Graduate Hospital Neighborhood

[Malloy]

Um. The pace of the changes taking place. Duh.

No one ever said it was glamorous. I think all of us (including the OP) appreciates a bit of grit.

SWCC has a bit of grit. Most of PB is a dump. Big difference.

[Lolly]

SWCC has a bit of grit. Most of PB is a dump. Big difference.

Emphasis on the "most." And remember, the OP is looking nearly a year out. At the pace things are going...

[Lolly]

~snip~

[andrewd]

Thanks for the info. Carpenter seems like a decent street on Google Maps. Did you mention if there are a lot of kids on your street? of do you guys network in with other families nearby? We have had to network in with other families. There are a lot of kids around where I live but not nearly enough considering the size and density of my neighborhood.

I would be a little hesitant to go by google maps alone. A LOT has changed in the last year or two since the street view has been updated and I know that on our block alone those changes are not reflected at all. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Anyway there are a couple; one or two families with little kids further up the block (see them in strollers all the time), one neighbor has a school age little girl and our other neighbors, who just bought, have an infant. I am guilty of not knowing many people beyond our couple of blocks though. Our block is nice mix of families, young professionals and older neighborhood people who have been here for years. I think the families with little kids are going to increase in the next 5 years or so but that's just my feeling.

[WillABro]

I would be a little hesitant to go by google maps alone.

Oh, I take GM with a grain of salt. I am using it mainly to familiarize myself with neighborhood boundaries. Beyond that it's not much use.

[Lolly]

Thanks for the info. Carpenter seems like a decent street on Google Maps. Did you mention if there are a lot of kids on your street? of do you guys network in with other families nearby? We have had to network in with other families. There are a lot of kids around where I live but not nearly enough considering the size and density of my neighborhood.

Friends of Chester Arthur

Who are the Friends of Chester Arthur?

"We are the Friends of Chester Arthur (FoCA) and we are a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization, formed by Southwest Center City parents and community members, who are committed to partnering with the staff, teachers and students of our local school, Chester A. Arthur, in order to foster a robust learning environment for our neighborhood children."

Also, here's one of a few threads about how Stanton, our other neighborhood school, was saved from closure by concerned community members + a very dedicated staff.

[thoth]

No one ever said it was glamorous. I think all of us (including the OP) appreciates a bit of grit.

I don't think you actually read my original response to Giawhatever Waters.

[Gladys]

Can you read?

You're going to fit in very well in Philadelphia, i was just going to post the same thing and you beat me to it. Join the Mummers and call it a day.

[WillABro]

Join the Mummers and call it a day.

Watched several parade clips on youtube. Cool stuff.

[Gladys]

Straight men in drag, it's all about perspective.

[WillABro]

Straight men in drag, it's all about perspective.

LMAO! Gotta say.

[Lolly]

I don't think you actually read my original response to Giawhatever Waters.

No I getcha. My replies weren't meant to refute your point. I was just making my own. Peace.

[emc]

I think it's cool that you came here to research neighborhoods so far in advance (not being sarcastic).

I don't know how into grit your wife is but I (female) would not move with a young child south of Washington into PB for my first place in the city. If a friend asked me the same questions you are I would recommend looking at SWCC proper first, maybe move there for a year, get to know the area, and then spend some time in the PB area to see if you'd be comfortable living on the edge of that neighborhood. I think your family would be really happy with SWCC and its proximity to what the city has to offer (especially in walking distance).

I agree with someone above that it's really a jerk move for realtors to label things in PB as "Lower Grad Hospital."

[WillABro]

^^ Thanks very much for the insight and taking the time to post.

[1830lombard]

Check out our building at 1830 Lombard, it's a great location for someone who is new to the area. Graduate Hospital (G-Ho) is awesome! You can walk to Rittenhouse Square and Center City in 5 mins, but it's less noisy here and more residential. Take the pizza challenge Randazzo's VS. Lazaro's!

[Jayfar]

Noting here for the benefit of the original poster, who may not know this - 1830 Lombard cited above is not only in G-Ho, it actually was the original main building of the former Graduate Hospital.

