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Answering the Question of Whether Kensington is North Philly, Northeast Philly, Or its Own Thing

By Matt Schultz

Published: Sep 4th, 2026 · 9:22 AM EDT

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While perusing Reddit for blog material on a slow Thursday afternoon, I stumbled upon this conversation going on in r/philly:

“I’m from the lower north east so like the Kensington area, and I do think we’re are own entity to an extent but still north Philly, but you’ll get alot of diff answers and I jst wanted to ask cuz why not yk“

Now this is interesting. This is good stuff. I’d like to throw my opinion into the ring here. First, though, I will list some of my own Northeast experience, which I feel qualifies me to speak on NE geography:

• I am from what I’d call the Greater Northeast General Area. I was born in Fox Chase and grew up in Trevose.
• Parents are from Burholme/Five Points. We were over there a lot seeing family and stuff.

• I lived in Rockledge for a while, too.

• My first job out of college was at Origlio Beverage out on Meetinghouse Road. I answered phones and punched in beer orders for bars on a computer during the night shift until I was fired for being bad at it. Lasted almost a year there, which I think is impressive.

• I’ve done a lot of NE driving in my day. 76 to the Boulevard from Manayunk for a long time for that Origlio job. Bad drive.

• Huntington Pike to Oxford Ave to Cottman and then all the way over to 95 — did that drive a ton when I was living in Rockledge and went out in Fishtown a lot in my mid-20s. Bad drive.

• Played a lot of hockey at the Flyers Skate Zone off the Boulevard in high school. Their club team was called the Blazers and they always played dirty as hell. Every player had a Caesar cut and fake diamond earrings. Them and the Grundy Senators in Bristol were pretty much identical kids, which tracks, I believe.

• I take the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge whenever I can because it is my favorite bridge in the city. Just a cool bridge. Old and rusty and has arches and gives you an underrated view of the skyline. Plus it’s a drawbridge, which is interesting.

Having said all that, I have never, ever considered Kensington/that general area a part of the Northeast. I never really thought of it as North Philly, either. It’s kind of weird considering it’s pretty much just one neighborhood, but in my mind, I’ve always visualized it as its whole own thing.

And a lot of people in this Reddit thread agree:

These guys get it. We’re all on the same page. Everyone except this guy:

You can tell he’s got no NE credentials. No way he’s never been fired from Origlio Beverage.

Kinkead: I agree with the guy who says that the Frankford Creek is the border for Northeast Philadelphia, but you’d take Bridesburg out. Bridesburg is River Wards and Kensington is its own thing. There are people who will say that Kenso is part of the River Wards with Port Richmond/etc, but I dunno, that doesn’t feel right to me. This is how I’d draw the line at where Northeast Philly begins: