28 responses so far ↓

• 1 petrol // Sep 25, 2003 at 8:47 pm

  Ft Greene, Billyburg (as the hipsters call it), Greenpoint and CG - your best bet is either CG or FG. Sensa was/is from the CG area. She’ll tell you what’s what. Until recently, I lived on State Street (green, quiet, beautiful), bet. Hoyt and Bond. A five min walk to Smith Street and all. To tell you the truth, I hated giving up my lil awesome apartment… been missing it eversince. A good part of my tripod blog is about my adventures in BK. Sift through the ramblings and you’ll find tidbits of useful info here and there. Linkylove (start here)> e55ential petrol

• 2 tien // Sep 25, 2003 at 11:33 pm

  uh…don’t the hipsters actually call it billburg?

  oh, my vote is for greenpoint…since i might move there and everything. if that ever happens.

• 3 petrol // Sep 26, 2003 at 12:39 am

  Not a hipster so I wouldn’t know, but one gets wind of the heavy hipster activity on CL, so. GP’s ok. Friend of mine found a 2BR for 1500. Heat included, dishwasher in a large kitch, among other things. How’s that for a sweet deal? The really good rates are in Prospect Heights and Clinton Hill… though there is a palpable lack of nightlife (or things to do, for that matter) in these two nabes. CG, BH (Boerum Hill), CH (Cobble Hill) rock both pricewise and quality of nightlife/things to do ^_^

• 4 rachelle // Sep 26, 2003 at 12:55 am

  I was going to ask about Prospect Heights.. I’m glad you mentioned it.

  Williamsburg really does have too many hipsters. I’m not cool enough to live there, really, and was just keeping it on the list because if something really good came up I’d still move there.. and there’s a little bit of a soft spot for the neighborhood because that’s where I walk dogs on occassion.

  My friends Chuck & Tiffany have a great place in Carroll Gardens. I don’t know the neighborhood too well, but from what I’ve seen it’s good. Also, a former co-worker has a place near there.. but I think it’s in Boreum Hill?

  I’ve never actually been to Greenpoint, but a coworker, Eric, just moved there and is trying to convince me that there’s no other place to even consider. I’m concerned about whether there’s really easy subway access there and how far the commute to Tribeca (work) is. I’m so spoiled by my 10 minute walk to work right now. .. but I kind of miss the subway commute.. just so it’s not tooooo long.

• 5 tien // Sep 26, 2003 at 1:19 am

  well, there is the G(hetto) train, which you would take to the L at lorimer, which is then two stops from manhattan. or you can just walk to the bedford L stop (1st in brooklyn), which depending where you are can be 10-15 minutes.

• 6 petrol // Sep 26, 2003 at 1:26 am

  From what I’ve seen of Prospect Heights, it’s ok. Not too shabby, rent is relatively cheap. My friend Dan who tends bar at Soda is the guy to ask, since he lives there. Soda btw, is the afterhours bar you’ve always dreamed about. Friendly locals, great selection of drinks, great pub fare, pool table, garden in the back, fair amount of tables. That kinda thing.

  To be completely honest? I’ve only passed WB on my to the airport everytime I’d fly to Chicago and back. Never been, don’t care. Hipness is overhyped, no offense to the truly hip out there.

  CG is quiet, in the original sense. Nobody makes noise cos it’s an old Mob nabe. That is, all the Mob’s grandparents live there, so it’s as they say - safe as houses. I’d live in CG except that I like throwing the occassional party or two. But for sheer accessibility to subway, stores, boutiques, bars, restos, delis/bodegas, pizza, MTO and CTO (respectively: Mexican takeout/Chinese takeout) - nothing beats CG/Boerum Hill/Cobble Hill. They’ve even come up with a name for it: BoCoCa. (Silly sounding… but it’s all about marketing). For more info check out bococa.com. Crossref this map with my bar/resto survey of Smith Street and you’ll see what I mean ^_^

  Distance to subway (door-to-door from home to work), I don’t know about GP. People I know in GP live and work in Brooklyn so I can’t help you there. But from my old flat on State St it was >5 min walk to the subway and 20 to get to midtown. Not too shabby. I rather enjoyed the daily morning commute. (Ever see that SNL skit on the F train dance?

• 7 rachelle // Sep 26, 2003 at 7:20 am

  no.. but i hate the F train.. i know i’m just going to have to deal with it.

• 8 rachelle // Sep 26, 2003 at 7:26 am

  the G only runs in Brooklyn, right? see.. if I lived there I’d have to take the G to the L to the 1/9 or ACE at 14th. If I was more down by cobble hill/carroll gardens/park slope, etc. I would take the F to West 4th and walk or else transfer to the ACE there.

  i’m getting a headache. heh.

