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Rittenhouse Square is great (as are Washington Square and Society Hill) but it's not really an apples to apples comparison with Lincoln Park. Lincoln Park is bigger than all of Center City, has multiple hubs, a massive park, and a huge amount of culture and entertainment all within the neighborhood. I find that to be one of the big differences between Chicago and Philly. In Philly, quality is largely concentrated in and around Center City. Once you go 3-4 miles out there aren't that many gentrified neighborhoods and, if there are, they are on a much smaller scale. In Chicago, you can be 5, 6, 7 miles out of the Loop and still be in dense, gentrified neighborhoods.
Dunno really like Lincon Park but do feel Rittenhouse can definately go toe to toe
Oh yeah..I really like some of the Philly neighborhoods. I am a huge fan of European style streets and nice, old architecture for which Philly definitely has. That's one thing I like about certain parts of the NE a lot.. Some of the neighborhoods in Philly remind me of a few neighborhoods in Chicago although Philly's streets in some are a little narrower (Chicago streets residentially in the north side are narrower than people think but not European narrow).
Point of my post though was that everyone thinks that Chicago is some big downtown area with skyscrapers and outside of that it's like ****. Far, far, far from the truth. Lot of really great neighborhoods in Chicago.
Lakeview, north of Lincoln Park
Wicker Park and Bucktown neighborhoods, a few miles N and W of the Loop
^^^ No I know Chicago very well and enjoy many of the neighborhoods
I also think people have a outdated understanding of Philly. There are also many great areas (stilll far too many bad ones though) and not as many in the city when comparaed to Chicago (porportionally closer though probably still edge Chicago on proportion as well in the city) And some place you mention like Wicker Park/Bucktown remind me of places like No Libs and Fishtown, though No Libs is like 1-2 miles from DT
So to me edge Chciago in city in terms of neighborhoods (Philly underated) and in terms of the area meaning burbs based on my experience I find Philly to offer more diversity in the burbs and more interesting DTs and charm in the sorrounding area.
Also this to me isnt really about a winner or loser in any regard. Two cities I really love and two of the few areas I personally choose to live
Kidphilly, I totally agree with you that people have an outdated understanding of Philadelphia. In the same way, I think it's also true of Chicago. I think for both cities, people who aren't that familiar think they both have tons of crime rampant all over the city and even still with mafia dudes running all around, and that it's just dirty and run down buildings or something. Now for both cities, part of that is true in some areas, but definitely not even most of the cities.
Lincoln Park blows any Philly neighborhood out of the water LOL. To this day, I still don't know many Philly neighborhoods, but I know many Chicago neighborhoods.
So you agree you know virtually nothing about Philly then? So why are you even talking? And no, many neighborhoods in Philly can go toe to toe with Lincoln Park including the neighborhoods KidPhilly listed (Rittenhouse, Wash West, Society Hill, Logan Square, Chestnut Hill)
Rittenhouse Square is great (as are Washington Square and Society Hill) but it's not really an apples to apples comparison with Lincoln Park. Lincoln Park is bigger than all of Center City, has multiple hubs, a massive park, and a huge amount of culture and entertainment all within the neighborhood. I find that to be one of the big differences between Chicago and Philly. In Philly, quality is largely concentrated in and around Center City. Once you go 3-4 miles out there aren't that many gentrified neighborhoods and, if there are, they are on a much smaller scale. In Chicago, you can be 5, 6, 7 miles out of the Loop and still be in dense, gentrified neighborhoods.
1. Lincoln Park and Center City are roughly the same size, except Center City has a larger population of slightly more than 80,000 while Lincoln Park has slightly more than 67,000.
2. The bolded part is highly inaccurate. There are not many gentrified areas outside of the core because there are a lot of neighborhoods that never went downhill in the first place.
-If you go three miles to the East, you are well into New Jersey Suburbs.
-If you go three miles to the South, you reach FDR Park, the Sports Complex and the Navy Yard. Practically all of South Philadelphia is nice or gentrifying. The only pockets left are Point Breeze (gentrifying), Dickinson Narrows (gentrifying) and Grays Ferry (the only neighborhood not really gentrifying yet).
