@@justash720 oh,yes Bill Halley had down town office in Chester,you may be able to see his old fading guitar on side walk.They tore down his building.Its an empty lot.Its a shame to see this once thriving city gone forever.Only words now.Cant change declines in so many past beautiful cities
@@stevebabiak6997 I assure you these buildings were looted of copper 10+ years ago. Someone I know inherited a house in North Philly in 2010 and the pipes and wiring were long gone.
@@prushimush - that was kind of what I was hinting at, no copper left for them to harvest but plenty of plywood boarding up the buildings that can be harvested profitably these days.
Chester Pennsylvania was at one time a very heavily industrialized city. Over the past 20-30 years, that all began to change, and Chester became another Camden New Jersey which is not too far from here. Many of these industries have relocated to China and Taiwan for cheaper labor, and now this is the Chester & Camden of today in 2021.
Also, people tend to not want the older houses in most of these cities, if there are better/newer ones in the burbs. You'd pay a lot for something like this in a booming city like Boston or Seattle, but not a run down town like Chester.
Not true, I Live not far but far enough, and I’m in one of most expensive and scenic areas of southeast PA. Township just north of mine is one of country’s most safest and nicest …buckingham …most of Pa is not like this
@@davejohn2335 not true. Most of PA IS like this. My husband is a truck driver and he's all over this state and is constantly talking about how poor and run down this state is.
The houses are old. The apartments are old. There wasn't one pothole on any street. I'd have to say they are doing the best they can do considering the job market and probable lack of industry. Let's take a deeper look at the owners of the multi-unit dwellings. Seems they should make some up-grades. Furthermore, this CAN'T be the worst place to live. I did not see one tent or anyone living in a box on the sidewalk (unlike LA).
They narrowly missed the more damages and dangerous areas by a longshot. Yes, there are no tents. But there are a ton of abandon houses. And landlords usually have to redo the entire house after they are destroyed.. literally destroyed after almost every tenant
Upgrades? It’s not a wise investment to “upgrade” a place only to have it destroyed within a few years by people who couldn’t care less about your investment.
Interesting video. I used to work in Chester back in the late 60s and early 70s. Specifically Weinbergs Dept store and Lee's records . It didn't seem to be all that bad then but you could tell things were changing. A lot of factories were closing and moving out of town. Example, Sun Ship . At one time it had a lively downtown and sure felt safe no matter what time of day. I spent most of my time near the train station and surrounding businesses. There was a old sign atop one of the abandoned warehouses that said, What Chester Makes, Makes Chester. Also it was convenient for traveling over to New Jersey via the Chester /Bridgeport ferry. That was before the Commodore Barry Bridge was built. Chester has a long and storied history going back many years . There used to be a fairly large Italian and Polish community at one time.
If I was over the age of 18 around there, I'd hop a greyhound to a nicer town down south and live on the streets or a shelter there rather than a house in that dump.
If people knew they could work seasonal jobs at national parks and other nice areas and have free or cheap housing while working…. Freaking Maine is absurdly short on workers and it’s so safe up there for most part why bother with this dump….
This was my home, city that I grew up in. The 70's was the best time to grow up. The city was losing its population in the 70's due to the flood and white flight. But it was still a great time to live in Chester, but without good economics, love for the city, pride in the city and no replenishment of great ideals, this is the results. Just like other cities and towns that have been on hard times, it takes money and good people to repair decades of damage.
JB don't forget that Sun Ship Yard closed. That was the place where more ships were built during WWII than anywhere else. The Ford Motor plant left in the 60's. Congolium closed that was a huge manufacturing company, and local shopping dried up due to the emergence of 2 shopping malls nearby.
I must be weird but I find these sad towns hauntingly beautiful. Every vacant building once had a purpose and everyone living in Chester has a story. I love these drives and this one really touched my heart. Thanks Nick ❤️
I'm from Chester there is a cloud over the city,but the families know each other do to the one High School that sits closer to the East Side.... So when it comes down to it Chester Pride prevail.
@@midwest4444 True, but to be fair, parts of Detroit are slowly improving, I got a buddy who lives a couple hours away from Gary, so yeah it’s pretty bad but there are worse, but come on, you gotta admit, you can see bits of these other areas in this too....it’s all decay and it’s sad to see what was once a stable and bustling area to be so derelict decade after decade. :-(
The opening section says it's the worst hood in Chester, but it doesn't even begin to address The Den. I wouldn't call this the nice part of Chester, but it's not the worst. It's about as middle of the road as Chester gets. There are signs in The Den that warn you the police will stop you for doing things like being in the neighborhood. Next time you're in the area, start at 9th and Edgmont and work your way towards Eddystone. Side note - my mom once told me when she was a girl (late 50s, early 60s), Chester was a place where people from the surrounding communities looked forward to going shopping there on the weekends. Avenue of the States, shown in an intersection right about 4:02) was the heart of the shopping district there. As you get closer to the soccer stadium, more of this becomes lower crime and just generational poor neighborhoods. Many of the house have been in the same family for two or three generations, some even longer. In the video you can really see the homes where someone is keeping up their property but not worrying about their neighbors or the street, etc. These are people who don't have much but take care of what they do have. You will notice most of the cars are more recent and in good condition. All in all, great video, thank you for taking the time to make it.
You ain't never lied. I lived in Kensington for two years and my church was in Chester. And I will say this Chester may be run down but you ain't never gonna see tents and human feces and people walking around with needles sticking out of their arms with blood running down while waiting for the school bus to come pick up your kid. Kensington is just unbelievable.
I grew up in southwest PA, coal mining country. In the early 1980's, the coal mines starting shutting down. The area started decaying. I joked the for sale signs on houses were as numerous as Christmas decorations. At the age of 36, I gave up and left for North Carolina. The decision saved my life.
@@itsnick37 The elites advocating renewal energy turn my stomach. These politicians nonchalantly destroy an industry for an ideological reason. The politicians care nothing about the lives and communities destroyed.
I was born and raised in Mechanicsburg and have family in Carlisle as well. It's a shame to see Carlisle look the way it does now.@@stanleyshughart5914
I live north of Harrisburg in rural Perry county. The degradation in this state is real and sad, but perhaps not as obvious as it is in the cities. I've only been here two years now, but I've been learning about what used to be here. It would have been amazing to have been here 80 years ago or so when industry was booming, and an area a mile or so from me was a stop on the trains coming from Harrisburg. People would come up in the summers to spend shade time in the cooler mountains next to a stream. Nearby, a carousel entertained the children. These days, Perry has a LOT of crumbling buildings - mostly manufacturing. The difference is that because of its rural surroundings, nature simply takes it all back in. Large manufacturing areas have, once again, become overgrowth, and eventually forest. That's not to say there isn't some industry still left up here. There's a huge warehouse near a grocery store that's (legally) growing medicinal pot. There's a Dollar General every other mile or so. Blue collar workers fire up their pickup trucks every morning to go out to some job... Somewhere. But for the most part, it's seems the PC is a place to commute to Harrisburg from. After all, it's beautiful up here, and even if the economy is as dire as H-burg's, at least you can't SEE it.
Most town and cities have row houses in PA. Old mining areas, and the row house building was imported from Europe, where most of the builders came from. Hardly any single family homes in Philadelphia.
So many of these type of towns in PA. The best part of PA is the beautiful scenery. But growing up Scranton/Wilkes Barre, I always thought that area was bleak and depressing. Old buildings falling apart ect.
I’m from NJ and have looked into PA and man was I shocked how crappy that state is, very depressing towns. Only part I actually like is probably Pittsburgh area. Did used to live in Poconos area I guess that would be okay depending on where.
@@itsnick37 Pittsburgh has Carnegie Mellon and a lot of tech companies, so there are some jobs in that sector. But working class jobs have disappeared too.
@@itsnick37 Lol I used the think the same of Nj while living in Pa. I guess it depends where you live and where you visit. Morristown is definitely a lot different than Patterson.
The jobs left. Baldwin locomotive, Westinghouse, Sun ship all gone. Couple this with the welfare state and this is what is happening everywhere. My father used to keep his boat at the old West end marina, right near the chester ferry. He worked at Medfords meats.
