Philly suburbs question (Philadelphia, Drexel Hill, Springfield: houses, good schools, college)

[waltlantz]

i hear people refer to some suburbs as the "first suburbs" or "inner ring suburbs" (often in relation to how nice they are)

Can some one give a rundown of the prominent ones and how they are any different from suburbs in general?

[orrmobl]

Generally they are the suburbs right over the city line and have at least one if not several modes of public transportation to get to the city, and are fairly walkable ie you don't need a car to live there. They were generally outcroppings of the city so the architecture is more city-like, rowhomes and the like, and older homes vs newer. Basically if you need a car to get everywhere, you are not in an inner ring suburb.

Lansdowne, Drexel Hill, Upper Darby, Darby (poor Darby!), Springfield, Clifton Heights, Aldan, Havertown, Ardmore, Bryn Mawr, Merion, Wynnewood, Bala Cynwyd, you get the idea...

[bryson662001]

A different interpretation perhaps then orrmobl. There is nothing "nice" about Darby, Cliffton Heights or Lansdown. The posh inner ring suburbs are not particularly walkable although they all have train service to the city. They are in Lower Merion township (Bala Cynwyd, Wynnewood, Gladwyn, Bryn Mawr) just west of the city and in parts of Cheltenham Township (Elkins Park,Wyncote, Melrose Park) and Abington Township (Rydal, Meadowbrook) just to the north
and Whitemarsh north west. The schools are excellent and the housing stock, while old, is well kept, large and expensive (estate style) There are
lots of real mansions as opposed to McMansions or tract houses. It is the traditional country club
crowd.

[orrmobl]

Well according to studies such as this, about Philadelphia inner ring suburbs, my definition is the more correct one and I believe what the poster is asking about. The socioeconomic decline of inner ring suburbs is a fact, but it doesn't happen to all of them. Drexel Hill and Lansdowne happen to be very nice and people who work in the city value them for their proximity, housing stock, and public transportation. Towns like Darby and Clifton Heights as of late haven't fared as well.

Often people rave about inner ring suburbs because they believe in them, or because they hate subdivisions and gas guzzling and they have an agenda - that of revitalization as well as conservation. Not bad agendas, but agendas nonetheless.

http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/vi...xt=cssd/opolis

[waltlantz]

I admit to being interested in them, while a one time childhood resident and yearly visitor of the city, I am actually a DC area guy.

Right on the modern sprawling underbelly of Alexandria VA., an older more planned streetcar suburb of DC I guess. I like my proximity to DC and Public Transpo, the quiteness of the immediate neighboorhood, so and an so forth (college student I am).

From a family standpoint, you could say that it provides the best opportunities for parents in the terms of good schools and safety but still just a hop and a skip away from BIG fun (In DC area, if you are into home ownership such places are starting to get really pricey).


I also am disinterested in living in exurbs/far out suburbs if avoidable, primarilly due to commute times (DC one of the top 5 worse commutes in country).