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Fresh Pond Rd is at the border of ridgewood not the heart and the area is a mix of cultures not just polish. granted around fresh pond rd. there may be alot of Europeans such as Polish, Albanian ,etc. but Ridgewood has alot of Hispanics, Arabs and people from Nepal and a growing number of black people moving into Ridgewood. Ridgewood is not as deep as Knickerbocker but at the same time it's more than just Fresh Pond Rd. People confuse that avenue for being the only block in Ridgewood for some reason because they continue to mention it as the main block but like I've mentioned before in previous posts Ridgewood runs from around Fresh Pond Rd. to Wyckoff ave. A decent area to live in but has its problems like every other neighborhood.
I'm new to the board. But I would love to chime in here. I have live in Ridgewood for the past 4 years. And I do not feel the lest bit unsafe here. I've never had any trouble.
freshpond rd by the M train is the heart of Ridgewood and it is a very nice nabe with lots of polish
From what I understand alot of Polish people in Ridgewood are coming from Greenpoint in Brooklyn which is getting rather pricey.Personally I like the Polish and other Eastern European culture with their lively music and their delicious cuisine. They are an asset to Ridgewood with their restaurants,bakeries etc. A little old world influence.
I've always considered Fresh Pond Rd to be Myrtle Ave's more attractive sister. The avenue is clean and very safe, with a nice mix of Italian eateries, chain stores (subway, dunkin donuts), cozy ethnic bakeries and polish restaurants. It's truly the heart of the "Old World" Ridgewood. The houses to the east of Fresh Pond are great. There's always couples out on the stoops and kids throwing baseballs around.
If you want to live in Ridgewood, look for apartments east of Seneca. On the safe side, try to stay as close to Fresh Pond and as far away from Brooklyn as possible. The area around the Wyckoff stop on the L train is very run-down and ugly.
Knickerbocker Avenue isn't Ridgewood, not even close. It's runs through the heart of Bushwick.
Ridgewoods borders-
Metropolitan Avenue-North
Traffic Avenue-East
Cooper Avenue-South
Cypress Avenue-West
Don't know why people here think it's a bad area. I live near Fresh Pond Road and come home at 12-1am almost everynight and I never see anything bad happen. I know it gets shady once you get near the Brooklyn border but even around there its not that bad. I moved here from Ozone Park 2 years ago and I feel much safer here.
I agree. I think a lot of people who posted on here haven't been to Ridgewood in a decade or more. Some streets in Ridgewood are reminiscent of quaint NYC back in the 20s and 30s. There are some gorgeous, quiet, tree-lined blocks. Crime will occur, as this is NYC--but there are 20 neighborhoods + in NYC much worse than Ridgewood. Ridgewood is becoming well-gentrified and more liveable. Still a lot of work to do, but the neighborhood is coming back and is a decent place to get a large apartment for less $$.
I agree with jjbradleynyc. If you notice, even the schools around here are getting better as well. For example, I.S.77, I.S.93, and Grover Cleveland HS had reputations of being schools with gang problems and violence but especially in Grover Cleveland's case, that has changed dramatically from the time that I used to attend that school. Hopefully, it remains this way despite these economic times of hardship.
Buskwick is a neighborhood with good people, don't let the skin color scare you gentrifying racist hipsters. Anyway, Ridgewood is a really nice neighborhood and you'll have Myrtle ave. for shopping and great priced restaurants. It's a safe place.
I agree with jjbradleynyc. If you notice, even the schools around here are getting better as well. For example, I.S.77, I.S.93, and Grover Cleveland HS had reputations of being schools with gang problems and violence but especially in Grover Cleveland's case, that has changed dramatically from the time that I used to attend that school. Hopefully, it remains this way despite these economic times of hardship.
I graduated from Cleveland in 2007, never had any problems in that school and had some really good friends there.
Bushwick is still a dangerous area, and the western portions of Ridgewood are sketchy aswell. I noticed that the vast majority of crime that happens within the 104th precient happens around Cypress Avenue or Seneca. Eastern Ridgewood is very safe however.
Yea when I graduated from Cleveland, it wasn't so nice... And from what I've heard recently as I've been trying to get a job there, it's not that great anymore... I live right around there and about 3 times a week I see the ambulance taking another kid away... now granted some of these times are from heat exhaustion but other times it's due to stab wounds... Last year there was a gang fight that happened when the comissioner was visiting and 50 gang members from the school fought it out and were arrested... I was speaking to one of the many teachers who left that school after that year and he told me how the school had become filled with spanish gangs... Trinitatios own the 2nd floor, kings the 3rd floor and while there are some good students there that do well and end up going to college, too many students in that school are not doing the right things and are once again damaging the reputation of the school... same goes for 93 and 77 right now... I teach at 93 and I see the problems with gangs this school has... And we are working to help parents become aware of these things but many times it's the parents themselves with their ghetto mindsets that create these problems with their children...
And I think that it's not only the Bushwick border, the influences of Bushwick have crept closer and closer to the Glendale and Maspeth borders and even parts of Grandview closer to Cleveland have their fair share of problems with the kids living there as well... I live on Grandview and right on top of a mafia owned coffee shop is a Puerto Rican guy that has his gang meetings at night time around 8pm when noone's around... And really from Woodward down to Wyckoff is where you begin to see the problems more frequently... granted, the city as a whole including Ridgewood aren't as bad as they use to be... But I live in the area and I've lived here for about 15 years and I can tell you that gang problems from the people living in this neighborhood has never been higher than it has been between 2007-2010... So far this year, it has been quiet but those four years was when I really began to see graffitti gang tags pop out and fights erupt between different hispanic gangs...
I'll give you though that for the overwhelming most part, Freshpond Rd., Forest ave, and Fairview are still great blocks... the others however are hit and miss...
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