I want to move to North Philadelphia!

[krazymack]

Originally Posted by pman

don't know anything about Bed stuy but, technically nothing north of vine is north philly. that includes northern liberties, spring garden, and fairmount which are are pretty nice places. If you're looking for a transitional but mostly middle class African American area I'd definitely suggest West Oak Lane. Kensington, OTOH, is an enormous area. Fishtown, part of old kensington north of girard east of front and, south of york/lehigh? is fairly nice but VERY white, esp south of york. north of lehigh east of aramingo is port richmond, a traditionally polish enclave. kensington, closer to Girard, is ok I guess. not much down there really but there are some decent streets...there's been a fair amount of gentrification but not overwhelmingly so. north of there to york, the area from front to second is largely puerto rican with some African Americans. it's not shangrila but there are much worse areas of kensington. it's close to an el stop (york dauphin). north of lehigh is worse and it gets worse between there and broad. lehigh itself is a wide, well lite commercial street.

lastly, there are some new places adjacent to the north philadelphia train station. building is ugly as sin but they were just built. the area has a fair amount of crime but it's right on Broad.

Thank you for your in-depth description. I will look into the other parts.

[pman]

Originally Posted by krazymack

Thank you for your in-depth description. I will look into the other parts.

sorry that should have read "nothing north of vine isn't north philly"

[fkMan]

What is wrong with people. Move into a nice area and avoid problems. Forgot to mention that when visiting Philly recently I was held up at gunpoint on my way to visit a friend outside Germantown. It turned out that a cop car came around the corner and the kid holding me up took off in a hurry, but I was scared to death.

[chessimprov]

If you don't have a lot to lose and don't feel afraid to get mugged and deal with those situations, then I'd say maybe you can live in one of these areas. Get involved with the community there in as many ways as you can and then you can improve the surroundings potentially.

Kensington is not a good place to start fresh.

[Tone509]

Originally Posted by fkMan

What is wrong with people. Move into a nice area and avoid problems. Forgot to mention that when visiting Philly recently I was held up at gunpoint on my way to visit a friend outside Germantown. It turned out that a cop car came around the corner and the kid holding me up took off in a hurry, but I was scared to death.

Forgot to mention? Have we met you before?

[chessimprov]

Look for the books by Salome El-Thomas. His experiences were in North Philly, bu West Philly would also meet your needs. This kind of book is a great guide to understanding and being a part of education, Philadelphia, and chess.

[cornellmck]

My friend rent tends to reflex the nabe, so just go from there, used some common sense. Also move into an area that will provide you with the type of live style you want to live

[cornellmck]

Please forget my spelling

[bryson662001]

To the OP you should do fine as long as you make an effort to blend into your surroundings....