@@skyyyrose unions dont save jobs only lose them .their basically shake down artist when there was no chance that they were going to get dues and shake down they split
yupp..my grandpop worked 40 yrs. at Baldwin. Screwed by the union as usual. His boat too was kept during season at the WEBC. He would do the welding maintainance on the slips, roller pins etc. I was his helper during these projects and we'd go out on the river afterwards. The good 'ol daze.
You can tell that at one time this was a colorful and thriving city. A lot of effort and resources obviously went into the development of this city, with some stately and grand examples of architecture represented there. So sad.
Grew up next to chester. It was once a bustling city on its own. Once some big companies moved out it was over. Been on the decline for decades. They are trying to build up the waterfront area by adding a casino and soccer stadium but right behind is rows of abandoned houses
Back in 1981, I rode my bike 12 miles from Yeadon (near Philly), to Chester. My goal was to make it to Delaware, but a few stops at arcades along the way saw me only make it to the Commodore Barry Bridge - maybe two miles from the border. It was a hot summer day, and I didn't even have a 10 speed back then. Anyway, I was pretty clueless about things - as I was only 14 years old at the time, but I was alone, and seeing row upon row of empty houses (yes, even then!), it unsettled me. I was really thirsty and found a corner store in town and as the only white kid, I stuck out like a sore thumb. After I got my Coke, the store manager (who had a distinctly Jamaican accent), asked me where I was from, and when I told her, she told me to leave immediately - "You should not be here. Not a good place for you. Go back home!", she screamed. "GO. HOME!" You can bet your ass I'd never ridden faster than I did that afternoon. Chester? Yeah... I've been there... :O
@@praxedes2 No, back then, it wasn't really part of Philly. Close, but it was a middle class neighborhood back then. Another fun fact, there are more dead people in Yeadon than living. :D
I'm from Chester but my mom moved us out to Norwood in the late 80. We would still visit.... I used to walk to Chester from Norwood at night if I was late getting home after 5-530 pm.... So that long walk was ok until getting into Sun Village, which is right after Eddystone. That's when I would speed up.... Love and miss Chester not too much the bull
Being poor is one thing, but there's an old job that could be re-instated. Street cleaners, and not the big trucks, but people with a wheeled trash can and brooms. They could provide jobs and make the city look nicer also.
Anyone able-bodied and on the dole should be made to do this. Never understood why young, able-bodied people on public assistance aren’t made to give something back to the public.
@@TheGodYouWishYouKnew because we’ve gone from a society that voted for freedom and opportunity to a society that votes for the politicians offering the most handouts. It’s all downhill from here.
@@highbrass3749 Enough with the “hand out” bs. In order to receive any kind of benefits, you need to be living in squalor. As in less then $21,000 a year. It’s a system set up to keep people in constant limbo. Most if not all area jobs in the now require a degree or you need to “no someone”. If people do work, they’re limited to Walmart or other retail jobs which will then put them above the threshold of assistance, but not enough $$ to survive. I personally know someone whose employer dropped them to pt/limited hours so they would be eligible for medical assistance to have a baby. The ft job benefits would have cost them 8,000 out of pocket. That’s with paying the 45$ weekly HMO deduction. It’s moronic!! It’s easier for people to NOT work, then actually work. The problem is NOT with giving people hand outs. The problem is with multi billion dollar companies not paying employees a living wage and the same multi billion dollar companies paying NO taxes and receiving kick backs. The GOP politicians preaching this crap about hand outs? Are receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from Corp America. The enemy is not your neighbor! It’s the politicians.
@@Missconduct044 ok so it’s “know” not “no someone”. I agree with you about old school GOP politicians, I never said I was a Republican. The Republican Party has recently seen a shift from the globalist corporate types to Populist types like Trump. This is a good thing. I used to be a liberal before democrats turned into Marxist. What we need to do is get our jobs back, don’t trust Obama when he says it’s impossible. It’s not. We also need to invest more of our tax dollars here in the US and not overseas. That’s just a start. Too much to type so I’ll just leave it there. Your hero’s are fake and you’re information is filtered, fix that.
@@highbrass3749 Ok just so you understand, nobody cares which “no” is being used. The majority of people understand that autocorrect is usually the issue. That is except for the douche-y people who feel like they need to point out minor details no one cares about. The only party that is incessant about “hand outs” is the gop. I don’t care who you affiliate with. Obama? Lol! Ok? Who mentioned Obama? Statistical data has shown throughout the last few decades that manufacturing jobs are being replaced by automation. Cry about the “overseas” talking points all you want, it doesn’t make it true. If you think the trust the fund elitist like Trump, Cruz and Paul have your best interest in mind, then you’re absolutely delusional. Trump filled his cabinet with the worst scum of Corp America. Gave the largest tax cuts in the history of this country to the top 1% and deregulated specific industries that donated large sums to his campaign and sold it as a “win” to his melon head supporters. Populist? They’re spineless followers trying to grasp onto whatever will keep them in power. Take out Corp Donations/Super packs and maybe politicians will start caring about the people. The hourly rate has not increased in regards to inflation since the 60’s. That would be a nice start in trying to repair this country, but nothing will ever change when people praise their politicians like a religion instead of listening to their neighbors. They benefit keeping the population fighting and scared. Enjoy your kool- aide
You're saying Steven Reed was bad for the city or prior administrations? I remember what Harrisburg was like before Mayor for life Reed took over and tried to turn the city around.@@markwestfall2934
@@randysheetz690 I remember also, Harrisburg run by Dems always tax and over spend money we don't have and run it into the ground. The state had to bail them out, again.
@@holocaust_2.0 you ever seen the movie idiocracy? The main character ended up in the future sonehow and had average IQ and basic common sense..... yet he was the smartest human in the world of that time because everyone else became so dumb
How wouldn't they when Chester be making the charts for highest murder rate cities in the country lol Chester along with a couple other places in PA is always on the list
I was born in Chester My parents grew up in Chester it was a great place when I was growing up I seen a whole city turn upside down I live in Chichester right next to it
@@baileyfarmer5006 i would disagree. Chichester is way more peaceful than philly. When I first moved to the area I couldn't believe how quiet it was. Seems like everyone goes to bed at the same time. And leaves for work at the same time as well. 😂 traffic on chichester ave is a nightmare. In philly on the other hand, gunshots every other night.
I did notice a few troublemaking kids stealing from family dollar ( they seem to linger over there). But the township has an 8pm curfew to counter that. In philly teens are murdering each other and robbing stores.
…I was born & raised in Chester and it’s been a slow & painful death of this once nice city. Went to school @ Rez ( Resurrection) and St. James. When my father was discharged after the Korean War he started working @ the Ford assembly plant; My grandfather worked @ Sun Oil refinery; I mention this as these were the type of jobs that were the backbone of the Chester area-those along with Sun Ship, Phoenix Steel, Serta, FMC Visco amongst others. From a population of 65,000 in the late 60’s early 70’s to the 30K of nowadays. As the decline of the manufacturing jobs dropped the population decline mirrored it and started the “white flight” which hastened Chester’s dying and at one point had the dubious distinction of being the largest city in America with the highest percentage of the population on welfare/public assistance; Rebirth attempts such as Harrahs Casino and the Philadelphia Union’s soccer stadium and a state prison just seem to be like pissing in the ocean as these are all on the fringes of the city and the video shows that it’s a beat-up & run-down ugly looking place that young families don’t want to come to.
i grew up in the 50's and 60's about a block off of Holy Ghost Parish. A lot can be said but best to let it ride. Had a few friends that attended Rez like you that went to St. James. I on the other hand attended St. Hedwig's but went to Chester High.
@Michael P Pittsburgh is underrated tbh. A lot of the surrounding areas such as Clairton and Aliquippa are rough, but Pittsburgh is definitely a city on the come up. Unlike most of my area, they've rebounded after the decline of fossil fuels and are starting to branch out into other job industries.
It might be a place to urban or suburban homestead. It looks as if the houses and buildings are salvageable. It’s not totally deserted and the sidewalks aren’t obstructed by block after block of tents, trash, excrement, and addicts nodding off. The good people need to get together and make it a better place, little by little. You don’t money to say, pick up small trash items, put them all in one pile, and toss grass and wildflower seeds on the rest. Paint your door and trim. Sweep the walkway, put out some flowers. If every other house did that on a block, the entire mood changes. This place needs a boost.
