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I'm a Bostonian who feels Philly is larger and more urban.
Same here, although I have also lived in Philadelphia. I think the issue comes down to what outsiders see of each city. In Boston you have the twisting streets that look like they disappear deep into something large and mysterious, so people don't realize that really that same street ends up hitting the one you are on a few blocks later. Contrast that with Philadelphia's grid, and as somebody else said, you can see the end of downtown, so that makes it look smaller. Whereas Boston's looks bigger because it's easy to feel lost within the maze.
But if people get away from downtown and really look around, they can't help but find Philadelphia to look much bigger. They should get out on the Skulyul expressway and look out over the panorama -- the train trestles, the bridges, the skyline -- all of which makes Philadelphia look quite large.
1) New York
2) Los Angeles
3) Chicago
4) Atlanta/Houston (Tie)
6) Dallas
7) Philadelphia
8) Detroit
9) Phoenix
10) San Francisco Bay
11) Miami
12) DC
13) Seattle
14) Minneapolis/St. Paul
15) St. Louis (metro feels much larger than actual size)
16) San Diego
17) Boston (metro feels much smaller than actual size)
18) Tampa/St. Petersburg
19) Orlando
20) Denver
Are you seriously putting the SF Bay Area at #10 and DC at #12 - behind Dallas, Detroit, and Phoenix?
Both SF Bay Area and DC have much bigger CSAs and generally feel like larger urban areas than any of those metros, besides NYC, LA, and Chicago.
I think many posters here on CD like many residents who haven't grown up in Philly or ventured far out of the neighborhood, have only ventured as far as CC and UC and a few outlying areas including the sports complex.
I'll bet they've never taken the subway past Columbia station or the El past 46 th going west or Springarden going east.. lol
Also I think they'd see a big differnce if they were to drive from South Broad to Broad & 73rd Ave or take a walk through East Falls under the East Falls Bridge or a drive over to Roxborough and Manayunk.
If someone wanted to take a little walk on the wild side how about a ride on the El " east or west" and exiting at 52nd & Market St and hanging out on the corner for a few just to people watch then maybe hiking it down to 52nd & Larchwood St to Blackoak Park and hanging out there for about an hour..
Then taking Larchwood or Hazel and cutting through other side streets ( Since the core of Philly is on a grid) and heading to 40th & Walnut.
Getting off of the El going east at Kensington Ave and walking a mile or two in either direction outta make for some head turning moments. LOL!
( I did it 21 years ago & I wish we had the prosumer video cams we have today) LMBO!
I've shot a few projects over the years in Philly with people who've resided there for at least 5-10 years but weren't from there and all they knew was U-City, Center City, parts of South Philly, and Temple Univ area and maybe a few neighborhoods surrounding them.
People have asked " What part of town is this.., is it still in Philly proper"?
We've had to explain " Yes this is Chestnut Hill or West Mt. Airy or East Oak Lane, etc; when I was a production assistant I used to pick up cast and crew out of 30th St station and we'd drive out to the location of the production company and they'd marvel (a bit) about the congestion of homes in Manayunk as we'd drive by on the expressway.
I recall working on a promo for Donavan Mc Nabb that took us all over the city and the huge crew were from different places some lived in Philly and still had never been to the far Northeast section of the city.
We shot at home on the 8200 block of Colfax ave and then at a Ritas Waterice and people still were asking " Are we still in Philly proper"? Also " Mannn.., I didn't know Philly was this large".
It's much bigger than people think.. I'm using my smart phone.. Does anyone have pictures that are of areas outside of CC or UC? How about Far NE or E. Germantown or Olney, Manayunk,?
How about snap shots from the El?
To your point this is one ride on the El from about half the dirstance from CC from the NE to 5th Street. This takes into account maybe 1/4th of the development in this direction, not all pretty but a lot of urban footprint
I think many posters here on CD like many residents who haven't grown up in Philly or ventured far out of the neighborhood, have only ventured as far as CC and UC and a few outlying areas including the sports complex.
I'll bet they've never taken the subway past Columbia station or the El past 46 th going west or Springarden going east.. lol
Also I think they'd see a big differnce if they were to drive from South Broad to Broad & 73rd Ave or take a walk through East Falls under the East Falls Bridge or a drive over to Roxborough and Manayunk.
If someone wanted to take a little walk on the wild side how about a ride on the El " east or west" and exiting at 52nd & Market St and hanging out on the corner for a few just to people watch then maybe hiking it down to 52nd & Larchwood St to Blackoak Park and hanging out there for about an hour..
Then taking Larchwood or Hazel and cutting through other side streets ( Since the core of Philly is on a grid) and heading to 40th & Walnut.
Getting off of the El going east at Kensington Ave and walking a mile or two in either direction outta make for some head turning moments. LOL!
( I did it 21 years ago & I wish we had the prosumer video cams we have today) LMBO!
I've shot a few projects over the years in Philly with people who've resided there for at least 5-10 years but weren't from there and all they knew was U-City, Center City, parts of South Philly, and Temple Univ area and maybe a few neighborhoods surrounding them.
People have asked " What part of town is this.., is it still in Philly proper"?
We've had to explain " Yes this is Chestnut Hill or West Mt. Airy or East Oak Lane, etc; when I was a production assistant I used to pick up cast and crew out of 30th St station and we'd drive out to the location of the production company and they'd marvel (a bit) about the congestion of homes in Manayunk as we'd drive by on the expressway.
I recall working on a promo for Donavan Mc Nabb that took us all over the city and the huge crew were from different places some lived in Philly and still had never been to the far Northeast section of the city.
We shot at home on the 8200 block of Colfax ave and then at a Ritas Waterice and people still were asking " Are we still in Philly proper"? Also " Mannn.., I didn't know Philly was this large".
It's much bigger than people think.. I'm using my smart phone.. Does anyone have pictures that are of areas outside of CC or UC? How about Far NE or E. Germantown or Olney, Manayunk,?
How about snap shots from the El?
I agree. When I first moved here, all I really knew was Center City. In the 8 months since, we've started wandering around and found out just how large Philly proper is. Here are some neighborhoods outside of CC we discovered.
Manayunk:
All sizes | Main Street | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnchouser/313235936/sizes/z/in/photostream/ - broken link)
Northern Liberties:
All sizes | Sundae at the Piazza (06/08/2009) | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/visualsense/3611207704/sizes/z/in/photostream/ - broken link)
All sizes | Night Market: Mt. Airy | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeyil/6010628851/sizes/z/in/photostream/ - broken link)
Chestnut Hill:
All sizes | Chestnut Hill | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisinphilly5448/4186704638/sizes/z/in/photostream/ - broken link)
Passyunk:
All sizes | Passyunk; April 2006 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tanglethis/150731008/sizes/z/in/photostream/ - broken link)
In addition to these neighborhoods, places such as East Falls, Pennsport, University City, South Philly, Fishtown, Fairmont and the CC-adjacent neighborhoods of Queen Village, Bella Vista and Graduate Hospital also offer quite a lot. I joined this forum shortly before moving here. Since that time, I've been surprised at the number of posters from outside the city who claim there are only ghettos outside of CC. They have either never been here or are promoting some sort of agenda. Like any city, Philly has its ghettos, but there quite a number of great neighborhoods outside CC, and from what I can see, more are up and coming.
lol yea I think people are underestimating Phillys size.
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