- Go three miles into West Philadelphia then yes you're in a run down area, but go 4 miles, and you're in the City Ave corridor, which is a string of nice middle class neighborhoods (Wynnefield, Wynnefield Heights, Belmont Village, Overbrook, Overbrook Park, Overbrook Farms). And of course, you have the very nice areas across the river from Center City (University City, Spruce Hill, Woodland Terrace, Powelton Village, Clark Park, Cedar Park, Squirrel Hill, Garden Court, Walnut Hill) and the gentrifying areas (Mantua, Saunder's Park, Dunlap).
-Go three miles into Southwest Philadelphia, and again, you're in middle class neighborhoods (Elmwood Park, Eastwick, Paschall, etc.)
-Go three miles into North Philadelphia and yes you are well into the ghetto. The nice sections of North Philly border Center City (Fairmount, Spring Garden, Poplar, Northern Liberties) with a bunch of gentrifying neighborhoods (Olde Kensington, Brewerytwon, Spring Arts, Francisville, West Poplar, Templetown, Ludlow, Sharswood). Then the very northern part that border the suburbs are all middle class or working class (East Oak Lane, West Oak Lane, Stenton, Cedarbrook, Fern Rock, Ogontz, Logan, Olney).
-Go three miles Northeast, and you're in the middle class Riverwards (Port Richmond, East Kensington, Fishtown, Bridesburg, etc). Then keep going and you enter Northeast Philadelphia, which is entirely nice except for the neighborhoods that border North Philadelphia (Wissanoming, Frankford, Oxford Circle, Lawncrest are the only dumpy areas). The Northeast is also massive in size (it is 1/3 of the city's land area). The whole area is Middle class with some Upper Middle class spots (Fox Chase).
-Go three miles Northwest, and you end up in the nice sections of Northwest Philadelphia. The only dumpy area of this section is Germantown East and parts of East Mt. Airy. There are plenty of nice areas such as East Falls, Manayunk, Roxborough, etc. and some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the city are in this section (Chestnut Hill, West Mt. Airy)
1. Lincoln Park and Center City are roughly the same size, except Center City has a larger population of slightly more than 80,000 while Lincoln Park has slightly more than 67,000.
Not sure why City Center and Lincoln Park are being compared...Lincoln Park is 2-2.5 miles north of "downtown" and about 3 miles north of the Loop. More accurate comparison is easily Rittenhouse Square
Not sure why City Center and Lincoln Park are being compared...Lincoln Park is 2-2.5 miles north of "downtown" and about 3 miles north of the Loop. More accurate comparison is easily Rittenhouse Square
But Rittenhoise Square is IN Center City, it's just a tiny part of it. How is that a better comparison to Lincoln Park which is away from downtown and probably 20 times larger? I don't understand what you are saying.
But Rittenhoise Square is IN Center City, it's just a tiny part of it. How is that a better comparison to Lincoln Park which is away from downtown and probably 20 times larger? I don't understand what you are saying.
For some reason I thought RS was not in City Center and right outside of it. I got confused obviously.
Here's what I'm saying. The neighborhoods are similar by character and feel, but they are geographically located in different areas in relation to the center of the city. Lincoln Square is not in downtown Chicago no matter how you define downtown. Lincoln Park is to the Loop as Walnut Hill is to City Center distance wise..perhaps.
Also are you saying that Lincoln Park is 20 times larger than "downtown Chicago?" That's not even close to true. If we are ONLY talking about the Loop (which almost nobody except an old person considers the only section of downtown) as downtown, then Lincoln Park is only twice the overall physical area of the Loop and a little over twice the amount of people. If we are including Near North Side into this (River North, Streeterville, Gold Coast), then downtown Chicago is larger than Lincoln Park in both population and overall area
Loop - 1.58 sq miles | 29,283 people
Lincoln Park - 3.19 sq miles | 64,116 people
Near North Side - 2.72 sq miles | 80,484 people
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