• 9 tien // Sep 26, 2003 at 7:50 am

  actually, the G train also runs into queens.

• 10 el // Sep 26, 2003 at 10:21 am

  soon i’ll be the only person i know living in manhattan.

• 11 Brian Poulsen // Sep 26, 2003 at 4:28 pm

  Rachelle - What camera do you use to shoot your pictures. There’s some really great ones among them.
  Monday Today the store promised me that I’ll get my Canon EOS 300d.. I’m sooo looking forward to that.

• 12 dahl // Sep 29, 2003 at 8:57 am

  Park Slope is great, but is a bit of a hike from Manhattan. If you want Brooklyn but a short commute, your best bet, besides Williamsburg, is Dumbo or Brooklyn Heights - Dumbo is the first stop in Brooklyn on the A, 2/3 or F. Tons of fun bars, nice movie theatre, good restaurants. Definately bordering NY prices though, so a cheap place might be hard to come by. Carrol Gardens is really nice too, but more family neighborhood.

• 13 jeannette // Sep 29, 2003 at 11:10 am

  my vote is for DUMBO! of course.
  i went to starbucks the other day and the cashier was excited to talk to me about greenpoint. he said the area near williamsburg is nicer (he lived in the not-so-nice area). i have no idea what the geography, culture or travel-time is like around there.

  the chip shop is in park slope, right? yet another reason to move there…

  the nice thing is that you have time to look around for places and to be choosy. that’s the best possible position to be in. my friend scored an amazing 1BR in chelsea like that ($1050/month in 1998).

  btw, i saw the article featuring mark and wendy. that was hilarious!! if you move to park slope, you’re not going to move out to montclair, are you?

• 14 rachelle // Sep 29, 2003 at 11:37 am

  thank you for the info, everyone. . soon i’ll find a place i can afford in a neighborhood that suits me.. i just need to be patient.

  brian, i use a Canon PowerShot S200 Digital Elph camera

• 15 callalillie // Sep 29, 2003 at 11:58 am

  It’s interesting to read everyone’s opinions about neighborhoods.

  I think that the key in all of this is giving yourself time. Park Slope is definitely pricey, but that doesn’t mean that there are cheaper things out there…you just have to lurk and watch. 5th Avenue in Park Slope is a good place to look.

  Carroll Gardens is nice– keep in mind that what brokers/advertizers call CG can really be anywhere in Gowanus, CG, Cobble Hill, and Boerum Hill, all of which are nice (well, Gowanus is getting there slowly). I currently live on the border of CG and Cobble Hill and really like it, however in a few weeks I’m moving to Park Slope.

  Prospect Heights is really nice…and don’t forget Windsor Terrace, which can also be nice. I don’t think that Park Slope is that bad of a commute– and it will get better when they put all of the trains back to their old stops.

  As for DUMBO…as someone who lived in and witnessed 1300sqft apartments for $600, DUMBO is so ridiculously overpriced it kills me.

• 16 petrol // Sep 29, 2003 at 3:42 pm

  Right about CG: Gowanus isn’t quite there yet, but Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill and Boerum Hill have a nice balance of old Brooklyn flavor, chic stores, places to go to/things to do and for what I call “the nice price”. Doesn’t make your wallet scream by the time you have to pay for it. All I remember of WT is this one BR apartment for 800$ in an uncharming industrial area. The guy renting it out was upstairs painting the entire space some ghastly shade of red and had the longest line of prospectives through the stairs, out in the courtyard and on the street. An open house that felt more like a casting call for MTV’s Real World Brooklyn than anything else. But sorry, I digress.

  DUMBO is very pretty, yes. But hella-expensive. Brooklyn Heights is old money, and fwiw - one’s better off in Boerum/Cobble Hill and taking the occassional walks to the Promenade downtown BH.

  Callalillie’s right. Give yourself time, scout out the nabes one by one, a couple of days for each. Craigslist has sometimes been helpful for feedback, but nothing beats actually surveying the area for yourself.

  (This feels like a contest: “Which Nabe In Brooklyn Gets Rachelle?” or something. It’s kinda cool.

• 17 rachelle // Sep 29, 2003 at 4:11 pm

  should i have an auction?

  there was a place that i was going to look at that was on 5th btw 22/23. it was advertised as park slope, but isnt that more like sunset park?