Love it! Before I saw your post I was thinking exactly the same thing. People need to gather together and help each other doing what you suggested. President John F Kennedy said," Ask not what can your country do for you, but what can I do for my country." It's up to all of us to help each other. I've observed how people prosper. Families help each other,work hard and Love GOD and honor Him.
Same thing that happened to Youngstown, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Michigan. We use to build this country literally. We had lots of good paying jobs but our government let businesses go to other countries.
@@jamesbuttery3862 lol a lot time people who have jobs in Chester who drive work outside of their city or town either in philly or other parts of the southern county
It's THAT mentality that keeps us all down. Yes, I saw Cadillacs, Lincolns, etc. But I DID see some old cars. Why IS the population still large? Less rent, cheaper mortgage payments. So cars are all they HAVE. Too many Republicans IN Pennsylvania/ppl voting AGAINST themselves. NOT saying Democrats are lilies. But we need to prosper from the bottom up. NOT THE TOP DOWN. Taxes too high? Well I've witnessed counties GIVING businesses a tax breaks for their business & as soon as contract is up, they close down & MOVE! Jst sayn.
It's sad, because looking at many of these old, dilapidated house's, you can tell at one time they were really nice.. long ago. Instead of sending billions of dollars to other countries, why not spend all that money to help fix up these neighborhoods, bring job's and job training opportunities to these people and restore some hope again.
If they didn't film the series "The Wire," in the city of Baltimore, they could have easily filmed it in Chester and it wouldn't have changed a thing. The only things that is in its favor is it's history and it has a waterfront. If planned right, the city could bounce back in a generation, but the city will need some no nonsense and strong leadership to make it happen. The city hasn't had decent leadership since the 70's.
I’m from Chester, PA I don’t live there now, but in certain areas are bad and some areas not as bad. You have good in bad in every state. I just pray that things gets better in Chester. There are good people there its just a few people that makes things worse for others.
It appeared that everyone there had homes unlike a lot of people living on the sidewalks in tents in CA, OR and WA. So, at least that was a good thing.
That's true. Most of our homeless in the North East find a place to escape the elements. Abandoned/condemned/vacant buildings. Squatting is pretty common
Chester is community.... you gotta be beyond fucked up to be sleeping on a st where somebody is going to know you. Homeless people in my city usually just go be Homeless in Philly, sounds funny but its a lot more opportunity as a Homeless person there... people in chester don't care if you need a dollar because you lost your bus fare, panhandleres get ignored
It's a LARGE sucking sound. I'm an exsteelworker, how I remember. Even VOTED for Ross bc he spoke the truth (like Bernie does). We have Pennsylvanians voting against themselves. U have ppl not wanting to raise minimum wages. We will NEVER get back to a 'normal' as long as ppl fight against the struggling. When u bring up ppl's class, we ALL benefit & moves us ALL up. Another words bottom up, NOT TOP DOWN. Jst sayn
Sadly, Rocky's run-down street in Philly, looks the same today as does in the movie from 1976, (tattered screen door and all). Not a great neighborhood. This is the result of the culture of victimhood: decaying values, sexual promiscuity/Fatherless homes, rampant drug use and the resulting crimes. These aren't just problems for today's inner cities, they're the plight of all America; urban plight simply reveals a decay that is gnawing its way throughout American society as a whole. The sexual chaos, values disorientation, and social turmoil we see in our inner cities, is just a magnified reflection of the moral collapse within America's soul. This plight disproves the argument proposed by Secular humanism, namely that human beings are capable of being ethical and moral without religion or God. On the contrary; it is simply impossible for people to be moral without God, the creator of all nature and of human nature.
You are seeing what can happen anywhere US of A. Most of cities and towns that Nick , Briggs, CharlieBo and a few of the other UA-camrs go to. You can see the greatness that was and could come back if we stopped relying on lying politics..
Hi Nick, I live in Poland (Europe) and I really enjoy your movies! What I like in this video is brick houses, like in Europe😄 Additionally, what is very niticable to me, is tons of wires above the streets. In my city that is not common, I mean it happens, but most wires is hidden underground. Greetings from EU, keep doing great job!
From the earlly 1900's, many Poles came to Chester and settled in the West End and to a lesser degree in the East End. The Polish population was huge and was centered arount St. Hedwig's RC Church. It was a good place to live at that time but changed to the down- side around the 70's.
You're going to laugh at the sad irony, but one of Chester's major economic engines is the Covanta waste to energy plant. Chester burns trash for megawatts.
This is really not a city independent but is contiguous to Philadelphia, more like a suburb of Philadelphia. Small cities and towns that are contiguous to major cities are in effect just suburbs of that major city. Notice that SEPTA, the Philadelphia transit system, runs city buses through there. People who live here probably work, dine, and shop in Philadelphia which is a few miles away.
chester older than Philly...calm down and do your research. Chester the first city..so the row housing blue print was here first then adopted in Philly. William Penn original home In Upland PA. y'all people from Philly really are oblivious to Pennsylvania history.
Cities like Chester could thrive once again. That'd happen if people were to set aside their political differences and racial biases. Respect every culture and finance every venture. This country could be a UTOPIA by the year 2027.
If your low income you get your hands on some assets you have to dump them buying a fancy car does that it does not pay to save money when your on benefits
As a former resident of PA, and one who has been to Chester, I would say that what the hell happened is that PA is an example of a society that has lost its vision on a social level. Fortunately, many individuals have not lost that, and that is why there still are some genuine people among the dilapidation.
Every time I watch one of your worse places to live vids it always astonishes me at the amount of nice shiny cars parked up 🤔🤔 some people must have money here ? I wonder what kind of people ??
I always wondered that. Going to the food pantry, so many clients rolling up in Mercedes and Escalades, while my car barely started or ran. Always thought they made poor life decisions, buying an expensive car but no money for food.
My grandfather was from chester. It had Irish,Italian,polish, ect sections. People used to go to this city on sundays for a day out. And yes in the 50-60s by the 70's it was a dump
@@NickJohnson I'm curious to see if you went past Lohrey Recreation Center (named after Mayor Louis Lohrey--my relative) and on Grove Avenue (my cousin lives there--same house has been in my family for four generations). 🤗 Neighborhood has gone downhill tremendously but how do you sell a house that has been handed down generation after generation 😢
Travel through Trenton and points South along the Delaware River Valley and it's mostly bad, just a prime example of the area that once depended on manufacturing and when the jobs were gone and sent overseas, the communities went down as well.
The city itself owns most of the dilapidated and run down buildings and won't do anything to improve them, while the citizens actually go to work in Philadelphia several miles away. This explains why people have enough to buy nice cars but have neighborhoods that look this way. This is the case for a lot of run down areas since it's usually not the residents of the area but the city's government itself.
The only way for places like this to become better, is to start manufacturing in them. America sent all the jobs overseas years ago. Now America is paying the price for this mistake. When jobs are sent overseas, it causes places like this, and others to become worse.
You want to buy phones and clothes cheap, thats what you get. America didnt send the jobs away, people did when they decided that buying new iphone every 6 months is more important than 10000 people from that factory having a job.
@@krzychch8937 It started way before that. I was in my teens and I saw it go down. Nixon and Kissinger wanted a trade deal in the 70's, and they pushed hard to get it. At first they wanted nothing to do with the western world and capitalism, however they agreed because they saw they could make money and build up their country, then slowly over the years jobs left the USA. Unions were affected. Business shut down. The big Corporations still made money because they still sold the items they sent overseas for the same price as they did before. Want to know what country got rich because of this??? Go to any local Walmart in the USA and look at the bottom of items sold in that store... Look at the sticker...That is where all the money in America is going. America has been feeding the giant that will one day destroy it.
Back in 2006, I was up in Niagara Falls, NY through the downtown areas there. Chester, PA here very much reminds me of that for there are alot of boarded up and abandoned buildings and businesses there as well.
Nick, what is your camera (iphone) mounted to? The transition when you pan left and right is so smooth 👏👏👏 How are you controlling the device if its mounted outside your vehicle? I think the 'how you make' the video is as fascinating as the video content itself. 👍
You should consider a DJI Pocket 2 with the wireless adapter. This way you can control all panning and recording from inside the car and you’ll appear less obvious than holding a selfie stick. I can hear people noticing your camera throughout the video.
