I'm New Here Too

I moved to Northern Liberties from South Jersey in January 2026. I picked the apartment partly because of where it sat — right on the edge, walkable to Northern Liberties, Fishtown, and Olde Kensington alike. (I thought I'd landed on the Fishtown border at first. Turns out it's Olde Kensington. New here, remember.)

Pretty quickly, I started having all the normal questions that come with moving somewhere new — and they didn't stop at my own block.

Where do I buy groceries? Who's a good vet? What coffee shops are actually nearby? How does parking work? Who do I call when something breaks? Where should I get a haircut? What places should I know about that I'd probably never find on my own?

You can search for all of those things, of course. I did — in all three neighborhoods.

But the answers are scattered across Google, Reddit, neighborhood groups, old articles, business directories, and recommendations from people who've lived here longer than I have. And sometimes a place that comes up when you search "Fishtown" isn't actually in Fishtown at all.

So I started building the thing I wanted when I got here.

NewToFishtown is a practical guide for people who are new to Fishtown, made by someone who lives right next door and is figuring out this whole stretch of neighborhoods the same way you are.

It isn't meant to catalog every business in the neighborhood or declare one place the "best." It's meant to make that first stretch of living somewhere new a little easier: useful local options, practical information, and businesses that actually make sense for what you're looking for.

There's another side to being new here, too.

A neighborhood is always changing. New people arrive, businesses open, old favorites evolve, and the relationship between the people who live here and the people who do business here keeps changing with it.

The businesses featured on NewToFishtown are meant to be businesses that want to be part of that relationship. Some are here because I think they're genuinely useful for someone getting oriented. Others sponsor a category because they specifically want to meet new residents — you'll always see that marked clearly wherever it happens. Either way, the goal is the same: connect new neighbors with local businesses that are genuinely useful to them.

And I'm still learning these neighborhoods too. That's part of the point.

If there's something every new Fishtown resident should know, a business I should check out, or something on the site that I got wrong, tell me. We can figure out the neighborhood together.

— Jason