Philadelphia Culture

[Anonymous]

Reading this has been interesting. Some of the descriptions of Philly remind of Baltimore, where I lived and worked for several years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t really follow your weird post. As for Philly, it’s a dangerous, played out, smelly city with generally underperforming sports teams. It’s supposedly known for cheesesteaks, but I’ve had better versions at a mall in Ohio.

Then you’ve never had a real cheesesteak, because there’s no way you last sentence is true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reading this has been interesting. Some of the descriptions of Philly remind of Baltimore, where I lived and worked for several years.

Yes! My dad is from Philly (we spent every other weekend there growing up), and I lived in Baltimore for 10 years. When my parents came to visit me in B’more, my dad liked to drive around Hampden - he said that it strongly reminded him of his Philadelphia neighborhood where he grew up. The surrounding country looks similar too - horse country north of Baltimore looks a lot like the valley forge/Kennet Square area.

There are definitely differences, though. The Philly style of speaking sounds more angry. My dad and his siblings/friends often sounded mad when they were just having a spirited conversation. Baltimore is a bit more “southern” (they talk slower) and more friendly. Also, Philly is a bit more functional than B’more (for instance, B’more is constantly suspending city services and water bills appear to be randomly generated) and Philly has a more vibrant downtown.

But both are old cities that have an air of decay, great food, strong neighborhood pride, people stay for generations, and there is an an upper crust that is loooong established with its own fancy private school scene that largely keeps to itself. Until the Eagles/Ravens win. That brings everyone together!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Philadelphians are very proud of their city. Do not call it Philly!

Do you know the city well? You might check out the incredible museums there. The historic parts of the city are gorgeous and there are cool little towns adjacent as well.

I’m from Philly and that is all we call it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I’m a Philly WASP and behind coded doors we admit that the Italians, the Irish, etc. are just interlopers.

Ridiculous. They far outnumber you. You’re a dying breed. Bye!

dp pp hit a nerve, eh? We are all "dying out" but, the former is going to have more fun!

[Anonymous]

What is there not to like about Haveford?!?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, I came back to check, and this thread got less fun.

I posted earlier - lots of family in Philly and I’m from Wilmington. One set of grandparents was in Conshohocken - it was pretty working class back then, but looks to be fancier now. I have great memories of walking to “the peanut factory” - which google tells me is still there! I loved that place.
https://edwardsfreeman.com/

Also the poster who said that Wilmington, Delaware is sort of in-bred was right-on. Every time I run into someone who turns out to be from Delaware we immediately and simultaneously ask each other “where did you go to high school?” It tells you A LOT about the person. I went to a lousy public school and you can almost see the tower hill/archmere/tatnall/Sanford school crew recoil (despite the fact that I turned out ok). My husband is from the west coast, and is fascinated by the weird and persistent tribalism exhibited by a bunch of 40-50 year olds. And most of my friends growing up stayed there - I live “far away”, by which I mean 2-3 hours away.

Thanks for sharing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t really follow your weird post. As for Philly, it’s a dangerous, played out, smelly city with generally underperforming sports teams. It’s supposedly known for cheesesteaks, but I’ve had better versions at a mall in Ohio.

Then you’ve never had a real cheesesteak, because there’s no way you last sentence is true.

Yes, yes, I have. The last one was awful. The onions were even grilled.

[Anonymous]

It was a semi-interesting place your until about 2000. Now it’s just like any other generic city — only more dangerous. And it is really dangerous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG you Philly haters. I am from suburban philly (what? we all call it that), it was a great place to grow up. Beautiful old houses - when I moved to the DC area, I was looking for all the big old stone houses only could find the boring split levels. Center City is awesome, there are good parts and like any city, there are the not so good parts. So much amazing history. Still have family in Center City and surrounding areas. Everyone had a beach house in NJ (LBI!!!), b/c the beach was only 2 hours away. Mom went to Temple and niece just graduated from there with an awesome job! After years of living in DC, I still say wooder and gaz. To the pp whose family can't wait to move - I will say most people are from there, go to college and move back, very unlike transient DC . I would think it would be hard to be an outsider there.

If all you found were “boring old split levels”, where in DC were you actually looking? Were you actually IN DC?
I guess you haven’t gotten to know many people from families who’ve lived here for generations. With family beach houses in MD.

The number of "nice old houses" the DMV is a tiny fraction of what's available in Philadelphia. DC is also much more transient, and it was a much smaller city till fairly recently (within the last generation). It's hard to make neat comparisons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading this has been interesting. Some of the descriptions of Philly remind of Baltimore, where I lived and worked for several years.

Yes! My dad is from Philly (we spent every other weekend there growing up), and I lived in Baltimore for 10 years. When my parents came to visit me in B’more, my dad liked to drive around Hampden - he said that it strongly reminded him of his Philadelphia neighborhood where he grew up. The surrounding country looks similar too - horse country north of Baltimore looks a lot like the valley forge/Kennet Square area.

There are definitely differences, though. The Philly style of speaking sounds more angry. My dad and his siblings/friends often sounded mad when they were just having a spirited conversation. Baltimore is a bit more “southern” (they talk slower) and more friendly. Also, Philly is a bit more functional than B’more (for instance, B’more is constantly suspending city services and water bills appear to be randomly generated) and Philly has a more vibrant downtown.

But both are old cities that have an air of decay, great food, strong neighborhood pride, people stay for generations, and there is an an upper crust that is loooong established with its own fancy private school scene that largely keeps to itself. Until the Eagles/Ravens win. That brings everyone together!

Yes, this! Baltimore, at least when I lived there, was still a very “Southern” friendly city, at least in some areas. People speak to you on the street. It’s normal to chat in a neighborly way with people you encounter casually. Some traditional blue collar values and courtesies continue to be maintained.
Baltimore has multiple accents, but I agree with you about talking slower. Lol: When I lived in NYC, I learned to talk and walk quickly. When I relocated to Baltimore, I happily fell into slower, more leisurely habits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son and DIL live just outside Philly. They hate everything about it and are counting the days until they move. We have visited them several times and I have to say, I totally understand why they want to leave. It’s a pretty awful place.

which town?

Havertown.

Well, there are many other areas they might like better. A little like saying we hate living in Hyattsville, therefore all of DC is a pit.

[Anonymous]

I used to live in Philadelphia when I was a kid and went to school in Boston. Philadelphia is nothing like Boston.

Philadelphia has some good greasy food. There is a large African American presence. Penn is an Ivy League and has a top business school, law and med school. Temple is probably equivalent of Northeastern University, maybe lower, and is where local students who were poor or average students attend college. I do not feel safe walking in the streets of Philadelphia. Even the nicest neighborhoods in Philadelphia seem to have sketchy people who look homeless or on drugs. My good friend was once in a business meeting in Philadelphia and someone broke his jaw with a pipe for his iPhone. My friends who went to Penn mostly moved to NYC after college or grad school, even the ones who are from the Philadelphia area.

[Anonymous]

Pp here. I realize my post sounds negative. I have visited friends over the past decades after I moved away as a kid. Rittenhouse is charming. My kids love the Please Touch Museum and Adventure Aquarium (right outside Philadelphia in Camden).

Dh hates Philadelphia. I still enjoy going and try to go out early in the morning.

Someone once told me to go out early if in a bad neighborhood. He told me all the bad people are still sleeping in the morning.

[Anonymous]

The NW suburbs are really great, especially along the Main Line. Kind of like how Baltimore has that one nice area. For further research google Murder Durder or go into their finest restaurant, WaWa.