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Comment by Rod | Hacker News Reader

I know people who live in Philly and love it. They're sane, I think. There's no accounting for taste, after all.

I have been in Philly only some 48 hours or so, but my first impressions were quite negative. I saw way too many homeless people, way too much trash on the streets, and even walking in the so-called nice areas of downtown Philly after dark I was afraid I was gonna get shot any minute.

Honest question: what are the good things about Philly? Seriously.

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Off the top of my head: It's the 6th largest city in the US, and it's the birthplace of the country (lots of culture and history). Most of the buildings are well over 100 years old (great architecture and craftsmanship is commonplace). Real estate prices are super reasonable, and property taxes are basically nothing (most houses are less than $1000/year). Public transportation is everywhere. Parking and traffic are much better than the NYC and Boston metro areas. Crime is almost entirely isolated to bad areas of town. There's a huge amount of independently owned local businesses. And there's hardly any chain restaurants. The locally owned restaurants and bars are awesome. There's about a half dozen world-class micro-breweries in the area. I can walk to two of them. There's grocery stores, dozens of shops and good restaurants within walking distance of most areas. But if you want to drive somewhere - NYC is two hours away, the Pocono Mountains are two hours (lots of state parks and skiing), Atlantic City is close by, and there's some good beaches (for the east coast) within two hours. The city provides free wifi in lots of places around town. There's all the nightlife and live music you could want here. And most everything is really reasonably priced. The people here do seem to litter a bit too much, and they can come across as rude at first. But I've found most people to be genuinely straightforward and refreshingly honest compared to other areas. I've lived all over the US, and I think Philly is one of the most well-rounded and underrated cities. It's very much like NYC in the late 80's/early 90's.

There's lots of great restaraunts; more here than in Boston/Cambridge/Somerville. Most of the good restaurants are BYOB, which I've never seen in another city this size. There's a lot good beer here, everyone I talk to is an expert on brewing. Art Museum, Franklin Institute, three arthouse movie theaters downtown. Rents are pretty cheap. I personally like being able to drive over to Jersey sometimes to get away from the crowds, but I'm a little weird.

I don't know where you went when you were here, but if you come back, you should check out Northern Liberties. It's a great little neighborhood.

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