Walking through or living in reading isn’t that bad. Cotton st isn’t bad, skuykhill ave isn’t bad, and neither is 9th & spring or 13th st ect. Bro I lived here my ENTIRE life and when your walking through these different parts of the city you don’t have to worry about anything if your not involved with BS and staying out the way. The hood is the hood but I have to say no one has to be scared to live here. This isn’t Philly multiple people aren’t getting shot everyday and we don’t have a huge population of homeless like Kensington the worse we have is Lancaster ave people holding up signs all day playing in traffic. There are hood everywhere, and reading is a hood but there are a lot of good people here.
Been here 60 + years. Seen it all. Gunfights, od's, stepping around dead guys, sex slaves and the like. But I've also lived amongst the most gracious and loving people. Stay humble and life can be rich. I pretty much don't give a shit when people raise an eye when they hear where I live. For me, its a sense of pride.
There are good people in Reading. It's not their fault that it's a hell on earth, but it is. Pretty much all of Reading is like the worst areas of Philly, & people get shot & turn up floating in the river all the time. & Yes, you can get jumped just because.
@@Rfighter7 nah I’m not trying to make it sound like bullets are flying everywhere in Philly. I apologize for making that seem like the case all the time but philly is way more aggressive than reading. Philly is big as hell but shit happens so often in the smaller sections of the city constantly, not a week goes by without a shooting somewhere within the same areas. I actually spend a lot of time in Olney and close to the 24 tire shop around Hunting Park park the energy is just different there. Reading can be dangerous but it’s even riskier there that’s something you can’t deny.
@@matthewatwood8641 yes for some people I can say yes because I had a friend randomly get shot at on Penn st but had nothing to do with anything. I had a friend jumped in city park for nothing. As someone who lives in this city you should know where not to go at certain times. If you want to walk Cotton st or through City Park at 2am then you run that risk. but as long as you mind your business you will be good. In fact i found from living in this city you just have to be very low key. Don’t talk too much, just mind your own business. In Philly you run a way higher risk of being murdered or injured even if your just minding your own business due to block beef or your association with a person or people. Back then Philly was BAD but live-able now a days Philly is a war zone I think it has something to do with the drill scene there now. I have 4 homies that moved out here to reading from Juniata just to get away from that.
Some tips for driving in reading 1. We have a lot of really tight one ways so being spacially aware is a must 2.the potholes are everywhere and some can and will destroy your suspension (happened to me the other month) and 3. People double park EVERYWHERE, even on one ways and lastly always watch for someone doing a u turn in an intersection. We do this a lot (it's to the point that it's a natural reflex for me)
Thank you for the video. I'm from Reading, PA and had moved away in 1996. I was wondering if there was any video showing this city in it's current state when I came across your video. Thanks again.
I lived on Ninth St back in the 1950s when Reading was pretty nice. A sub shop every other block, pretzel bakeries all over, mom and pop groceries. Hampden Park was kept really nice, we used to slide down the terraces on big sheets of cardboard. At 8 years old I would ride my bike all over town and no one ever bothered me.
The houses are so close together! I grew up in Mount Vernon NY where i live the houses was close together, I grew up when Mount Vernon was nice in the 50s !
Born and raised in Reading . You past my block at 1:30 . S 12th street . South Side Reading all day . I’m unaffiliated but will rep my city to my grave . 610 all day ya heard
Grew up in that neighborhood. Sth 10th st to be exact. Seen several tragic accidents at Diamond Brothers factory on the corner you passed. I wonder if kids still sled that hill on cancellation days. Used to play behind Amanda E Stout school. That neighborhood has a lot of hidden alleyways that people used to run from the cops. Tough place to grow up but if people know you it was all good.
Same here 11th Franklin st 1995-2014 and just move out it got too much that i was in the middle of a gun fight for the 4th time outside my place cleaning my front steps or other place i miss the back of days the drugs and gun's needs too stop but like always the dirty cop's but they really trying now though i will be happy for no killing for 2 weeks or a mouth idk if u still live reading but been killings almost everyday for mouth's💔
delusional in no way is Reading worse I lived in Philly and you're likely to get carjacked in the wrong neighborhood reading is chill Dr and pr and poor white mainly
Had a friend that lived at the church at 10th and Cotton, His dad was the pastor of the church. We used to walk the whole area and never had a problem. That was the early 1980s.
I live here 😅 the people are extremely friendly. Ppl just live hood asf thats all. Don't start none, won't be none. Stay to yourself and respect the hoods. You won't have any problems.
@@MrJoel125 yeah its nice out 😎 Spanish music 🎶 playing and beautiful woman walking around everywhere. It's a vibe. Reading will make you feel like your in PR/DR for a moment haha
It's the people that makes reading a vibe. NOT how the city looks. If reading was truly dangerous.. nobody would be outside. But you go outside right now, you see children playing, men fixing houses, teens at the basketball courts and woman enjoying the weather....just pick and choose who you befriend. I wouldn't say there isn't bad apples BUT you seriously gotta pay them attention to even end up in a bad situation. You can simply walk pass anybody you think is iffy... if your a follower and not a leader then yeah reading will eat you alive.. *if you have a decent understanding of how to carry yourself in a street environment* you will be fine.
