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I'm looking to move into the city with my girlfriend. We both hated growing up in the suburbs, there is nothing to do and everything is really far apart. We're looking to live somewhere that is lively and walkable, where there are people out on the street and things going on all the time, lots of small businesses and mixed use development, but not crazy busy like Center City. We want to go 100% car-free.
Looking to rent, a studio is fine for now. Want to be inside the city limits, anywhere with access to a train station. Most likely I will be commuting to Stenton on the Chestnut Hill east line and my gf to Temple's health campus (near Erie BSL stop). No plans for kids, no pets, don't want a yard.
Prefer a far left area with a young population, also we are lesbians, so we would like to be able to meet other LGBT people.
A few questions:
1. I hear very bad things about the area around Temple's health campus, a lot of forums that mention it say things like "run to your car." If she's there in the daytime, how bad is it? I should mention she is white, so people will know she's not from the area.
2. How safe is Mount Airy? We like the look and feel, but hear the east side isn't too safe. Would you recommend living there?
3. Is Templetown a legit place to live for outsiders/a neighborhood in its own right, or is it really just for students? Seems like a convenient location with a good amount of businesses, but by the looks of it most of the apartments are student-only.
4. Brewerytown is apparently recently gentrified? It looks like an affordable alternative to Fairmount. Any thoughts?
1. I've been around the Temple Health area a few times, and yeah, it's definitely not the best. I personally felt fine during the day, but I'm also a tall, athletic white man. She should talk to her (future?) colleagues. I am sure people there have suggestions about staying safe, using transit, etc.
2. Mount Airy is a lovely neighborhood. I work in the area and love it there. The East side gets a worse rap, but a lot of it is just perception since it is less affluent than the west side. Large swaths of Mt. Airy east of Germantown have been gun violence free in 2022. Like anywhere in the city, you'll need a good dose of street smarts. It will feel something of a hybrid of city and suburban life.
3. It's definitely student heavy. Depending on he block, it could be fine for an adult. It would be a great option in which you have transit to both Northwest Philly (regional rail) and farther north to Temple Health (BSL).
4. Brewerytown is okay, and yes it has been gentrifying. It will (again) depend on the block. The issue is, it lacks proximity to trains, so you'll have to be okay with the bus or keeping cars.
If I were you, I'd think about either a) consider keeping one car so you only have to worry about proximity to either the BSL or regional rail. That will make your options easier. Or, b) live somewhere like Callowhill that is relatively safe, a nice urban neighborhood for adults, and has good access to both the BSL and regional rail. It may be too in the weeds of Center City for you, but it'd definitely be great for car-free living. In other words, given your work locations, either keep a car, or live somewhere near Center City.
I moved here nearly 40 years ago, and one of the first things I did after settling here was take SEPTA out to various parts of the city to get a feel for them.
It was my impression then that G'town had an unusually high lesbian presence — not so much publicly (i.e., no lesbian bar or coffee shop) as much as socially. (This was also a sentiment I picked up among gay men I talked to at the time as well.)
Nora Lictash, the woman who founded and runs the Women's Community Revitalization Project, lives in Germantown, and WCRP has built affordable housing in the neighborhood. So, I believe, does Anne Fadullon, director of the city's Department of Planning and Development.
I don't know if I'd call Germantown "far left," and it doesn't have the countercultural cred of Cedar Park (whatever happened to the A-Space, anyway), but it does lean left and has a bit of a countercultural vibe about it, though more pronounced among the white residents who make up about 20 percent of its population than among the Blacks who make up most of the other 80 percent. However: If you are familiar with jazz musicians, avant-garde interplanetary traveler Sun Ra called Germantown home, and his Arkestra plays on in the communal house they all shared in Germantown's northwest quadrant. (The back of this house collapsed last year, and there's a fundraising effort to rebuild it.)
There is a food co-op in neighboring Mt. Airy, Weavers Way. It also has a store in Chestnut Hill, and last summer, it took a lease on a building at West Chelten Avenue and Morris Street where it will open a store this coming summer. (1,400 Germantown households are Weavers Way members, so it's not like there's no demand for a co-op grocer. It will expand the grocery shopping options near me as well, for this store is a seven-block walk from where I live on Germantown's west side. Also worth noting: Weavers Way supports a CSA in Roxborough called Henry Got Crops. It's located on Henry Avenue across from W.B. Saul High School, which is AFAIK the only big-city high school on the East Coast with an agricultural focus, and the CSA farm provides education for Saul students.)
Mt. Airy is more affluent than Germantown, and Chestnut Hill is the second-most-affluent neighborhood in the city after Society Hill. But all three of these neighborhoods function as siblings of a sort, and given that they were all part of Germantown Township prior to consolidation in 1854 (Germantown had become a borough by then), this sort of makes sense. The west sides of all three are a little better off than their east sides. Regional Rail lines run up both sides, but service is better on the Chestnut Hill East line, and if you don't end up living near it, you can take crosstown bus routes to stations on it. If you're looking for reasonable rents, you will find more of them in Germantown than Mt. Airy, but there are affordable rentals there, too.
Also: Let me second Muinteoir on safety in East Mt. Airy. You will have nothing to worry about.
Mount Airy earned fame starting in the 1950s, when residents and local real estate agents banded together to resist white flight and welcome the Black residents who were moving to the neighborhood.
But even so, Blacks aren't evenly distributed throughout the neighborhood, which is about 65/35 Black/white today. A large part of Mount Airy's Black population lives in East Mount Airy's southern half, an area once known as Dogtown. Two-story brick rowhouses dominate this quadrant, in stark contrast to the larger twins and freestanding houses that characterize all of the rest of Mt. Airy, including East Mount Airy's northern half.
