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LifeSurfer, an air bnb would be a great idea! Alas, I have a parrot who needs me home every night and it'd be impossible to drag up his very big cage. However, the current tenant is still in the apartment, so I'd be able to ask her questions when I see the apartment on Monday, like what the noise level and streets are like in the summer (thanks very much for that red flag, Ryu).
Walking around the area during the day seems fine and quiet but I am not sure about the evenings or when school lets out. In the near future the Olympic size pool in the high school will be renovated and open to the public, I am not sure what affect that might have on the area. I think Wadsworth up there is a bit nicer and Broadway is up and coming with a number of develops in the planning stages.
I thought I'd post an update on my original post. I ended up taking the apartment and even signing a two-year lease because I loved it so much. I've been living there a little over two months now and aside from maybe three incidents, it's been extremely quiet, even on weekends and even now that it's nearly July. I live on the first level but am offset from the street - it's a U-shaped building, and my apartment is located in the recessed portion of the building. I've found people to be respectful and quite nice and polite. My building is largely Dominican, though there is a mix of people, and has families, elderly people, and blue and white collar people. One of my neighbors grew up in my building since she was five years old and returned to raise her two own kids here (we talked each others' ears off for about an hour!). I can see where there are areas that would be very loud to live in nearby, but I think I lucked out with an apartment building that is in a bit of an enclave (I'm at the very end of Audubon Avenue to the north) and away from the hustle and bustle of other parts of the neighborhood. If you walk maybe four or five blocks down, the vibe definitely changes. But where I am, it's very lovely.
Thanks for the congrats, leoliu! Door to door from the minute I lock my front door to when I sit at my desk at work, it's 50 minutes if I'm too lazy to jump on the 2 or 3 express trains at 96th or 72nd Streets (catching the 1 train at 191st St., I'm almost always able to get a seat). 40 minutes if I'm not and all the trains arrive perfectly. But this apartment is amazing: 650-sq-ft one-bedroom, a courtyard garden that my living room window directly looks into, rent stabilized with water and heat included in the rent, entirely gut-renovated a year ago (the bathroom looks like it should be in a hotel), all new stainless steel kitchen appliances including a dishwasher, three blocks from the subway, great sunlight, a fantastic live-in super, in-building laundry, and an extremely wonderful landlord. All for $1575 (it was originally $1550 but I wanted a two-year lease, so the landlord tacked on an extra $25 a month). And since I was dealing directly with the landlord, who doesn't like brokers, I didn't have to pay a broker's fee, which was amazing! It is definitely a lucky find. I was struggling to find an apartment in Queens with those kinds of amenities and near the subway in the price range of $1600 or lower. I'm a homebody and originally I'm a Washington, DC, commuter from the suburbs of northern Virginia, so the commute isn't unfamiliar and is worth it to me. Though if my company decided to move offices to the western upper reaches of Manhattan, I wouldn't complain at all.
I thought I'd post an update on my original post. I ended up taking the apartment and even signing a two-year lease because I loved it so much. I've been living there a little over two months now and aside from maybe three incidents, it's been extremely quiet, even on weekends and even now that it's nearly July. I live on the first level but am offset from the street - it's a U-shaped building, and my apartment is located in the recessed portion of the building. I've found people to be respectful and quite nice and polite. My building is largely Dominican, though there is a mix of people, and has families, elderly people, and blue and white collar people. One of my neighbors grew up in my building since she was five years old and returned to raise her two own kids here (we talked each others' ears off for about an hour!). I can see where there are areas that would be very loud to live in nearby, but I think I lucked out with an apartment building that is in a bit of an enclave (I'm at the very end of Audubon Avenue to the north) and away from the hustle and bustle of other parts of the neighborhood. If you walk maybe four or five blocks down, the vibe definitely changes. But where I am, it's very lovely.
