Besides being the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods.  Each has distinctive characteristics.  In South Philly, east of Broad Street alone, there are 10 neighborhoods.  These include:  South Philly (yes one part is actually named that), Dickinson Narrows, East Passyunk Crossing,  Girard Estate, Hawthorne, Italian Market,  Marconi Plaza East, Passyunk Square, Pennsport,  and Whitman.  When plotted on a map there are places where boundaries overlap between areas..

On the whole, the South Philly area is populated by row houses of 2 or 3 stories.  The very old houses are mixed together with the new ones; in all likelihood they are all old buildings but some have new fronts or changed roof lines..  Far south, before the stadiums are row houses and duplexes with front lawns.  With constant infill of any vacant lots, there are modern properties right next to traditional row houses.  In upper east Pennsport, there are houses that run from one street through to the next street.  They have huge back yards, which are the exception  in this area.  A couple of wooden houses remain along Moyamensing Avenue and there is one on Queen Street.  More than 300 18^th century houses were demolished for I95 to be built

Who lives here?  The old immigrate groups mainly came from southern and eastern Europe except for the  Russian Jews.  The new residents are professionals, Mexicans, Southeast Asians and those returning from New Jersey because of the high taxes.

There are still concentrations of ethnic groups living in the area.  The area has many Irish as can be determined by the abundance of St. Patrick’s Day decorations – equal to Christmas-level decoration  only green.  Many of the Catholic churches served specific ethnic groups, but today are closing or combining because of declining enrollment.  So for those of you who thought South Philly was mostly Italian, you are out of date.

Once upon a time, everything below South Street was considered South Philly.  More recently the boundary changed to anything below Washington Avenue was South Philly.  The reason for this change is that Queen Village, once a working class neighborhood, has evolved into a very desirable and affluent neighborhood.  It is now a Center City neighborhood.  The affluence has allowed for preservation of a range of housing dating from colonial times to present.  It is a pleasant neighborhood with a couple of parks, scattering of historical sites and a strong sense of community.  The community fights against casinos, investigates current issues and problems and generally is successful in getting what it wants.

By contrast, Pennsport, upper east side of South Philly, is similar to Queen Village when it was still developing.  Pennsport is predominantly working class with pockets of expensive new housing.  Don’t be fooled by the unexciting exteriors of many of the houses, inside they are stunning.  There still is a lot of building going on in Pennsport despite the economy.  Most of the vacant lots have been replaced with infill housing or strips of new houses.  The biggest difference between the two areas is attitude.  There are areas with very old houses but they generally been modernized to the obliteration of the old features.  Community is defined by relatives, ethnicity and affiliation with mummers’ clubs more than a cohesive sense of community.  The old and new are frequently at odds with each other.

Both of these neighborhoods offer alternatives to the very high housing prices of other Center City neighborhoods.  It’s really a matter of which place best fits your personality.

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