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I've lived in NYC for 30 years and to read something like Williamsburg is the best area in Brooklyn made me laugh. It's like the biggest housing project area with tons of crack dealers and prostitutes hangout area, now some 20 years later you call it the best place in Brooklyn. Even today the area has transformed it's still not a very good place because the area is so crowded, cramped, and disorganized. LIC is a lot better and has tons of new buildings and closer to NYC yet people don't hype up about the area.
Williamsburg is a large area. And the specific area I mention of is the best part of Brooklyn IMO. Not IYO, but IMO. I don't hang in the PJs, smoke crack or bang prostitutes. That's all you.
I've lived in NYC for 30 years and to read something like Williamsburg is the best area in Brooklyn made me laugh. It's like the biggest housing project area with tons of crack dealers and prostitutes hangout area, now some 20 years later you call it the best place in Brooklyn. Even today the area has transformed it's still not a very good place because the area is so crowded, cramped, and disorganized. LIC is a lot better and has tons of new buildings and closer to NYC yet people don't hype up about the area.
I agree with you, and the OP should know that Williamsburg is basically like West Philadelphia, enclaves of white college grads eating, drinking and puking on Bedford Ave, but just 3-4 blocks outside the borders, native Brooklyn residents of all other demographics, welfare families, etc. There is an invisible wall between professionals and natives and it has a strong ghetto feel outside it's gentrified 8 square block radius. It reminds me of places like West Philadelphia, where you feel like you're with "you're own", but only within "the campus", and it gets extremely claustrophobic as most remain within that invisible wall and don't dare to walk go beyond. I lived there for 6 months, broke the lease and moved back to Manhattan about 5 years ago. Whenever I took the L train back "home" to Williamsburg, I always had that dreaded feeling that I was leaving NYC! Once you arrive in Williamsburg and head up the subway steps, you enter a place with a dingy chemical smell, a completely different vibe than Manhattan.. has an odd 70's feeling, with the cracked sidewalks with weeds growing out of them, odd modern condos bungied between old bungalo type townhouses many with aluminum siding.
The L train is HORRENDOUS, the Union Square stop is a zoo, and always crowded and super hot.. the trains are the worst in the city, and always delayed.. I was late to work 2-3x a week and commute back home from union square would often take 1 hour because of the congestion so I had to plan an hour commute. Last I hear it's even worse now, as more people have clogged up the lines. Williamsburg is also the worst stop getting into the city becasue it's the last stop in Brooklyn.. Hordes of people are crowded in the train and if you can manage to squeeze in, you'll be rubbing against all kinds of people.
Williamsburg is also overpriced, and jacked up by hype. If you're moving in now, you're late to the boat.
I find the L train to be perfectly fine. No worse than any other line. You also have the J/Z/M. All are better than any other line in the city.
And you can disagree as much as you want on Williamsburg, but at the end of the day, the market demands find it to be the best area in Brooklyn as well. And even more so than many Manhattan neighborhoods.
College grads in what??? I hate these post. We want $3000 apartments in areas where we can meet fellow cowards and yuppie outsiders like our selves. Because we do not know this place but we want to be safe.
College grads in what??? I hate these post. We want $3000 apartments in areas where we can meet fellow cowards and yuppie outsiders like our selves. Because we do not know this place but we want to be safe.
Sadly that's what a lot of people that come to NYC end up doing. Spend a wad of cash on a place and they're only making $85k a year then realized their jobs not paying enough and they need over 6 figures to survive NYC. That's why so many companies like to lure workers from out of state to bait them on a NYC starting salary which is 2-3x what their home state's avg pay for the job. For many long time NYers, most folks like myself got priced out a decade ago or just don't think it's worth the money at all.
Sadly that's what a lot of people that come to NYC end up doing. Spend a wad of cash on a place and they're only making $85k a year then realized their jobs not paying enough and they need over 6 figures to survive NYC. That's why so many companies like to lure workers from out of state to bait them on a NYC starting salary which is 2-3x what their home state's avg pay for the job. For many long time NYers, most folks like myself got priced out a decade ago or just don't think it's worth the money at all.
But that is the individual balance people need to find. I will be honest, I came up here and decided to move to a quieter neighborhood in Jersey to save money. I like it, but I am always the one traveling for any social events. I have no local corner bar or know anyone in my neighborhood (very much a bedroom community, mostly couples). I met up with a friend in Murray Hill/Kips Bay and while I would not necessarily want to live there, thought it would be nice to have places where I could pop out of my apartment and meet people (but with convenience comes cost). Same with dating, I have found that people would rather stay single, then commute for a relationship (things can go well, until you say you live a 45 minute subway ride away...easier to move a little farther out once you are in an established relationship). During my next move, my top priority will be closer to a subway stop/supermarket. Right now I walk about half a mile to the bus, which isn't bad, but there are times I forget something and then don't feel like going back. The closest supermarket is around 3/4 mile away (opposite direction of stop), while not bad, I find myself grabbing a salad/sandwich at Pret rather than grabbing groceries on the way home. So I am looking to move into the city, to experience it for at least a year (mainly considering Sunnyside/Astoria or Morningside/Hamilton Heights). My thoughts are similar to this article Twenty-somethings Head Uptown, Seeking Early Retirement | Observer
Look at the South Bronx. There is another thread describing all that is happening there. Rents have already started to rise there but are still below Harlem, Washington Heights and inwood.
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