Culture of Delco (Philadelphia, Chester, Drexel Hill: tuition, suburbs, catholics)

[Burger Fan]

Originally Posted by Snwmn5

If Delco is more "Philly" than Philly, what is Philly at that point?

Philadelphia isn't Phoenix. Go outside of the Phoenix city limits and you pretty much have desert and nothing else.


On the other hand, you can walk from several of the inner ring delco suburbs (Upper Darby, East Lansdowne, Yeadon, Darby) into philly quite easily with no indication you're going from "delco" into "philly" unless your eyes are glued to google maps. Either way you're still looking at identical demographics, economics, living conditions, etc.


speaking of upper darby specifically, 69th street is not only walking distance from cobbs creek in west/southwest philly, but it's also the end point of the market-frankford EL and several trolley routes. There's a huge amount people living and working in the city that use that place as a hub to get to and from vast swaths of the city and the Philadelphia airport. The northeast? not so much. Residents there have long blocked any expansion of the subway system to the "great northeast" and as a result it feels a lot more cut off from the rest of the city and isn't as diverse.


Really if you had to ask me what "Philly" is, it's probably the entire metro area to some degree. The city doesn't "stop" at the city limits- there are hundreds of thousands of residents of the burbs (delco and otherwise, even south jersey to some extent) coming in daily via 76, 95, regional rail and the franklin and Whitman bridges that make up a huge part of city workforce and city culture.

[Snwmn5]

Originally Posted by Burger Fan

There's a huge amount people living and working in the city that use that place as a hub to get to and from vast swaths of the city and the Philadelphia airport. The northeast? not so much. Residents there have long blocked any expansion of the subway system to the "great northeast" and as a result it feels a lot more cut off from the rest of the city and isn't as diverse.

I'm not disagreeing with you about Delware County's connection to the city of Philadelphia but I don't see why you're discounting the Northeast. At this point, the Northeast actually has some of the most diverse areas of the city and is a unique combination of lifelong Philadelphians, many who moved from other sections of the city, and an increasingly large group of immigrants from all over. Theres also pretty decent public transportation with the three regional rail lines, buses, and the Fkd transportation center.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by AbdiKony

Do you think there's a dividing line in delco between the different types of communities in terms of economics or race? I noticed that the place gets more blue collared the further south you go although I don't know too much about the places around chester. I never been there before.

Delco is Delaware County, but the term is really only widely used in the southern parts of the county.

If you look at a map of Delaware County, my definition of Delco would be south of Bethel, Aston, Nether Providence, Springfield, and Haverford. Basically the southern 1/3 of the county. The demographics of the county are quite interesting, you go from the some of the wealthiest most exclusive zipcodes in the country to some of the poorest in just a few miles. Very diverse county.

[AbdiKony]

I been to the northeast a few times and I don't really see how it should not be considered part of the city. For example, neighborhoods such as oxford circle should be considered part of the northeast

[PhilliesPhan2013]

As someone who was born in Chester, lived in West Philadelphia, attended Cardinal O'Hara High School, currently lives in Brookhaven (whenever I'm not in college) and traveled all over Delco and Philadelphia, I agree with all of the posts made here.

It's actually funny that this topic came up, as I was talking about this topic with my brother last night. I said, "The Media/Elwyn Line (R3) is as Delco as it gets. The Paoli/Thorndale Line (R5) goes through the wealthy Main Line suburbs, the Wilmington/Newark Line (R2) goes through the working-class former industrial towns generally along the Delaware River, and the Airport Line (R1) only serves the airport. If you want a true sense of Delco culture, take the Media/Elwyn Line". When I think of Delco, I generally think of the towns within the vicinity of Baltimore Pike, along with some exceptions (Havertown, Bromall, Aston, Brookhaven, and Boothwyn). Towns like Springfield, Clifton, Aldan, and Media would fit into my definition. Delconians have an accent very similar to the Philly accent. We eat very similar foods, watch the same sports teams, and get much enjoyment out of traveling to Center City and going "Down the Shore" in the summer.

One HUGE part of Delco culture is an institution that came out of Delco: Wawa. If you were to travel through Delco, you would not be able to miss a Wawa. They are literally everywhere here! There are around 10 of them on MacDade Boulevard alone. The "Wawa run" (which I just did a little while ago) is almost ritualistic down here. I am very brand-loyal to Wawa, even in the Sheetz-dominated Lehigh Valley and Northeast PA. Also, since I am only 20, another thing that I consider to be a part of at least Delco youth culture is Natty Lights. When I was in high school, that was the only beer that my friends would drink. It's terrible beer, but I guess my friends drank it because of how cheap it is.

