Possible Move to Philly! (Philadelphia, Penn: fit in, apartment, home)

[Maggie&Jerry]

I was wondering if I could have a little information on where we'd best fit in the Philly area. Here is a little information about myself:

I am a 20 year old female and my boyfriend of four years is 19. We are looking to make the move from Albany NY (myself, originally from Buffalo, NY) to a major city on the East Coast for his career. He just graduated college for TV Production and is currently working at our local news station as an intern.

He is done with the internship in October and instead of taking our planned trip to Amsterdam, we are passing it up for now to move to a major city. I have been looking into Philly, Chicago, Boston, Miami and of course - NYC. I have looked through some posts and have found that Center City and University City might fit us well.

We are young and fun. We love to be outdoors. We are friendly, not big on partying, actually we only drink a couple beers once every few months at most, but we do like a nightlife scene just incase, and of course we'd like a nice neighborhood with people our age.

We, more than anything, want something relatively safe, a one-bedroom with a max. of $900.00/month before utilities, ABSOLUTELY somewhere that we wont need a car to get around (we want to sell them before we leave Albany), and definitely somewhere close to Public Transportation. Is there somewhere that you can specifically think of where we should look for an apartment? Please let me know! Thank you so, so much for your time!

[kelb]

Manayunk leaps to mind. It is heavily populated by people like yourself. It has its own nightlife with lots of bars and restaurants along the main street, but it is also a very short train hop into center city.
Good luck with your move.

[FindingZen]

You may also find University City appealing. There will be a lot of people your age around, especially those who may be able to assist you in getting that occasional underage drinking experience. Unless you want to vibe with Penn students, you will most likely find housing in a converted home rather than a traditional apartment. The area around 40th Street just off campus is arguably the entertainment hub of the area. There are also reasonably priced restaurants compared to downtown, many with international flair.

Speaking of downtown aka Center City, you would have an even shorter commute on transit than from Manayunk; on a good day, you could probably even walk there. There's plenty of free or inexpensive things to do in CC in between all of the pricier options.

Good luck!

[solibs]

I would look into University City and I would also check out the South Philly neighborhoods of Passyunk Square and East Passyunk Crossing. They're both great neighborhoods that blend into one another and have all the basic conveniences - bars, restaurants, cafes shops, a major grocery store, the transit is good (23, 47, 29 bus and the Broad St. Subway) and if you have a bicycle you can get anywhere in Center City in 15 minutes or less.

IMO it's a lot more convenient than U. City. Not that U. City doesn't have a lot going on but in your price range you probably won't be able to live near it.

[rainrock]

Just to repeat what everyone suggested.
Center City
University City
Manayunk

Since you are into outdoors there is a great recreation trail along the Schuylkill River(bike,jog,roller blade,kayak,row etc) that goes from Center City/University City all the way up to Valley Forge 25 Miles to the NW, or Chestnut Hill 10 miles.

[clickclack]

Manayunk and University City have really great nightclub/music scenes, and they have young people there too. I definitely recommend both of them!

[solibs]

Noting that neither of you are yet 21 I would suggest Fairmount, East Falls and Manayunk/Roxborough. They're all really close to Fairmount/Wissahickon Park which is an amazing asset to have nearby if you consider yourself "outdoorsy"

[MoorestownResident]

Originally Posted by Maggie&Jerry

I was wondering if I could have a little information on where we'd best fit in the Philly area. Here is a little information about myself:

I am a 20 year old female and my boyfriend of four years is 19. We are looking to make the move from Albany NY (myself, originally from Buffalo, NY) to a major city on the East Coast for his career. He just graduated college for TV Production and is currently working at our local news station as an intern.

He is done with the internship in October and instead of taking our planned trip to Amsterdam, we are passing it up for now to move to a major city. I have been looking into Philly, Chicago, Boston, Miami and of course - NYC. I have looked through some posts and have found that Center City and University City might fit us well.

We are young and fun. We love to be outdoors. We are friendly, not big on partying, actually we only drink a couple beers once every few months at most, but we do like a nightlife scene just incase, and of course we'd like a nice neighborhood with people our age.

We, more than anything, want something relatively safe, a one-bedroom with a max. of $900.00/month before utilities, ABSOLUTELY somewhere that we wont need a car to get around (we want to sell them before we leave Albany), and definitely somewhere close to Public Transportation. Is there somewhere that you can specifically think of where we should look for an apartment? Please let me know! Thank you so, so much for your time!

Suggest you look into three towns in the NJ burbs - Collingswood, Haddon twp, Haddonfield on the Patco train line. Large singles scene of hipsters in your age group. Philly is 10 minutes by train where you do anything you want.

http://www.collingswood.com/

[Maggie&Jerry]

Thanks everyone. Wanted to let you all know we will be keeping one car for my boyfriends equipment so that should give you more options, if you'd like to make another suggestion. We are willing to do a 45 minute commute after traffic.

MoorestownRes- Thanks especially to you, Collingswood seems so beautiful! Thank you so much for the suggestion - I'll have to visit soon. THANK YOU!

[Nouvelle Villa]

I have lived in both Philly and Miami. Miami is DEFINITELY a car centric city, so you may want to avoid it if you will not have a car. I second the suggested Philadelphia neighborhoods in this post. I used to live in University City and I found it quite nice.