Talk:Washington Square West, Philadelphia

Name, Divisions

I am not a native Philadelphian, but "Washington Square West" strikes me less as a real neighborhood than as the area comprising the Washington Square West Civic Association. At its worst, it seems more like how realtors are attempting to rename Hells Kitchen, NYC, to "Clinton." According to the city's Information Locater Service, the name only arose in the 1970s [1]. There is also a division of the area starting to brand itself as "Midtown Village" [2].

If anything, I'd think that WashWest applies to the area from 11th Street to 6th Street. I think that East of 11th (the "midtown village" referenced above) is more aptly called the Gayborhood -- which is linked to in the article, but which redirects to the more general gay village. This name is not recognized by PhILS [3]. Is the Philadelphia Gayborhood worthy of a separate article, and if so, what are its boundaries and would go into the article that is not covered in the WashWest article?--Runnerupnj 23:58, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

This may have changed since your post, but when I looked up Washington Square West on Philadelphia Information Locator Service [4], it describes wash west as being between 8th and Broad and below Market. I live in the gayborhood and I think most people here would consider it as a part of wash west. I wouldn't be opposed to giving the gayborhood its own page, but I think we should keep it as a subsection of Wash West.--Sbacle 13:44, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

According to my Philadelphia guidebook Washington Square West is between 11th and 13th Street and Walnut and South Street. The "gayborhood" is just a nickname for Washington West, and are not seperate. The area you describe as Washington West I believe is considered part of the Washington Square neighborhood. (most definitely 6th, 7th and 8th streets are) Medvedenko 01:09, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

The idea of there being separate Washington Square and Washington Square West neighborhoods strikes me as overly granular. Also, there's no "Washington Square" neighborhood in the map Boothy443 linked to below, nor is it listed as a neighborhood on the main Washington Square disambiguation page. --Runnerupnj 02:25, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

From what I've read and seen it seems in general Washington Square West reaches from 13th Street to 8th Street, and below 8th Street is considered part of Society Hill.Medvedenko 15:15, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Basically yhr rule of thubm is everything to the west of Wash Sq till you hit Broad is WSW, east to the Delaware is Society Hill. --Boothy443 | trácht ar 05:20, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

I have never herd of the Midtown Village reference before. The Wash West name, in my opinion, is fairly well identified with the are in question, and i am not sure what it was called prior to the 70's, but the name changes are not uncommon. Also the Gayborhood is in common with the Wash West neighborhood, i don't see what value could be gained by splitting it off, just my opinion. I take the boundaries to be Broad, Walnut, 7th and South, and i use the Penn neighborhood study from 2000 as a basis for the n'hood boundaries, though it should be noted that boundaries are not official for n'hoods. --Boothy443 | trácht ar 01:11, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

It just seems to me that the gay businesses are all clustered west of 11th Street (and mostly east of 11th), so that the character of the area of 13th and Locust is entirely different than at Spruce and 8th. The latter just doesn't gel with my concept of the Gayborhood, and so that it would be differently classified.

My issue with the planning analysis sections that Penn uses for the neighborhood delineations is that they are based on census tracts, which are ethereal to the average resident. --Runnerupnj 02:25, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

Even though the "gayborhood" may not take up all of Washington Square West, its a defining part, and the Washington Square West article is no where near long enough to make sub article about certain part of it. Medvedenko 15:15, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

The Gaybhorhood is part of WSW, but it's not all of that. In the same way that Penn is most of University City, but University City is not all Penn, nor is is just all students. Drexel and Powelton, the art museame area and fairmount. Many Philadelphia neighborhoods have have sub sections to them. Really these neighborhood are more like districts.--Boothy443 | trácht ar 05:20, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

As for whether the name is established, there is a Washington Square West National Historic District. See the infobox for its NPS-defined boundaries, which may or may not coincide with those of the neighborhood.--BillFlis (talk) 12:09, 13 July 2010 (UTC)

N.B. There is no such thing as a "National Historic District" as a proper noun phrase. The currently linked phrase National Historic District is under discussion to be deleted. What is meant was perhaps "a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. --doncram (talk) 14:45, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Just chiming in as a Philadelphian, but the Gayborhood is typically considered it's own neighborhood separate from Washington Square West, so to me, it ought to have its own page. Additionally, many locals view "Midtown Village" as an attempt at making the Gayborhood seem less gay and Philadelphia more like NYC. Most locals do NOT like the term. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.205.128.138 (talk) 17:24, 17 August 2023 (UTC)