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I recently have been accepted to graduate school at the CCNY architecture program.
My husband and I will be moving there in late July/early August. We need neighborhood suggestions for a couple on a very meager budget (under $1000). If possible, in a convenient transit route to Harlem (135th & Convent area). We've only been to NYC once, and are not familiar with the city.
An ideal neighborhood would be one in which we can do our grocery shopping in, as well as, hang out in a neighborhood coffeehouse or bar. We are in our mid to late 30s and enjoy riding our bicycles for transit. Oh, yeah, we will sacrifice space for decent accommodations (we'd prefer to not hear gunshots or live with the rats and/or roaches).
I would look along the 1 train, since you can take that directly to the City College Station at 137th. On that route, I would suggest looking in Kingsbridge, and Riverdale. They are adjacent areas in the W200s, along Broadway. Kingsbridge is better above W231st and west of Broadway (a couple of blocks in makes a difference). Van Cortlandt Village is better above Albany Crescent.
Riverdale has no bad areas, but some parts are removed from the train, but you could easily take a connecting city bus to the subway at 231st, or walk from some areas that offer proximity to stations on Broadway. Below $1k is not impossible in Riverdale, provided you are not looking for a large apartment, though it can require some legwork. It's largely a quiet, professional neighborhood of apartments, townhouses, and single-family homes that range from small houses to large mansions on an acre or more on the river.
Kingsbridge is a little more working class, overall, but offers some tidy buildings and small houses in the blocks below Riverdale (big hill) -- Tibbett, Corlear, and Irwin, in particular. Kingsbridge Avenue is okay, but it's only a block in from Broadway and some of the buildings are not as well managed; and/or can have issues with people hanging around at all hours, especially in the lower W230s. Above the police station, proximity to Broadway is not a problem, especially when you get closer to Van Cortlandt Park.
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All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
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