DMZ = Demilitarized Zone (e.g. the one on the border between North & South Korea)

Unionchick, part of the issue with South Philly is defining which part you're talking about. It's a very big area - a city within a city - and there are countless neighborhoods of all stripes, from really nice to really rough.

Stink mentioned Passyunk Square. The general area around Passyunk Ave. east of Broad is very nice. Lots of pleasant blocks of old rowhouses. Great restaurants & neighborhood stores along Passyunk. Definitely look here. There are other cool areas too, but this is one of my faves. Can't say anything about the schools down there, though.

As far as I know (AFAIK) the term DMZ is the military abbreviation for "De Militarized Zone".

Classic DMZ areas are an eleusive area of total calm between two very hostile factions. They may look nice - but are certain to reupt into full scale annihilation at any time.

North Korea / South Korea
The "Philadelphia" line between Gaza and Israel (I think thats where it is - its in a messy place)
The Green Line seperating Cyprus
The line seperating the Catholic and Protestant sections of Ireland/UK
The Berlin Wall / Checkpoint Charlie
Downtown Beriut circa early 80's

ljlong will be able to find the penn neighborhood crime thing refered to in the last post if not I'll post it tomorrow. You'll see that my neighborhood for instance is safer (so it says) then queens village and at half the price, I think. On my block we have older italians, mexicans, blacks and vietnamese. Oh and me and me, whitey.

Oh and one big thing I forgot to mention is that Passyunk Sq is boardered by the Broad street subway. You shouldn't have a problem getting anywhere septa goes. You might have a problem finding a place you want to go that septa will take you but that's another story. If you want I could forward the last few town watch e-mails to you so you can see for yourself what type of crime we have. It's pretty much nothing though.

Thanks, Stink, that would be great.
Frat kids, oh no, definitely not what we are after. Someone on that board compared Man to San Fran, and someone compared it to a hip area in DC, but I suspect it is more like the area we call "White Washington"-- waaay upper Northwest almost to the Md. border.
On the other hand, parts of S. Philly sound very close to what we are looking for. Urban, mixed population, I'm guessing old architecture (we currently live in a victorian rowhome), good restaurants, walkable, reasonably safe as long as you keep your wits about you and don't wander into the DMZ (now that we have established what that is!!).
And I won't pretend I'm not salivating at the though of wheeling my kid to the Italian Mkt on Saturdays.
So Passyunk is pretty well established, then? Would you say this area and surrounding areas are experiencing a renaissance?

The only S. Philly school that i would maybe recommend would would Jenks at 12th & Moyamensing. Other than Jenks i would look to Center CIty. However, not a real fan of public education.

But am I to understand that my kids will be have the right to go to Center city schools?
I'm getting the impression that center city schools are desirable.

Take a look at the link LJ gave you about schools it will have links to all center city elemetry schools as well as descriptions. As for architecture I'm sorry to say in my opinion there is little to be found in south philly.

What are zip codes for Passyunk/Grad hosp?

Grad Hospital is 19146, I think Passyunk would fall into 19147, but could be 19148.

Pass Sq is almost entirely 19147. I believe 19148 starts somewhere around tasker.