Walkable shops, diverse, with garage? (Philadelphia, Chester: mcmansions, work, housing)

[jeneralist]

Hi, all.

My husband and I are in the process of moving from Central NJ to the Philadelphia area; I'll be working in Manayunk some days, and Center City other days (company has two offices I'll be shuttling between). He'll mostly be working from home, with occasional trips via Amtrak or the Philly airport. We've been scouting around Philly and some of the closer suburbs for a while, trying to get a sense of what's available.

Ideally, we're hoping to find an area where we could walk to dinner or a cafe after we got home from work; a walkable neighborhood with a core of shops and transit available. If you know NJ, we're moving from Metuchen; looking for a place that feels like Metuchen, Summit, Westfield, etc. (In Metuchen, we live a half-mile from the train station; we can walk to Thai, sushi, French, or Italian restaurants, and even a nearby live theatre on the weekends! Plus a good hardware store, used book store, non-chain cafes, etc.) Complicating matters is our desire for a place with a garage: we have an electric car that needs to be plugged in at night to recharge. On-street parking won't work for that; even a driveway will be tough.

As far as housing styles, we'd like to stay away from McMansions; older Victorian, Colonials, or row houses are much more our taste.

So far, we've looked at Chestnut Hill, Jenkintown, Manayunk, and Narberth. Chestnut Hill is the best match so far. Manayunk has a great vibe, but I think it will be hard to find a place with a garage; Narberth was cute, but it looked like everyone in town had gone to prep school; and when we tried to get something to eat in Jenkintown on a Sunday in the early afternoon, it felt like the town was closed for the day.

Suggestions for other neighborhoods or towns would be very welcome. I know I'm missing something, but I don't know what it is!

[newmarlig]

Well, I was going to say Chestnut Hill or West Mt. Airy, but I see you have seen Chestnut Hill. Have you looked in West Mt. Airy. It's adjacent to Chestnut Hill and has what you are looking for.

[rainrock]

The 3 county seats of the suburban counties standout to me.Probably the 3 best communities in suburban Philly

Bucks County- Doylestown is a terrific town. Almost the perfect small town.

Chester County- West Chester was named one of "Americas dozen distinctive destinations." Almost a carbon copy of Doylestown.

Delaware County- Media Very nice leafy small town, not quite as big or vibrant as Doylestown or West Chester but very convenient location. Media is the closest of the 3 to Manayunk and Center City.

Malvern
Swarthmore
Paoli
Wayne
Ridley Park
West Conshohocken

Probably fit your criteria but are a step down from Doylestown-WC and Media imo.

[jeneralist]

Thanks for the help! The county seats are a bit farther out of town than I'm hoping for; Chestnut Hill is sounding better and better.

[Will Kelly]

Chestnut Hill is a great area. You mentioned you were going to work in Manayunk and I have a number of friends who live there and love the area. East Falls has gotten a lot of press over the last couple of years for its redevelopment. I love it's location to the park but I don't know anyone who lives there yet.

All the best.

[rozziej]

Jeneralist--Go with Chestnut Hill. Everything that you described in your original post can be found and had in Chestnut Hill. My aunt lives in Chestnut Hill and has NO desire to live anywhere else. It's far enough, but close enough....go for it and good luck!!!