Thinking about leaving CC and moving to the G-town, C-Hill, Mt A area. But I do not know the area well. I have been lurking on the forum.

1) Want to still walk to places to eat and drink (The new pizza brewery place sounds great; what are the other good places? All on Gtown ave?)
2) I have 2 kids (3 yeras and 3 months). Are there particular areas that meet the above that are heavily infested with kids?
3) Are there contractors that buy dumpy places and fix them up in this area? Ideally, would like to do this and renovate to my/our tastes.

Thanks

As a former Center City resident, myself, I do find the availability of walkable places to eat and drink to be somewhat frustrating. We have them, of course, but the variety is just not what I was used to at 18th and Locust (of course). Most of the places are right on Germantown, with a few hidden in West Mt. Airy and a few blocks off the main drag in Chestnut Hill.

Since I'm not a parent -- and my block of Vernon Rd isn't particularly kid heavy -- I can only hope somebody else can post better information regarding this.

This is definitely happening in Mt Airy, at least. Every house that has exchanged hands on our block, so far, has been through some kind of renovation before going on the market.

__________________
Bob Bruhin
Development Director, Delaware Valley Pagan Network
bruhinb@dvpn.org
http://dvpn.org/

We too moved here from Old City a couple of years ago. We didn't know very much about the area, but we lucked out with an excellent realtor (Zeta Cross of Elfent Wissohikon Rrealty Co., I think, sp?) who knew the area inside out, and told us many "inside" tidbits that made the difference in our decision to move in the area (we were looking at Center City, vs Fairmount, vs Mt Airy). We decided on West Mt Airy, because the property value was better in terms of location and safety - we too have now 2 small children.

When we were looking we weren't interested in fixing things up, but we needed the house to be move-in ready, so we lucked out there. Now, we're just making it pretty or more "green". A good thing to look for in terms of fixer uppers in the area are those lovely old homes owned by older folks who are ready to downsize, due to being empty nesters, etc. Those houses often need a lot of TLC but are gems if you have the patience.

And we too missed all the easy access of our fave restaurants, but to be honest with two little ones, we can barely enjoy any dinner out!

A good area to hang out for a bite to eat, is at Greene St. and Carpenter Ln. - very popular on weekends, and still nice and surprisingly busy on weekdays. You'll find High Point Cafe (serves yummy fresh baked treats, and crepes), you can catch a Sunday baby Yoga and Me baby class (open to Dads too - so can give Moms a break!) at the Moving Arts Centre (MaMa) where you can take affordable classes from babies to the kid in you, you can do your organic/local shopping or volunteer at Weavers Way Co-op (www.weaversway.coop/ ), there are a couple of great play grounds at the school across the street, or you can go to the mirriads of support groups hosted at the Maternal Wellness Centre (http://www.maternalwellness.org), or get some "green" reno material for your house projects from The Environmental Home Store (http://www.environmentalhomestore.com/), or go for an author reading or have your kids look at some books at the local bookstore The Big Blue Marble (http://www.bigbluemarblebooks.com/).

If you're not up to the cafe / village culture of this happening one block radius, there's Germantown Ave. too - check out the following link for more info on the area:
http://www.wman.net/

And there are plenty of great parks in the neighbourhood where parents and caregivers like to go with their kids. Our favofourites are Allens Lane playground next to Allens Lane Arts Centre (http://www.allenslane.org/), or walks through Carpenter Wood (a small extension of Fairmount Park, only a couple of blocks from our home).

A good paper (available online) can give you some local news, that's not only for Chestnut Hill:
http://www.chestnuthilllocal.com/

Funny, we lived in OC and moved to Fairmount.

Would love to hear more from others on "kid-stuff to walk to-cool" areas