the official zip code boundaries of Manayunk would have it stopping at Silverwood St. in most places, but if you went by the "Miss Manayunk" contest held before Canal Day, they extend it up to Manayunk Ave. straight up through... then when you go further out towards middle/upper Roxborough, Umbria St up to almost Pechin St. may be considered Manayunk as well. Umbria and the next few streets up are usually considered Manayunk by old-timers.

As for that area near Cotton St and Fleming, that area was considered sketchy even when I was growing up in the 70s & 80s. Manayunk was kind of a dividing line, as were the steps, for that area. I grew up at Lauriston & Monastery, so a lot of kids would walk past my house to go to school at Levering School. Well, back in those days, the neighborhood above Manayunk Ave. was almost all white, and then past Manayunk down to the stairs, it was mostly black... some people called that area "the Hill." In the 80s there was a store called Cannon's on Manayunk by Monastery where you'd go and get hoagies, beer, milk, cheesesteaks, etc. but they eventually closed because every three weeks some new kid would come and rob the place. Also there were some tensions, kids from that neighborhood might steal your halloween bag to prove they were badass or something. But in general all of Rox & Manayunk was a lot tougher than I would peg the neighborhood for being now.

Some of the realtors back then wouldn't let you put signs up on houses in some neighborhoods, discriminatory housing was more common. But despite all that there were plenty of people (younger generations) who had friends of different colors and ethnicities. The neighborhood was not all bad, and even though my folks said, "don't walk through there on your way to school" we did it anyway, and everything was fine and nothing bad happened. That area had some problems but there were lots of really good people back there as well, lots of caring mothers, grandmas, grandpas etc. who would give their kids a whoopin' if they got caught doing anything they shouldn't.

As for the kids doing drugs in Rox. this happened all the time in my day, I would be getting ready for school and watch my neighbors walk out of their house, but instead of a bookbag they'd have a fishing box. Lots of Roxborough High kids would cut school and go fishing back the crick and smoke weed. It was pretty standard. Most of them were good kids, really, never got into trouble other than that... never hurt a fly. I could see why cops don't do anything. It is like a rite of passage there.

Hey, does anyone remember the Manayunk club which used to be really fine, and then was the hub of underage drinking?