Germantown safety: Wayne Ave/School House Ln? (Philadelphia: apartment, transfer)

[rashelle2014]

Hi everyone,

I'm considering moving to Germantown from East Falls. I'm familiar with many of the Philadelphia neighborhoods, having lived here for several years, but am largely unfamiliar with Germantown and what areas to avoid. Would an apartment at Wayne Ave/School House Ln be a safe choice for me as a small female grad student? I am particularly concerned with walking to/from the Chelten Ave or Germantown train stations at night.

Thanks in advance!

[FamousBlueRaincoat]

You already live extremely close to Germantown, so the best course of action is to test it out yourself by going over there at times you'd normally be out.

I just spent two years in Germantown - although I was north of Chelten Avenue in what's typically considered the nicest part of Germantown.

The area around School House Lane is pretty decent, in my opinion. It's fairly diverse, at least in terms of of white and black people of various ages and life situations. You definitely wouldn't be the only student - close proximity to Philadelphia University.

Chelten Avenue mostly sucks - but the stretch between Wissahickon and Wayne Avenue (where Chelten Avenue Station is) is nicer than the rest of it. There's a 24 hour Save-a-Lot at Pulaski and Chelten that is pretty decent (I believe it's owned by the Fresh Grocer company instead of corporate Save-A-Lot, and much of the meat and produce are the same as you'd buy at Fresh Grocer - with the boxed and processed stuff being the normal save a lot stuff). I used to go there a lot anyway, I found it surprisingly better than the Pathmark. There's a bar with a diverse crowd, some laundry places, a deli, a sit-down chinese place that tries to be a little classy, and a new actually *nice* restaurant whose name escapes me at the moment. There are also some real nice, big, expensive apartment buildings on this stretch - the last block of Chelten before you hit Wissahickon is beautiful.

Germantown and Chelten, and the surrounding blocks on both Germantown and Chelten, is always really busy during the day - so even though it can be pretty trash it's not really dangerous. The only other place place I went regularly on Chelten was the Regional Library at Greene and Chelten.

At night, it can be pretty creepy, as the only people really out will be people waiting for the bus (lots of transfer points along Chelten), and it seems like there's frequently a(harmless) crazy or two out.

Germantown Station is at Chelten and Baynton - in a not too nice area. My guess again is that you'd probably feel safe during the day simply because of the volume of people on Chelten, but you are likely to not feel particularly comfortable at night or very early in the morning - when all the stores are closed and nobody is really out. I used to use this station all the time, even though I was about a 15 minute walk away, since it just gives you another option coming back from Center City. I never had any problems, but I certainly wouldn't judge anybody who didn't feel comfortable making the walk at odd hours.

[2e1m5a]

^FBR pretty much covered it. Schoolhouse Lane is pretty quiet and has many schools on it (believe it or not)-Germantown Friends, PA School for the Deaf, Green Street Friends. If you are intent on living in an apartment building you may feel more comfortable at the large places closer to Wissahickon-but Wayne and Schoolhouse is fine. You may come across the story of an older woman that was killed in an apartment there about a year ago-just wanted to give you a heads up, don't mean to freak you out. I think it turned out to be a man she was letting live with her-but the story was pretty big news as she was a Professor at Villanova. It also shows that things like that are pretty rare for the area.

Wayne Ave gets a little shady further down toward Wayne Junction and the PathMark at Wayne and Chelten always has a healthy cast of characters hanging around but Germantown between Wayne and Wissahickon is pretty consistently a great neighborhood with homes that are well taken care of. And in many parts of Gtown that could be extended to Greene St.

[rashelle2014]

Thanks for your input! I'm concerned mostly because I've heard Germantown can vary greatly block by block in terms of safety. I want to be able to walk my dog or take the train and not worry about turning onto an iffy street. It sounds like this isn't the most stable part of Germantown so I think I'll keep looking. Thanks!