West Oak Lane, Philadelphia

West Oak Lane
Neighborhood of Philadelphia
John L. Kinsey School in West Oak Lane, September 2010
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
County	Philadelphia County
City	Philadelphia
Area code(s)	Area code 215

West Oak Lane is a neighborhood in the Upper Northern section of Philadelphia. The neighborhood was developed primarily between the early 1920s and late 1930s, with the areas near to Cedarbrook constructed after World War II. At the northeast corner of Limekiln Pike and Washington Lane was the site of the Cedar Park Inn, an historic tavern built in the early 19th century, which was torn down sometime after 1931 as the neighborhood was being fully developed.

Although it was predominately Caucasian from its inception until the mid-1960s, West Oak Lane is now one of Philadelphia's middle-class African American communities.

The neighborhood is known throughout the city for its jazz festival. The West Oak Lane Jazz Festival has been held in mid-June since 2003. Artists such as Chaka Khan, Teena Marie, Jeffrey Osbourne and Chrisette Michele have performed at the West Oak Lane Jazz Festival. However, since March 2012, the West Oak Lane Jazz Festival has been cancelled. “The festival was never supposed to be something that was going to last forever,” the Ogontz Avenue Revitilization Corporation (OARC) director of marketing and public relations Naja Killebrew stated. "We accomplished everything we wanted to do with it."

The neighborhood has distinct architecture that separates it from surrounding neighborhoods. Along with larger and sometimes detached houses, West Oak Lane also has many tree-lined streets and small yards. In 2005, the 19126 and 19138 ZIP codes, which contain West Oak Lane, had a median home sale price of $113,200. This was a 34-percent increase over the median price in 2004. The median home sale price as of April 2015 was $122,941, which was a 1.2% percent increase from the previous year.

•Bounded by Cheltenham Avenue (Beyond lay Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania)

•Bounded by Broad Street (Beyond lay East Oak Lane, Philadelphia)

•Bounded by Washington Lane (Beyond lay Cedarbrook, Philadelphia/Stenton)

•Bounded by Stenton Avenue; portion west of Wister Street (beyond lay East Germantown, Philadelphia)

•Bounded by Stenton Avenue; portion east of Wister Street (beyond lay Ogontz, Philadelphia/Belfield)