or even simply, the 13s (thirteens). grammar's such a fickle thing anyway.
So there it lay, most of one of my recent travels. This particular travel took me into Center City, and the next day into the furthest reaches of what I would consider suburbia. My launching location to each of these being in the heart of suburbia, Levittown. In order to make the trip appear as a single line, i had to approximate around the launch/center point. Besides, why would I be so stupid as to reveal my actual address to the interwebz so willy nilly?
The purpose of this is of no importance to the casual reader as well, let's just call it a wild goose chase. If you know, well you know, and if you don't, well whatevs.
Let's just call this a juxtaposition piece. One minute I am in the heart of Center City, Philadelphia; I board the el (which is at this juncture, de-elevated, that is to say, underground), about 5-10 minutes later I am above ground (elevated, finally) and travelling through North and North East Philadelphia to arrive at the Frankford Transportation Center I guess about 15 minutes after that. The rest is all driving down Frankford Ave/Bristol Pike (route 13), and later on, down 213 and 413 to reach Richboro, a bucolic and open outer suburb.
It's just an interesting experience, watching the buildings and concrete slowly peel away for trees and grass.
That being said, I, Knuttel, am decreeing the border of North East and Far North East Philadelphia not to be Cottman Ave, but rather to be Pennypack creek. And while I'm on it, why can't the city's main source of public transportation, and really the only one (not counting the slow and overpriced regional rail) capable of launching one far distances, reach even Cottman Ave? It falls around 20 blocks short of it!! Academy and Grant, fine, whatevs, they're kinda far out from Center City, but Cottman is a major Philadelphia road, and it is not easily accessed by the incredibly under built civic transportation structure of the nation's fifth largest metropolitan area. To put this in contrast, the other end of the Market/Frankford line actually ends outside the city limits.
Alas, I digress.
The border shall be set at Pennypack because it actually does act as a border. Cottman attracts growth both ways towards it. After Pennypack, there really isn't that much of a difference in the outlay of the land until maybe as far as Croydon, at least through most of Bensalem. In fact, the border between Philadelphia and Bucks County can pass you by if you don't pay attention to it, and before you know it, the road you're on is no longer Frankford ave, but Bristol Pike.
Once one arrives in Levittown "proper" (simply to differentiate from Croydon), it is painfully obvious one is in the suburbs. This is also on purpose, it was John Levitt's plan all along. It has the side effect of halting the city merger of Trenton to Philadelphia, as Trenton's growth southward doesn't extend so much in it's own state, but rather across the river and into Morrisville. As Levittown is much smaller than it once was, population-wise, this actually turns into a benefit, as Levittown merely looks like a suburban wasteland, rather than an industrial one.
Heading back out again, things are mostly similar until one reaches the area of the Oxford Valley mall and the highways that surround it. It really is funny how things change on the other side of the tracks (in this case, actual tracks from the R3 line, as well as highways I-95 and Route 1).
Once the line is breached, gray gives way to green (and given time of year, that is kinda significant, as trees aren't in bloom yet). First one must go through Langhorne, which always felt a little strange to me. It just seems a little too developed to be that heavily forested. Anyways, getting past that, things really open up.
I dunno, maybe it's just a little hard to express, but imagine within an hour going from claustrophobic skycraping city to wide open fields. It plays with your senses a little bit, that's for certain.
and now for music.
isn't this the goal?
-- Knuttel
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