Philly blows. If you want a good city, try NY, Boston, SF, LA, Seattle, etc.
I have to strongly disagree with this statement. Having lived in Philly for 18 years of my life, I have to defend the city. Like every big city though, it has its pros and cons.
Pros:
-Lively young neighborhoods like Manyunk, University City, Rittenhouse Square, Society Hill, and Northern Liberties. These include a lot of fun outings like South Street and Penn's Landing.
-Great arts. With the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Rodin Museum, the U of Penn museum all nearby. The city also has a huge number of murals and you can go on mural tours throughout the area. In addition, for music, Philly has one of the country's best orchestras and a lot of small fun places where big name bands perform. For instance, I once saw Weezer perform in a 50 person theater. Oh, and theater is very strong as well. Philly showcases a lot of off-broadway shows during the year.
-Great history. Walk around independence mall area and you'll see what I mean. Philly served as the birthplace and the first capitol of this country so there's a lot of history and historical buildings associated with it. On any given day, you can see independence hall, the liberty bell, the betsy ross house, the country's first stock exchange, ben franklin's house, the franklin mint, the nation's first hospital, and much more. There's even an old colonial restaurant downtown where all the waiters are in period dress.
-Great eats. Seriously, I could eat my way through Philly. Don't get me started. First, cheesesteaks. Pat's, Geno's, or Jim's (my vote's for Pat's although Geno's claims to be the first). Philly has incredible restaurants from an extremely vibrant Chinatown with every type of Asian and Asian-fusion food imaginable to waiters who sing opera to you in little South Philly Italian restaurants. If you're looking for upscale, the restauranteur, Steven Starr, is the biggest name in town. He owns multiple well-known places in town including Buddakan, Continental, Striped Bass, POD, etc. As for grocers, Reading Terminal Market and the Italian Market always bring fresh quality food (some of it grown locally in Amish country) to your doorstep.
-Great quality of life. Philly is a city on the upswing and so things are getting pricier now, but your money still goes a very long way wherever you are. Plus, you're only a short trip from beautiful rolling hills, Amish farms, and fresh produce. On the other side, you're only an hour from the Jersey shore which has some decent, functional beaches. If you really want, you're a quick train ride away from NYC or DC, but you really have anything you need right there. In addition, Philly has fairmount park, the largest urban park in the world, which straddles both sides of the Schuylkill river and is a GREAT place to bike or run. Philly is fantastic for bikers like myself. There's a bike path that runs all the way from downtown way past Valley Forge in the suburbs. They're working on extending this already pretty long trail even longer as well so it's only going to improve.
-Philly pride. This is the city that brought you Rocky Balboa. There's an intense pride in our city shared by all Philly residents. We realize we're the dirty underdogs as far as people's conceptions of us are concerned (the reality is a bit different) and people always love rooting for the underdog. There's a ton of Philly spirit which explains how our sports teams have such ardent fans.
Cons:
-No great public transportation system. It's easy to get out to the suburbs by rail, but around downtown you really need to walk or drive. A subway exists but it's scary.
-Weather. Considerably milder than Boston, it's no LA.
-Pretty dead downtown. The commercial district and downtown is a little bit dead at night, but people hang out in other neighborhoods instead. Philly's always been known as a patchwork city of neighborhoods
-Rough patches. There are some tough neighborhoods like North Philly or parts of West Philly (although Penn's doing a good job of trying to improve this by investing in local businesses and encouraging professors to live there). Philly is a real city unlike a lot of cities which have been completely gentrified. You do have to be careful where you go but as long as you are street-wise, you should never run into troubles.
I personally love Philly and will sing its praises many times over. Certainly any city has its flaws, but I don't completely understand people who bash it so completely. I guess your choice of a city depends on your alternatives, but I personally think Philly is an awesome place and would happily live there another 18 years if I got the chance.
san fran/Nocal on the hand=
wow you're asking to get flamed
