Social Diary: The Great Divide

Putnam isn’t alone in being geographically confused. “On the Main line, I don’t even know if I’m in Radnor or Bryn Mawr,” PR exec Alison Grove says one day from her car. “Right now I’m driving, and I have to make a stop in Wynnewood, and then I have a meeting in Villanova, and it seems like this road is stretching out forever.”

And for Main Liners who think there’s only one thing in Blue Bell — the Blue Bell Inn — well, that’s just not true. There are actually two things. There’s also a Home Goods store.

“It’s hopeless,” says Breslow of the Great Divide. “There are only two ways for Main Liners to come to this side — to visit friends, or if there’s something up here that they don’t have, like Ikea.” He pauses. “Ironically, Ikea moved from Plymouth Meeting to be closer to the Main Line.”

But not everyone agrees. In fact, one Main Liner, Bryn Mawr resident and blogger Kelly Rowell, envies the charm of quirky, cobblestoned Chestnut Hill, and has nothing negative to say about Birkenstock-wearing matrons. “Chestnut Hill is what the Main Line should look like,” she enthuses. “Why is Lancaster Avenue such a dump? Germantown Road is so lovely, and you can walk around to all the little boutiques and antique places and have lunch.” (It’s actually Germantown Avenue, but Rowell lives in Bryn Mawr, after all.)

As for myself, I found out several shocking things when I moved five years ago from Merion to Lower Gwynedd. For one thing, who knew that Skippack Pike and Route 73 are the exact same road? Or that the Ambler movie theater has gone art-house and is showing movies like Crazy Heart? Main Line friends have been jealous to hear that there are two drive-thru Starbucks within 10 minutes of my house. Many of our friends have even driven over to Gwynedd.

There’s an Osaka in Chestnut Hill, just like there is in Wayne, and it’s got great music and the best vegetarian sushi. You don’t have to wear argyles or pearls to either one, unless you want to.