I do like living in East Falls. It's not perfect but it's not bad either.

The good parts:

Amazing location 10-15 minutes to CC, 10-15 minutes to Chestnut Hill or Conshy, right next to manayunk, kelly drive and fairmount park.

Brother Deli on Conrad is my favorite! The turkey panini is maybe the best sandwhich I have ever had. The ham, egg and cheese isn't bad either. I wish they did cheesesteaks but apparently its an issue with whoever lives above them in a residential unit.

Depending on where you live, the R6 stop gets you to market east in 15 minutes.

There's a nice sense of community and if they continue to add retail, bars and restaurants to Ridge avenue it will be even better. I think the new condo that is planned will do amazing things to transform the area.

I pay $600 for a fairly large 1 bedroom in a rowhouse. Nothing bad about that.


The Bad parts:

Parking can be very annoying. If you get in after 7:30-8 it can take 5-15 minutes to find a legal spot. Sometimes the spot is too far away and I park in the box or barely in illegal areas. Needless to say, I've had a lot of parking tickets that really annoy me. When I lived in Manayunk, i parked illegally all the time and only had 1 ticket.

I feel safe almost all of the time. Occasionally there are some youngens that want to act ghetto. I don't really like them but they have yet to threaten me. I'm not sure on this but I assume the crime is worse in East Falls than Manayunk...again...I've never been a victim.

The young professional scene is getting better but has a long way to go when compared to manayunk or CC.

Hope that was helpful.

Hey folks, I'm new to this gig. I live in DC and am seriously considering moving to Manayunk - a place I'd never even heard of until three weeeks ago. I've made two short visits and met some nice, friendly people and though Main St street has a nice vibe and walking culture, I simply don't know anything about 1) the economic trajectory of Manayunk, 2) who's moving there and why, 3) why isn't there a hotel there 4) what is planned and/or projected for Manayunk?

I've looked at a few places and there are, if you can get around the lack of trees in an urban environment, some groovy little homes with potential. But I ask myself, why have some of these places been on the market for 150 days? Are businesses closing on Main St (there are few empty shops and at least 2 "everything must go!" signs)?

Talk to me (potential) future neighbors! Fill me in. Cheers, Corky

I also lived in DC (Cleveland Park) and have moved to Philadelphia - Manayunk in particular. Here are the basics on Manayunk from my perspective:

Advantages: Quick commute to Center City by either train or bus; Great retaurants and nightlife within walking distance on Main Street; Great sturdy old homes with tons of character if you have the time to help them realize their potential; Convenient to the Main Line, K of P mall, etc; Safe

Disadvantages: These vary depending on where you exactly live. If you live right by Main Street, they will be parking and drunk college kids and 20-somethings raising a ruckus every Thurs/Fri/Sat. If you are a bit removed from Main, you avoid these, but neighborhood punks will annoy the crap out of you with their graffiti, language, and litter. Still, they are harmless - they don't do anything violent - just annoying.

Who's moving in: Young professionals who want an urban lifestyle but can't afford $1 million plus in Rittenhouse or Society Hill and don't want to spend several years waiting for "up & coming" neighborhoods like Fishtown or Graduate Hospital to come around.

Hope that helps, and welcome!

I would still keep eye on these on these punks. My house was burglarized and car stolen by these harmless kids.

We live in Manayunk above the wall and LOVE the proximity to both Main Street down the hill and Ridge Av. up the hill. Main St has the restaurants, bars and coffee houses, and of course a tremendous number of furniture stores. Ridge Av has the practical things that you'll need like banks, mechanics, grocery stores, gas stations and hardware stores. I love being able to walk to both main drags.

We absolutely love our 120-year old house and our immediate neighborhood, though we did have one incident earlier this month. A group of kids, I believe from Roxborough High School, threw rocks through our car's back windshield and shattered the whole thing. The car was parked in our driveway. It cost us $360 to get it fixed. That being said, there have been violent crimes in every part of Philly and the surrounding suburbs no matter how upscale the reputation. There is crime everywhere you go and I wouldn't let the incidents talked about here deter you from choosing Manayunk as your next place to live.

Where in DC do you live?

__________________
DC2Philly

hey, i recently moved to the suburbs in allentown. i lived in Roxborough for 16 years. Born on hermitage street, and grew up on sunset avenue. The neighborhoods are great, and we have the best cheese steak shop in the country... DELI'S. i miss growing up there and visit all the time.

THE safest precinct in the city...hands down
punk kids are everywhere, not just in our area...they are in chestnuthill and rittenhouse too!
so i wouldnt let that persuade your decision......safest part of the city

marco

hey my name is Heather...Im in college and working on a story about the East Falls neighborhood. It would be a huge help if anyone of you could reply to me about how you feel about parking in the neighborhood. I have gone out into the neighborhood a few times and people have told me that parking is an issue. Has anyone taken action to fix this problem? if so what kind of progress have you made? do you have any suggestions for me in doing this research? thank you very much for your time and help

Parking is an issue on some streets, OK on others. Generally, I think it's worse in the denser parts of East Falls, such as the streets south of the R6 line. I would guess it's not such an issue on the streets with larger homes. From what I know, Philly Univ. has not made an effort to improve student housing & parking by buying up/renovating houses close-by (or demolish & create attractive, architecturally consistent dorms), for example, behind campus on Calumet Street. I've read that the Ridge Ave. commercial strip parking (i.e., Johnny Mananas, Pour House, Well Grounded,, etc.) is supposed to dramatically improve with the addition of a large parking lot underneath the Twin Bridges of Rt. 1. Don't know when this is happening. Also, though still a few years out, the Rivage Site is supposed to add plenty of parking.

Where will we be able to read your article? Thanks.

Thank you so much for your feedback...every little bit helps! As for the finished product of the article, it will be able to be seen probably beginning of July on temple's murl website, which I believe is temple.edu/murl. I will let you know for sure though. (MURL stands for multimedia, urban reporting lab)
Thanks so much again