Sounds like you really lucked out with the QOL issues of that area.A lot of people who take the gamble don't last a year.A work colleague of mine rented an apartment just a few blocks from there (in SE Inwood actually but only a few blocks from you) last Fall and is so horrified by the QOL issues in his immediate area already that he has sublet the apartment for the Summer and is moving to The Bronx in the Fall.This is someone who lived on the lower East side before moving there.I went there a couple of weeks ago for a visit and was pretty shocked,even though I have always known that East Of Broadway could be dicey.I couldn't believe what was going on on the block,right outside his building and I work in the South Bronx. Can't say I felt it was unsafe per se although some of the characters were pretty mean looking but OMG, facing that scene every day and night would drive me up the wall.
Another (former) colleague teaches at GW High School which is practically next door to you and says the atmosphere in the school is a nightmare….like things were back in the 80's early 90's.
Sounds like you really lucked out with the QOL issues of that area.A lot of people who take the gamble don't last a year.A work colleague of mine rented an apartment just a few blocks from there (in SE Inwood actually but only a few blocks from you) last Fall and is so horrified by the QOL issues in his immediate area already that he has sublet the apartment for the Summer and is moving to The Bronx in the Fall.This is someone who lived on the lower East side before moving there.I went there a couple of weeks ago for a visit and was pretty shocked,even though I have always known that East Of Broadway could be dicey.I couldn't believe what was going on on the block,right outside his building and I work in the South Bronx. Can't say I felt it was unsafe per se although some of the characters were pretty mean looking but OMG, facing that scene every day and night would drive me up the wall.
Another (former) colleague teaches at GW High School which is practically next door to you and says the atmosphere in the school is a nightmare….like things were back in the 80's early 90's.
As a homebody, I don't go out much but I leave for work at 7 AM and I've never felt the area to be dodgy. Even the surrounding area. I've never been accosted and have never seen anyone else harassed. I was out at 9 PM last Friday and on Audubon, I mainly saw people hanging out on the sidewalk watching their kids play - I thought that was great and it reminded me a bit of when I grew up (in the suburbs where there was grass instead of concrete but it was still nice to see kids outside playing). St. Nick's was certainly more rambunctious, but it was nothing overwhelming. Certainly, in my opinion, better than "Frat Row," as I called the stretch of 3rd Avenue in the lower east 30s where my old apartment was.
As for the QoL of my building, it may be because it's very cut off by Harlem River Park from other streets, and it's buffered by the high school, too. It's also probably due to the fact that my landlord likes to meet everyone who rents in his building. Apparently back in the day, he was adamant about kicking out troublemakers. There are also longtimers here who've likely been living here for decades and it seems that people stay here a long time (something he told me proudly when I was first inquiring about my apartment). He works hard to keep the place nice and his tenants happy, I think - and the building is definitely his baby. The courtyard garden is beautiful and there are still upgrades in the works to the building, like installing fountains in the lobbies and embellishing the art nouveau wrought-iron front gate. Flowers are planted every spring and summer and the trees and bushes pruned, watered, and cared for. It's definitely a very special place. My landlord is also involved in community groups that meet about the neighborhood, too. I think a lot of people want to see the Heights become even safer and nicer for all. I think, too, for those who survived the rough drug war years in this neighborhood (like my neighbor), they deserve that. This article from 1998 is so saddening, and I hope for those who were around then and who are still here that it's gotten much better for them.
As for the school, it is right across the street from me, but when it lets out, the kids don't tend to hang around. Sometimes I hear big a crowd cheering during an evening game, but I think that's nice. I went to a public high school myself that served both the working class town (where I was from) and the neighboring wealthy town. So I was in classes with all kinds of kids and I just try to remember that I was once loud and obnoxious, too. Probably not as much as some of these kids because I was a wallflower, but I'm sure I had my moments! It just makes me a little sad that they probably don't appreciate the beauty of the GW HS building - but at their age, I don't think I would have either!
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and it'd be impossible to drag up his very big cage. However, the current tenant is still in the apartment, so I'd be able to ask her questions when I see the apartment on Monday, like what the noise level and streets are like in the summer (thanks very much for that red flag, Ryu).
