Looking at Philly (Really only Philly)

[rdr2133]

Originally Posted by kyb01

OP, if you can I would highly recommend you visit the areas where you "saw" those listings.

Places that might look sketchy might be safer than they appear.

I'm not afraid of going to most sections in the city because I'm a lifer and I'm used to even the badder looking parts of the city.

I agree. I am leaving tomorrow morning to check out some of these addresses I have lined up. Honestly, I am not one of those people who gets scared off by the way a neighborhood looks. I don't mind the grittiness of an area that may not have the newest of construction or has been completely gentrified.

I should note that I am also looking at some time down the road getting into Temple's city and regional planning program.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by rdr2133

Thank you so much for the advice, Market. I apologize I am just now getting to this. I would like to make it a point to get on here more often so I can reply quicker. I honestly have enjoyed what I have found in Germantown, and really enjoyed my time there back in May. I already have addresses lined up for when I visit this weekend and several are in Germantown. I have done my research on the neighborhood, and tell me if I am wrong, but one of the things that I really like about Germantown is that it seems more racially integrated than many others? That says so much about a neighborhood. As a single gay male, Gayborhood seems attractive, but I also could care less about the bar/club scene, and I figured it would be easy to take the train to Center City if I want it.

I guess one of my biggest questions in Germantown is connectivity to Center City. Looks like transportation is good with two lines, but it seems like one is better than the other. Does the Chestnut Hill East have quicker times into CC? It looks like Chestnut Hill West connects through 30th?

Your responses are greatly detailed!

Mt. Airy is the Philadelphia neighborhood with the rep for racial integration, and with a 65/35 ratio of African-Americans to whites, it's a little more racially integrated than 80/15 black/white Germantown. But those 15 percent of Germantowners who are white are quite involved in neighborhood civic affairs; typical neighborhood meetings on planning, zoning and other issues tend to have attendees who break close to 60/40 black/white.

The church I attend, The First Presbyterian Church in Germantown, prides itself on being one of a very few racially integrated Protestant churches in the city - or the country, for that matter: according to the church's website, only 5.5 percent of all churches in the United States have interracial congregations. (The church's Director of Adult Education and Community Life, The Rev. Kevin Porter, and I go back as friends to our college days at Harvard; he was born and raised in Mt. Airy. The not-yet-Rev. Porter and I inadvertently came out to each other one evening after I'd moved here in 1983; my ex and I were at a long-defunct black gay bar in Center City when he came downstairs from the upstairs dance floor.)

Yes, two Regional Rail lines connect all three neighborhoods of the Upper Northwest (former Germantown Township and Borough) to Center City. The trip is faster on the Chestnut Hill East line than on the Chestnut Hill West, thanks to the Hill West line's having to pick its way through Zoo Interlocking, a notorious choke point where the Northeast Corridor and Main Line meet just northwest of 30th Street Station, and cross over the two Amtrak Northeast Corridor tracks between North Philadelphia and Zoo Interlocking. Hill East trains also operate more frequently on Sundays than Hill West trains do (hourly vs. every 90 minutes; both lines operate hourly off-peak weekdays and on Saturdays). Hill East trains follow the ex-Reading main line into Center City from Wayne Junction; their first Center City stop is Jefferson Station, and they also stop at Temple University just before that.

But many find it as fast if not faster to use the six bus lines that connect with the Broad Street Line at one of two express stops: Erie (23, 53, H, XH) or Olney Transportation Center (18, 26). I live a 12-minute walk away from Germantown station on the Hill East or 10 minutes' walk from the next station out, Washington Lane. OTOH, the 18 and 26 buses both stop at the intersection of Chew and Chelten, a quarter-block from my house; combine the 8-minute bus ride with the 14-minute express subway ride and I get into Center City faster that way than on Regional Rail. This is even true for some Mt. Airy residents, who can catch all of the routes listed above save the 26, which runs east-west* across central Germantown. The 23, which follows Germantown Avenue, is the Upper Northwest's "spine line" and runs 24/7.