@Jarrod Lamp Dude dont be racist i get what your saying but if you think about it if we kick them out there gonna move into the more nice places its really damp down ther eto
It’s always the small towns either is upstate New York or in PA , Delaware most of the houses are all old rundown abandoned ..the mayors for both states need to fix it and make it a better place for people to live in and affordable
I'm DEAD. I tell everyone I know that they don't know what it's like where I grew up... I click this video... I haven't lived here in 25 yers... but as soon as you turned at the start of the video I knew it was spring garden street. As you came down the street and I saw it merge with that alley way I knew where we were. I used to play there as a kid, up and down culvert street, 9th st, cotton st, orange st... the video titled "READING PENNSYLVANIA HOODS" starts in my neighborhood. I am dead LOL
The architecture and layout of this city definitely has Baltimorean and Philadelphian influences, yet I've never seen a place so claustrophobic. Reading PA is definitely a candidate for the worst town in the US and IMHO it gets first place!
That's very true about Balto and Philly influences. At the beginning we see old, burned out, gutted brick buildings which also reminds me of the grimy, eastern suburban steel towns outside "The Burgh." (Pittsburgh)
I lived in Reading in 2003. And whilst it wasn't great back then it seems like the area has gotten way more run down since then. Been a long time though and I guess things can change in 21 years!
@@Rfighter7 theres no more outlets in west reading, they built some offices and luxury apartments there. Theres also berkshire mall in wyomissing which is slowly dying too
My hometown, the video started on Spring Garden street, definitely one of the worst areas. It’s a shitty place but I love everything about it. I’ve been out of the country a few times and I currently live in North Carolina, but there’s no place like home. South Side Red City ⛩
Im from brooklyn but i lived there 16 yrs my kids there to this day i go bacc and forth to see my kids and my home boys all the time that place made me the man i am ty rdg the 6 ward north 2nd hudson st 610 is always in my heart fanees barber shop is where i started my career !!! Shout outs to the real ones !!
((Franklin Street, Reading, United States, Reading, US)). _____ _________ ___________ _____ Please, is this area considered safe and there are Amish in it? Is this area north of Reading or in the south?
Is it just me or are the streets really narrow ? I used to live with a guy who was from here, not a bad guy, just kind of strange. He bought tons of sand and i helped him turn his front yard into a beach , it was a wierd summer
I know most people get a kick out of these drives throughs of poor inner city neighborhoods, but I said it before and I'll say it again, the biggest hoods have collars. They just look different. Happy driving.
@@nC_DUKE_ my bad brother I didn’t mean to come off like that. I thought you were talking about North Reading. North reading looks just as bad or worse in some parts. I had no idea you were talking about north Philly. I can see the similarities tho. I chilled in North Philly a lot and for sure it goes hard
Reading PA born and raised their majority of my life that place maybe the man that I am I wouldn't trade that for nothing growing up there we can blend anywhere people are built differently from there 200 block of West Windsor
I don't don't miss the sound of suped up Toyotas and Hondas. On every block there's a stop sign or traffic light. These fools would speed off from a dead stop, tires screeching... Only to have to hit the breaks a block up. I saw this constantly, especially on 5th street. Speed stop speed stop...it's ridiculous. I never could figure out what they were trying to prove, other than beating the hell outta their cars. Though in Reading, they get these cars for a cpl hundred then deck them out in thousands of dollars of add ons. AND those super low profile tires...that will pop if you drive through a pot hole which readings streets are filled with. And let's not forget the cherry bomb exhaust tips. Oh god 🤦♀️😆
meh. just another day. I used to live on cotton st. it wasn't that bad tho. and considering you didn't even go up franklin street shows that neighborhood at least improved. got rid of the prostitutes too lmao
Reading is one of the worst places to live in PA, York PA isn't much better. This whole state sucks minus a few areas. But when was this video filmed? It's February, almost March and someone has their Christmas stuff up still.
He only drove through certain parts of the south side he didn’t even drive through all the hoods on the south side let alone the whole Reading he must be from Exeter or something lol
Lol if u think this is hood then u definitely didnt get out much. This is clean compair to NY n how hood it is there. I wouldnt consider it dangerous all cause Hispanic men are on corners chilling. Like I said if he came down to NY hell need an escort with him so he dont hit the wrong block 😂. Good video though
This is a good Job, Thank you. The town is not what I was expecting, at 2:42 I heard the annoying urban music from the Caribbean. and the whole place is dilapidated.
This is supposed to be the ghetto? Heh. Lived in South Philly for years and it looks just like it. People standing around shootin the shit. Yeah some of the streets are tight and the alleys are grubby but they’re alleys. Take a drive thru Kensington..then we talk.
I grew up in Reading in the 80s and 90s. It was a great place to grow up. I moved away in the year 2000. The city in this video for me is unrecognizable. It looks like a 3rd world country. No one wants to or deserves to live like this. The people in charge should be ashamed of themselves. If you want to see what this city used to look like there is a video on RU-vid called Portrait of a City 1974. That video is the true representation of Reading, PA. The city in this video represnts a city that has been left to decay. Why has this happened? How has this happened? Someone must find a solution. It is said with ownership comes pride. I would like to understand how many people in Reading own their home vs rent their home. Perhaps home ownership is a pathway to pride and integrity for the city. Offer incentives to outsiders like free rent if they move in and open businesses. Any solution whether radical or ordinary should be explored to course correct this pathway to destruction.
This isn’t as bad as it looks I grew up in Flint Mi it is 12 times worse there then it is here .Reading is just old city that needs new life shoot in her