This is my home town, it’s sad to see what’s happened to it. It wasn’t sweet when I was coming up, but it’s much worse now. I have to add though, there are way worse areas than the ones you drive though
I'm proudly from Chester. There is no damn way in hell! That Chester rates worse than; Detroit, East St. Louis, West Side of Chicago, Baltimore, 9th ward of New Orleans, Skid Row in LA., Bankhead in Atlanta, even McKeesport around Pittsburgh!! This is quite a joke! Chester has it's problems for sure! But look at the videos, he has on those other cities, and tell me how Chester is worse!!
My bad bro. I'm from southwest phila. 19143........Chester fucked and dumb wild. And coming from swp we know dumb wild when we see it. My bad yo. Hey atleast they ain't spin thru the Gardens. Lolololol
West Chester is in Chester County. Chester is in Delaware County. West Chester is homely in most places. A college town. Chester is none of that. 2 completely different places.
I like that lil gray stone lookn house on tha right @ around 8:49....that wuza lil bright spot in this dreary video. This place looks totally fixable...😁😁😁
Here's my entire Pennsylvania playlist: ua-cam.com/play/PLq-_cmf3H6yp0BbP8pVMHHXi5wHGI-hGU.html
So sad. If you squint really hard you can see how this place looked once upon a time. So much nice historical architecture in shambles.
I squinted and saw nothing like what you describe.
My thoughts exactly… what a damn shame!
Until corporations decided to turn AmeriKKKa into a place for the 1%, and everyone else into a homeless person.
Right it’s a history landmark🤦🏾♀️
@@justash720 oh,yes Bill Halley had down town office in Chester,you may be able to see his old fading guitar on side walk.They tore down his building.Its an empty lot.Its a shame to see this once thriving city gone forever.Only words now.Cant change declines in so many past beautiful cities
Well it might be run down and awful but at least the sidewalks aren't lined with tents so there's that I guess.
Philadelphia has plenty....drug addicts laying by the buildings downtown since Soros got involved with PA politics
Tents are inside the vacant buildings
Too cold in Pennsylvania for outdoor tents
@@gailc3042 Kensington
Nah. The homeless just migrate to the big Cities. Lancaster, Philly, NYC, and BMore.
With the current lumber prices, it would cost more to board up the buildings than the buildings are worth.
The urban “copper miners” can make more by unboarding the boarded up buildings and selling off the wood than by going after the copper.
@@stevebabiak6997 I assure you these buildings were looted of copper 10+ years ago. Someone I know inherited a house in North Philly in 2010 and the pipes and wiring were long gone.
@@prushimush - that was kind of what I was hinting at, no copper left for them to harvest but plenty of plywood boarding up the buildings that can be harvested profitably these days.
@@JD604B Clearly, I have to get better at producing completely unrelated, but useful comments in a thread. 😂
😂
Chester Pennsylvania was at one time a very heavily industrialized city. Over the past 20-30 years, that all began to change, and Chester became another Camden New Jersey which is not too far from here. Many of these industries have relocated to China and Taiwan for cheaper labor, and now this is the Chester & Camden of today in 2021.
The same reason much of the middle of America is jobless is the same reason the west coast is drier than ever. Manufacturing moved to China.
Also, people tend to not want the older houses in most of these cities, if there are better/newer ones in the burbs. You'd pay a lot for something like this in a booming city like Boston or Seattle, but not a run down town like Chester.
@@bjdon99 Seattle isn't much better. Post 90s gentrification. It's now run down with row after row of homeless encampments.
Manufacturing moved to China because Americans buy Chinese products instead of American products.
@@JohnRinNoHo I go online to buy American products. Some products are very hard to find, though.
The chi coms gave $20 million to bidens campaign that all you need to know
This is what the majority of PA's small communities look like, there's a reason they changed the name from the steel belt to the rust belt.
Moved from the steel belt to the steal belt?
Not as bad as this, though.
@@lisacooper3300 You need to get out more, PA has numerous ghost towns with crumbling infrastructure.
Not true, I Live not far but far enough, and I’m in one of most expensive and scenic areas of southeast PA. Township just north of mine is one of country’s most safest and nicest …buckingham …most of Pa is not like this
@@davejohn2335 not true. Most of PA IS like this. My husband is a truck driver and he's all over this state and is constantly talking about how poor and run down this state is.
The houses are old. The apartments are old. There wasn't one pothole on any street. I'd have to say they are doing the best they can do considering the job market and probable lack of industry. Let's take a deeper look at the owners of the multi-unit dwellings. Seems they should make some up-grades. Furthermore, this CAN'T be the worst place to live. I did not see one tent or anyone living in a box on the sidewalk (unlike LA).
Trust me there are plenty of potholes
At least no tents outside and poop all over the side walks. So don't agree that this the worst city in the Country
@@donnamitchell7099 Why would you sleep in a tent with dozens of vacant buildings and houses all around??
They narrowly missed the more damages and dangerous areas by a longshot. Yes, there are no tents. But there are a ton of abandon houses. And landlords usually have to redo the entire house after they are destroyed.. literally destroyed after almost every tenant
Upgrades? It’s not a wise investment to “upgrade” a place only to have it destroyed within a few years by people who couldn’t care less about your investment.
Interesting video. I used to work in Chester back in the late 60s and early 70s. Specifically Weinbergs Dept store and Lee's records . It didn't seem to be all that bad then but you could tell things were changing. A lot of factories were closing and moving out of town. Example, Sun Ship . At one time it had a lively downtown and sure felt safe no matter what time of day. I spent most of my time near the train station and surrounding businesses. There was a old sign atop one of the abandoned warehouses that said, What Chester Makes, Makes Chester. Also it was convenient for traveling over to New Jersey via the Chester /Bridgeport ferry. That was before the Commodore Barry Bridge was built. Chester has a long and storied history going back many years . There used to be a fairly large Italian and Polish community at one time.
Thanks jim!
And Mr Jim it' was a good place to live at one time
América is collapsing as we speak. Nick is shedding light on the reality of life in America and it’s grim
No certain areas are collapsing
@@NickJohnson a good portion is, I would say over 50%
Black piller bed wetters sure are something else.
Good
Population can’t drop because people can’t escape.
If I was over the age of 18 around there, I'd hop a greyhound to a nicer town down south and live on the streets or a shelter there rather than a house in that dump.
Anyone can take a bus outta town
@@ryankelsey9646 oh you would 🤔
If people knew they could work seasonal jobs at national parks and other nice areas and have free or cheap housing while working…. Freaking Maine is absurdly short on workers and it’s so safe up there for most part why bother with this dump….
@@itsnick37 Tons of people do that in Alaska. Problem is that after season is over, a lot of those people get displaced.
shame, there’s some nice buildings in the town, can tell it used to be a nice place. and now it’s a total dump
Even Camden across the river used to be a nice place. Even with all the renovation and waterfront revival, still a fubar place.
Sad
The state of Pennsylvania keeps voting democrat so they deserve what they get.
@@JesusChrist2000BC sorry Chester was run by Republicans for years. Only turned democratic maybe 12yrs ago. Nice try, what else you got.
@@jimhanratty9543 12 years is a long time Jim.
This was my home, city that I grew up in. The 70's was the best time to grow up. The city was losing its population in the 70's due to the flood and white flight. But it was still a great time to live in Chester, but without good economics, love for the city, pride in the city and no replenishment of great ideals, this is the results. Just like other cities and towns that have been on hard times, it takes money and good people to repair decades of damage.
Amen.
JB don't forget that Sun Ship Yard closed. That was the place where more ships were built during WWII than anywhere else. The Ford Motor plant left in the 60's. Congolium closed that was a huge manufacturing company, and local shopping dried up due to the emergence of 2 shopping malls nearby.
I must be weird but I find these sad towns hauntingly beautiful. Every vacant building once had a purpose and everyone living in Chester has a story. I love these drives and this one really touched my heart. Thanks Nick ❤️
I think they are cool looking too ❤️
I'm from Chester there is a cloud over the city,but the families know each other do to the one High School that sits closer to the East Side.... So when it comes down to it Chester Pride prevail.
daaaaamn, it looks like a winning combo of Detroit, flint, , Gary Indiana, and Baltimore
Jackpot!!
let’s ship all of our manufacturing jobs to mexico and china, that’ll make the rust belt great
@@UserName-ts3sp All this pretty much killed the rust belt and just exasperated the crime and drugs Ect.
Have you actually walked the inner Streets of Detroit and Gary? This is classy compared to it.
