Need Help with Neighborhoods in Brooklyn (New York, Schenectady: sales, apartment, rent)

[Dizzy321]

I need help....

I'm currently looking to move to Brooklyn from NJ and I found an apartment that is so reasonably priced and the space is more than I could ask for. It is in Kensington on Beverly Rd. btn Ocean Pkwy and Coney Island Ave. The neighborhood looked alright from what I could see. I am a single girl in her late 20's who works in sales traveling all over Brooklyn Queens and some of Long Island so I only need to worry about getting into the city for FUN but I have to be able to park my car on the street. Ideally I'd love to live in Park Slope like everyone else but I was told that this area is taking spill overs like myself who would like to live in that area but don't want to pay $2k/month on rent and is still close enough to enjoy Park Slope, etc. Not knowing much about the different neighborhoods in Brooklyn, I was hoping I could get some advice about the area as far as safty and conviences, etc. Anything you have to share - good and bad - is much appreciated!! Recommendations also welcomed.

Thanks!!

[baylovers]

Hmmmm, what was the address??

Just kiddin, actually that particular area is pretty good. Take a ride down Ocean Parkway a nice day and it will be alive with people from all the over the neighborhood. Like you said, it has become a spillover neighborhood for Park Slope. Parking is going is a challenge all over Brooklyn but it sounds like a good deal. Good luck.

[woofenstein]

Yeah, it's a good neighborhood, but as someone who grew up there, I'm a little offended that you want yuppieland Park Slope but are very vocal about "settling" for Kensington. We -- as in the long-term residents of the area -- are already pissed for the most part about the "spillover" and how people are starting to refer to it in a Park Slope context (South west Park Slope or whatever they call it). Kensington is a FAMILY neighborhood all its own, not some sort of depository for urban pioneers who can't get into Club Slope. If you want all the action and excitement of overpriced restaurants/bistros/lounges, go somewhere else. I hear Bed-Stuy is cool now.

[ontheroad]

It is funny how neighbourhoods change: Kensington was the Park Slope of my youth, and Park Slope was no man's land!

[brooklynchick]

it's ture depends what street. It can change from only a couple of miles. Now Ocean parkway is really long and has some good areas. closer to flatbush(no way) stay away from flatbush near the stores and the crazy dollar vans. try and go over closer by the big mall on flatbush, near flatlands. Kingsplaza(nice area there)
If you were living you new jersey and you had a drive way You will HATE parking in the streets. you will circle around the block for hours. Did I metioned parking regulations. you have to wake up extra early to move your car....even in the freezing cold when your child looks warm and snuggy and no one is there to watch her...now you have to get dress and wake her up just to move your car. Hate that about NY>

[nadrtwins]

Originally Posted by brooklynchick

. Did I metioned parking regulations. you have to wake up extra early to move your car....even in the freezing cold when your child looks warm and snuggy and no one is there to watch her...now you have to get dress and wake her up just to move your car. Hate that about NY>

Hey, what do you mean by parking regulation? My husband might have to transfer to, I guess, way north Greenpoint, but we live in NC now so totally clueless about urban living, even though he grew up in Long Island and me "upstate" in Schenectady....I have done quite a bit of research but havent ran into this yet, LOL!

[Viralmd]

You can't park on alternate sides of the street for specified hours on specified days of the week. Usually it's Mon/Wed/Fri for one side and you can't park on that side for a three hour stretch. Then it switches for Tues/Thurs/Sat for the other days.

The Zen of Alternate-Side Parking - The New York Times

[BKTony]

By Parking regulation they mean alternate side parking. On certain days you park on one side of the street on other days you park on the oppositte side. There will be signs telling you the days and side you need to park on no big deal. The area is fine although parking is difficult in some areas. Kensington is definitely not the hood. I fear it is becoming another Park Slope or Williamsburg. I hope it doen't start to have the overpriced rents those areas have.

[Fred314X]

I'm on Ocean Parkway; that's a nice part of town. (But I do think you should get over that "I want to live in Park Slope like everyone else." Believe me: everyone else, particularly those of us who can call ourselves native-born Brooklynites, does not necessarily want to live in Park Slope. Quite the contrary, we prefer sections of Brooklyn that are not infested with hipsters, yuppies, and trust funders).

[BKTony]

Originally Posted by Fred314X

I'm on Ocean Parkway; that's a nice part of town. (But I do think you should get over that "I want to live in Park Slope like everyone else." Believe me: everyone else, particularly those of us who can call ourselves native-born Brooklynites, does not necessarily want to live in Park Slope. Quite the contrary, we prefer sections of Brooklyn that are not infested with hipsters, yuppies, and trust funders).

That is good to hear that Ocean Parkway has not become a gentrified hipster area. It seems alot of people on this forum will say every neighborhood in Brooklyn that is not full of hipsters and trendy shops is the ghetto. Nothing can be further from the truth. Most of Brooklyn is still middle class (Kensington, Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Canarsie, Flatlands, Bayridge, etc.) Brooklyn seems to get a bad rap on these forums. It seems out of towners get the wrong idea about Brooklyn and us native Brooklynites are being stereotyped as being from the hood. Even in the 80s most of Brooklyn was still a decent area.