Stretching back to a childhood spent in area Real Estate and accounting
offices, I can remember only three "books" for city records.
They were labeled North, South and West.
My memories are vague, but I seem to remember:
"North" was everything North of Market, including Chestnut Hill,
Roxborough and the "Greater Northeast".
"South" was everything South of Market, east of the Schuylkill, including
Society Hill and deepest South Philadelphia.
"West" was everything South of Market, West of the Schuylkill including
all of "SouthWest".
These were huge volumes maybe 18" tall and 12" wide.
They had heavy, embossed covers which lifted off, after unscrewing heavy,
metal pegs.
The pegs had extensions.
Every month or so, a printer delivered the most recent "supplement" of
recorded sales.
The cover would come off and the new supplement would be added.
In the beginning of the year, a book would be about 2" thick and after a
dozen supplements, extensions were added to the pegs and the books might
grow to 4" or 5" inches thick and be almost too large to maneuver.
The real estate industry went to smaller, disposable "paperback" books, I
think in the 70's.
The city started placing Real Estate transactions on the computer in 1981
and I think the last books were printed in 2000.
When the city first went to computers, arbitrary neighborhoods were
created. These crossed zip codes and made more sense in some areas than
others. West Philly was divided into three areas on East to West Axis of
Baltimore and Lancaster, creating three long, but not necessarily logical
pie wedges. Clearly 46th and Springfield was more like 46th and Cedar
than like 64th and Lindbergh, but the process for sorting the data didn't
always permit useful distinctions.
Now that computers are more facile, the data is defined geographically by
overlapping City, Zip Code and price and or neighborhood.
But it can still be confusing to "out-of-area-agents" who might not catch
subtleties that occur where Zip Codes break. For example the southwest
corner of 45th and Larchwood is still 19104, but the first house on the
4500 block of Larchwood is in 19143, even though the two homes share a
property line.
Hot zones, like the Sadie Alexander catchment area travel over three zip
codes (19104, 19139 and 19143).
Each of the three early divisions is now chopped up into designer names,
for "marketing" purposes.
As an Agent, I respect the implied boundaries, but as a citizen, I prefer
to think of us as West Philly and neighbors.
Best!
Liz
Elizabeth Campion Cell Phone: 215-880-2930
215-546-0550 Main, -546-9871 fax, Desk + VM: 215-790-5653
PRUDENTIAL, FOX & ROACH REALTORS, LLC
Please read Consumer Notice & enjoy "HOME PILOT" tools at
www.PruFoxRoach.com
On Sun, 1 Apr 2007 23:15:51 -0400 "Anthony West" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
writes:
Both of which are actually in Southwest Philadelphia, not West
Philadelphia.
And which is a perfect example of why "University City" as a designation
is far more than a marketing scheme. While you wait for the 34 trolley
inbound, you're in Southwest Philly; when you return to the neighborhood
later, you disembark in West Philly. Obviously, though, it's all one
neighborhood. Might as well have a name for it.
Still, misplaced though they are, the stickers are cute. Just like the
anti-foie gras chanters in front of the Marigold. Something you'd never
see in any other part of either West Philly or Southwest Philly; so
strictly, so intimately, so homily University City.
-- Tony West
----- Original Message -----
From: B Andersen
To: [email protected]
Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2007 10:46 PM
Subject: Re: [UC] New Marketing Campaign
There's also one on the window of ODonnell Realty.
On 4/1/07, Kyle Cassidy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
there's one on the side of abbraccio
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Cindy Miller
Where can I get one?
-cm
On Sunday, April 1, 2007, at 10:21 AM, John Ellingsworth wrote:
> A new advertising campaign seems to be developing in the neighborhood.
> Someone has started affixing high quality glossy bumper stickers to
> poles with the following information:
>
> This is West Philly
> "University City" is a marketing scheme
>
> Maybe it's an April Fools joke.
>
> --
