Why isn’t everyone moving to the Main Line?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My perception is that the mainline has a fraction of the “prestige” it once had. It just seems a bit more run down nowadays.

A lot more UMC people send their kids to philly public schools now in Society Hill, Rittenhouse Square, Queen Village, the neighborhoods slightly west of UPenn (Garden Court & Spruce Hill) etc so those areas have good k-8 schools. I don’t think the main line has a monopoly on where wealthy Philadelphians live anymore.

South of Lancaster Ave is in outright bad condition lately.

interesting. where do they send their kids to HS?

The pp is just making stuff up. “South of Lancaster” (not a term anyone uses anyway) doesn’t mean anything. You can live “south of Lancaster,” live in a beautiful neighborhood, and send your kids to lower Merion, haverford sd, radnor, TE, etc. Some of the most elite private schools are “south of Lancaster”.

All the nice houses are north of Lancaster Avenue. There is a very clear divide. It gets hideous the further south until you hit the NHSL stops. Bryn Mawr & Shipley are north of it. Haverford School is technically south of it but barely.

There are nice houses south of Lancaster. Wynnewood is on both sides and has nice areas on the south side. Haverford and Bryn Mawr stretch across Lancaster and plenty of nice housing on both sides.

The idea the Main Line is increasingly some kind of has-been is one of the weirdest things I've read in a while and reads more like personal grudges by a committed urbanite than anything grounded in reality. Many people who started out in Queen Village move to the Main Line. Others move to Society Hill and Rittenhouse from the Main Line after their kids have finished schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too white & insular

As compared to say Bethesda?

Yes. It’s a rare thing nationally-speaking how we have such high-performing, racially diverse schools in the DMV.

Have you been there recently? Way more diverse than it used to be. I grew up there and it was super white with a sprinkling of South and East Asians. (Also lots of Jews; we are Jewish and it's why my parents picked that area over others, for the community. The Jewish community is still very strong there.) Now I go back to visit family and see much more variety of people and also more people out walking. Car was king when I was a kid, except for kids who didn't have cars - you never saw an adult walking to do errands and now you do. Though not as much as Bethesda or Arlington where things are closer together.

I love Philly. Grew up in the close-in suburbs, worked in Center City for a few years as an adult. If I didn't have a government job tying me to DC, I'd move back in a heartbeat. Though probably not to the Main Line because I can't shake that snooty image from my youth. Probably to Swarthmore or Media or Wyndmoor. Which are probably almost as snooty but at least I wouldn't be re-living my childhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My perception is that the mainline has a fraction of the “prestige” it once had. It just seems a bit more run down nowadays.

A lot more UMC people send their kids to philly public schools now in Society Hill, Rittenhouse Square, Queen Village, the neighborhoods slightly west of UPenn (Garden Court & Spruce Hill) etc so those areas have good k-8 schools. I don’t think the main line has a monopoly on where wealthy Philadelphians live anymore.

South of Lancaster Ave is in outright bad condition lately.

interesting. where do they send their kids to HS?

The pp is just making stuff up. “South of Lancaster” (not a term anyone uses anyway) doesn’t mean anything. You can live “south of Lancaster,” live in a beautiful neighborhood, and send your kids to lower Merion, haverford sd, radnor, TE, etc. Some of the most elite private schools are “south of Lancaster”.

All the nice houses are north of Lancaster Avenue. There is a very clear divide. It gets hideous the further south until you hit the NHSL stops. Bryn Mawr & Shipley are north of it. Haverford School is technically south of it but barely.

Sorry but this is laughable. Bala Cynwyd, Lower Merion, Narberth, Wynnewood, Ardmore, Haverford are lousy? Have you even been to these places? The houses are amazing. Locally quarried stone, 1920s and 1930s architecture, generous land parcels. Particularly as you get off the main roads there are literal mansions that are millions of dollars. If you are looking at the houses that are literally on Lancaster or Montgomery Avenues, sure, many haven't been kept up well because they are on major roads! Go a block back and you'll see beautiful homes. For 1/2 of what they cost around here.

If your definition of a "nice home" is 6,000 sq feet on 2 acres with a private pool and tennis court, I grant you most places south of Bryn Mawr or Villanova don't have that. The homes are more in the 2,000-3500 sq foot range, 1/4 to 1/2 acre, maybe a pool.

[Anonymous]

Here’s one: 4BD, 3BA, Nearly 3000sf, 10,000ft lot lower Merion school district (top 25 nationally) for under $1M? Cry me a river.

https://redf.in/D0w7ox

This house would be 1.8-2M in close in suburbs here.

[Anonymous]

Omg:

https://redf.in/NaqEhx

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gloomy architecture and atmosphere. Rudest population of people I've ever encountered. Insular to a stifling degree. Terrible bagels in spite of the proximity to NYC.

if you dislike how open minded and upwardly mobile and well educated people are in the DC area, the philly area may be for you.

I take it you've never been to Massachusetts.

[Anonymous]

If nice, cheaper old houses should guide everyone’s decisions where to live, why not move to Shaker Heights rather than the Main Line. Same virtues, same flaws, and even more affordable (although I suspect those obsessed with the Main Line couldn’t handle the Black population now in Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights).