@@midwest4444 True, but to be fair, parts of Detroit are slowly improving, I got a buddy who lives a couple hours away from Gary, so yeah it’s pretty bad but there are worse, but come on, you gotta admit, you can see bits of these other areas in this too....it’s all decay and it’s sad to see what was once a stable and bustling area to be so derelict decade after decade. :-(
The opening section says it's the worst hood in Chester, but it doesn't even begin to address The Den. I wouldn't call this the nice part of Chester, but it's not the worst. It's about as middle of the road as Chester gets. There are signs in The Den that warn you the police will stop you for doing things like being in the neighborhood. Next time you're in the area, start at 9th and Edgmont and work your way towards Eddystone.
Side note - my mom once told me when she was a girl (late 50s, early 60s), Chester was a place where people from the surrounding communities looked forward to going shopping there on the weekends. Avenue of the States, shown in an intersection right about 4:02) was the heart of the shopping district there.
As you get closer to the soccer stadium, more of this becomes lower crime and just generational poor neighborhoods. Many of the house have been in the same family for two or three generations, some even longer. In the video you can really see the homes where someone is keeping up their property but not worrying about their neighbors or the street, etc. These are people who don't have much but take care of what they do have. You will notice most of the cars are more recent and in good condition.
All in all, great video, thank you for taking the time to make it.
Pennsylvania s dumpster a dump
Thank a democrat for that
Try Kensington and you'll move to Chester in a heartbeat 😃🤣
Very true..
Chester is this way, because people who can't afford to live in Philly---move to Chester and bring their filth with them.
You ain't never lied. I lived in Kensington for two years and my church was in Chester. And I will say this Chester may be run down but you ain't never gonna see tents and human feces and people walking around with needles sticking out of their arms with blood running down while waiting for the school bus to come pick up your kid. Kensington is just unbelievable.
That place is wild im from the other side of the state i never knew it was that bad there that dope killed that town
Factoooo I'm from chester but I hang in Kensington all the time and I say chester is heaven compared to kenzo
I grew up in southwest PA, coal mining country. In the early 1980's, the coal mines starting shutting down. The area started decaying. I joked the for sale signs on houses were as numerous as Christmas decorations. At the age of 36, I gave up and left for North Carolina. The decision saved my life.
The whole northeast is shot for most part…. Rich or poor just how politicians want it and only increasing poverty….
@@itsnick37 The elites advocating renewal energy turn my stomach. These politicians nonchalantly destroy an industry for an ideological reason. The politicians care nothing about the lives and communities destroyed.
@@itsnick37 typo "renewable"
@Pike Lane Natural gas brought a lot of money to the area. Unfortunately, it will never replace coal mining and steel production.
One of my best friends moved from Chester to N.C.
Ironic that most cars in that city look brand new. Tons of high end foreigns rolling around
Yeah, a lot of cars from those bad neighborhoods are better than my car!
They're owned by all of those "entrepreneurs" on the side of the street.
people don't know how to manage money
I spotted a new Jag straight off, a couple of Hell cats too. Nothing would be cheap .
Plenty of cheap cars as well
as a person who lives in PA, i can say this is true, i see a lot of run down things since im in harrisburg
Born and raised in Carlisle sad thing about it. It’s a dying town. They just haven’t put up the tombstone yet. My opinion
@@stanleyshughart5914 which part of pa is that?
@@ynwmelly3865 just south of Harrisburg. About 15 miles. Cumberland county
I was born and raised in Mechanicsburg and have family in Carlisle as well. It's a shame to see Carlisle look the way it does now.@@stanleyshughart5914
I live north of Harrisburg in rural Perry county. The degradation in this state is real and sad, but perhaps not as obvious as it is in the cities. I've only been here two years now, but I've been learning about what used to be here. It would have been amazing to have been here 80 years ago or so when industry was booming, and an area a mile or so from me was a stop on the trains coming from Harrisburg. People would come up in the summers to spend shade time in the cooler mountains next to a stream. Nearby, a carousel entertained the children.
These days, Perry has a LOT of crumbling buildings - mostly manufacturing. The difference is that because of its rural surroundings, nature simply takes it all back in. Large manufacturing areas have, once again, become overgrowth, and eventually forest.
That's not to say there isn't some industry still left up here. There's a huge warehouse near a grocery store that's (legally) growing medicinal pot. There's a Dollar General every other mile or so. Blue collar workers fire up their pickup trucks every morning to go out to some job... Somewhere.
But for the most part, it's seems the PC is a place to commute to Harrisburg from. After all, it's beautiful up here, and even if the economy is as dire as H-burg's, at least you can't SEE it.
Outside of the cities and rundown towns, there is beautiful scenery and nature in PA. But it feels like half the towns look like this.
When industry leaves so do people.
Most town and cities have row houses in PA. Old mining areas, and the row house building was imported from Europe, where most of the builders came from. Hardly any single family homes in Philadelphia.
@@iworkout6912 chesnut hill has a bunch of singles so do parts of Germantown
From Delaware County - where Chester is located. Dangerous area - not great. But I’ve done work in Chester - good people there.
@Sniper Logic especially in Ma.
@@zillsburyy1 Don't be talkin 'bout your Ma!
Thank you
God Bless You!
Hi Kim
So many of these type of towns in PA. The best part of PA is the beautiful scenery. But growing up Scranton/Wilkes Barre, I always thought that area was bleak and depressing. Old buildings falling apart ect.
I’m from NJ and have looked into PA and man was I shocked how crappy that state is, very depressing towns. Only part I actually like is probably Pittsburgh area. Did used to live in Poconos area I guess that would be okay depending on where.
@@itsnick37 Pittsburgh has Carnegie Mellon and a lot of tech companies, so there are some jobs in that sector. But working class jobs have disappeared too.
@@itsnick37 ny and jersey people have ruined the poconos 😂
@@itsnick37 Lol I used the think the same of Nj while living in Pa. I guess it depends where you live and where you visit. Morristown is definitely a lot different than Patterson.
@@itsnick37 the people here are horrible too, they reflect the bad condition of this place
The jobs left. Baldwin locomotive, Westinghouse, Sun ship all gone.
Couple this with the welfare state and this is what is happening everywhere. My father used to keep his boat at the old West end marina, right near the chester ferry. He worked at Medfords meats.
Everything outsourced to Asia, it began in the 70s to break the unions. This is now everywhere AmeriKKKa.
@@skyyyrose unions dont save jobs only lose them .their basically shake down artist when there was no chance that they were going to get dues and shake down they split
I used to sail for Sun. Remember traveling on the ferry in a truck with my father in the fifties. Great years.
What does welfare have to do with anything?
yupp..my grandpop worked 40 yrs. at Baldwin. Screwed by the union as usual. His boat too was kept during season at the WEBC. He would do the welding maintainance on the slips, roller pins etc. I was his helper during these projects and we'd go out on the river afterwards. The good 'ol daze.
You can tell that at one time this was a colorful and thriving city. A lot of effort and resources obviously went into the development of this city, with some stately and grand examples of architecture represented there. So sad.
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Grew up next to chester. It was once a bustling city on its own. Once some big companies moved out it was over. Been on the decline for decades. They are trying to build up the waterfront area by adding a casino and soccer stadium but right behind is rows of abandoned houses
Some nice brick buildings and stately architecture-its a shame. Same as where I am currently living, Rochester NY☹️
Back in 1981, I rode my bike 12 miles from Yeadon (near Philly), to Chester. My goal was to make it to Delaware, but a few stops at arcades along the way saw me only make it to the Commodore Barry Bridge - maybe two miles from the border. It was a hot summer day, and I didn't even have a 10 speed back then.
Anyway, I was pretty clueless about things - as I was only 14 years old at the time, but I was alone, and seeing row upon row of empty houses (yes, even then!), it unsettled me. I was really thirsty and found a corner store in town and as the only white kid, I stuck out like a sore thumb. After I got my Coke, the store manager (who had a distinctly Jamaican accent), asked me where I was from, and when I told her, she told me to leave immediately - "You should not be here. Not a good place for you. Go back home!", she screamed. "GO. HOME!"
You can bet your ass I'd never ridden faster than I did that afternoon.
Chester? Yeah... I've been there... :O
😂 She told you right!! Even though I was a young adventurer myself, I wouldn’t advise it.