*Germantown's street grid, like that of the rest of the Upper Northwest, is actually 45 degrees off the main city grid; "east-west" streets run northeast-southwest while "north-south" ones run northwest-southeast. Germantown Avenue is the dividing line for addresses east and west of it; north-south street addresses continue those of the city grid at the point where Germantown Avenue crosses from Nicetown into Germantown at Wayne Junction. East-west Olney Avenue in Olney and Ogontz becomes north-south Chew Avenue at Wister Street, Germantown's eastern border. (Chew is also east-west east of this street; its addresses shift from 2100 W to 5300 N.)

[S688]

https://6abc.com/worker-beaten-with-...bbery/4893225/


Unfortunately, this is all too common in Germantown ... I know there are people working to make the neighborhood better, but as a lifelong Philadelphian who had a long-time girlfriend with family in Germantown, I wouldn't recommend living there unless you absolutely had to. Try Port Richmond, east of Aramingo Avenue.


Have a nice day.

[chessimprov]

Certain parts of Kensington right outside of Fishtown might be okay for you with roommate(s), but you need to visit and look before you actually take a place. This would be a good location to Temple too.

You might be okay living right near Temple with roommates at your price point too. Just keep your street smarts and wits about you. South of Temple is better than North basically.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by S688

https://6abc.com/worker-beaten-with-...bbery/4893225/


Unfortunately, this is all too common in Germantown ... I know there are people working to make the neighborhood better, but as a lifelong Philadelphian who had a long-time girlfriend with family in Germantown, I wouldn't recommend living there unless you absolutely had to. Try Port Richmond, east of Aramingo Avenue.


Have a nice day.

We let fear govern our lives too much.

I say this living on a block where three of the 12 murders that took place in East Germantown in the preceding two years occurred. Two of those three took place outside the same nuisance stop 'n' go our local councilwoman, Cindy Bass, managed to get shut down at the beginning of this fall.

The corner it's on - which is also the intersection where I catch and get off of the buses that take me to and from the subway to work - has been a lot quieter since then. By the way, I've lived in this apartment for five years and nine months now.

Seems the OP isn't that fazed by dicey neighborhoods or those with a rep for roughness. Keep in mind that in many cities, including this one, the LGBT folk were the ones who took a chance on such neighborhoods and turned them into places the better-off (and more skittish) straight folk wanted to live in.

I for one, and I know I'm not alone, want to see Germantown rise again. Warning people away from it won't help that process along.

[DreamingBigger1]

I’ll give my 2 cents...currently living in S Philly in $500k home...preciously sold a condo within conshochoken (lots of manayunk parting) and grew up in the burbs.

Manayunk sounds like a solid spot for you. Especially with your car. Having a car in the City, especially center city when you are not even using it much , is a huge budget drain.

I do not consider manayunk the city...I live in s philly. If not manayunk, find a location that is big for transplants etc within center and go in on an apartment together. The people are nicer in that area as a lot are not from Philly or are college students. We are getting out of s philly ASAP as everyone here is a terrible person LOL

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by DreamingBigger1

I’ll give my 2 cents...currently living in S Philly in $500k home...preciously sold a condo within conshochoken (lots of manayunk parting) and grew up in the burbs.

Manayunk sounds like a solid spot for you. Especially with your car. Having a car in the City, especially center city when you are not even using it much , is a huge budget drain.

I do not consider manayunk the city...I live in s philly. If not manayunk, find a location that is big for transplants etc within center and go in on an apartment together. The people are nicer in that area as a lot are not from Philly or are college students. We are getting out of s philly ASAP as everyone here is a terrible person LOL

Manayunk is in the city no matter what you consider it to be.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Manayunk is in the city no matter what you consider it to be.

Manayunk is an interesting paradox.

It's a city neighborhood, and it still has the look of an old mill town (which it is). Its residents remain mostly everyday working folks.

But Main Street has become an adult playground for Main Liners, especially Main Line college students. For all I know, there are people in Belmont Hills who are reconsidering their decision to cast off that neighborhood's original name of West Manayunk.

We do have other in-city neighborhoods that feel for all the world like suburbs. Upper Roxborough, most of the Northeast beyond the El, and above all Chestnut Hill, for instance.

The difference with Manayunk is, it doesn't look like a suburb. At all.