Moving to Philadelphia

[AgentRed]

Subject says it all, where and what should I live/eat/shop/party/!!!/create/destroy?

Working in the 'burb of Villanova so should I live in the city or outside? Any neighborhoods I should avoid/aim for? What're rents like for a studio apt?

Forgive my lack of clarity but, you know, what're the typical 'Moving to a new city' topics?

[Westbrook]

Everything depends on your budget. If you have the loot to live in center city somewhere and you're interested in a quieter existence and tree lined sts etc, by all means do. Washington Square, Rittenhouse Square, Society Hill, Queen Village, all very nice neighborhoods but pricey. However the commute from center city to villanova is going to wear on you probably. I'd recommend west philly. That will save you money on rent and commuting time. You'll have the option of jumping on 76 west out to the burbs, or if the traffic is bad you can just drive west through west philly across city line. A studio in w. phl will probably run you anywhere from 400 to 800 a month, depending on a lot of things. It's very block-to-block out there, but there's a nice scene coming up, especially in the past few years.

Avoid north philly, meaning further north then northern liberties and such. It gets extremely cutty up there. Fishtown (working class/italian) and No Libs (hipster wasteland) are good places to live and go out, but still see their fare share of crime, and the commute to nova from there is going to be a huge hassle.

Shop for food and eat in the italian market, which is centered around south 9th street, google it. Party in northern libs, west philly and center city. Shop in old city and east on market st. near the river.

You'll probably be bored if you live in the suburbs unless you're used to suburban livin', however there is a lot of nice nature stuff to do out there. The Willows in Radnor, Chanticleer Gardens in Wayne, both really beautiful afternoon trips and near Villanova.

[AgentRed]

Muchas gracias Westbrook.

Pricewise anything<$2000 is cool and I wanna live somewhere central and quiet like the hoods you mentioned but I need to drive to work every day and office hours are 9am - 1am. So West Philly might be best...

If I live West Philly, can I drive to work every day and on weekends take the train/subway in to the city? Does Philly have a subway infrastructure or does everyone drive/walk everywhere? I just don't wanna go straight edge every time I hit the bars because I have to drive home but neither do I wanna commute for 45 minutes every weekday morning+evening.

Have you had any experience apartment hunting? Craigslist looks good but it's always (very) hit and (very very) miss in other cities. How's owning a car? Is traffic killer?

I'm moving from the UK and I've lived in NYC but nowhere that requires a car etc so Philly seems weeeeeeird.

[Westbrook]

If your rent budget is 2000, you can live like a fucking king in Philly. The city is your oyster. Any neighborhood you want. If you do decide to live in center city somewhere, you're probably looking at a 30-40 minute commute to Villanova, depending on traffic. From west philly, it's probably 20-30 minutes.

If you live in west philly, you can easily drive to work and take buses to downtown. But what I suggest is getting a road bike. It's easily close enough to downtown that you can just ride everywhere--just watch out for trolly tracks. As for the subway, it sucks ass in Philly. Don't count on it for anything.

Traffic in the city isn't too bad generally. It's geographically a pretty small town so you won't be driving too far for anything. It's not NYC or London, but I mean, it is a city, so there is some traffic, especially around rush hour.

I'd recommend craigslist, especially on your budget, you'll find some gems for sure.

Philly kicks fucking ass. Embrace the grime. Eat good food. Go to Phillies games. Hang in the park. Meet people.

[Westbrook]

I'm pretty sure moving from London to the Main Line would be a huge disappointment. And yes, Brownies is fun if you're a fratboy douchebag.

[AgentRed]

Philly kicks fucking ass. Embrace the grime. Eat good food. Go to Phillies games. Hang in the park. Meet people.

Man I am all about embracing the grime and the people. No doubt Philly will be awesome, I just wanna go in prepared.

Actually visiting for the first time next week, meeting the firm and eating some god damn cheese steak. Is it considered bad practice to eat at Gino's, wait five minutes and then hit up Pat's? It may be touristy but way too famous to avoid.

How're taxis in the city? Dirt cheap and easy to hail? 24 Hours? In general are there a lot of 24 hour eateries and bodegas or does the city shut down at night?

My perfect location would be surrounded by dive bars, parks, book stores, ice cream places and all night coffee shops/greasy diners, with work being a 20 minute drive away.

[Westbrook]

I would skip both Geno's and Pat's. They're both fucking disgusting if you ask me, and not even a representation of what a philly cheesesteak should be. Just (a) get one from any dude in a street cart or ( get one from Chubby's in Roxborough. It's a bit of a haul from downtown, but thats the best steak around for my money. Or just go to any pizza place or deli or whatever. They're pretty good everywhere except for Pats and Ginos. Fuck those places.

Taxis are so-so. Middle of the road cost wise. Pretty easy to get one in center city, a little harder on the fringes. Most if not all the bars close at 2am, which kind of sucks. You'll be able to find some 24 hour shit, but not much.

There are lots of great bars all around the city, but it sounds like you probably want to live in West Philly/University City area all told.

[AgentRed]

AArrrrrgh man I never know, someplaces are touristy but still awesome (Katz's in NYC) while others are touristy and crappy (Harrods in London).

I'll check out Chubby's, the AMTRAK back to NYC runs late so I'll have time to haul ass to Roxborough.

EDIT: How would I get there? R6 to Manayunk?

[Westbrook]

If you're not mobile, just save it for when you move into the city. It's not easy to get to if you don't have a car.