Oddly, I find Yeadon to be scarier than Chester. Perhaps that wasn't the case in 1981, but I wasn't alive then.
@@praxedes2 No, back then, it wasn't really part of Philly. Close, but it was a middle class neighborhood back then. Another fun fact, there are more dead people in Yeadon than living. :D
@@Chordonblue That's interesting!!
I'm from Chester but my mom moved us out to Norwood in the late 80. We would still visit.... I used to walk to Chester from Norwood at night if I was late getting home after 5-530 pm.... So that long walk was ok until getting into Sun Village, which is right after Eddystone. That's when I would speed up.... Love and miss Chester not too much the bull
Being poor is one thing, but there's an old job that could be re-instated. Street cleaners, and not the big trucks, but people with a wheeled trash can and brooms. They could provide jobs and make the city look nicer also.
Anyone able-bodied and on the dole should be made to do this. Never understood why young, able-bodied people on public assistance aren’t made to give something back to the public.
@@TheGodYouWishYouKnew because we’ve gone from a society that voted for freedom and opportunity to a society that votes for the politicians offering the most handouts. It’s all downhill from here.
@@highbrass3749 Enough with the “hand out” bs. In order to receive any kind of benefits, you need to be living in squalor. As in less then $21,000 a year.
It’s a system set up to keep people in constant limbo.
Most if not all area jobs in the now require a degree or you need to “no someone”.
If people do work, they’re limited to Walmart or other retail jobs which will then put them above the threshold of assistance, but not enough $$ to survive.
I personally know someone whose employer dropped them to pt/limited hours so they would be eligible for medical assistance to have a baby.
The ft job benefits would have cost them 8,000 out of pocket. That’s with paying the 45$ weekly HMO deduction.
It’s moronic!! It’s easier for people to NOT work, then actually work.
The problem is NOT with giving people hand outs. The problem is with multi billion dollar companies not paying employees a living wage and the same multi billion dollar companies paying NO taxes and receiving kick backs.
The GOP politicians preaching this crap about hand outs? Are receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from Corp America.
The enemy is not your neighbor! It’s the politicians.
@@Missconduct044 ok so it’s “know” not “no someone”. I agree with you about old school GOP politicians, I never said I was a Republican. The Republican Party has recently seen a shift from the globalist corporate types to Populist types like Trump. This is a good thing. I used to be a liberal before democrats turned into Marxist. What we need to do is get our jobs back, don’t trust Obama when he says it’s impossible. It’s not. We also need to invest more of our tax dollars here in the US and not overseas. That’s just a start. Too much to type so I’ll just leave it there. Your hero’s are fake and you’re information is filtered, fix that.
@@highbrass3749 Ok just so you understand, nobody cares which “no” is being used. The majority of people understand that autocorrect is usually the issue. That is except for the douche-y people who feel like they need to point out minor details no one cares about.
The only party that is incessant about “hand outs” is the gop. I don’t care who you affiliate with.
Obama? Lol! Ok? Who mentioned Obama?
Statistical data has shown throughout the last few decades that manufacturing jobs are being replaced by automation. Cry about the “overseas” talking points all you want, it doesn’t make it true.
If you think the trust the fund elitist like Trump, Cruz and Paul have your best interest in mind, then you’re absolutely delusional.
Trump filled his cabinet with the worst scum of Corp America. Gave the largest tax cuts in the history of this country to the top 1% and deregulated specific industries that donated large sums to his campaign and sold it as a “win” to his melon head supporters.
Populist? They’re spineless followers trying to grasp onto whatever will keep them in power. Take out Corp Donations/Super packs and maybe politicians will start caring about the people.
The hourly rate has not increased in regards to inflation since the 60’s. That would be a nice start in trying to repair this country, but nothing will ever change when people praise their politicians like a religion instead of listening to their neighbors. They benefit keeping the population fighting and scared.
Enjoy your kool- aide
A retrospective about my home state of PA?
You’ll be at this for a while, best of luck!
Pa. my home state to, Looks a lot like parts of Harrisburg, Another city run by Dems for decades.
Truth!
You're saying Steven Reed was bad for the city or prior administrations? I remember what Harrisburg was like before Mayor for life Reed took over and tried to turn the city around.@@markwestfall2934
@@randysheetz690 I remember also, Harrisburg run by Dems always tax and over spend money we don't have and run it into the ground. The state had to bail them out, again.
Some great old buildings. Too bad the people ruin it.
People didn't ruin Chester! Corrupt politicians did!
@@christopherporter9596 he doesnt have the critical thinking capacity to get to the root of the problem so dont waste your time
@@christopherporter9596 thank you 🤗
@@AwolProductionsENT if only the rest of us could be as smart and amazing as you.
@@holocaust_2.0 you ever seen the movie idiocracy? The main character ended up in the future sonehow and had average IQ and basic common sense..... yet he was the smartest human in the world of that time because everyone else became so dumb
Disgraceful for this to be in America.
A lot of places in the very same America look worse than this
No. America will fall and that’s good thing
blame the corrupt government for lining their pockets
BINGO!!!
I’m from Chester i didn’t think people outside of pa knew we existed lol
How wouldn't they when Chester be making the charts for highest murder rate cities in the country lol Chester along with a couple other places in PA is always on the list
My mom was born in Chester. Her parents moved the kids out when it started getting rough!
Lol! I guess you moved out right after you were born.
You know it's bad when every pedestrian stares as you go by
I would stare too if someone was pointing a camera at me
@@Pete0621 facts 💯
They are probably thinking geez that white boy has a nice looking camera on top of his car.
Especially if little kids start staring at you that's pretty bad
@@mikeseier4449 that is a interesting point
I was born in Chester My parents grew up in Chester it was a great place when I was growing up I seen a whole city turn upside down I live in Chichester right next to it
Which is turning right into Philly just like Chester did now it's trainer Marcushook,and lindwood
@@baileyfarmer5006 i would disagree. Chichester is way more peaceful than philly. When I first moved to the area I couldn't believe how quiet it was.
Seems like everyone goes to bed at the same time. And leaves for work at the same time as well. 😂 traffic on chichester ave is a nightmare.
In philly on the other hand, gunshots every other night.
I did notice a few troublemaking kids stealing from family dollar ( they seem to linger over there). But the township has an 8pm curfew to counter that.
In philly teens are murdering each other and robbing stores.
Every Thursday for 7 years I went to Chester, Pennsylvania to pick up pineapples for our produce company ! Never had a problem there !
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Right on!🤜🤛
Now you can pick up drugs and prostitutes there
Nick, your channel is my go to channel when I'm feeling depressed. Your videos cheer me up for some reason.
…I was born & raised in Chester and it’s been a slow & painful death of this once nice city. Went to school @ Rez ( Resurrection) and St. James. When my father was discharged after the Korean War he started working @ the Ford assembly plant; My grandfather worked @ Sun Oil refinery; I mention this as these were the type of jobs that were the backbone of the Chester area-those along with Sun Ship, Phoenix Steel, Serta, FMC Visco amongst others. From a population of 65,000 in the late 60’s early 70’s to the 30K of nowadays. As the decline of the manufacturing jobs dropped the population decline mirrored it and started the “white flight” which hastened Chester’s dying and at one point had the dubious distinction of being the largest city in America with the highest percentage of the population on welfare/public assistance; Rebirth attempts such as Harrahs Casino and the Philadelphia Union’s soccer stadium and a state prison just seem to be like pissing in the ocean as these are all on the fringes of the city and the video shows that it’s a beat-up & run-down ugly looking place that young families don’t want to come to.
i grew up in the 50's and 60's about a block off of Holy Ghost Parish. A lot can be said but best to let it ride. Had a few friends that attended Rez like you that went to St. James. I on the other hand attended St. Hedwig's but went to Chester High.
Had a Saint louis feel just dirtier..
Love you Nick, you brave brave traveling man wishing you safe journeys
I would not drive in the bad areas.Afraid I would break down.
I love you Lisa!😂😍😍
Thank you for this episode of "What the hell happened to ..."
It looks like wilkes-barre and scranton. Pa. Is the armpit of America.
Nah, that would be New Jersey, but I don't consider this to be bad for PA. Shenandoah, Shamokin, Frackville, Mount Carmel, Gilberton, Sunbury
Yeah bidens home town. That's why it's a dump
@@kelvintorrence5994 Here comes the politics. You lost. Get over it. Y'all cry more than the libs.
