Hello:

I'm moving from Rochester, NY to Philly and am actively looking for places to rent (1 br apts). I am completely new to Philly. I keep hearing about a place called Fishtown but can't seem to locate in on my map. Is "Fishtown" the nickname? Where is it located and is it worth looking at for apartments? South Philly and University City are already on my list of places to look at; how would Fishtown compare?

Oh...and before I forget....how did it get the name Fishtown?

Thanks,

Dr. Bob

hi

yo bob, fishtown aint on most philly maps, some people consider it a part of kensington. i say the borders are the river, frankford ave and lehigh ave. im not sure of the official boundries. its a nice nieghborhood but real estate prices are really high right now. hope i helped

Dr Bob:

Without getting technical - which others will do with historical maps, etc. (all good)

Simply put 19123 in google, map it in Yahoo and go in to level 3. Voila - Fishtown. Drill down and you can check any street you want.

As for the name - you might have guessed, it was where they unloaded fish. People in N. Liberties and Kensington looked down their noses on those folks who lived and worked along the river unloading fish.

between a rock and a hardplace.

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Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard. - H.L. Mencken

No Chris--the zip is 19125. I responded to your other post on the boundaries of this neighborhood in your NYer moving to Philly post. You can pm me too for more info, but read through this thread for discussions about neighborhoods.

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

You're right about the zip but . . . 19123 works fine on the Yahoo maps.

If you plan on moving to fishtown you might want to invest in one of these.

http://www.shomertec.com/item.cfm?Ac...&variable=1164

Guaranteed to keep the wad safe after a fishtown shakedown.

__________________
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard. - H.L. Mencken

Oh stop it, Skroah. People on the blog are tired of hearing how trendy Fishtown is, Bob.

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

Generally speaking, 19125 is Fishtown, 19123 is Northern Liberties.

Bob, in a nutshell - Fishtown was always a white lower-middle class blue collar neighborhood. It's always been a tight-knit community oriented place to live. The last few years have seen alot of changes and the initial stages of gentrification have begun to take hold. Its close proximity to center city, public transportation, the river, etc, all make it an attractive place to live. Young artists and professionals also seem to be spilling in from the already gentrified Northern Liberties area nearby which is inflating the real estate market. As a result, galleries, boutiques, new housing, bars and restaurants, etc seem to be popping up in the neighborhood; typical gentrification I guess. I've lived here 10 years and am raising a family here. I embrace these changes. I think it's a great place to live. I'd read through some of the threads here on this forum to learn more about the neighborhood.

The nickname is quite old as it used to be sort of a suburb of philly during the 18th and 19th centuries when the fishing industry was here. You won't see any fish mongers today

L