Aimee Viggiani, who lives at 2nd and Brown streets.
Aimee Viggiani moved from the Northeast to Northern Liberties with a bit of hesitation.
“I had a misconception of this neighborhood,” she said. “I heard it was just ‘full of hipsters,’ and people way younger.”
She discovered, however, when she and her husband moved to 2nd and Brown streets three years ago, that the neighborhood was full of people their age, as well as lots of people starting families.
“There is a real mix of people on my block,” she said, “My neighbors are super friendly.”
Northern Liberties, she said, can’t be identified with just one word.
“It’s so many different things,” she said. “It’s what you make of it.”
The Piazza, she said, is like its own little world, and though it definitely changes the vibe of the neighborhood, she said,
“I think people are cool with it. Some of the neighborhood just isn’t the market for the Piazza, and that’s okay.”
Some great events, she said, are the 2nd Street Festival, as well as movies in the park at Liberty Lands.
One thing she’d like to see in the neighborhood, she said, is more development on 2nd Street, as there are still many empty shells of buildings.
The best thing, she said, is how much there is to do in the neighborhood.
“You can really make a day of it here,” she said. “Go bowling, grab a beer, check out boutiques. There’s a bit of everything. The real need is more businesses, not just bars, but creative businesses, bicycle shops, a spa, diversity.”
She said the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association is extremely helpful in getting things done for the neighbors, and she thinks it would be a good thing for more young people to get involved.
Longtime residents, she said, deserve a lot of credit for building up the neighborhood.
“In 2000, I rode through the neighborhood with a friend, and my perception was like, ‘where the heck are we?’ Now, it’s been like an explosion of stuff popping up on blocks,” she said. “I don’t see myself going anywhere else.” ••