You will also find apartment buildings scattered throughout all of Mt. Airy. If you travel up Chew Avenue, the main thoroughfare through East Germantown and East Mt. Airy, you will notice a point in the middle of the block between Meehan Street and Gorgas Lane where the rowhouses abruptly stop and larger freestanding houses take their place. This was the result of East Mt. Airy originating in two large farms, one of which got subdivided later and developed more densely than the other; that invisible line is the boundary between the two farm plots.
I think Germantown will sync with your attitudes and sentiments just a little better than Mt. Airy will, but if you want to get your Mt. Airy Groove on instead, fine with me.
I'm looking to move into the city with my girlfriend. We both hated growing up in the suburbs, there is nothing to do and everything is really far apart. We're looking to live somewhere that is lively and walkable, where there are people out on the street and things going on all the time, lots of small businesses and mixed use development, but not crazy busy like Center City. We want to go 100% car-free.
Looking to rent, a studio is fine for now. Want to be inside the city limits, anywhere with access to a train station. Most likely I will be commuting to Stenton on the Chestnut Hill east line and my gf to Temple's health campus (near Erie BSL stop). No plans for kids, no pets, don't want a yard.
Prefer a far left area with a young population, also we are lesbians, so we would like to be able to meet other LGBT people.
A few questions:
1. I hear very bad things about the area around Temple's health campus, a lot of forums that mention it say things like "run to your car." If she's there in the daytime, how bad is it? I should mention she is white, so people will know she's not from the area.
2. How safe is Mount Airy? We like the look and feel, but hear the east side isn't too safe. Would you recommend living there?
3. Is Templetown a legit place to live for outsiders/a neighborhood in its own right, or is it really just for students? Seems like a convenient location with a good amount of businesses, but by the looks of it most of the apartments are student-only.
4. Brewerytown is apparently recently gentrified? It looks like an affordable alternative to Fairmount. Any thoughts?
IMO the Temple health area is fine the during the day. It is a busy area and all types of people will be walking around. You will want to be aware of your surroundings but you should be fine.
Mount Airy is nice. I lived there for ~8 years before moving out of the Philadelphia region. It is definitely a far left area but it is neither lively or young and it is not particularly walkable for a city neighborhood. If you are moving into the City looking for a likely urban environment I think you will find Mount Airy (and Germantown) to be very disapointing. If you are looking for an area that is (1) far left (2)young and (3) lively then West Philly near Clark Park will best meet your criteria. Unfortunately West Philly would probably make for difficult commutes.
East Mount Airy is 80% safe and nice. I would avoid the area between Germantown Ave and Chew and Gorgas and Upsal. This area is known by some as "dog town." When I first moved to NW philly I made the mistake of buying a house in dogtown. I made it about 2 years before cutting my closes and getting out of there.
Brewery town is gentrifying but it is not all the way gentrified. It can change dramatically from block to block. I wouldn't recommend it if you are new to living in a City neighborhood. If you are looking for an affordable version of Fairmount I would pick Francisville.
Since both of your jobs are in Philly you might as well stay in Philly to avoid possibly being double-taxed. The vast majority of the city is left-to-far left. It won't start to get right unless you head down towards South Philly or NE Philly closer to the Bucks County border.
As a white woman she would be wise not to wander away from Broad Street. Her job is between Allegheny(local) and Erie(local+express) stations. During the day if she sticks in that general vicinity she should be fine, but she's gotta use common sense. Speaking of those 2 stops...
If you're commuting on the CHE line(what's at Stenton if you don't mind me asking?) and if she has to use the BSL, then you 2 are better off in Center City or in Callowhill just north of there. There's also Mt. Airy; not as urban, but gets much nicer and walkable if you are towards Chestnut Hill off Germantown Ave. It's laid back with some old-money, no gentrification there. I'd recommend it. Your GF would have to take the 23, H or 53 bus from Erie & Broad straight there.
The more I talk about it the more I'm starting to miss Philly. When SEPTA is running on schedule it's crazy convenient.
If you don't mind a bit of a commute, there is West Philly. The best neighborhoods are Spruce Hill and Cedar Park, with many restaurants and shops, mainly on Baltimore Ave. These neighborhoods are as left-leaning as you can get in the city. You can also get by having a car if necessary; street parking isn't too bad. You can take the trolley/bus to the Broad Street line to get to Temple Health's campus. To get to the Stenton station, take a trolley to 30th Street and hop on the Regional Rail Line.
Co-sign on West Philly (Spruce Hill/Cedar Park) being possibly the most progressive area in the city. Possibly the only con for your purposes is the city. However, depending on where you live now, it may still seem like a decent commute to your jobs by car to NW Philly and transit to Temple. Mt. Airy is not very far behind politically, though, and would be a more convenient commute for both of you.
I will also add, Mt. Airy is especially lesbian friendly. The politics, I think are as left wing as any other part of the city. I am considered a conservative because I've voted for Hillary 3 times.
It is very suburban in nature, overall. There are a couple places on Germantown Ave but Mt Airy Tap Room which is just off Lincoln Drive has quickly become a local hot spot. If you are good with just a couple of good places to pick from, and not 20, it will be great.
I will say, if you are considering a small apartment, be careful, there are a few buildings that are pretty undesirable if you ask me. Its weird, as is much of Philly, pretty low end highrises next to million dollar single family homes.
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