Philadelphia - area near St. Joe's Univ.
 

Can anyone tell me what the neighborhood is like around St. Joseph's University? Thanks.

if you're staying in a hotel & planning to visit the city, its not exactly that convenient. Its way outside center city Philadelphia.

The neighborhood is ok. On the west side of City Line Avenue is actually the Main Line - the most expensive upscale neighborhood in Philly.

On the other side though once you get past the University you're in West Philly which is not the greatest of neighborhoods.

My computer just ate my first reply, so I'll try to reconstruct it. St. Joe's is on the border of the city and the suburbs. I think the campus is pretty safe. The city side of the neighborhood is mostly residential, with a mixture of longtime urban residents, grad students, and many ethnic and cultural groups. The suburban side is also residential. Near the university, it's mostly middle-class houses, but as you travel westward through the area known as "The Main Line" (so named because of the train line that transported the rich bankers and robber-baron-types of past centuries to and from their jobs in the city), the neighborhoods become more upscale and include some of the most expensive homes (and best school districts) in the area. The train provides a quick and easy way to travel from the area of St. Joe's down to the center city area, or out to the Main Line area. Right where the city meets the suburbs, there is higher crime. People who want to steal stuff are obviously going to be attracted to the closest area where there's good stuff to steal, and I suppose that goes for other types of crimes as well. That being said, however, I would not worry as much about safety in the St. Joe's neighborhood as I would in many other parts of the Phila area.

pjmay - thanks. My son is looking at St. Joe's as a college choice. He also picked another urban university in another state and the college itself is quite compact but the area outside it is definitely not a place to go at night.
I wanted to learn about the St. Joe neighborhood for the same reason. We'll eventually visit it, but it's nice to be forewarned.

lesliec1 -
I've heard there is an upper main line and lower main line. Are they both upscale areas? What are the towns to avoid/high crime?

gbelle,
i went to st joes, graduated just a few years ago! its a great campus, the students love it. And it really is safe especially if he'll be living "on campus". They have very good security, And the neighborhood immediately surrounding the school is really quite safe. Though it isnt too far from some of the pretty bad sections of West Philly.

Its a great location for college students b/c the campus is large & open/pretty but its also within a short drive or train ride to center city. Philadelphia is a great city.

I lived right across the street from St. Joes for several years--practically on campus!

The neighborhood is fine. As a young single female living alone and relying a lot on public transportation, I never had any problems. And frankly, the 'hood was a little edgier then than it is now.

Re: your question about the upper vs. lower Main Line. They are both upscale. The lower Main Line is a bit older and more densely populated, although new construction on the upper (read: Western, farther away from the city) end may be shifting the density a bit.

There's nothing within walking distance of the campus that I'd consider a really dangerous neighborhood. Don't know where you live now, but there are definitely some "street sense" kind of things that are good habits to develop wherever you are in the city (e.g. never leave items in your car unless you want your window broken).

My Aunt has lived in that area for at least 20 years and I can't recall her ever mentioning safety as a concern. There are some very high end areas, like Ardmore, and middle to upper middle class areas, like Narberth, just a few miles to the north across City Avenue. Transportation into Center City is relatively easy via the Septa and several other well known, and well respected, colleges are in that same general area like Bryn Mawr and Villanova.

BTW, you'll be happy to know that you need not fear your son being corrupted by "robber barons." My Aunt is the head administrator for a private social services agency.

Hi GBelle. As Elle mentioned, both Upper Main Line and Lower Main Line are generally upscale. To find a "bad" neighborhood, your son would need to go into the city. Parts of West Philadelphia, much of North Phila., parts of northeast Phila. and parts of south Phila. are questionable, especially at night, but there is really no reason your son would need to go there. For recreational outings, he could easily "go downtown", which is quite safe during the day and at night if he's with a group and/or uses "street sense". Areas downtown that pose hazards are the late-night clubs along Columbus Blvd., streets north of Northern Liberties area, south of South Street above 10th Street or so, and most of West Philly that isn't the Penn or Drexel campuses. Of course there are safe and nice areas in all these neighborhoods I'm labelling as "questionable", but it varies by block, so they are best avoided until he knows more about the area. For shopping, movies, hiking, etc., your son can head out to the Main Line or to the other Western suburbs like Springfield, Media, Havertown, etc. Good luck in the college search. I just finished that process with my son and he's off to his freshman year at U. of Pittsburgh in only a few days. Now that I have finished shopping for him, I can start my worrying!

Some people mentioned this, but the surprising thing is how much the neighborhood changes in the course of just a few miles.

To the west is the aforementioned Main Line; to the east, West Philly, which can be iffy.

To give you an idea of what the suburban neighborhood is like, it encompasses Lower Merion, which is where basketball star (and budding defendant) Kobe Bryant grew up. Kobe's dad, Joe, was a pro basketball player, so the family wasn't hurting for $.