Hi All,

My wife and I are moving from Harrisburg in May, and have tentatively settled on an apartment on the 300 block of Queen Street. We would greatly appreciate any opinions of the neighborhood as we have only spent two weekends in the city.

Also, South Street seemed much more gritty, even borderline dangerous, than we had been told. Would anyone agree with this or are my wife and I too sensitive? (remember, we live in Harrisburg!)

Again we appreciate any opinions and suggestions,

Kevin

Hey Kevin:

If you lived in the Burg, you got notting to worry about. South's interesting and tacky but don't think it's actually dangerous.

N 2nd in the Burg - that's danger.

Queen Village, where your apartment is, is a pretty nice, upscale neighborhood, so I think you've got a good location.

South Street is an issue of sorts. I'm not sure I'd call it dangerous in the sense that you could get mugged or knifed there. Rather, it can get loud and obnoxious on weekends and especially on certain occasions. Mardi Gras a few years ago was the latest and most notorious example, but Halloween & other times things get pretty crazy up there. Any Friday or Saturday night in decent weather it'll be crowded, loud, full of boozed-up College-age people for the most part. The biggest issue for neighbors in surrounding areas, as I understand it, is the tendency of revelers to stop and pee on their houses on their way back to the car in the wee hours (pardon the pun) after a night of drinkin'.

If I lived down there I think I'd try to avoid South St. during those party hours. But actually there are a few nice & interesting places on the street - Eyes Gallery, the architectural salvage with all those antique lamps, there's a nice grocery store in the 200 block, also a number of bakeries & a few good restaurants. Tiramisu, on 5th just north of South, is a very nice, romantic restaurant.

south st may be gritty and dirty, but it's not dangerous. hell, it's not even that loud and obnoxious. last time I was there and stumbled out of a bar I was promptly prodded along by a cop. actually, that's the last time i went there at night. it's probably philly's most dense shopping/dining area. downsides for me at least, crappy transit access. great neighborhood though.

Thanks for the opinions everyone...

It's all good to hear. We felt a little rushed with our choice, but liked the apartment and the street a lot. And of course it was my wife who was concerned about South Street, not me...no, never.

As far as the 'burg...I lived on North 2nd for four years and only had two break-ins! Actually, it wasn't a bad place to live, but the town is a little too small to have as many problems as it does.

Thanks again,

Kevin

I live a couple blocks from you closer to South actually. It's a good area. Your far enough from South so that you won't have to hear the loud drunks making there way back to their cars for some drunken driving, heh he. It can get pretty noisy with all of the shouting on warm evenings but you get used to it. I think it'll be less for you though.

South street is more of a nuisance than a threat. I don't regard it as unsafe though there have been some muggings in the area lately. You'll have that anywhere in the city though. They don't smash your head in with a brick as they do up in no libs either. Well they might beat you up with boxing gloves, hmm I haven't heard anything about that group in awhile actually maybe they moved on. It's a great area though. There are tons of threads on QV here so you can get endless recs on restaurants and bars.

I've only been here about 6 mos. but I know the area pretty well. I work, eat and play in the area every day.

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

Also, join Queen's Village Neighborhood Association. The office should be right around the corner from you, if I remember correctly. I think it's on 3rd. You don't have to be real active but at least you will find out what's going on from the folks who actually live there.

Good point Skroah, I was hoping that the few blocks would serve as a buffer for any noise from S.Street, however I didn't want to feel like we would never want to go there, either.

I think that eldondre said it right; it is very dense, and while that can take some getting used to, it's generally a good thing.

I'll check out the other threads for services, shops, restaurants, etc.

And Chris, good idea about the Neighborhood Assoc. I'll keep that in mind.


Thanks again...

My fiance owned a condo on 300 Queen and her best friend still lives there. That's a really nice block with very friendly people. Every year, they run a block party in the Fall. The 3 story houses on the north side sold for $200k 3 years ago but now run $400k giving you an idea of the turnaround.

It's as safe as any Philly neighborhood but I wouldn't wander around late at night as people have been mugged on rare occasions. Nabi, the owner of the pizza store on the corner keeps an eye out so it's pretty safe, but the area immediately south of Christian St. has some bad areas. If you're into gardening, there's a community garden on the north side of 300 Christian.

South St. is pretty safe but I think its downfall is the fact that visitors are often out-of-towners (can anyone say Jersey?) who don't give a crap about the neighborhood and trash it. The good thing is that you go half a block away and you get some nice residential blocks and restaurants that are world's away from South St.

http://www.qvna.org

Truthfully there aren't many places I go on South street proper. I tend to walk around it when it's mobbed just because people move too slow.

Welcome to the area. I was in HRBG for the first time a couple weeks ago. I'm sure you'll have fun here.

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