Need Info on Belmont Hills/Bala Cynwyd (Philadelphia, Penn Wynne: car insurance, buying a home)

[delco1990]

Can anyone recommend (or advise against) the Belmont Hills section of Bala Cynwyd? Would love to hear from someone with familiarity with the area.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by delco1990

Can anyone recommend (or advise against) the Belmont Hills section of Bala Cynwyd? Would love to hear from someone with familiarity with the area.

It’s an historically working class (non-Jewish) white ethnic area—Italian in particular—but that has changed significantly in the past 20 (and especially 10) years. When I grew up in the ‘90s and ‘00s, it was very tightly-knit and not always friendly to people perceived as outsiders. Some of this was a defensive reaction to snobbery from the more affluent surrounding areas, but a lot of it was straight-up racism and anti-Semitism, and there’s never an excuse for that sort of behavior.

I don’t think this is so much a problem anymore. There are lots of recent residential rehabs and tear-downs which evince that Belmont Hills, like other relatively affordable parts of the Main Line, is increasingly seen as a relatively affordable gateway to a highly coveted area. But I would urge a Jewish or (especially) non-white family to investigate carefully before buying a home there.

[delco1990]

Thanks! I actually drove through the area this evening and totally fell in love. I used to live across the river in Manayunk years ago and have family that lives in Bala Cynwyd, but never drove through Belmont Hills. It's a really, really cute area!

[MarketStEl]

Historical note:

The community was originally known as West Manayunk.

But in the 1950s, its residents wanted no association with what they saw as the rundown neighborhood on the other bank of the Schuylkill, and they changed its name to Belmont Hills.

Given what's happened in Manayunk since then, I wager that there are some in the neighborhood who wouldn't mind dusting off the West Manayunk name.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Historical note:

The community was originally known as West Manayunk.

But in the 1950s, its residents wanted no association with what they saw as the rundown neighborhood on the other bank of the Schuylkill, and they changed its name to Belmont Hills.

Given what's happened in Manayunk since then, I wager that there are some in the neighborhood who wouldn't mind dusting off the West Manayunk name.

Manayunk and Belmont Hills also once shared a zip code. Of course, the mailing address was Philadelphia and not “Manayunk.”

Originally Posted by delco1990

Thanks! I actually drove through the area this evening and totally fell in love. I used to live across the river in Manayunk years ago and have family that lives in Bala Cynwyd, but never drove through Belmont Hills. It's a really, really cute area!

It’s a distinctive community, for sure. You can read more interesting facts about Belmont Hills (and other parts of Lower Merion) here.

[delco1990]

Originally Posted by ElijahAstin

Manayunk and Belmont Hills also once shared a zip code. Of course, the mailing address was Philadelphia and not “Manayunk.”

Oh, that's interesting! I wonder when/why it became part of Bala Cynwyd. Is it really that separate from it? Like, do people say they are from Bala Cynwyd? Or do they specify Belmont Hills? It seems like such a unique little enclave.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by delco1990

Oh, that's interesting! I wonder when/why it became part of Bala Cynwyd. Is it really that separate from it? Like, do people say they are from Bala Cynwyd? Or do they specify Belmont Hills? It seems like such a unique little enclave.

Belmont Hills was reassigned a Bala Cynwyd mailing address in the 1980s, when there was a strong movement to align Philadelphia zip codes with the city limits to lower suburbanites’ homeowner and car insurance rates. Penn Wynne switched from a Philadelphia to a Wynnewood zip code around the same time.

People very much identify with Belmont Hills, to the point that it’s an official “acceptable alternative” for the 19004 zip code. It makes sense in terms of topography and infrastructure. Belmont Hills is a sleepy hilltop village unto its own.

Mary Watersford Road forms the dividing line with Penn Valley (a small portion of which spills into 19004), and Rock Hill Road forms the dividing line with Cynwyd (more specifically, College Park).

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by delco1990

Oh, that's interesting! I wonder when/why it became part of Bala Cynwyd. Is it really that separate from it? Like, do people say they are from Bala Cynwyd? Or do they specify Belmont Hills? It seems like such a unique little enclave.

Actually, a piece of Penn Valley separates Belmont Hills from Bala-Cynwyd.

As does West Laurel Hill Cemetery.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Actually, a piece of Penn Valley separates Belmont Hills from Bala-Cynwyd.

As does West Laurel Hill Cemetery.

College Park borders Rock Hill Road west of Belmont Avenue, unless you consider that separate from Cynwyd.

[ElijahAstin]

OP: here’s a NYT personal essay illustrating the differences between Penn Valley and Belmont Hills, from the perspective of a childhood resident of the former in the ‘60s and ‘70s that you may find interesting. I can tell you that much of this still held true in the ‘90s and ‘00s. We probably are approaching an inflection point, as what I call petit gentrification is taking place in Belmont Hills, the same way that the final vestiges of the (less pronounced but still perceptible) sociocultural barriers that once divided Narberth from Wynnewood, Merion, and Penn Valley have almost vanished.