[PicklePaul]

Even if you're an "urban chicken" Southwest Center City is pretty nice from South down to Christian (and Washington if you're a tad less chicken). It is not suburban at all. It has a nice neighborhood feel with just a little grit and frankly the grit is fading fast. Heck, even Toll Brothers, the ultimate suburban builder is building there along with tons of other developers, so the area is going upscale fast. But, it is definitely a pretty friendly urban neighborhood and conveniently close to the Schuylkill Trail, too, for biking and a nice walk up to the Art Museum, if you want (about 20 minutes, if I remember correctly). There's a nice Thai place on 22nd and South, btw. Forget the name, but try the Pumkin Soup. It's awesome! There are a couple nice coffee shops (not Starbucks, but neighborhood). One is LaVa on South and the other is kind of coffee/dessert called Betty's Speakeasy, I believe. Also, Ultima is moving into the area, and they are one of the best coffee shops in the whole city! So, definitely not commuter at all and not so very NIMBY. :-)

Good luck.

[ArcticSplash]

I left New York in the mid-nineties. I used to hang around in Far Rockaway in a former life --- enough said?

I live in a neighborhood now, in Cincinnati that has a high robbery rate/crime rate. I have other ways to research neighborhood safety w/o subjective fear mongering on forums. Which, granted, hasn't been a problem here but on other forums. So if my remark was out of place here, forgive me.

The crime issue in G-Ho is chiefly centered around public housing for the miscreants who live in the neighborhood, and then interlopers who do sh*t randomly. It's a bit different than your typical Philly fare because it sees street crime from perps who come out of the blue from some other area vs. a deeper neighborhood where most of the offenders live not far from where they're offending. Specifically in this hood, scattered-site properties owned by the Philadelphia Housing Authority is the core nuisance. It's not the highest concentration of them in a neighborhood in Philadelphia, but there are quite a number of units and PHA has been notoriously bad at managing them. The civic association in this hood though is one of the best in Philadelphia (SOSNA) and when a problem does pop up--these folks do get quite galvanized, and quickly. The gentrification in G-Ho has happened in spite of a lot of very old headwinds. Primarily proximity to Rittenhouse has swamped most of the negatives the neighborhood has had.

The PHA thing has been bad enough of a problem that some spirited neighborhood residents were resorting to pleading to U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley to have HUD's funding reduced due to PHA's malfeasance (for instance, not doing much about drug dealers boarding up in these housing units until Federal narcotics agents raid the place and the properties are splashed in the news... then PHA Police are suddenly told to start surveying the properties for illegal boarders). This was after all attempts with local officials and pols had been failing. PHA itself has been embroiled in a major scandal (and a Federal takeover of the agency) after extremely bad mismanagement (google PhiladelphiaSpeaks for "Carl Greene", you'll find loads of stuff). SWCC residents have been patiently waiting for reforms of the agency (well, hoping for anyway) so that PHA-sponsored drug dens will become less of a crime problem in the immediate area.



I'm in a much rougher neighborhood than SWCC/G-Ho (Kensington), which is really a section of Philadelphia more than it is a neighborhood (my neighborhood is quite stable and rather nice and it's improving, plus it's dirt cheap compared to most of Philly).

If you can do Cincinnati with no problems, why not pick an area in Philly that's gentrifying rather than G-Ho where the gentrification process is mostly complete? I would rather go for an area where there's still improvement going on if only to boost the equity in my property, which is what I have done. I'm not saying you'll like Southwark or East Kensington, but... why G-Ho specifically?

[Jayfar]

There are a couple nice coffee shops (not Starbucks, but neighborhood). One is LaVa on South and the other is kind of coffee/dessert called Betty's Speakeasy, I believe. Also, Ultima is moving into the area, and they are one of the best coffee shops in the whole city!

By way of coffee shops also worthy of mention are Beauty Shop Cafe at 20th & Fitzwater and Ants Pants on South St.

[WillABro]

If you can do Cincinnati with no problems, why not pick an area in Philly that's gentrifying rather than G-Ho where the gentrification process is mostly complete? I would rather go for an area where there's still improvement going on if only to boost the equity in my property, which is what I have done. I'm not saying you'll like Southwark or East Kensington, but... why G-Ho specifically?

I'm looking at Grad-Ho (love that abbreviation ;-) because it's on a list of possible areas that me and the Mrs. are working through. We will be renting at first and possibly buying. I made the mistake of buying too quickly in the Cincy/Dayton area and currently own two homes. One is a rental the other my personal address. I will likely turn them both over to a property management company, or sell one, the other, or both.

My wife's biggest concern in school catchment. For her, next is feeling that she is in a reasonably safe area. She is not a suburbanite looking for white picket fences in the city, but prefers a reasonable sense of safety in her neighborhood. I can't blame her for that. I grew up in a rough neighborhood and my sensibilities in this regard are way different.

I hope that gives some insight.