Where to live near Temple University

April 17, 2010 12:32 PM

Where's a good neighborhood for a Temple University grad student to live? My brother is planning to attend Temple starting this fall. He and his wife are looking for a friendly, safe, not-too-expensive neighborhood within about a half-hour SEPTA ride.

They're in their late 20s and aren't planning to have kids for a few years.

Wish list (none of these are absolute must-haves):

- Young-ish population
- A few bars/restaurants within walking distance
- Grocery store within walking distance
- Bike-friendliness

They're looking to stick to around $1,000 for a one-bedroom apartment -- from my cursory research of places like Manayunk and Northern Liberties, this doesn't seem impossible, but advice on whether it's a reasonable target is welcome.

posted by bethist to Society & Culture (12 answers total)

Manayunk would be an awful location to keep the commute short - it's a great town, but in effect it's a distinct suburb that happens to fall within city limits, and getting to Temple would require a transfer.

The easiest path to Temple is simply to live near the Broad Street Subway; I'd strongly suggest the Passyunk corridor to get that wishlist fulfilled.
posted by Tomorrowful at 12:39 PM on April 17, 2010

They should look at Jenkintown, everywhere in town is about a 10min walk to the train station, and there are four train lines that go through there so trains come about every 15 minutes. 15 min trip in to Temple. Very walkable town, very bike friendly, lots of restaurants in walking distance, lots of youngish people. Email's in my profile if they have questions.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 12:45 PM on April 17, 2010

Oh, and if you look at Jenkintown, the key is "in the boro" -- a lot of the surrounding area calls itself Jenkintown but unless you're in the actual boro you're not going to be close to stuff. This is the kind of thing that might work for your brother.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 12:52 PM on April 17, 2010

Stay away from West Philly, which would otherwise meet these criteria, if a short commute is important. There are some Temple people here, but they seem to complain about the commute, which requires at least one transfer.

Seconding South Philly along the Broad Street line. A lot of that area can be very different from one block to the next; they should really visit any potential apartment before they sign anything if at all possible, and if not at least have someone who knows that specific neighborhood check it out.

Also, what does his wife do? Where will she need to get to?
posted by madcaptenor at 1:39 PM on April 17, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks for all the advice so far, everybody.

His wife is a translator; apparently there's a translation company in Jenkintown, so that location has the potential to work out well. At the outset she'll be freelancing for translation firms in NYC (which is what she's doing now).
posted by bethist at 1:51 PM on April 17, 2010

I'd look in Fairmount. It'll be a 10-minute bike ride or way-sub-30-minute SEPTA ride from Temple, it's a center of bike culture in Philly (essentially at the gateway to Fairmount Park), it has great bars (Belgian Café, St. Stephen's on Green, Brigid's, Bishop's Collar, London Grille) and good restaurants (L'Oca, Zorba's, Rembrandt's, Luigi's Pizza Fresca, plus all of the aforementioned bars), and it's an easy 15-minute walk to Trader Joe's. Places be close to your price range north of Fairmount Ave and west of Eastern State or east of 18th St south of Fairmount Ave. I've seen 2-brs for $1100 and 1-brs for $900 even on the tony blocks. Lots of 20-somethings here, too, so they definitely won't feel out of place. It's a great place to live.
posted by The Michael The at 2:10 PM on April 17, 2010

Places be close to

Places will be close to
posted by The Michael The at 2:11 PM on April 17, 2010

I went to temple (grad in 08) and still live in the city. I think you have a few options:

- South Philly
- Fishtown (biking to Temple from here is easy)
- Fairmount

Manyunk is too far IMO.

I live in Fishtown and there are lots of good bars (Memphis Taproom and JB's), I've had no problem getting around on my bike and population is a mix of young people and families who have been here for years. And there is a new grocery store going up at the northern border of No Libs, very walkable.

Feel free to email me (address in profile) if you need more info.
posted by Blandanomics at 2:53 PM on April 17, 2010

Fairmount, Queen Village, Grad Hospital, NoLibs, Fishtown, East Passyunk, etc., etc. For $1000 a month you can get a lot in a lot of different neighborhoods.

And tastes differ, but you couldn't pay me $1000 a month to live in Jenkintown. Though if they dig Manayunk they might like it.
posted by The Straightener at 3:00 PM on April 17, 2010

I went to Temple for a bit and a lot of my classmates lived in Manyunk and Roxbourough. Manyunk's not far if he wants to take Regional Rail. There's a stop there -- and a stop directly on the Temple Campus. A monthly pass is under 100 bucks -- and will cover every SEPTA trip for the month.
posted by melodykramer at 7:53 PM on April 17, 2010

for $1000 you can live about anywhere, hell i had a 5 bedroom house in south philly that was 1200. my roomate biked to temple every day for work. anywhere near broad street will put you there on the subway easily.

forget manayunk and jenkintown and all that. you do not want to be beholden to septa regional rail.
posted by swbarrett at 8:08 AM on April 18, 2010

bethist, check your metafilter mail
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 9:23 AM on April 18, 2010