Trendy/fun neighborhoods or towns for 20-somethings near Hempstead? (Union: apartment, for rent)

[CiaoBella14]

I am considering attending Hofstra for grad school in Hempstead. I've been living in Chicago for a while but grew up in the NYC metro area/suburbs. I don't know much about Long Island, what are the trendy areas in Long Island near or in Hempstead? Would it be possible to live in Queens (Astoria, Forrest Hills, Kew Gardens, Woodside, Jackson Heights, any other nice/trendy place) and commute to school in Hempstead? Are there people who make this commute?

Things to Consider:
- I don't have a car (but could get one if necessary)
- I would be looking for a studio or 1 bedroom with $1000/month budget for rent
- I like diversity
- I like to feel safe living alone/walking alone at night

Any tips or suggestions??

[Coney]

Unless you plan on living on campus, you are going to need a car to get to school. There is a bus stop near campus, but the Nassau county buses don't run super frequently and it's possible that you might need to take at least 2 buses with a transfer to get from where you are living to get to school. Hempstead, itself is not very nice.

There are no real "trendy" areas for your age as you would find in Astoria or Williamsburg Brooklyn near the school. The closest might be Rockville Centre. With a budget of $1000, you will need a roommate, unless you might luck out with some kind of studio.

With a car, you could commute from Kew Gardens, Forest Hills, but beware that street parking is really, really tough with the alternate side parking game. I did it for a while and hated it in the bad weather and I had garage parking. Astoria would be even longer. If you have any evening classes, I would suggest living closer to campus and definitely getting a car. Hofstra is primarily a commuter school, especially for graduate students. Unless you are in the med or law schools, you are going to find quite a few older students who go home to their families after class.

[CiaoBella14]

Thanks for the advice. I could go up to $1200/month for rent. It really is crazy how expensive NYC area is compared to Chicago, here I pay $965 for a pretty large studio in one of the most desirable neighborhoods by shopping, bars, restaurants, grocery, subway stop, etc. But I really want to move closer to family.

[Coney]

For a legal one bedroom, it will closer to $1400 and it will be very basic.

[InfoSeeker52]

If you get a car, you could try looking in Long Beach. There are usually studios to be had around here in the $1000-1200 range, and there's a pretty decent nightlife (particularly in the summer). Unless you're really into the party scene though, I'd advise you to stick to the East End when apartment hunting. It tends to be more residential and less party-oriented.

Also, Long Beach is admittedly a little beaten up right now from Sandy, but most businesses and services are either fully back on line, or almost there, and it's still a pretty nice place to live (and I say this as someone who spent 7 years living in Boston and was initially miserable with the housing options when I came home to Long Island).

You may also want to ask the school where people in your grad program usually live - you can live in the coolest neighborhood in the world, but if virtually all of your classmates live somewhere else, it'll make things at school more difficult than they need to be.

[twingles]

Rockville Center is your best bet but commuting to Hofstra without a car is going to be tough from anywhere. And your budget is low.

[raiser]

Bayside Queens could be another option.. I do the reverse commute from Astoria to Rockville Centre its definitely doable. Getting a GPS with live navigation helps a lot too. Its usually take me about 35 minutes door to door.

[InfoSeeker52]

Raiser, I like Bayside a lot, but I'm not sure I'd put it in the "trendy/fun" category, unless it's changed a lot recently. I always thought of it as more of a family-oriented type of neighborhood.

[raiser]

Its definitely no Astoria but there some good stuff on Bell Blvd.

[checkmatechamp13]

I figure I might as well throw in something about transportation:

Hofstra is served by:

* The N70/71/72 down Hempstead Turnpike (closest for most of the campus)

* The N16/23/27 (the 23/27 don't run simultaneously. It's either one or the other, depending on the time of day), which stop at Westbury Blvd & Oak Street

* The N43/45/51, and a few trips of the N24 that use Uniondale Avenue.

The N70/71/72 and N16/23/27 all go directly to the Hempstead Transit Center. The N43 does as well, but it takes a very roundabout way. From the Hempstead Transit Center, you have buses that go all over different parts of Nassau.

If you were to live in Rockville Center, you could take the N15/16/17 to Hempstead, and then transfer to one of the six routes listed above. (In the case of the N16, you could just stay on the bus). Just remember that at Hempstead, there's the N16X, which goes nonstop to NCC, so you shouldn't take that (You wouldn't have to worry at Rockville Center, because all the N16s stop at Westbury & Oak).

The bus system doesn't have the best reputation as far as reliability goes, but the N15 runs relatively frequently (generally every 15 minutes during rush hour, 20 minutes all other times, except Sunday, when it runs every 30 minutes), and then you have the N16/17 as backups from RVC.

Long Beach is served by the same N15, but it's further away, which means you're spending more time on the bus, and you're also dependant on that one line to be on time. For what it's worth, I haven't heard too many complaints about the N15, compared to other lines.

Mineola might also fit the bill. There are a few N24 runs that pass by Hofstra (most go to Hicksville), but your best bet would be to take the N40/41 to Hempstead and then catch one of the buses I mentioned there (because you're not dependant on one infrequent bus). You could also take the N22/24 to the Roosevelt Field Mall and catch the N16/43/45/51.

In other words, commuting there by transit isn't particularly easy, but it's doable if you allow yourself enough additional time to account for delays (How much time exactly you'll have to figure out on your own). Of course, I would suggest you stay on Long Island, because reverse-peak LIRR service isn't too good, and then you have to make the bus connections on top of that.

Schedules & maps are available here: Bus Maps and Schedules