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We already know why: proximity to NY which we can't do anything about. All we, here, can do is continue to do what you do since you travel: talk up the city, explain how folks have misceptions, point out how they can learn more and how it's worth their time to do so.
Trust me, I do. I am more passionate talking about Philadelphia than any other cities (including NYC).
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1ondoner
I'm one of them. I'd never been to Independence hall before I moved here but I had been to Gettysburg while on a visit to DC with my folks. Philly was not on my radar of places to visit.
That is another huge point. Leaving NYC out of it... people will say "I am visiting Chicago, DC, San Fran, even Boston" OR "Lets do a weekend in Chicago, DC, San Fran, Boston" and people respond with "cool" or "that sounds fun"
Do the same for Philadelphia and you will get a lot more "why?" "whats in Philly?" "O, I never thought to go to Philly"
That happens less and less in the last decade or so, but it still happens. And besides Chicago, I find a weekend in Philadelphia to be a lot more fun and appealing than San Fran, DC or Boston. Its a bigger city, more to do, equal / better food, equal or the best nightlife, denser and more walk-able, yet its still an enigma to some people.
That needs to change 100%. We all know Philadelphia is an equal to other major US cities, but not everyone else does.
Continued marketing, amazing culinary openings, major national and international events, movies, etc. all need to happen in Philadelphia in order to change the remaining "whys" into "awesome, that sounds fun"
And a huge part of that comes down to leadership with a global mindset, not leadership worried about cashless stores and parking.
As someone from outside of Philly (2 hours to the north) most of time there either the Vet, the Linc, the Spectrum etc. I did visit the various historical sites as Cub Scout. During a recent trip I revisited Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. What was even more interesting was the 1 hour carriage ride we took, if you are going for visit I'd highly recommend that first early in the morning and use that to plan the day. Lot's of very interesting sites I would of never known were there.
I did spend more than week near Jefferson because of family member with a medical problem being addressed at Penn. It was probably about an 8 block walk between the hotel and Penn, I'd try and take different route each time and that was twice a day. Not a whole lot of really interesting things but I wasn't exactly there for the night life and it was winter. The old section of Penn Hospital was really cool. Overall it was pleasant. I really enjoyed the huge selection of restaurants, ate somewhere different each day for both lunch and dinner. Arrived pretty late the first day and went to Wendy's which just happened to be close and it was a HUGE mistake, if you were familiar with the Turnpike food of the 80's that was first class cuisine compared to this place. Not sure how you screw up a Wendy's burger. Best place was this sandwich shop with a giant neon pig in the window, I was like a moth attracted to a light.
I'm one of them. I'd never been to Independence hall before I moved here but I had been to Gettysburg while on a visit to DC with my folks. Philly was not on my radar of places to visit.
Outside of NYC (and to a lesser extent DC, LA, Las Vegas, Orlando, FL), I really can't think of any other American city that's truly, ubiquitously on every American's radar to visit in modern times (history, of course, was very different). For a country as supposedly interconnected and educated as ever, it's actually amazing how parochial/not-well-traveled Americans can be (even on the coasts, where the purported "enlightened" folks of the US live, people very much tend to only go where they're familiar).
Point being: lack of broader modern awareness about Philly is certainly not a uniquely-Philly issue, when many other prominent cities today, such as SF, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Denver, Seattle, Miami, etc. etc. also aren't ubiquitous. They're just not (SF and Chicago have the best cases to argue otherwise, but they're still pretty West Coast- and Midwest-centric, at their cores).
Despite Philly's obvious historic and current stature, I'm not shocked to read the bolded statement, especially if you're not from the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic region of the US. That being said, I think the Millennial generation in particular is definitely cementing Philly's resurgence in the American consciousness as more people are once again valuing authentic, organic and human-scaled urbanism, which Philly has in spades.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpomp
That is another huge point. Leaving NYC out of it... people will say "I am visiting Chicago, DC, San Fran, even Boston" OR "Lets do a weekend in Chicago, DC, San Fran, Boston" and people respond with "cool" or "that sounds fun"
Do the same for Philadelphia and you will get a lot more "why?" "whats in Philly?" "O, I never thought to go to Philly"
I don't think that's quite as true, as it's often told. I'd agree that the aforementioned cities have more recognition than Philadelphia overall, but I don't think most Americans are intimately familiar with any of those cities, besides DC--and even then, it's the association with government/politics, not truly what DC offers as a city.
I think we're too quick to forget that America today is overwhelmingly a very suburban-obsessed/comfortable-with-my-lawn-and-driveway nation. So if you think about it, there's only a minority of folks who truly are urban enthusiasts and deeply appreciate the vibrancy of a big city environment, even just for visiting.
Outside of NYC (and to a lesser extent DC, LA, Las Vegas, Orlando, FL), I really can't think of any other American city that's truly, ubiquitously on every American's radar to visit in modern times (history, of course, was very different). For a country as supposedly interconnected and educated as ever, it's actually amazing how parochial/not-well-traveled Americans can be (even on the coasts, where the purported "enlightened" folks of the US live, people very much tend to only go where they're familiar).
Point being: lack of broader modern awareness about Philly is certainly not a uniquely-Philly issue, when many other prominent cities today, such as SF, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Denver, Seattle, Miami, etc. etc. also aren't ubiquitous. They're just not (SF and Chicago have the best cases to argue otherwise, but they're still pretty West Coast- and Midwest-centric, at their cores).
