comfort level in Philly will probably depend on where you were in CA. I would move back to CA in a minute if I could afford to do so.
--Sorry to be so negative. It's just my opinion. Good luck to you.

[leighland]

Originally Posted by treeluvr

But depending on where you are coming from in CA, actually living here will be a huge culture shock.

I'm from San Diego, moved here 6 months ago. This is a HUGE Culture shock. The East Coast seems like a foreign country compared to SoCal. But there are some things here that are better than SD. Please visit for a week first.

[kilbillrain]

Hey Shanny,
Hows Steve's job search going? Anyway here is all the info you could possible need or want on F-town. Not sure if youve been to this site yet but it has everybody's opinion on it and hte surrounding area. There is a lot of reading but it seems you like that.

Fishtown / Northern Liberties / Kensington - PhillyBlog - Philadelphia

P.S. NoLibs and K-town are the 2 immediate surrounding neighborhoods and are similiar in many ways. You might wanna check them out too...

P.P.S. The site has become hugely popular in the past month or 2 and you may have difficulty with a busy server...just have to be patient and persistant!

Final bit of advice. Have google maps open while reading. Since the thread already deals with the neighborhood many questions deal w/ specific streets. To get an idea of the layout of the area type the street into google maps and viola your in your new neighborhood in 1st person. Good luck...

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by leighland

The East Coast seems like a foreign country compared to SoCal.

Seeing how this country originated on the east coast- right in the middle of this city- one could argue that its SO Cal that seems like a foreign country But yes its very different here as opposed to the West Coast, and its excellent advice for anyone moving anywhere to visit that city first, especially such a dense neighborhood like fishtown.The suburbs can be much less intimidating to recent transplants . Hopefully as time passes things will get better for our west coast friends.

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by leighland

I'm from San Diego, moved here 6 months ago. This is a HUGE Culture shock. The East Coast seems like a foreign country compared to SoCal. But there are some things here that are better than SD. Please visit for a week first.

sorry to momentarily hijack your thread shanaybannany.


Leighland I think shanaybannany is originally from NJ so the culture shock isn't going to be a major problem. But it would be interesting to hear from you and treeluvr the problems and goodpoints(if any) you've experienced since your move to Pa.

Ive been to San Diego and it would probably be #1 on my list of cities to move to. So I kind of understand that moving from SD to anywhere is going to come with some doubt.

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by treeluvr

Do not move from California to Philadelphia without first visiting and spending some time here. All of Philadelphia is hugely different from any where in CA. (Fishtown itself seems a bit gloomy)... The level of poverty, rudeness, and racial tension can be disturbing. Although your comfort level in Philly will probably depend on where you were in CA. I would move back to CA in a minute if I could afford to do so.
--Sorry to be so negative. It's just my opinion. Good luck to you.

I think you are being overly harsh. Are there deep pockets of poverty in the lower socio economic sections of Philadlephia? Absolutely. There is no denying that.

Are the deep pockets of poverty in LA,Compton,Oakland, Fresno just as bad as Philadelphia? Pretty close.

I dont know if its fair to hammer away at a small minority of the overall region when you take into account that 90% of the Philaldephia metro is in good to excellent shape.

To me your post came off as unless you are from Compton you will despise Philadlephia which is absurd. Not to mention the wealthier suburbs but the city itself is full of great neighborhoods from Soceity Hill,Rittenhouse,East Falls,Chestnut Hill,Spruce Hill, MT.Airy,University City ,Manayunk,Northeast Philly,Andorra etc.

[shannybannany]

Yep! I'm a Jersey Girl! Watch Out!

We live outside of San Jose but we also lived in San Francisco. I lived in Manhattan for many years before coming to the West Coast 11 years ago.

We have parking needs and 2 dogs. I am trying to figure out a decent neighborhood with a rent budget of $1500.

I would love to live in Rittenhouse Square and the like but parking issues and our pets may be a problem. Sigh!

We just got an offer on our house (yay) last night so hopefully we will be in contract soon.

We will be able to live in TDY housing for 30 days at McGuire AFB in Jersey so really, time is of the essence.

Eventually, we will look to buy but for now we want to rent and get to know the area.

Cheers,

Shanny