South Philadelphia
Offline I'll hopefully be coming to Philadelphia this fall for a vacation. The reason why I wanna go there is cause I'm a life long Rocky fan and it's on my bucket list to one day run up the famous steps at the Philadelphia art museum.
Thanks to some online research, I've learned where other various famous Rocky landmarks are at, and I hope to visit all of them during my time there. Now during the weekend, I went on Yahoo answers and asked a lot of questions to the locals who were all helpful. So I know going during the fall is the best time (because I want to avoid the cold and hot weather) and that works for me because I'll have some time off work then, I know that a lot of the people there (not all) are tough, not too friendly and are proud of that. I even have a co-worker who told me she lived in Philadelphia and really went on about the violence and rude people there. Well, as long as I mind my own business, and don't talk to strangers, I think it'll be alright. Even if it's not, I can handle rude people, but not gangstas. I'm just a white boy from Texas. 
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I've been there, and you will be shocked at the size of Sly's feet.
Be sure and visit the Constitution Museum too. There is a display of Madolyn O'Hair in it.
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Yeah, I've read that Sly is a pretty small guy in real life. I actually saw him in Vegas when he was shooting the final boxing scene for "Rocky Balboa". I was an extra in the audience, and I was within an arm's reach of him. He's not a tall man, but his arms were freakin' huge.
I have this long list of things I wanna do when I go to Philly, and checking out all the historic sites is one of them for sure. Besides being a giant Rocky nerd, I'm a HUGE U.S. history buff. So I figure Philly is a city I'd love...I just hope it loves me back.
HEY DUDE! Okay, as a South Philly Resident (and a Philly Resident since birth) it sounds like you're talking about New York, not MY city. That aside, here's the deal with south, north, and west philly: Avoid the Northeast. The Temple Area (Temple University, where I go to school) is very safe DESPITE rumors to the contrary (I've never felt unsafe there). Pretty much any area near a college or a university (North Philly and northern Center City have Temple's main campus (read: NOT Temple Hospital, don't go there) and KKF (Community College of Philadelphia, get it?) which are nice areas. Center City and parts of Old City and South Philly (especially near University of the Arts) are awesome places to hang out, as is West Philly at UPenn's Campus and the surrounding neighborhoods, but I wouldn't recommend going past 48th street. Check out the museums (they're in the Fairmount Park Area, a beautiful place). I'll admit that I happen to live in kind of a crappy area with a heavy Mafia presence, but that's really far south, and Philly is very diverse. Our public trans is decent. Not as good as NY's, but it's pretty extensive, and you can get basically anywhere. There's a great art, music, and theater scene too. We're really nothing like movie "12 Monkeys" makes out to be.
Don't worry about people being rude. Most people are actually quite polite here, with the obvious exceptions of certain groups that self-segregate, but you have those in every city, and generally if you don't bother them they don't bother you. I don't take offense to your presumptions, but let this be a lesson to you: Don't trust the media. Take it from a Philadelphian. I feel comfortable anywhere in this city, and I'm just a swarthy little smart-ass Jewish atheist.
And the so-called gangstas? Hell, I walk around all day in a studded leather biker's jacket and a big red ATHEIST t-shirt, and no one gives me any shit for it. Quite the contrary, I get people complimenting me on my style. So just stick to the areas I outlined: that's where you'll find the arsty-types and the college students.
If you want some one to show you around, hit me up.
“It is true that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. It is equally true that in the land of the blind, the two-eyed man is an enemy of the state, the people, and domestic tranquility… and necessarily so. Someone has to rearrange the furniture.”
Thanks man! I appreciate that. This morning, someone on Yahoo answers who also lives in South Philly responded and had a similar answer. I'm sorry for stereotyping, although some of the stuff I typed....such as people in Philly being rude and are proud of it...was something told to me by a Philly local on Yahoo answers. But I of all people should know better then to stereotype, because I know what that's like. Texas gets stereotyped something awful all the time. Infact, it's kind of the opposite down here. While most people are scared of "gangstas" up North, down here many minorities and liberal whites are scared of the "KKK". For years on message boards, I've had to defend Texas and tell people while there are sadly some racist people here, as well as parts of Texas they should avoid, not everyone in the Lone Star State is a bigot. Although because of that sterotype we have, it does concern me that my Texas accent might offend some. I've never been up North before. Are you guys friendly towards southern's?
Totally friendly. I wouldn't worry about offending anyone with a Texan accent. If anything, among my crowd, it would probably pique people's interest. Pretty much the only way someone from out of town can truly offend a Philadelphian is if you insult the local cuisine (cheese steaks and soft pretzels are kind of, well, sacred here). People in general really are friendly, and those self-segregating groups that every mid-atlantic city has mostly keep to themselves. Basically, if you see someone who looks to you like a mildly-libertarian or left-leaning student or urban hipster, and there are a lot of them, you can expect a friendly response. Philly is the birthplace of Free Thought in America. It's a tradition we keep alive.
“It is true that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. It is equally true that in the land of the blind, the two-eyed man is an enemy of the state, the people, and domestic tranquility… and necessarily so. Someone has to rearrange the furniture.”