Despite Philly's obvious historic and current stature, I'm not shocked to read the bolded statement, especially if you're not from the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic region of the US. That being said, I think the Millennial generation in particular is definitely cementing Philly's resurgence in the American consciousness as more people are once again valuing authentic, organic and human-scaled urbanism, which Philly has in spades.
I don't think that's quite as true, as it's often told. I'd agree that the aforementioned cities have more recognition than Philadelphia overall, but I don't think most Americans are intimately familiar with any of those cities, besides DC--and even then, it's the association with government/politics, not truly what DC offers as a city.
I think we're too quick to forget that America today is overwhelmingly a very suburban-obsessed/comfortable-with-my-lawn-and-driveway nation. So if you think about it, there's only a minority of folks who truly are urban enthusiasts and deeply appreciate the vibrancy of a big city environment, even just for visiting.
What I said was more of a generalization. Of course I meet people all the time who love Philadelphia and have great things to say about it. I met a guy in LA who works in media/ entertainment said Philadelphia is his favorite city and wishes he could live there.
So among better traveled, educated, and usually younger Americans, Philadelphia has a high level of respect, still stuck in the middle, but people acknowledge it as a major urban city, and a cool city.
Widening to your average American I still hear those "Why" statements I mentioned above, obviously its lack of knowledge toward the city, but how does the city change that remaining mindset?
Sort of off topic, but I have repeated this again and again, Washington DC for whatever reason is reviewed at the super cool, Utopian city. Almost every single person I meet who lives in DC (gay and straight) talks so highly of DC and puts other cities down including Philadelphia. Philadelphia gets more respect from New Yorkers and Bostonians than DC residents, when did that happen? To this day, I still do not see the appeal of DC and I have traveled this country far and wide and would rank DC average on my city spectrum. Its a fine city, I have explored it throughout, but a peer of New York, Chicago, Philadelphia in terms of density, quality, urbanism, food, culture, downtown, history, architecture, nightlife, vibe, people, etc. In my opinion, no... its a notch below.
Last edited by cpomp; 02-19-2019 at 06:59 AM..
Reason: added thought
That is another huge point. Leaving NYC out of it... people will say "I am visiting Chicago, DC, San Fran, even Boston" OR "Lets do a weekend in Chicago, DC, San Fran, Boston" and people respond with "cool" or "that sounds fun"
Do the same for Philadelphia and you will get a lot more "why?" "whats in Philly?" "O, I never thought to go to Philly"
I realize this is strictly anecdotal and trivial, but I was watching a tv show set in NYC the other night and one of the featured couples was choosing to spend the weekend in Philly to consummate their relationship. It was an offhand detail tossed in without further comment, but were no furrowed brows of curiosity as you claim might be the norm. Maybe it’s not such a secret anymore?
I realize this is strictly anecdotal and trivial, but I was watching a tv show set in NYC the other night and one of the featured couples was choosing to spend the weekend in Philly to consummate their relationship. It was an offhand detail tossed in without further comment, but were no furrowed brows of curiosity as you claim might be the norm. Maybe it’s not such a secret anymore?
If they lived in New York, then those are not the people I am referring to. I'm talking outside of our Mid-Atlanta bubble.
Think people from Atlanta, Houston, Denver, Portland, Phoenix, etc. And again, I was generalizing a bit, of course that is not the majority of opinion, but I still hear those "whys" from time to time with regard to Philadelphia, but I never hear them for our counterparts.
The only American cities with truly worldwide recognition of landmarks are NYC (Statue of Liberty, Empire State, WTC, etc, etc), DC (White House, Capitol, etc.) and LA (Hollywood). You could maybe throw in Orlando because of Disney World, but other than that, no American city really has any landmarks that would be recognized by your average person around the world.
If they lived in New York, then those are not the people I am referring to. I'm talking outside of our Mid-Atlanta bubble.
Think people from Atlanta, Houston, Denver, Portland, Phoenix, etc. And again, I was generalizing a bit, of course that is not the majority of opinion, but I still hear those "whys" from time to time with regard to Philadelphia, but I never hear them for our counterparts.
I assumed your generalizations referred to your fellow NYers.
I think it’s equally likely that locals in this area might question “why” people would randomly go to Atlanta, Houston, Portland, etc. Unless you’re going to a small handful of cities (NYC, DC, LA, SF and perhaps Chicago), most people are going to be curious about what draws you to a less definable major metro. It might be worth repeating a story I relayed before:
I retired to Philly from Houston several years back. When coworkers my age started planning retirement, we use to share our plans in informal chats. Places like Pugent Sound, Denver, Tennessee and the Carolinas were popular locales. When friends asked where we were retiring, I of course replied Philly. Then it became interesting because I'd get 2 nearly predictable responses:
1. The first group took on puzzled looks as if they misheard me. Then followed the predictable stereotypes of legacy cities.
2. The 2nd response was interesting, however. My company partnered with Wharton for our leadership development program, sending the "up and comers" to programs for extended stays in Philly. The general response from those folks can be summed up as "Wow - you're going to a great city!"
Word gets out with each event and each visit. Anyone who loves cities will enjoy their time here and let their friends and acquaintances know when they get back home.
Um, I guess we really ARE living in a cashless society... You even see a $100 bill? There's Ben on the front.. flip it over.. Independence Hall is on the back.. Never heard of the place? (SMH)
Um, I guess we really ARE living in a cashless society... You even see a $100 bill? There's Ben on the front.. flip it over.. Independence Hall is on the back.. Never heard of the place? (SMH)
Or maybe we use smaller denominations ...
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