Dear anyone:

Many firsts for me here. First time ever using a usergroup and first time moving to a major city. Am starting my residency at Penn and desperately need to find a place to live. Based on the little that I know about the city and based on my tastes, I would like to live in South Philly as a first choice; with University City as a second choice; and I'm open to suggestions of a neighborhood as a third choice.

Can anyone tell me about living in South Philly?...is it safe? will my truck get broken into?...which "subneighborhoods" are in South Philly?...which areas to avoid?...connections to Septa?...or pros and cons?

Also I am trying each day to go to craigslist to find an apt but with no luck yet. Can someone connect me to some listings for 1br studio type apartments or reputable home rentals (ie. renting an entire floor with minimal shared spaces/facilities)?

I will be moving from Rochester NY to Philly in early to mid June so my rental would need to start June 1.

I could sure use some of your famous "brotherly love" right now so any responses would be greatly appreciated.

sincerely,
Dr. Bob

I'll offer what I know: The neighborhoods you'll hear about in South Philly would include Queen Village (by the Delaware, just south of South), Bella Vista (west of that), Pennsport (south of the above two), and Graduate Hospital (south of South, west of Broad).

QV and BV are fairly established, pricey but very nice neighborhoods with cafes/restaurants, shops, quaint streets, a very cool Philly feel. BV has the Italian Market on 9th St. & a large playground/athletic field (Palumbo?) around 9th & Bainbridge/Fitzwater. Washington Ave, at the lower edge of QV/BV, offers an eclectic mix of Italian and Asian restaurants and stores - gritty but interesting.

Pennsport is a little more edgy, as our former colleague zogby blob, who lives there, reports, but he feels it's up-and-coming. If you don't mind a kind of frontier feel, you can look there as well as the Grad Hospital area, which is the same way (i.e., abandonment and seedy characters cheek-by-jowl with expensive new developments and people in BMWs).

Pennsport is a bit farther off the beaten track in terms of transit, especially to Penn. You'd probably need to ride a bus north into Center City and then catch a bus or subway west into University City. From the other 3 neighborhoods the most direct connection is the Route 40 bus, westbound on Lombard St., which would take you right over to the Penn Medical Center area. During peak hours it runs about every 10-15 minutes; other times it's less reliable.

QV & BV are higher priced and probably a bit more secure, though you're going to have to think a little defensively no matter where you live in Philly: don't leave anything of value in your vehicle and make sure you're aware of your surroundings when you're walking around, espcially after dark. That being said, I think Philadelphia is a very safe city by and large; I've never really felt seriously threatened anywhere.

You need a copy of the Philadelphia Weekly to look at apartments. They might have good listings on their website (www.philadelphiaweekly.com) too, but the hard copy version has pages and pages of apartment/real estate listings.

Welcome to Philly! Come open-minded and ready to explore & you'll grow to love it.

Well, you've got good prices in both those places- in comparison, Center City has very there few rentals under $1,000 - (there are a few around ) but most are up in the $1,000 to $1,500 range.

University City and South Philly are more affordable, but you have to remember transit to get to work.

There are lest coslty places out along City Line Avenue, and or in East Falls - but those are less transportation friendly.

That's the simplest - there's the Broad Street Subway -
which connects to the El, and there are also busses that go into Penn
via the 34th street bridge.

Easy enough- I'm a realtor, for rentals I have more homes than apartment buildings, but I do some of each.

If you send me a PM with some price info, and I can send you a list of what's for rent around the transit hubs - train, subway/el, trolley.

Generally, if you want to stay in Philadelphia, 1 Bedroom places are everything from $450 in western North Philly and eastern upper South Philly, to $3,200 for 25th floor in Rittenhouse Square-

That will be the more difficult, I see more places up with shorter time frames- but I can keep an eye out for what's coming up.

Hal

Dr. Bob! I'm from Rochester--grew up in Fairport to be exact. A graduate of University of Rochester. I recommend Fishtown to you...and you are going to miss Wegmans, Abbott's, and being able to buy beer in the grocery store...

Look at the other threads on this site for more ideas of where to look online.

__________________
Resident of Fishtown, Moderator of Fish/No. Libs/Kenzo forum, Real Estate Agent-Prudential Fox & Roach

Thanks for all your helpful responses to my original posting.

Neil: that was incredibly detailed!!! and must have taken you all day to write. However, it's exactly what I needed to get the lay off the land. I continue to be drawn to the South Philly area, especially after your description of the really "cool Philly feel" of Queens Village and Bella Vista. And thanks especially for the general advice on living in a big city. I really think I'm going to like Philly alot. I've lined up at least on place in Bella Vista to see hopefully sometime on Saturday.

Hal: We definitely need to talk further. I think I've figured out that to send a PM is "private message"? So if you're still willing to send som listings my way, I will send off the PM in just a moment. Thanks to you to for writing so much detail.

And fellow, former Rochesterian Brooke! Can you tell me where Fishtown in on my not-so-detailed-map? Is Fishtown the nickname or the actual name? I see places like Rittenhouse Sq , Bella Vista, etc on this map but no place called Fishtown? Also, I think I am going to miss Wegman's ...even though I can DISTINCTLY remember making fun of the fact that it was such a big deal here back when I was looking for a place to live in Rochester! Thanks again.

Lastly, do anyone have opinions about East Falls? and Havertown?

Best wishes to everyone,

Doctor Bob

Fishtown is--get out your map--above Northern Liberties. In my opinion, the borders are on the south, where Girard and Frankford Avenues meet, on the east, the river, on the west, Frankford Avenue, and to the North, York Street. It's recently been featured in Philadelphia Magazine, Philadelphia Weekly (which you can read online), and restaurant reviews of Johnny Brenda's (the new trendy bar/restaurant) have been all over.

It's a gentrifying working class neighborhood; prices will be much lower than Queen Village or Bella Vista. Further out of Center City than either, but it only takes me 10 minutes in morning traffic to drive to work, or the same on the train (and there are 3 buses that run there but I have yet to take any of them).

Hal can tell you more I'm sure.

__________________
Resident of Fishtown, Moderator of Fish/No. Libs/Kenzo forum, Real Estate Agent-Prudential Fox & Roach

Hey Doc!
I am not far from east falls, what east falls offers is safety...you are further from downtown, but in terms of crime it is evry low.

By not being close to downtown you do not get the "big city" feel of living downtown, but you are only a 10 minute train or 15-20 minute bus ride down kelly drive to get into center city.

east falls is also very close to kelly drive where a lot of people rollerblade, run, skate, row, etc. If you are into that kind of thing.

East falls doesn't have a ton of restaurants, but about 5 minutes from you is manayunk where there are a ton of bars and restaurants. east falls is not much of a destination on a friday or saturday night.

You would probably head into manayunk or downtown for weekend festivities.

__________________
Philadelphia SEO consultants | Ringtones|Contact Lenses

I second Wil's feelings about E. Falls. Great place! Parking in back of most of the houses. A little more expensive of a commute (a commuter train costs more than the regular train) but it's cute like an English village. Plus, it's very close to nightlife and restaurants in Manayunk.

__________________
Resident of Fishtown, Moderator of Fish/No. Libs/Kenzo forum, Real Estate Agent-Prudential Fox & Roach

or a cheaper cab ride from center city depending on how you look at it.

Yeah, basically there's stuff to do if you don't want to come downtown--that's what I meant.

__________________
Resident of Fishtown, Moderator of Fish/No. Libs/Kenzo forum, Real Estate Agent-Prudential Fox & Roach