Horton Road, a one-way, two-block lane, is a tight-knit, middle-class neighborhood where children play together outdoors.

Even with all its troubles, Waterbury is, at its heart, a working-class town, with tight-knit ethnic neighborhoods and even a smattering of wealth among the poverty.

The couple never expected to find a posh duplex - three levels, two decks and a magnificent kitchen - in a tight-knit, family neighborhood in the Bronx.

Still, "it continues to be a friendly, tight-knit neighborhood," he said, although "you never enjoy having a dispute in your midst."

A bank had foreclosed on the Beers family home here, in a tight-knit suburban neighborhood of split-level ranch homes and manicured lawns.

And the rest of the cops aren't getting any information in a tight-knit neighborhood when a repairman is shot to death.

Like others in this tight-knit neighborhood, the Hagans' extended family lived close, with 16 family members - three generations - in three houses.

They had a synagogue and a tight-knit neighborhood, and they operated local shops.

Washington Street, commonly called "the avenue", was never boarded up, and the tight-knit neighborhoods remained home to many who were still proud of their city.

Mr. Gasper said Philadelphia was a city of old, tight-knit small neighborhoods where residents commonly bought homes, raised their families and then stayed.