Exciting Area around Campus

Cue7
Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:28:27 +0000

I haven’t been back to campus in around 3 years, but I’m planning on heading back sometime this fall. The hookah bar and sushi places sound cool, and I’m glad a Potbelly’s opened up around campus - I like that place.

I’ll be curious as to what I find when I go back. Late 90s Penn alums seem to have the “Whoa this totally didn’t exist when I was an undergrad here” response when they come back to West Philly, and I’m curious to see whether I’ll have that when I come back to Hyde Park. I’m always impressed by the stuff the University builds (the Ratner Gym, the new South Dorms look nice), but the neighborhood itself seems remarkably timeless (whereas large chunks of West Phila look completely different now than they did just 5 years ago - such as the 40th & Walnut area or 36th and Walnut - where the admin built a massive new bookstore with a farmers market now outside, and there’s a big fresh grocer and big movie theater on 40th&Walnut).