Anyone from Philly knows there are some rough neighborhoods here. A lot of fearless younger people move to these neighborhoods as gentrification rolls out.
So, I pick up this woman from Club Quarters Hotel on 18th and Chestnut Sts. in Center City. After she complements my cool car, she says out of the blue “so,tell me about Philly. “ I look at her destination in the app and see that it’s less than 4 blocks away, straight down Chestnut St. (about a 2 minute ride).
I figured she was visiting so I asked where she’s from. She was from Chicago and was visiting her son who lives in Strawberry Mansion. I said, “ah, there are some rough spots there.” She then said her son and his girlfriend gave her a driving tour of the neighborhood and she saw all the graffiti on cars, etc. She said she loves her son and stayed there 3 nights, but couldn’t take it anymore. Hence, why she was picked up from a hotel.
So, in the remaining seconds of the ride I told her a few basic things about Philly and sites to visit. When I mentioned Penn’s Landing and a walk along the river, she immediately asked whether it was safe. Well, no place is entirely safe in a city, but this woman seemed frazzled and scared of city life. Really? From Chicago??