• 18 petrol // Sep 29, 2003 at 5:32 pm

  An auction sounds brill. Have the realtors go after _you_ instead of the other way round for once. Re: 5th bet 22/23: How close is it to Chinatown 3?
  Don’t know much bout SP aside from CT3, sorry DX

• 19 Anonymous // Sep 30, 2003 at 9:22 am

  Shameless Housing Plug

  You know you want to live in sunny, cute, and fun Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens.

• 20 callalillie // Sep 30, 2003 at 11:09 am

  The “official” Park Slope zoning is from 3rd Ave to Prospect Park West, from Flatbush to 20th Street.

  Helpful neighorhood links:
  NY Metro

  Small Town Brooklyn

• 21 Patrice // Dec 27, 2003 at 3:55 pm

  I will soon be commuting by car from south shore of LI to Park Slope Brooklyn. I have heard from people about taking Ocean Parkway from Southern state, but I cannot find directions for that route, anyone know an easier way so as to avoid Grand Army Plaza?

• 22 Clair // Apr 7, 2004 at 6:37 pm

  Hi,
  I’m moving to NY from Virginia soon as I have a new job as prof at Wagner College in Staten Island. My 20 year old son will be living with us and going to culinary school in Tribeca and I need a good place for a large family to live and for both of us to commute. I’m leaning towards Park Slope. I also have a 2 year old and hear it’s very family friendly. How are the commutes to north shore Staten Island from there?
  Clair

• 23 jj // May 10, 2004 at 10:25 am

  we (married couple w 2 yr old loves park, moved here from manhattan after 9/11) live 10th st btwn 7 & 8, park slope. we have a small 2 bed and pay 1800. there are much better deals out there. 2 bewares: 1. price desparity and inflation because some rich people move here and go through brokers, dramatically inflating some buildings. go through craigs list and by word of mouth. also, there are few building code rules that apply to 3 family and below buildings, so assume that no improvements will be made after you move in. there are some great buildings and also some dumps, all go for the same price. better if landlord lives in building or hood.
  2. hipper the further south you go betwn 9th and 16 getting hot fast, 5th and above.
  3. buying getting too pricey for the non-criminal class — a decent house on our block over a mil now. wanna buy here get that mba and work at a fortune 100 or your screwed, unless your benefactor already did that. of course, this means that the neighborhood is changing, at least between 7th and the park, with artists moving elsewhere and the bankers moving in. that said there’s nothing more lovely than enjoying that park on a asunny day like today.

• 24 sharon // May 11, 2004 at 3:02 pm

  I am looking to move to Park Slope in September. Aside from Craigslist any other way to go w/o paying huge fees? Thanks!

• 25 robyn // May 29, 2004 at 9:35 am

  Hey, maybe someone here has a clue. I just moved to nyc a month ago, by way of san francisco, new orleans, & d.c.. and Now i work in brooklyn, dumbo, to be exact ( with an architecture firm). I am subletting on the upper west side for the summer so i can check out hoods in BK and lower manhattan. I need some tips on exploring brooklyn, while still being convenient to the f, 23, ac trains. So work people tend to live in bococa,greenpoint,park slope, clinton hill,etc. And they’ve suggested some interesting subway stops to check out. I love the feel of dumbo, on the verge of an upcoming area, a little dirty with a sprinkle of super clean. I like how you wouldn’t really know you’re there unless someone told you. and there’s always something hidden and new to discover. But its just too close to work to live there and i want something similar that isn’t tainted by corporate america on every corner. jah know. so i like it local, and vegetarian friendly i guess. But i don’t see what the big deal is about williamsburg, everyone says the L at bedford avenue, but it wasn’t what i expected. it seemed kind of dead to me. are there others good stops in williamsburg on the l or the g or something, what’s all the hype about, anyways? (I mean i’m used to magazine street and lower decatur & the 8th ward in new orleans, which is the hood feel i like.) parkslope area was interesting, and i tried to check out smith avenue of the f train but maybe i didn’t find it because it seemed kind of sketch to me by the lowes. Maybe some direction would be helpful.

• 26 Bev Clark // Jun 11, 2004 at 6:27 pm

  Hi all, wondered about sunset park. Have a daughter with a new job there. Should she consider moving near there? If so, how close? Pricey? Thanks.

• 27 naomi // Jul 9, 2004 at 10:33 am

  I was wondering what anyone thought about Williamsburg/Greenpoint around where Graham street is on the L train. There is lots of new construction going on around there, but the projects are so close.

• 28 cturner // Aug 10, 2004 at 8:53 pm

  I will be moving to New York, going to NYU to do my master, I am looking for an inexpensive apartment in Parkslope,or any where close by.know of any place…please let me know…..a studio or a one bedroom.