This bears repeating. It can be quite surprising if you’re not ready for it. It can be considerably more than surprising if you’re a suburb raised kid who’s never been alone in a city, trying to find your hotel at 11:45 PM, never having been to Philly before, right after getting off the Amtrack.
Slight warning: while the middle part of the city is very nicely set up in a NY style grid, the closer you get to the edges, the wierder the numbering system gets, and the more you run into Boston-style “double sized blocks breaking into the grid which coencidentally changes the numbering system’s NS axis for three blocks in each direction, which then switches back for no reason.”
It literealy took me 6 hours to find my cable provider one weekend. The block it was on had no other buildings, being surrounded by vacant lots and what appeared to be a field. It did not connect with either the street number before or the street number after it, and was only accessable by walking along what appeared to be a small highway, then turning off into a dead end.
Embarassingly, though, I can offer no useful information. Though I’ve been here for (my god) 4 years, I’ve still living in university city. God, I’m pathetic.
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“We can’t do anything without a sword in our hands. That’s why they call us kenshi.”
Thanks for all the good information.
What is a reasonable rent for a one and a two bedroom place in a middle class part of town?
HUGS!
Sqrl
PS. When I looked at transferring there I discovered that it will be like getting a $6000 raise. Although that will merely be a temporary raise as I won’t get my little raises until the rest of my salary catches up.
Estrella–Queens Village was the gayborhood when I lived on South Street ten years ago. That said, I think the idea of a gayborhood is beginning to fade away. It’s too much like living on a reservation. In my younger days, Montrose was the gayborhood of choice in Houston, TX. But after AIDS took its toll on the community, and dumb rednecks began driving in on the weekend for some easy gaybashing, the old neighborhood began to break up. The Heights still has the reputation, but my gay friends live wherever they feel like. I suspect that’s true for most cities (even San Francisco and the Castro).
Back to the last question. 2601 Apartments, right across the street from my old office in the Fairmount section (a nice middle class area), has 1 BRs for $750. I happen to know they’ve done some renovation in the past 5 years. It’s an apartment building, so you’d have lots of neighbors, and it overlooks the Art Museum. There are plenty of bike and jogging paths along the Schuykill River, and it’s one bus ride (the #32) from Center City. There are some nice restaurants down the block, too (Jack’s Firehouse, Rembrandts, London’s, and the Bishop’s Collar).
http://www.springstreet.com/apartments/fyp/search/brochure/brochure.jhtml?pid=30865