Talk:Southwest Center City Philadelphia

SWCC

No one I know who actually lives there calls it "Southwest Center City." That's a description made up by marketers or real estate people trying to "rebrand" the area away from its traditionally African American roots. The name of the area for decades, "Graduate Hospital," reminds most people of the once-middle class Black neighborhood that it used to be, which is why they're trying to impose a new name on it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.173.183.99 (talk) 18:23, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

Do people actually call this area Southwest Center City? The name seems kind of strange to me, because I always learned that Center City's southern boundary was South Street. this is clearly a part of South Philadelphia (which the template reflects) -- so how can SWCC be its name? this probably has something to do with the fact that "Center City" is perceived to be more desirable than the neighborhoods surrounding it, so people who are selling or renting property use that name in areas where it really doesn't go. I've seen real estate listings for "Center City South" at least r

There is a raging name debate and SWCC seems to be the term that sticks and is agreeable to most. Yahoo, The City of Philadelphia and Phillyblog all seem to be using the term. Where the heck has SoSo come from? I've never heard ANYONE use that term, in speak or print, please remove. --Josowski

SoSo is out their but it's not piuplar nor is it in wide use. It came about in the late 90's as the neighborhood as a whole was starting it's turn aroundans yes it has been in print and refrenced , but it is not prevelant, yet it still is represenative, at least in it's usage to the same area as SWCC. And it useage seems to be increasing:

• phillyblog.com, "'SoSo' has caught on..."
• Maps of Philadelphia Real Estate, Philadelphia PA..., "Southwest Center City - affectionately called "SoSo" for "South of South""
• USA Today, "including "SoSo" (South of South Street from Broad to the Schuylkill River)"
• CityPaper, "recently opened just south of South on Third Street (in the SoSo neighborhood, I guess)." though the usage here is wrong the neighborhood would be Queeen Village.
• Phillyskyline.com, "Realtors have tried calling it 'South of South' (or worse, SoSo)" the person that runs this site is putting up a new name G-HO, which has caught the attention of Phillyblog, Metro apparently.
• Larry Farnese Democrat for State Representative, id's one of the neighborhood in the district as SoSo.
• Phillyguru Also known as the SoSo area (for South of South)
• The Philadelphia Inquirer, "Residents Call Philadelphia's SoSo Neighborhood Great"
• Citypaper, "To the south, the Grays Ferry (SoSo) and Point Breeze neighborhoods have been showing signs of life", cant expect much form citypaper i guess, allways like PW better.

I am not a big fan of the SoSo eithe,r but it's out their and it also being used to identify the same area. --Boothy443 | trácht ar 03:32, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

Try clicking here: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=GGGL%2CGGGL%3A2005-09%2CGGGL%3Aen&q=swcc+philadelphia&btnG=Search

Look at the Yahoo Map: http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?addr=&csz=Philadelphia%2C+PA&country=us&new=1&name=&qty=

The area does lack identity and we're at a point now were we can leverage this to assert a positive one. "So-So" has a negative connotation. Why are you promoting it. Other names are in use just as much, if not more use. SWCC has been the most agreed apon name, not because we're center city. But because SWCC accurately describes the geographic location of this neighborhood of South Philadelphia

--josowski

We are not here to promote one name of a neighborhood over another. The useage of SoSo in this article is not promoting it's usage over the usage of SWCC but to state that SoSo, along with Graduate Hospital area, are also used in identify the same area as SWCC. To remove SoSo on the idea that it has a "percived negative conotation" is nothing less then POV, SoSo is no more nagative then a similar neighborhood name to a city to the north, "SoHo" which could also be ssaid to have a "negative connotation". Also if ti's so negative why would real estate agents pick up on using the SoSo as it would defeate their idea of trying to sell the neighborhood. Also if you are so aginst it maybe you should contact SOSNA, the neighborhood assoication for thr area. SO no i'll slighty reword it but it not going to be removed. --Boothy443 | trácht ar 04:56, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

• G-Ho is not an official name, and is only favored by Bloggers. --South Philly 04:06, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

Page move

Recently there has been a bit of a struggle over where this page belongs and if it should be merged with Schuylkill. The geographic description Schuylkill in its own article makes it sound like the same neighborhood as SWCC, but it also makes it sound like the Point Breeze neighborhood (which is due south of SWCC) is on the other side of 25th street from Schuylkill. Does anyone know if these two neighborhoods are, in fact, the same? If so, should we merge them? Sbacle 12:41, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

There is a study from 1945 about the state of the Schuylkill Neighborhood from UPenn's urban planning dept. It seems to indicate that the name Schuylkill has 1) been in use since well before the 1940s, and 2) the borders of the neighborhood have shifted dramatically. Page 1 says the neighborhood is centered at 25th and Lombard and a map on a following page includes the area from Chestnut to Washington and Broad St. to the Schuylkill river. map There also seems to be the matter that the southern half of the neighborhood was not nearly as prosperous as the northern. map of rents

The South Philly Review seems to think "South of South" and "Schuylkill" refer to the same place. SPR article

Apparently the area was part of the Southwest Central and South Central Redevelopment Area plans.

Another name, the Pemberton redevelopment area, was used in the 1960s. [1] Only for a half of a block.

This place has names! lots of 'em! If there is a merge, I don't think there should be a slash in the title. That's just poor taste.

-- Austin Murphy 23:14, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

There is an interesting document full of maps from the Philadelphia City Planning Commission (PCPC) Boundaries maps. On Page 27 (pdf p33) there is a map that shows "Southwest Center City" and "Schuyllkill-Grays Ferry" and "Grays Ferry" as separate areas. There is also another neighborhood in between SWCC, Point Breeze, and Grays Ferry (proper) called "Kings Village". Page 33 (pdf p.39) shows "Southwest Schuylkill" as somewhere to the west of the river, nowhere near SWCC. -- Austin Murphy 17:48, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

The PCPC also calls this area "South-of-South" Fact sheet - with link to map.

Frequency of naming

The area is also variously referred to as South of South [6], SoSo [7], Naval Square [8], or Schuylkill-Southwest [9] although these names are generally not favored or even not known by most residents.

Unlike "Southwest Center City"? Nobody except real estate agents (maybe) and central planners calls it "Southwest Center City". Graduate Hospital is by far the most commonly used name for the area. john k (talk) 14:33, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

I support the renaming of the page, besides the snear you would ellicit from residents if you were to call it Southwest Center City, there's also the matter of it not actually being located in Center City (it's below South st, making it officially South Philly). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.81.75.121 (talk) 07:31, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

There is no area that is "officially" South Philly. All Philly neighborhood names and boundaries are unofficial. As to it not being "in Center City", there is no official "Center City", but this area is southwest of Center City. In the end, we use the name reliable sources use. If reliable sources referred to a desert valley as "Rain Forest Mountain", that's what it is called.

In my opinion, most people seem to call it "Graduate Hospital". Real estate agents seem to recognize this and stretch the name to cover areas in Greys Ferry and other areas that don't have the same currency (much like "Chestnut Hill Computer Repair" might be in Mt. Airy and "Mt. Airy Plumbing and Heating" might be in Germantown). All of that said, it sure looks like someone went to a lot of trouble sourcing "Southwest Center City". To correct this seemingly misguided effort, we need to cite reliable sources for the "correct" name. - SummerPhD (talk) 00:20, 5 January 2012 (UTC)