I'll post more later if I think of anything else Delco-related.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by PhilliesPhan2013

As someone who was born in Chester, lived in West Philadelphia, attended Cardinal O'Hara High School, currently lives in Brookhaven (whenever I'm not in college) and traveled all over Delco and Philadelphia, I agree with all of the posts made here.

It's actually funny that this topic came up, as I was talking about this topic with my brother last night. I said, "The Media/Elwyn Line (R3) is as Delco as it gets. The Paoli/Thorndale Line (R5) goes through the wealthy Main Line suburbs, the Wilmington/Newark Line (R2) goes through the working-class former industrial towns generally along the Delaware River, and the Airport Line (R1) only serves the airport. If you want a true sense of Delco culture, take the Media/Elwyn Line". When I think of Delco, I generally think of the towns within the vicinity of Baltimore Pike, along with some exceptions (Havertown, Bromall, Aston, Brookhaven, and Boothwyn). Towns like Springfield, Clifton, Aldan, and Media would fit into my definition. Delconians have an accent very similar to the Philly accent. We eat very similar foods, watch the same sports teams, and get much enjoyment out of traveling to Center City and going "Down the Shore" in the summer.

One HUGE part of Delco culture is an institution that came out of Delco: Wawa. If you were to travel through Delco, you would not be able to miss a Wawa. They are literally everywhere here! There are around 10 of them on MacDade Boulevard alone. The "Wawa run" (which I just did a little while ago) is almost ritualistic down here. I am very brand-loyal to Wawa, even in the Sheetz-dominated Lehigh Valley and Northeast PA. Also, since I am only 20, another thing that I consider to be a part of at least Delco youth culture is Natty Lights. When I was in high school, that was the only beer that my friends would drink. It's terrible beer, but I guess my friends drank it because of how cheap it is.

I'll post more later if I think of anything else Delco-related.

Wawa, natty lights, and MacDade Blvd, that is a class act line up right there.

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by AbdiKony

If a person is from delco, can that person say he's from philly, especially if explaining to a person from outside the philly metro?

Here you go:

[AbdiKony]

Wawa is pretty special to me. I'm now in DC and there's no Wawa and I was actually surprised. Instead there are starbucks every few blocks. Everything feels pretty inconvenient although my immigrant parents didn't really like Wawa for some reason.

[Flyers Girl]

Originally Posted by CarnivalGal

Here you go:

Where did you find that image? Because I need to own that shirt!


You know what's decidedly Delco? The Bazaar of all Nations!

[snj90]

Originally Posted by PhilliesPhan2013

As someone who was born in Chester, lived in West Philadelphia, attended Cardinal O'Hara High School, currently lives in Brookhaven (whenever I'm not in college) and traveled all over Delco and Philadelphia, I agree with all of the posts made here.

It's actually funny that this topic came up, as I was talking about this topic with my brother last night. I said, "The Media/Elwyn Line (R3) is as Delco as it gets. The Paoli/Thorndale Line (R5) goes through the wealthy Main Line suburbs, the Wilmington/Newark Line (R2) goes through the working-class former industrial towns generally along the Delaware River, and the Airport Line (R1) only serves the airport. If you want a true sense of Delco culture, take the Media/Elwyn Line". When I think of Delco, I generally think of the towns within the vicinity of Baltimore Pike, along with some exceptions (Havertown, Bromall, Aston, Brookhaven, and Boothwyn). Towns like Springfield, Clifton, Aldan, and Media would fit into my definition. Delconians have an accent very similar to the Philly accent. We eat very similar foods, watch the same sports teams, and get much enjoyment out of traveling to Center City and going "Down the Shore" in the summer.

One HUGE part of Delco culture is an institution that came out of Delco: Wawa. If you were to travel through Delco, you would not be able to miss a Wawa. They are literally everywhere here! There are around 10 of them on MacDade Boulevard alone. The "Wawa run" (which I just did a little while ago) is almost ritualistic down here. I am very brand-loyal to Wawa, even in the Sheetz-dominated Lehigh Valley and Northeast PA. Also, since I am only 20, another thing that I consider to be a part of at least Delco youth culture is Natty Lights. When I was in high school, that was the only beer that my friends would drink. It's terrible beer, but I guess my friends drank it because of how cheap it is.

I'll post more later if I think of anything else Delco-related.

Natty light & Wawa are big in South Jersey too.