Located in the heart of Center City Philadelphia, Midtown Village is bounded by Market Street to the north, 11th Street to the east, Spruce Street to the south, and Broad Street to the west (not including City Hall). This is, of course, within the Center City District (CCD), Philadelphia's downtown business improvement district, which covers a much broader geographic area. Both the CCD and Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC), which promotes regional attractions and events, partnered with the Midtown Village Merchants Association (MVMA) in the Midtown Village effort. Midtown Village also overlaps with neighborhood affectionately called the Gayborhood, popular for its many LGBT (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender) establishments and bounded by Walnut Street to the north, 11th Street to the east, Pine Street to the south, and Juniper Street to the west. Many members of the MVMA are proud members of Philadelphia's LGBT community and both the CCD and GPTMC have avidly promoted LGBT events and attractions centered around the Gayborhood.
This article from the Midtown Village website that discusses how stakeholders came up with the district's name inspired my contemplation of the Bard's eternal question uttered from Juliet's lips: "What's in a name? that which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet". Whether you call it simply Philly, the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection, or the Sixth Borough, it is pretty evident that Philadelphia is plagued by an identity crisis. Pennsylvania's premier city is still undergoing transformation from postindustrial city to the Next Great City. Bearing this in mind, I find the Midtown Village to be a more satisfying name than Blocks Below Broad (B3), proposed by developer Tony Goldman when he sparked investment in the area years ago.
