I just got back from a weeklong scouting trip to Philly. I was quite impressed! It is definitely a place I could call home some day. Here are some outsider impressions if you are interested:

Architecture: There is so much varied and interesting architecture to be seen. Charming colonial rowhouses, pre-war and modern skyscrapers, and best of all--Victorian style homes in UCity. It is just a shame that so many beautiful and detailed older buildings, which many newer cities would die for to call their own, sit in states of disrepair.

SEPTA: It was pretty easy to get around, but there should be more subways and subway/surface lines, and less dependence on the bus. Lines going under South Street and maybe 5th and 21st or so would be awesome. Some gripes: Why is the area around the 46th Street el station so run down? It has great access to CC. And why doesn't the el make any CC stops west of City Hall?

People: I don't care what impressions I may have gotten on PhillyBlog--everyone I met was courteous and friendly, and willing to help out to give directions. They weren't as rushed and dismissive as in New York, or as haughty as in Boston. There were definitely quite a few people I wouldn't strike up conversations with, but that element is in every city. What was disappointing is that I felt that a lot of people there don't appreciate the fact that they live in a vibrant, interesting city and choose to trash it. I was so sad to see so many people just throw their wrappers on the ground-- even people who were right next to trash cans!

Parks: On my first afternoon I hiked on the Wissahickon. It was so beautiful that I couldn't believe I was within Philly's city limits. What got to me were the graffiti tags on basically every tree that lined the walk-- really uncalled for. I went to Clark Park for the People's Flea Market, and took in all of the energy. That place is a great asset to the community. Rittenhouse was great too, a wonderful living room for the city. I love parks and squares where you can just hang out, listen to music and watch people doing whatever they are doing. No place like Rittenhouse has been built for a very long time.

Wawa: I'm in love. Who wouldn't love a place where you can make your own milkshake and adjust the thickness, order a sandwich on a touchscreen, take money out of an ATM for free and purchase twin packs of pre-boiled hard-boiled eggs?

Glad to hear you enjoyed our city.

I have thought about the El service between 30th and 15th streets before, once you ride the trolley lines though, it becomes pretty obvious what the problem is - because the trolley lines run parallel to the El lines, there is no room for a platform without moving just the trolley lines and the entrance to that line, or both the trolley and El lines.

It would be nice to have another stop, but the upgrades Septa is working on now are much more pressing. Perhaps in the future!

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City air makes free.

Where did you come from?

I'm glad that you dug Philly. Was it just the center city area that you visited, or did you wander out?

I agree 1000% about the decaying architecture. It too irks me to see it crumbling and also so easily dismissed and torn down for the next "WaWa" comming along.

I was visiting from Austin, and stayed with a friend at 46th and Walnut. I went all around Center City, checked out South Philly (Italian Market and Snyder east of Broad), drove through Belmont to get to the Wissahickon, and explored West Philly from 52nd eastward, Manayunk, Mount Airy and Germantown.

Your observations strike me as pretty realistic. Not too high, not too low. I do think things are slowly getting better. We had 15,000 volunteers come out fora spring clean-up. Those Victorians are gradually getting rehabbed. SEPTA....well it's SEPTA, let's be realistic here and WAWAs are slowly leaving the city. So there you have it, some good, some not so good....but an interesting place overall.

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I support Barack Obama for president.

Soooo, when ya moving to Philly?

Hopefully next summer when I have some cash saved up! Unless you want to give me a job now!

With this crappy economy and the ever rising cost of gas...Im lucky to be employed!

The Royal Castle is always hiring. Its popular with center city businessmen so you could make pretty decent tips.

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Magellan2's prescription:
ATTENTION ALL READERS...
DISCLAIMER: Alesis is a South Street business owner
(keep that in mind when reading his or her responses)

If you were using the El during the weekend, remember that we are reconstructing the El after 40th Street [where it changes from a subway to the Elevated part]. The El runs East/West on both sides of City Hall. It begins in Delaware County at 69th Street, slices through West Philadelphia, which is a low-income section of the city, through University City (the underground stations on this side begin here), then it tunnels under the river and skips 22nd and 19th street stations [more on this in a minute], goes to 15th, skips City Hall and hits 13th, then runs through the rest of Center City and heads its way up towards the Northeast, ending in the Frankford section.