[AgentRed]

Aight, dude in a street car gets my money this time.

Thanks again fer the info

[wrl]

My perfect location would be surrounded by dive bars, parks, book stores, ice cream places and all night coffee shops/greasy diners, with work being a 20 minute drive away.

Sucks you have to work out at nova. Old City has some great parks, a great diner down on South, good shopping, great bars, art exhibits, and an awesome Ice Cream place (Franklin Fountain). Can also walk up to Northern Liberties in about 15 minutes.

Problem is that it would take you almost an hour to get to work.

[AgentRed]

Yeah exactly, It's pretty much livin' where I wanna live OR livin' where I don't die in traffic, hard to find a compromise.

But I'm looking to pick up a 1976 corvette stingray so driving should be fun regardless...

[AgentRed]

Hey everyone, I am back from the city of Brotherly love!

It's awesome, I wandered around Rittenhouse Sq and it felt like Union Sq Park in NYC (which is my favourite part of NYC).

I also realised I need three things only within a 5 minute walk from my place:

A Gym

A Dry Cleaners/Laundromat

A Supermarket

Everything everything else is supplementary. I know I can get those 3 if I stay in Rittenhouse Sq/Washington Sq but then the commute will suck.

However, what are your thoughts on a place like Manayunk or (to a lesser extent) Conshohocken. Everyone at the office said Manayunk was a cool neighborhood with a young crowd, close commute to the city and the office. Were they right? Or at the very least, can I get the gym, store and laundromat on the same block in 'Yunk?

Thanks again for all yer help, I had a cheesesteak, it was awesome.

[wrl]

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Manayunk was cool 10 years ago back when it was up and coming, now days it is mostly post-college frat brothers and skanky girls. Most of my friends that live there come in to visit us in the city when they want to have any fun.

There are some alright areas in Manayunk, but spend one night near Main St and you will now exactly what I mean.

Conshohocken isn't bad, it is just incredibly boring.

There are 101 ways to get in range of gym/laundromat/supermarket, I'd prioritize other things before that when you try and find an area.

[happywhenwetalk]

I'll be visiting Philly this September.

Food wise, from what I hear, the best vegan pizza in town is Gianna's.

That is, if you're into vegan pizza.

[AgentRed]

I love vegan pizza, let me know how Gianna's works out...

Parking is another essential, but it's available everywhere. My office hours are insane o'clock in the morning to ridiculous AM, 6 days a week so really a nice dry cleaners, a gym and supermarket are all I need.

Living in a nice area with parks and hipster neighbors and vegan pizza would just be a bonus. I don't know, I've spoken to some rental people so when I hear from them I'll keep y'all updated. Thanks again for your help...

[AgentRed]

Aloha, are any Philly drivers reading this? I'm wondering whether people living in center city use the Schuykill/I-76 expressway to get to Villanova a la this map

Or whether they go through theLancaster Avenue like in this map:

From center city the Schuykill route is 20 miles and gmaps says it'll take 28 minutes, while the Lancaster Avenue route is only 13 miles and takes 29 minutes.

13 miles doesn't seem that bad, surely I can do it in less than 29 minutes, amirite? Because even Manayunk is 13 miles away from villanova via the Schuykill. And I'd rather live in center city and drive 13 miles than Manayunk and drive 13 miles.

Ideas? How bad is traffic on Lancaster/Schuykill? Any local shortcuts/tips?

[Westbrook]

The traffic on 76 (schuykill) in the mornings is going to be not great. It's not so bad (heading in is worse), but it certainly won't be totally clear.

On Lancaster through west philly, it's not the traffic that will slow you down, but there are tons of stop lights, all the way out Villanova.

Probably 76 will be a little faster, but you should try it both ways before settling on a route.

[AgentRed]

Damn... that seems crazy, it takes the same amount of time to drive an extra 10 miles? I-76 takes such a circuitous route... the whole principle of driving further to get there faster feels wrong.

Thanks for your help, I'll definitely try to drive both ways first and then decide where to live.

[xerrox]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I'm gonna be a freshman at Penn in the fall and I don't want to stay confined to just University City. What's some cool stuff to check out that a student can afford?

[AgentRed]

Hijack away, the more Philly deets the better.

In other news I found an apartment between Ardmore and Wynnewood. The price was not much cheaper than the city (in fact the city had way cheaper places in university city and the waterfront) but the place is huge, commuting to the office is an easy 10 minutes and the walk to an AMTRAK station is 5 minutes.

I figure I'll drive to work every day and take the AMTRAk to the city on weekends, thereby saving parking, traffic hassle, city tax and designated driver status.

[islandboi8204]

^ i think that's a good call, 76 every day would drive me crazy. they've been doing construction on it so sometimes you'll find yourself fucked if you're heading home after 9 and they have 1 of the 2 lanes closed. anyway, Bill Allen, the designing engineer of the expressway was quoted as saying something like "If you don't like it, don't drive it."...

[islandboi8204]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I'm gonna be a freshman at Penn in the fall and I don't want to stay confined to just University City. What's some cool stuff to check out that a student can afford?

what kind of budget exactly are we talkin about, a normal college student or the typical rich jew freshman at penn budget? there's a growing scene in university city but if you get bored just walk down walnut right into rittenhouse or further to center city. just venture around. it's gonna be more expensive once you get into the city but you could do a decent meal for less than 30 easily.