The rest of us will live where there are more jobs and the communities aren’t as insular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If nice, cheaper old houses should guide everyone’s decisions where to live, why not move to Shaker Heights rather than the Main Line. Same virtues, same flaws, and even more affordable (although I suspect those obsessed with the Main Line couldn’t handle the Black population now in Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights).

The rest of us will live where there are more jobs and the communities aren’t as insular.

Shaker Heights and Bexley and Upper Arlington (Columbus) are also really good but less proximity to coastal things.

[Anonymous]

Very Stepford-wife esque. Lots of moms with beach blonde hair & pearls. Country club, golfing and cricket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if these towns technically are on the Main Line (there is a local train station), but the towns and housing stock are nice and the schools are good. But you don’t see much diversity.

Berwyn
Wayne
Malvern

All these towns have sizable and growing populations of Asians and South Asians. Berwyn and Malvern mainly feed into Tredyffrin schools, which are 61% white, 28% Asian. Wayne is Radnor schools and is whiter, 69% white and 17% Asian. Or are we defining diversity solely as black? I'll grant you that they don't have many blacks. But you should be clearer by what you mean with diversity.

Literally nobody considers schools that are 86% white & asian diverse. Don’t be obtuse.

And lots of exclusionary zoning going on up there, and MASSIVE funding disparities between school districts a mile apart from one another.

Have you ever been to NYC or parts of DC where this is also true?

NY State with the “town school districts” has that problem, too.

There aren’t many schools in the DC area with crumbling buildings, no field trips whatsoever, one guidance counselor serving multiple schools or 30 kids in a classroom. That’s how it is if you’re in a town on the wrong side of the tracks in NJ, PA, CT, NY etc. PA is one of the worst in this regard: https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/pennsylvania-school-funding-is-unconstitutional-judge-says-heres-what-could-happen-next/2023/02 Sorry.

Whatever is your point? It sucks to be poor anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if these towns technically are on the Main Line (there is a local train station), but the towns and housing stock are nice and the schools are good. But you don’t see much diversity.

Berwyn
Wayne
Malvern

All these towns have sizable and growing populations of Asians and South Asians. Berwyn and Malvern mainly feed into Tredyffrin schools, which are 61% white, 28% Asian. Wayne is Radnor schools and is whiter, 69% white and 17% Asian. Or are we defining diversity solely as black? I'll grant you that they don't have many blacks. But you should be clearer by what you mean with diversity.

Literally nobody considers schools that are 86% white & asian diverse. Don’t be obtuse.

And lots of exclusionary zoning going on up there, and MASSIVE funding disparities between school districts a mile apart from one another.

Have you ever been to NYC or parts of DC where this is also true?

NY State with the “town school districts” has that problem, too.

There aren’t many schools in the DC area with crumbling buildings, no field trips whatsoever, one guidance counselor serving multiple schools or 30 kids in a classroom. That’s how it is if you’re in a town on the wrong side of the tracks in NJ, PA, CT, NY etc. PA is one of the worst in this regard: https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/pennsylvania-school-funding-is-unconstitutional-judge-says-heres-what-could-happen-next/2023/02 Sorry.

Whatever is your point? It sucks to be poor anywhere.

It sucks a lot more in some places than in others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if these towns technically are on the Main Line (there is a local train station), but the towns and housing stock are nice and the schools are good. But you don’t see much diversity.

Berwyn
Wayne
Malvern

All these towns have sizable and growing populations of Asians and South Asians. Berwyn and Malvern mainly feed into Tredyffrin schools, which are 61% white, 28% Asian. Wayne is Radnor schools and is whiter, 69% white and 17% Asian. Or are we defining diversity solely as black? I'll grant you that they don't have many blacks. But you should be clearer by what you mean with diversity.

Literally nobody considers schools that are 86% white & asian diverse. Don’t be obtuse.

And lots of exclusionary zoning going on up there, and MASSIVE funding disparities between school districts a mile apart from one another.

Have you ever been to NYC or parts of DC where this is also true?

NY State with the “town school districts” has that problem, too.

There aren’t many schools in the DC area with crumbling buildings, no field trips whatsoever, one guidance counselor serving multiple schools or 30 kids in a classroom. That’s how it is if you’re in a town on the wrong side of the tracks in NJ, PA, CT, NY etc. PA is one of the worst in this regard: https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/pennsylvania-school-funding-is-unconstitutional-judge-says-heres-what-could-happen-next/2023/02 Sorry.

Whatever is your point? It sucks to be poor anywhere.

That town-based school districts actively promote extreme inequality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very Stepford-wife esque. Lots of moms with beach blonde hair & pearls. Country club, golfing and cricket.

Really? I have lots of professional friends there and none of them is like this. All the moms work and most are doctors and very smart/accomplished and down to earth. And get this one is an interracial couple where the mom is a black surgeon and they have zero issue with their diverse neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you might want to do the math on this one. Living there can certainly be cheaper, obviously. But if you want to live in an SFH in Chestnut Hill & send your kid to Penn Charter or Germantown Academy, and also save up for private college, that’s going to add up quick.

You don't have to send them to private school. My sis and I went to Girls' high and my brother central

[Anonymous]

I have friends who are Wharton/Penn grads who live in society Hill in one of the nicest historic houses I have ever seen.