STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

That really depends on where the job would be. Based on whether she's working in the suburbs, or in Philadelphia proper, the suggestions would be totally different.

Here's just a really quick run-down on some of the areas:

West Philly/University City: Amazing area, but has the potential to be either overrun with college kids, or just slightly not safe depending on the exact area (east or west). I've lived here, and loved it but was just a little too far out from our friends. Definitely need a car.

Center City: The actual downtown area of Philly, has a ton of amazing small little neighborhoods each with thier own special vibe. No need for a car here as there's a grocery store (large and small) every block. Tons of small little places to eat and amazing things to see and do. Some areas are quieter and others are much more "happening". I've lived in Center City for almost two years now, and I absolutely love it.

South Philly: Very residential, and very traditional (for the most part) Philadelphia. Think Rocky. Also has wonderful up-and-coming neighborhoods that are filled with artistic, hipster kids (but in a good way, for the most part). Not as easily accessible by public transportation, definitely not as many convenience stores.

Northern Liberties: Quite a great place, but a little sketchy in parts. Lots of new construction, both on condos, lofts, and regular houses. Great little bars.

Those are the four main areas I would recommend, but each of those is really comprised of much smaller neighborhoods that can have completely different feels. There's also more suburban places as well as places that are just slightly farther out from the city, but not suburban.

But really, a lot of it will depend on your friend's personality and where her job is and what her needs are. I absolutely love Center City because I can walk anywhere I want to go, plus there's a ton of green space and despite it being a large downtown area, it's still very residential.

Also: Go Phillies! World Series starts Wednesday at Tampa Bay!

Bingo! I think that your friend would find Center City (which Rittenhouse Square is part of) a wonderful place to live.

Technically, Rittenhouse Square is a park! B. Franklin actually designed the city ot have tons of green space because he wanted fire breaks. There's four main parks/green space: Rittenhouse Square, Logan Square, Washington Square and Fitler Square, all are parks with large amounts of actual grass. All four, I might add, also have great Farmer's Markets the spring through fall seasons.

I actually live a block/half off of Logan Square and it's absolutely fantastic. I'm smack dab between Trader Joe's and Whole Foods with three other markets within five blocks.

Your friend will want to look for anything between South and Fairmount to the north and south, and no farther east than 13th or so (the Schukyll River will border this area on the west).

Let's see:
Relatively safe- the entire area I listed is relatively safe, getting less safe the farther north and south. I've never felt that un-safe but it's still a city with all the inherent dangers that a city has. I probably wouldn't walk very far by  myself after midnight, but I've done plenty of walking around after midnight with the boyfriend and we've never been approached by any wayward person.

Public Transportation- Eh. There's buses that go up and down Market, Chestnut, Walnut, and I think Spruce and Pine (all of which are streets within three blocks of Rittenhouse, running east and west). There are underground trolleys (that run overground across the river in West Philly) as well as underground subways. Both are reliable, but not always that safe. There's been a couple of very high-profile issues with the subway/trolley. I wouldn't recommend taking either of those after 10pm or so (especially by yourself!) and I also wouldn't ride either of those between the hours of 3 and 5 in the afternoon (just way too crowded with the commuters, plus those are the times that the high-school kids are on there going home from school- most of the high-profile issues are with the kids who, unfortuantely, are sometimes simply out of control).

Shopping and restaurants- Fan-frigging-fantastic. The area around Rittenhouse is (all along Walnut, which is the north border of the park, from about 15th to 20th) is shopping with even more restuarants and bars up to about 23rd. For shopping there's everything from two (!) H&Ms, a Zara, to very upscale places like Burberry. There's also great boutiques, the one that comes to mind is Joan Shepp (which I'm probably spelling wrong since I've never set foot in it). There's a ton of small cute boutiques on the North/South streets which are the numbered streets. I really think that Philadelphia is one of the best places for restaurants, there's so many small BYOBs that you could eat out every night for months and never go with a wrong place. Being BYOB also keeps the price down signficantly.

Green spaces- All over the place. Rittenhouse Square, as I've mentioned, is actually a large park. There's also smaller little parks scattered all over the city as well as most streets (with the exception of the busy, commerical streets) being tree-lined. There's also a great path all along the river which leads to Fairmount Park. This park is a huge, huge, huge park that has the Art Musuem sitting right on one edge. There's also great trails up into this other huge park/wilderness area called Wissahickon that's great for hiking and bike riding.

Architectural Character and history- Being one of the oldest cities in the United States, there's a ton of great old buildings. Lots of gorgeous brownstones- the kind with huge windows, tall ceilings and actual stoops to sit on out front. However, the interiors can be totally hit and miss with how they've been broken up into apartments. I've seen some great buildings that look amazing but inside have awful carpeting down over the hardwood floors, no closets and very tiny kitchens. A lot of the buildings were originally single-family and they're not always broken down into apartments in any sort of logical sense.

As a caveat though, Rittenhouse Square, and adjoining neighborhoods, is terribly overpriced with crappy 1-bedrooms running about $1000-1500. You can find great places, which I finally did, but it takes months of searching. I think the BF and I looked for about two months before stumbling upon the place we're at now, and that's only after we upped the price we were willing to pay in rent each month by about $400. I live in Logan Square and I've got friend's who live in Fitler Square, and both neighborhoods are slightly less expensive than Rittenhouse, with about five/ten minutes additional walking to get to the shops.

I hope that helps! Any other questions, feel free to shoot my way. I can be much more specific about streets if you need, if your friend does have a couple of places in mind for living. Don't forget that Christie also lived in Philadelphia for a while (in Rittenhouse, if I remember) and Metric has been to visit me twice if you want some other perspective.

-- Edited by relrel at 11:40, 2008-10-20