Why is your website so crappy?

Our website's not crappy, it's simple. Rather than spending time and money trying to impress loads of people, we'd rather feature something that represents our friendly sensibility, thus weeding out grouchsters trying to harsh our mellow. Besides, the average person probably couldn't handle more than these two pages of awesomeness.

Do you take advertising?

We get this question a lot. In an effort to find a way to work with local businesses we have decided to add a Patrons page. On this page we list links, in alphabetical order, which are paid for by businesses interested in your patronage. We don't endorse anyone on the page; these are people who endorse us, who like what we are doing and want to get in touch with the many hundreds of people we come in contact with through the Move To Philly site. If you're interested in becoming a patron, email us at info@movetophilly.com.

Where's the virtual tour I've been promised?

Who said anything about a virtual tour? It's a REAL tour. You gotta come here, and get inside our car. It's a little more involved than that, but it's totally easy and a lot of fun. We almost guarantee a good time.

Are you real estate speculators?

Nope. We encourage people to find neighborhoods they love, communities they want to live in and to become involved in quality of life issues concerning not just themselves and their (extended) neighbors. We believe that this type of community based action helps. Or could help. Or can't hurt. Citizen displacement is a reality in a lot of the rapidly changing areas of Philadelphia and many of the organizations advocating for the people trying to stay are community run, by the kind of people we're hoping will move to Philly.

Can I give tours?

Totally. Email us and tell us what your specialty is and we'll hook you up when we have special requests in your field. Or maybe you'd like to give US a tour, to show us your version of Philly.

What happens on a tour?

What happens on a tour depends on what happens BEFORE the tour. Before your tour we do a little email back and forth about the kinds of things you're interested in and what you're hoping to find in Philly. Based off that Laris and Kendra decide a general route designed to give you a conceptual map of the city, based off the things you're hoping to find. You'll get the general idea of a handful of neighborhoods and how the city fits together, as it relates to your interest. For example, once we gave a tour of Philly to a few ladies who wanted to see the dog parks. Another time the city was showcased by way of used bookshops. Since our tours are so highly customized, we can spend as much or as little time in each place as you want.

I live here already, what can you offer me?

Sometimes people who are new to the area email us asking if we can tour them through the parts of the city off their usual route. We can offer the same thing we give to visitors: a unique perspective of Philadelphia based of your interests, given by two real nice people, enthusiastic about this place.

Who does your illustrations?

Thom Lessner! Thom is an old friend, a Philadelphia local, and one of the sweetest, nicest, smartest, funniest, good-friend-types anyone could ever to hope to have AND he can draw, paint, play guitar and fly. Additionally, Thom is affiliated with three other awesome Philadelphia projects: Space 1026, Paul Green School of Rock and Sweatheart. Google them.

Who designed your website?

Laris is the mastermind, Thom is the drawer, Chris McKenna is the tech guy, Jason Fetz is a member of the band Teen Slain, and Kendra is writing all this stuff right now.

Do you have a mailing list?

Yes, and we don't write that often. Only if something big is happening will we ever bug you and never, ever, ever would we sell your email to anyone. Like never ever. Email us and ask to get on our mailing list if you're interested.

Are there other places you suggest we visit via interweb to get aquinted with the city?

Hmm. If you're interested in historical stuff, you can see what's shaking in Old City from the Independence Visitor Center (http://www.independencevisitorcenter.com). If you're interested in art stuff, you can visit the comprehensive Philly Art Blog at http://www.fallonandrosof.com/artblog.html. If you're interested in some hipster nightlife and "snarky" gossip you can check out http://www.philebrity.com. If you're interested in general information for tourists and deals on things like hotel parking and Amtrak you can visit http://www.gophila.com. If you're interested in the Cultural Alliance and all they have you offer (discounts, listings, calendars, arts related jobs etc) you can find them at http://www.philaculture.org. Nobody paid for any of that, it's just off the top of my head.