Are Philadelphians friendly? Philly kindness is an ‘acquired taste.’

My first impression of Philadelphia was the former Filbert Street Greyhound bus station. As an 18-year-old Ecuadorian girl, I was never allowed to venture in my native country, but was miraculously allowed to go on a monthlong vacation abroad.

Maybe it was my youth or tendency to see the best in people, but I never stopped to question the affability of Philly.

That is until a Rocky fan from London who’s planning a visit reached out to Curious Philly, The Inquirer’s forum for questions about the city and region, wondering: Are Philly people friendly?

Sitting at LOVE Park, native Philadelphian Benjamin Doctor, 24, compared the overall vibe of the city to California singer Tyler, the Creator.

“It’s an acquired taste,” Doctor said. “A lot of people at first, they be like ‘whoa’ but then after a while you’ll be like ‘OK, no, they’re actually good people, I can vibe with it.’”

Philly is quirky that way. After all, it is the city that instead of getting offended when a president said “Bad things happen in Philadelphia,” put the phrase on a shirt and added a Gritty to it — the saying lives on the back of my phone case.

This doesn’t mean Philadelphians aren’t nice, said Sabrina Njau, 25.

“It’s more so … intense and passionate about the city, about the sports, about the places, the food, the culture, just an intense amount of pride that just comes off in that way,” Njau said.

Having been raised in Philadelphia, she hopes visitors realize the city has “a lot of heart.”

“I promise you we are friendly. Just say hi and then keep it light and I’m sure if you get lost, you’re gonna find yourself somewhere exciting,” Njau said.

Like some Philadelphians, Martin and Ann Itzkowitz — New York transplants who have lived more than 50 years in Philly — are willing to tell tourists where they’ve gone wrong. Martin Itzkowitz, 85, confesses to sometimes getting frustrated by the amount of people lined up around the Philadelphia Museum of Art to see the Rocky statue.

“I yell out of the window ‘the real art is in the museum’,” he said with a chuckle.

That is the wonder of Philadelphia residents, they are not afraid to speak their minds. Lizzy Simpson, a 20-year-old new Philly resident, says the city has “Big Bird energy,” after the Sesame Street character.

“It’s loud and it takes up space,” Simpson said. “You’ll just love the city when you first come at the surface level, but as you get to know the people more, it has deeper value, community.”

On a scorching hot Monday, I got a peak of that.

After seven years living in Philly, my path has only crossed another Ecuadorian once — until I heard a familiar accent excitingly taking pictures by the Rocky statue at the bottom of the Art Museum.

Abraham Cheing, 51, had traveled from the coast of Ecuador to see the statue of one of his childhood heroes: Rocky.

Despite having a lung condition that makes breathing difficult, he was set on climbing the Art Museum steps just like he had seen Balboa do back in the 1970s.

In less than a minute, he was striking Rocky’s pose at the top.

“I thought I wasn’t going to make it, but as soon as I set foot on the first step it reminded me of seeing Rocky run through the [Italian Market] and make his way here,” Cheing said, taking deep breaths. “It made me feel part of the city.”

Another thing that made him feel welcome on his first visit to Philly was people’s hospitality, Cheing said. From the moment he was trying to figure out how to get to the Art Museum and the Rocky merch stand, he was able to find a Philadelphian to help.

So are Philadelphians friendly people? I would channel Lemony Snicket and say Philly is a conundrum of esoterica where one thing is certain: Philadelphians show up.

They might not be the friend who answers your text within seconds, but they are the friend who is the first to be there when life gets too real.

Philadelphians are kind, not necessarily nice. Kindness isn’t shallow or about meeting social expectations or keeping up an image. Kindness is genuine.

If you are in doubt, remember, everyone in this story stopped to answer multiple questions from a reporter they didn’t even know.