@Michael P Pittsburgh is underrated tbh. A lot of the surrounding areas such as Clairton and Aliquippa are rough, but Pittsburgh is definitely a city on the come up. Unlike most of my area, they've rebounded after the decline of fossil fuels and are starting to branch out into other job industries.
It might be a place to urban or suburban homestead. It looks as if the houses and buildings are salvageable. It’s not totally deserted and the sidewalks aren’t obstructed by block after block of tents, trash, excrement, and addicts nodding off. The good people need to get together and make it a better place, little by little. You don’t money to say, pick up small trash items, put them all in one pile, and toss grass and wildflower seeds on the rest. Paint your door and trim. Sweep the walkway, put out some flowers. If every other house did that on a block, the entire mood changes. This place needs a boost.
Totally.
@Nicky Nicks what is considered ‘real music’?
That’s where ur wrong no work is put into Chester unless the governor wants to do something about it
@Nicky Nicks Chester is mostly blacks maybe some white but we all down here have our own different kind of music
Love it! Before I saw your post I was thinking exactly the same thing. People need to gather together and help each other doing what you suggested. President John F Kennedy said," Ask not what can your country do for you, but what can I do for my country." It's up to all of us to help each other. I've observed how people prosper. Families help each other,work hard and Love GOD and honor Him.
I wish you narrated this drive so we can get your impressions as you look at stuff.
I disagree on the narration thing. Best to examine without being distracted by the narrator. That way you can form your own conclusions.
Why?
Nah no for useless banter, plus i think he may be shocked looking at this stuff, i always am
Same thing that happened to Youngstown, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Michigan. We use to build this country literally. We had lots of good paying jobs but our government let businesses go to other countries.
I was just in Youngstown and West Virginia I know.
Ironically, I've noticed a lot of nice cars in each of the bad neighborhoods that you've been to
Also, satellite dishes.
I thought it was just me who noticed that.
Coke dealers
@@jamesbuttery3862 lol a lot time people who have jobs in Chester who drive work outside of their city or town either in philly or other parts of the southern county
It's THAT mentality that keeps us all down. Yes, I saw Cadillacs, Lincolns, etc. But I DID see some old cars. Why IS the population still large? Less rent, cheaper mortgage payments. So cars are all they HAVE. Too many Republicans IN Pennsylvania/ppl voting AGAINST themselves. NOT saying Democrats are lilies. But we need to prosper from the bottom up. NOT THE TOP DOWN. Taxes too high? Well I've witnessed counties GIVING businesses a tax breaks for their business & as soon as contract is up, they close down & MOVE! Jst sayn.
Why you only driving down 3rd St, go over to Edgemont ave, near Parkside, you only showing the run down side.
Thanks for mentioning Parkside. I grew up there. Phil & Jim's forever!!
Good video...thanks NICK!
The sad part is. I remember when Chester was a great place as was Wilmington De.
How long ago was that
Not that long. 1980 was the beginning of the end for manufacturing, labor unions, and the middle class.
Wilmington is a good place for toursts. Visited from uk in 2018
@@simonmacarthur6808 stop smoking stop selling crack please
@@asajayunknown6290 when Reagan became president or did Jimmy Carter finish things off
Looks interesting ! Just notified !
Once again homes are run down, abandoned, businesses closed, piles of debris in the streets, but the cars are nice and shiny.
That would be the definition of ghetto
On a positive note. No miles and miles of homeless encampments and burned out buildings. So it does have that going for it.
Not yet....
So glad I moved out of Pennsylvania. Never going back to live there.
You are damn right!!
@@anonymousinnaptown7424 As if Indiana don't have run down cities, have ya heard of Gary?
Bye 👋
@@elijahsplaytime2540 won't miss people like you 👋
All the cities in pa are like this a dump!!!
It's sad, because looking at many of these old, dilapidated house's, you can tell at one time they were really nice.. long ago. Instead of sending billions of dollars to other countries, why not spend all that money to help fix up these neighborhoods, bring job's and job training opportunities to these people and restore some hope again.
Hi!😍
@@patc1309 hi!
@@katiealexandria5737 You are BEAUTIFUL!!!🤗🥰
Exactly.
Watching these sorts of clips I'm always bewildered to see so many late model and expensive cars parked in such devastation..Any explanations?
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If they didn't film the series "The Wire," in the city of Baltimore, they could have easily filmed it in Chester and it wouldn't have changed a thing. The only things that is in its favor is it's history and it has a waterfront. If planned right, the city could bounce back in a generation, but the city will need some no nonsense and strong leadership to make it happen. The city hasn't had decent leadership since the 70's.
I wanna know what factories are making those smoke plumes?
I’m from Chester, PA I don’t live there now, but in certain areas are bad and some areas not as bad.
You have good in bad in every state.
I just pray that things gets better in Chester.
There are good people there its just a few people that makes things worse for others.
PREACH!!
Pray harder!
It appeared that everyone there had homes unlike a lot of people living on the sidewalks in tents in CA, OR and WA. So, at least that was a good thing.
It's easier to survive in coastal states. In PA, they would die eventually when winter comes.
That's true. Most of our homeless in the North East find a place to escape the elements. Abandoned/condemned/vacant buildings. Squatting is pretty common
Chester is community.... you gotta be beyond fucked up to be sleeping on a st where somebody is going to know you. Homeless people in my city usually just go be Homeless in Philly, sounds funny but its a lot more opportunity as a Homeless person there... people in chester don't care if you need a dollar because you lost your bus fare, panhandleres get ignored
"That sucking sound you hear are your jobs leaving" Ross Perot
I looked into what his plans were and I actually agree with his jobs planning.
It's a LARGE sucking sound. I'm an exsteelworker, how I remember. Even VOTED for Ross bc he spoke the truth (like Bernie does). We have Pennsylvanians voting against themselves. U have ppl not wanting to raise minimum wages. We will NEVER get back to a 'normal' as long as ppl fight against the struggling. When u bring up ppl's class, we ALL benefit & moves us ALL up. Another words bottom up, NOT TOP DOWN. Jst sayn
Sadly, Rocky's run-down street in Philly, looks the same today as does in the movie from 1976, (tattered screen door and all). Not a great neighborhood. This is the result of the culture of victimhood: decaying values, sexual promiscuity/Fatherless homes, rampant drug use and the resulting crimes. These aren't just problems for today's inner cities, they're the plight of all America; urban plight simply reveals a decay that is gnawing its way throughout American society as a whole. The sexual chaos, values disorientation, and social turmoil we see in our inner cities, is just a magnified reflection of the moral collapse within America's soul. This plight disproves the argument proposed by Secular humanism, namely that human beings are capable of being ethical and moral without religion or God. On the contrary; it is simply impossible for people to be moral without God, the creator of all nature and of human nature.
Wish you could orient us with what we're seeing
You are seeing what can happen anywhere US of A. Most of cities and towns that Nick , Briggs, CharlieBo and a few of the other UA-camrs go to. You can see the greatness that was and could come back if we stopped relying on lying politics..
What dash cam do you use.?
Hi Nick, I live in Poland (Europe) and I really enjoy your movies! What I like in this video is brick houses, like in Europe😄 Additionally, what is very niticable to me, is tons of wires above the streets. In my city that is not common, I mean it happens, but most wires is hidden underground. Greetings from EU, keep doing great job!
From the earlly 1900's, many Poles came to Chester and settled in the West End and to a lesser degree in the East End. The Polish population was huge and was centered arount St. Hedwig's RC Church. It was a good place to live at that time but changed to the down- side around the 70's.
Have you don’t a documentary on Homewood, PA which is part of the city of Pittsburgh?
Ive heard the the Ethiopians are going to put a rock concert on for the USA
What was the main core of economic in this area? Is it possible to resurrect production or some ec activity?
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You're going to laugh at the sad irony, but one of Chester's major economic engines is the Covanta waste to energy plant. Chester burns trash for megawatts.
This is really not a city independent but is contiguous to Philadelphia, more like a suburb of Philadelphia. Small cities and towns that are contiguous to major cities are in effect just suburbs of that major city. Notice that SEPTA, the Philadelphia transit system, runs city buses through there. People who live here probably work, dine, and shop in Philadelphia which is a few miles away.
chester older than Philly...calm down and do your research. Chester the first city..so the row housing blue print was here first then adopted in Philly. William Penn original home In Upland PA. y'all people from Philly really are oblivious to Pennsylvania history.
