Lady Godiva, (detail), (c. 1897), by John Collier (British, 1850 – 1934), oil on canvas, 142.2 cm (55.9 in) x 183 cm (72 in), Herbert Art Gallery & Museum
Okay, so there are two Gotham born and raised bat fam members who are always being said to have grown up in the wrong neighborhoods and it drives me insane. And like, canon is a sandbox and all that and if you want to imagine something different for your goofy scenarios or fan fiction or whatever, that's cool. I just want to set the record straight for anyone who doesn't know the facts first. Know the rules before you break them and all that.
This is the official map of Gotham from No Man's Land, and the updated Post Flashpoint version with the Narrows.
Jason Todd
Always being put in the Narrows. The Narrows didn't exist when he was first introduced. It's a new neighborhood, speaking for canon. I get it. It's a lower income neighborhood with new relevance given that it's where Duke Thomas grew up.
Jason Todd is from Park Row, an area that once had the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor but became known as Crime Alley after the Waynes died outside the Monarch Theater in Park Row and became one of the lowest income and highest crime rate areas of Gotham. Period. Jason Todd and Bruce Wayne meet in Park Row because Bruce parked his Batmobile there, near the theater, on the anniversary of his parents' deaths and Jason stole the tires. He made Bruce laugh on the anniversary of his parents' deaths near the spot where they died. It's very important to his character and his relationship with Bruce that he is from Park Row/Crime Alley.
(Batman 1940 #408)
Stephanie Brown
I see her dropped into Crime Alley or the Narrows a lot as well. I get it. Like Jason, her father is a criminal who did a lot of prison time and her mother has a drug addiction problem. Her similarities with Jason are likely why she was treated so poorly and why not double down and have her grow up in the same neighborhood as him? However, Jason’s father was, for lack of better word, goon for Harvey Dent (the Penguin post Flashpoint) and died in prison by Harvey (or didn't and became...you know what? Nevermind. I disregard all post Flashpoint background for Jason anyway), whereas Stephanie's father is the B-List criminal Cluemaster. She grew up in the Coventry, a suburban neighborhood within Gotham. Her mother worked at West Mercy Hospital. She might not have had a lot of money, but she was never living on the streets and stealing car parts to survive.
(Robin 1993 #60)
And yes, Stephanie was pregnant as a teen, and gave birth to a child she gave away for adoption. She got pregnant by a boyfriend who left her immediately before she started dating Tim, and Tim helped her out through her whole pregnancy. Including taking her to lamaze classes in disguise or disguising himself as a nurse in the hospital when she was in labor. She did not cheat on Tim.
You know what?
Tim Drake
Do I also like to pretend sometimes that the Drakes had the manor next to Wayne Manor for a long time and never sold it? Yes. I understand the appeal. But it's not a fact.
The boy actually never had a stable home his entire career as Robin, and that likely was not a recent trend. His parents had many properties within Gotham City, a penthouse in Robinson Park and so on and so forth. Tim grew up in boarding schools, went to public school while as Robin before being sent back to boarding school by Jack because he kept ditching class for Robin, and then back to public school before dropping out to find Bruce. His housing situation was never much better, as he never lived in one place with his parents for more than 6 months at time. Here, this goes into it better.
“It’s the only place we’ve lived more than six months in.” Thinking about this and mentally re-evaluating my speculations on where Tim lived
