Quote:
Originally Posted by relnahe
I don't know I think you're kinda wrong. First off it's already great enough. I don't know what non-mainstream is in regards of a city but I guess that is why the hipsters I know all love Philly and want to move there.
When I lived in Philly I got a sense it was the transplants that truly loved it, or at least more than the natives. Almost a 180 from a place like Boston where the natives seem to be more in love with the city than the transplants.
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How many cities in the US can say they have the following:
1) an intact 18th early 19th century cityscape, i.e., society hill(over 4,000 18th
century buildings, Old City retains many commercial buildings from the decades before the Civil War.
Call this the Walking/Mechantile city
2) A street car industrial city from say 1850 to 1929. The residential rows West of Broad and South of Market st like Delancy, Spruce, Pine. Walking in this area is a 19th c. counterpoint to the 18th c, streets of Society Hill and most of West Philadelphia also reflects this period.
3) The automobile, Service and Technology based city say from the second half of the 20th c to the present. All of the Penn Center office development after WWII and the medical complex at Penn reflect this period. The buildings at the 30th st station area tap into a much greater potential economic base in that they straddle the Northeast train corridor. In the 1920s when office towers were built along S. Broad and West Walnut and Chestnut sts there was no relationship to highway access. Today the Comcast Towers and others are built near access to the Vine st expressway, I76, I95. They have a double advantage since they also have easy access to suburban and long distance trains.