Philidelphia's relationship with New York (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: extended stay, transplants, city hall)

[Tao111]

I will be relocating to Philidelphia soon! I fell in love with your great city while on an extended stay there last year and was surprised how great the people are. A question I have is about NY/Philly relations. How much of a rivalry is there between New Yorkers and Philidelphians. Is there any animosity toward transplants from NY? How are the attitudes far as New Yorkers looking down their noses at Philidelphians or Philidelphians feeling infringed upon, so on so forth? The reason I ask is because I live in this muck called Chicago and there seems to be a war going on in people's heads here....against Wisconsin, against New York, against L.A. I am wondering if I'm walking into a similar situation in the Philly area.

[Shino306]

I can only speak for myself, but other than sports (which is huge in this are but coming from Chicago you should be used to that) I don't notice any rivalry on the part of people in Philadelphia toward New Yorkers. I can't speak for how New York views Philly (they probably think it's beneath them as all NYers think NY is the best) but I don't tend to hear people in Center City, which is where I live, talking *smack* about NY. Plus, Philly has had made a lot of progress as a city in the past 10 years or so, so the people living here are generally happy living here and wouldn't want to live in NY.

People are free to disagree with me, like I said, I can only speak from my personal experiences and generally my friends and co-workers are too busy thinking and doing other things than worrying about some "complex."

[maestro]

I'm a native NYer living in the Philly area and as Shino mentioned, sports seem to be the only glaring "anti-NY" attitude that I've heard. Most people here seem to respect NY as a good place to visit or shop, though they'd hate to live in the craziness of NYC.

In short, I've never felt shunned or anything regarding my NYC roots. As long as you don't come here blasting Philly, I think the Philly people will treat you well.

[Duderino]

Welcome!

You'll be fine -- just be sure to leave your Yankees hat in NY. ;-)

In all seriousness, there's a horde of relocated NYers in Philadelphia and the surrounding area. Any "rivalry" between Philly and NY is often overstated in the media and in reality is ignored by the average person. The only thing that may tend to irk some Philadelphians is comparing the city to NY -- in particular, how it is not the same in terms of 24-hour amenities. However, if you've been here on extended stay before, I'm sure you're already aware of the differences.

Good luck!

[john_starks]

i used wear my yankees hat a lot and never got a look until the world series. i thought i was going to get jumped on south street lol.

but, i still see a lot of people kickin yankees hats downtown by city hall. like everyone here said, people got other things to worry about.

[solibs]

I don't think people here spend too much time thinking about New Yorkers and you won't hear too many people trash talking NYC as a city.

I find that most "New Yorkers" living here aren't even from New York. They're from Iowa or Virginia and they lived in New York for a few years before moving here.

I don't think too many born and bred New Yorkers have that great of a concept of where Philly is - much less spend any time thinking about the city. I worked a table at the 5-Boro Bike Tour 2 years ago. It's a huge event with thousands of cyclists from all over the east coast. The end of the ride is in Staten Island and we were there handing out literature for Bike Philly.

We had a lot of people from South Jersey, PA, MD, DE, etc come to the table and get excited about it but everyone from the New York area remarked at how far away it was with some people estimating the drive to be 4 hours. I would tell people, "No, you must be thinking of Pittsburgh. Philadelphia is 75 miles from where you're standing." I heard a few people say to their friends "oh, i didn't realize it was so close. we should go next weekend."

[slickvic277]

Shino and Solibs,nailed it.In real everyday life they don't think about us and we don't think about them.

[acenturi]

Originally Posted by Duderino

You'll be fine -- just be sure to leave your Yankees hat in NY. ;-)
In all seriousness, there's a horde of relocated NYers in Philadelphia............

You noticed that when Jack Nicolson (actor) was here watching the Phillies-Dodgers playoff series, he was wearing a big as life Yankees baseball cap -- and not one of the 40,000+ Philadelphians attacked him.

[bryson662001]

IMO as a former NYer living in Philly.........it seems to be a rite of passage for young people who grew up in Philly to worship at the feet of NY, which they out grow eventually. On the other hand most nyer's don't know there is a place called philly. Personally I feel both places are pretty much the same as far as lifestyle except you get more for your money with less stress in Philly.

[acenturi]

Originally Posted by bryson662001

....... On the other hand most nyer's don't know there is a place called philly. Personally I feel both places are pretty much the same as far as lifestyle except you get more for your money with less stress in Philly.

That's a bit of a false generalization. I have met a relatively large number of New Yorkers who come down to Philly on Weekends for clubs and entertainment. Most of my friends in the 20 - 25 age range have NEVER worshipped NYC, but do occasionally go for a day or 2 of shows and distractions. It's not like Philly is Baltimore, Wilmington, etc., with little to do other than dream of a day in the big apple.