North of 125th Street (give or take) is where Harlem transitions into Hamilton Heights than around 150's becomes Washington Heights; the 170's and St Nicholas are right in the heart of it.
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Originally Posted by NooYowkur81
Your doing things a bit backwards. You usually want to do your research before signing a lease.
However, the summer's tend to be very loud and a lot of quality of life issues arise.
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I never really had a problem with safety per se (though women should take precautions, especially at night) but I'm going to also issue potential renters of Wash Heights to really think if it's worth moving up there just to remain in Manhattan. The rents may be low but there's a reason in many cases. It get's
very loud during the summertime, especially around Broadway. Partly because of music from car stereo's and other various noises but the worst are huge groups of sport bikers and street racers who like to use Broadway as their personal highway going to and from Yonkers; where I think a lot of them keep them in garages since the city is trying to crack down on street racing. They'll also do wheelies and doughnuts in the street holding up traffic for a long time- no police in sight (paid off to look the other way?) Drug activity is pretty common as others stated; someone told me the various factions of the Dominican mafia controls the 135th north into the Bronx. Seeing that restaurants turn into nightclubs with blasting music and fights that break out where the police would be called if it was in any neighborhood south of 96th Street, open air dealing during the day and other things I've seen I mostly believe him....
lots of QOL issues in and around Washington Heights. Honestly living there made me not even want to live in Manhattan anymore and I moved to Queens after about a year, since at least that borough is safer, less expensive and relatively peaceful.
That said the part of Washington Heights that I'd advise living in is around Fort Washington Avenue from 175th to 190th Street (not 200th Street- the area around Dyckman St is like the wild west at night and has a lot of traffic problems during the height of summer). Being west of Broadway is key in Upper Manhattan. Do your research and don't take a potential roommate's or realtor's word that the "area is fine." I moved there during the winter and moved out of my old apartment in July and my old roommate tried to get me to delay my move until "the weather got colder"; trying to take advantage of the cold temps as a misleading indicator of how things are with the next person. I wouldn't move back even with the cheap rents, especially now living in the burbs. Walk around during a July day and check things out for yourself.
The commute on the A train is a bit long from Midtown and late night during weekends service is pretty sparse also. In short it's not an area I would recommend to those who aren't very familiar with the city yet.