The reason why 19th and 22nd are not el stations was because at the time the El was constructed, this part of Center City (where all the skyscrapers are for the most part), was one gigantic train line that was built like a Chinese Wall up to Broad Street Station, which is where Suburban Station now stands. Also, there was no tunnel underneath the Schuylkill river at the time, as the El ran over a bridge to reach University City.

When this was destroyed and re-engineered to become a subway, the elevated bridge remained while the remaining section of tunnel was placed underground, then another project came along to tunnel under the river and submerge the rest of the El up to 40th Street.

Because at the time there was little reason to put stations at these points [there was scant commercial activity that warranted it], streetcar service was seen sufficient enough to provide local traffic to this part of Center City. When the trolley lines were configured to run along the El, the submerged stations were placed at the outer part of the tracks, while the El ran as centerline express tracks, with no room for a center-island platform.


SEPTA, as much as we hate it--is a godsend compared to the system of public transit that created most of the network we have now. Before SEPTA, there was a dizzying array of different transit companies, all with different schedules and modes of transport. You haven't seen them since you didn't explore Delaware County, but if you go to 69th Street, you'll find some very different trolley services out there that resemble the San Francisco MUNI Metro (the Route 101 and 102 Media/Sharon Hill trolleys), and another COMPLETELY different high-speed train service, the Route 100 which goes to Norristown, PA [and the R6 railroad also goes to Norristown].

We do have a lot of diesel bus service here, but not long ago... up until 1984 in fact, there was a LOT more electric trolleycar service. Some of this is coming back as trolleybuses and the 15 bus has finally reverted back to its streetcar roots and it is now running refurbished old PTC cars. If you visit the Philadelphia Zoo (take the BSL to Girard, then hop on the trolley), you get to experience the ride. A lot of us want to see more of the trolley lines put back into use.


The El has no concourse level above it, which only adds to the frustration since it now makes it too costly to reconfigure the stations.

Unlike the El, the Broad Street Line (BSL) has a common concourse level at most of its stations which allows for a station reconfiguration, as does the Bridge Line, now called PATCO... the Locust Street Subway portion in Center City also has a long concourse running most of the length of the tube, which permits entrance/exit reconfigurations without the need to go back and tear up the street.

Out of all the tunnel configurations we have, the BSL/LSS tunnels are engineered the best, IMO... because there is room for a lot of expansion on the line. Capacity on the El is pretty much locked into place, and at one point in our city's history, we were actually considering digging up Chestnut Street to build a second parallel tunnel going East-West for pedestrian traffic or as a diversion for underground trolleys because of the rapid expansion of population (this was around WWI).


So, as you can see... Philadelphia has a very extensive and very complex transit network. We actually offer more modes of transport than NYC does--so we really do not compare our transit network to New York's. Philadelphia's transit system is more comparable to Boston and San Francisco since--you name it--we got it somewhere in our system.

Aha... you met Negadelphians. As we always say here... "Philadelphia isn't as bad as Philadelphians say it is!"

And on the subject of trash... yes we have a very serious behavioral problem in the city with littering. It's very sick. Must be a mental disorder or something.

You get used to the graffiti after a while. It was way worse in the 70s/80s both here and in NYC.

For starters, neither us or NYC have spray-paint covered train cars like some movies would have one believe. That being said, tagging is still a serious problem here.

I know... Wawa is heaven to us. We miss it when we leave the city for more than a few weeks.

What is sad is that Wawa is pulling out of Center City. Luckily I am moving to Northeast Philadelphia and my new pad is a block from a brand-new Wawa. But I will still miss out making my custom coffee, which comes out $2 cheaper than Starbucks.

Looks like I'll have to switch to a hotel cafe or start going to Bonte, unless Wawa Corporate wakes up and realize what a dumbass move they're making.

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You can never have enough check cashing, wig shops, nail salons, hair braiding, cell phone, gold plated jewelry and sneaker stores in Philadelphia!!!

Take a stand. Today, I will do better.
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