The Old City District does a good job capturing the spirit of the Old City as a neighborhood:

A few of these are places like Menagerie Coffee and Art in the Age that I’ve frequented and really like.

Cities have identities. Those identities sometimes lead to the creation of spirit and even myth about a place. But places like Philadelphia and New York and San Francisco are made up of neighborhoods. People settle in those neighborhoods. All of this is obvious enough. But it makes me wonder why those individual neighborhoods rarely tell their stories.

Neighborhoods used to have their own newspapers. Are things like the Old City District the future? One part advocacy group and one part trade organization? I like it, but if this model did a better job of sharing community news I think the formula might work more broadly.

Each neighborhood has to sustain a sense of itself, and these groups seem best positioned to help encourage distinct identities. In whatever way we do it, let’s think about the places we live.