Any where outside of Philly city limits is an independent city you don’t know what ur talking about
Septa. South East Pennsylvania Transit Authority. It runs everywhere in the S.E. part of the state. Chester is a city of its own.
Cities like Chester could thrive once again. That'd happen if people were to set aside their political differences and racial biases. Respect every culture and finance every venture.
This country could be a UTOPIA by the year 2027.
Well at least everyone has a shiny new cars. common theme in those dumps.
If your low income you get your hands on some assets you have to dump them buying a fancy car does that it does not pay to save money when your on benefits
I saw only a few "nice cars". Not a lot of flossing going on here just genuine 3rd world poverty.
@@JesusChrist2000BC 3rd World poverty? You're joking right? My neighbors here in Colombia would kill to live in these places.
@@rickyhall6687 Depends on which part of Colombia you are in. What city are you in? Because the places I've been to look better than this LMAO.
Sad
As a former resident of PA, and one who has been to Chester, I would say that what the hell happened is that PA is an example of a society that has lost its vision on a social level. Fortunately, many individuals have not lost that, and that is why there still are some genuine people among the dilapidation.
Genuinely wishing they had the means to get as far away from there as humanly possible.
This the reason we needed Trump's vision to bring back manufacturing. Focus on the US for a while to improve quality of life.
Somehow the poverty missed all the cars and SUVs
What did they do, clean the streets? Last time I was passing through, trash was all over downtown.
It just rained
Every time I watch one of your worse places to live vids it always astonishes me at the amount of nice shiny cars parked up 🤔🤔 some people must have money here ? I wonder what kind of people ??
it’s probably being financed at a 20%+ APR from a buy here pay here
They spend all their money on vehicles instead of housing. Many of the vehicles are usually reported stolen usually 😂
@@xoxoxoxoxo7997 who are they?
I always wondered that. Going to the food pantry, so many clients rolling up in Mercedes and Escalades, while my car barely started or ran. Always thought they made poor life decisions, buying an expensive car but no money for food.
illegal activity often funds them, that and new credit cards with very high interest rates, , loans that are too high to ever pay back,
Middle america, nice. Do you have a microphone on the outside of the car ?
No
You can kinda feel the lost 50s movie here, kids running around the alleyways trading bubblegum and asbestos.
My grandfather was from chester. It had Irish,Italian,polish, ect sections. People used to go to this city on sundays for a day out. And yes in the 50-60s by the 70's it was a dump
Funny there is supposed to be all this poverty there, yet the cars on the street are new or nearly new.
You don’t really see old cars anywhere any more, not like the old days, even the older cars look newer. Plus buy here pay here will sell to anyone.
In the 50 it was a great place to live I grew up on 3rd and butting st it breaks my heart to see this David Shahadi
I knew the Shahadi family well when we all lived in the same neighborhood and attended the same school and parish.
Nick, when are you posting your Dayton video? You mentioned during Chicago Live video, you were going to Dayton. 🤗
Coming up in a few weeks Kate :)
@@NickJohnson I'm curious to see if you went past Lohrey Recreation Center (named after Mayor Louis Lohrey--my relative) and on Grove Avenue (my cousin lives there--same house has been in my family for four generations). 🤗
Neighborhood has gone downhill tremendously but how do you sell a house that has been handed down generation after generation 😢
Travel through Trenton and points South along the Delaware River Valley and it's mostly bad, just a prime example of the area that once depended on manufacturing and when the jobs were gone and sent overseas, the communities went down as well.
how far is this from the philadelphia city its self
20 min
How sad they let all the buildings run down and yet they have new expensive cars. Seems like their priorities are a little messed up.
Not necessarily. They’ll give us a loan for a car before a house. Just pointing it out.
The city itself owns most of the dilapidated and run down buildings and won't do anything to improve them, while the citizens actually go to work in Philadelphia several miles away. This explains why people have enough to buy nice cars but have neighborhoods that look this way. This is the case for a lot of run down areas since it's usually not the residents of the area but the city's government itself.
The only way for places like this to become better, is to start manufacturing in them. America sent all the jobs overseas years ago. Now America is paying the price for this mistake. When jobs are sent overseas, it causes places like this, and others to become worse.
You want to buy phones and clothes cheap, thats what you get. America didnt send the jobs away, people did when they decided that buying new iphone every 6 months is more important than 10000 people from that factory having a job.
@@krzychch8937 It started way before that. I was in my teens and I saw it go down. Nixon and Kissinger wanted a trade deal in the 70's, and they pushed hard to get it. At first they wanted nothing to do with the western world and capitalism, however they agreed because they saw they could make money and build up their country, then slowly over the years jobs left the USA. Unions were affected. Business shut down. The big Corporations still made money because they still sold the items they sent overseas for the same price as they did before. Want to know what country got rich because of this??? Go to any local Walmart in the USA and look at the bottom of items sold in that store... Look at the sticker...That is where all the money in America is going. America has been feeding the giant that will one day destroy it.
Back in 2006, I was up in Niagara Falls, NY through the downtown areas there. Chester, PA here very much reminds me of that for there are alot of boarded up and abandoned buildings and businesses there as well.
Nick, what is your camera (iphone) mounted to? The transition when you pan left and right is so smooth 👏👏👏 How are you controlling the device if its mounted outside your vehicle?
I think the 'how you make' the video is as fascinating as the video content itself. 👍
He uses child labor
lol its a selfie stick
@@NickJohnson I need a better camera and mount--start a side hustle with UA-cam videos of bad drivers in St Louis 🤣
You should consider a DJI Pocket 2 with the wireless adapter. This way you can control all panning and recording from inside the car and you’ll appear less obvious than holding a selfie stick. I can hear people noticing your camera throughout the video.
@@johndelorean2284 Wow, that's expensive. I have a $10 dashcam-windshield mount, lol. Cheap, but its stiff and jerky when trying to pan.
This is my home town, it’s sad to see what’s happened to it. It wasn’t sweet when I was coming up, but it’s much worse now. I have to add though, there are way worse areas than the ones you drive though
what kind of bomb was used and when did it go off?
Looks like a lot of places in this great country.
Could I use some of this footage in a video?
I'm proudly from Chester. There is no damn way in hell! That Chester rates worse than; Detroit, East St. Louis, West Side of Chicago, Baltimore, 9th ward of New Orleans, Skid Row in LA., Bankhead in Atlanta, even McKeesport around Pittsburgh!! This is quite a joke! Chester has it's problems for sure! But look at the videos, he has on those other cities, and tell me how Chester is worse!!
My bad bro. I'm from southwest phila. 19143........Chester fucked and dumb wild. And coming from swp we know dumb wild when we see it. My bad yo. Hey atleast they ain't spin thru the Gardens. Lolololol
@@Connect200 You going to Philly and calling Chester a dump, shows your low IQ!
@@LS-pv4dh killa hill HGS
PA is finished!!! The only people that's delusional is the people who stayed. The Government is a third world Mafia organization.
When you drive through Detroit, you should make a portion of the video about Inkster
I lived in West Chester pa for a few months for work, I loved it. Now I’m back to miserable Long Island
Went to college in WC, beautiful place
West Chester is in Chester County. Chester is in Delaware County. West Chester is homely in most places. A college town. Chester is none of that. 2 completely different places.
Since you're doing vids on the armpits of Pennsylvania don't forget to do one on Shamokin.
I was hoping coatesville
Dang
Love you nick
By Nick Tunes I mean... where is the music??? Like the music you had on the St. Louis vid? Williamsport vid...
'One of the worst places to live in the whole country.'
Camden, NJ enters the chat.
I like that lil gray stone lookn house on tha right @ around 8:49....that wuza lil bright spot in this dreary video. This place looks totally fixable...😁😁😁
Go to Hazleton
Old mining town
Very few jobs
Buildings boarding up downtown
High rent
Notice that all the buildings that are unused and not maintained didn't just fall and crumble in one spot. How is that?
I don't understand how our local officials can let things get this bad. Wow.
They don't care.
We all have been a part of decay. I worked in a place that had 3 thousand people work, and so many of them were sleeping around. It's moral decay.
I totally understand .
elections have consequences.
@@donnafrflorida56 so sad.