Cons of living in Astoria? (New York, York: apartments, renting, crime)

[dullnboring]

Alright, so I'm moving up to New York in September and will be renting an apartment with a friend of mine who currently lives on Long Island. The other week, I went on a scouting trip of sorts through various neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens to check out what some of the neighborhoods were like. I loved Astoria, but part of me wonders whether I'm missing something big, because it looks almost too good to be true. You're 20 minutes from Midtown Manhattan, there's a lively restaurant and bar scene and shopping area with everything you'd need for daily errands within your community, four subway stops, a sense of character, and the community isn't overwhelmed by anything. It seemed to be a very good mix of people in terms of age, economic level, ethnicity, occupation, etc. On top of all of that, the rents don't seem all that bad. Of course, that's a relative term in New York and I'm coming from the DC area where rents are expensive as well, but still, I'm surprised by just how "cheap" the area is given all that it's got going for it. Lots of quality two bedroom apartments in the $1400-1800 range.

Am I missing something? Is there some sort of reason why the rents in this area aren't as stratospheric as they are in places in Brooklyn that I looked at that were a further commute from the city? What are the negatives of living in Astoria? Is there something screwy with the N train (I saw some sort of flyer about a changing schedule of sorts?)?

[briarwood]

My uncle lives on 26st between 23rd and 24th, so I know the area extremely well.

Astoria is a very strong immigrant neighborhood. some pockets are middle eastern. Some hispanic. Some asian, and towards the north, extremely greek and italian. That right off the bat keeps it somewhat affordable.

The housing stock is mostly old-style rowhomes, walk-ups and tenements. Everything except brand new construction is pre-war. Nothing architectually distinctive, so no brownstone fetishists to drive up prices.

Nightlife is okay, but not stellar, so that's another notch on the price belt.

And don't let the NYC subway map fool you, the N/W trains can be the worst in the system for preformance. I've stood at 42/34sts waiting for a N or W to take me to Ditmars only to have three Rs pass by (another ****ty line BTW), which in and of themselves only come every 10 minutes.



Brooklyn has A) name recongition, b) better, more solid architecture, c) tight-knit neighborhoods, d) more transit, and e) is a cultral/musical/nightlife powerhouse. that's why the prices are outrageous.

Astoria, also, has three major NYCHA developments in it's midst. Despite the niceness of the nieghborhood, one (Queensbridge) is the worst in the city if not the world. Ravenswood is tame but then Astoria houses by the river is very bad. Generally, this never spills into the surrounding blocks. But the simple fact that they're there can keep less urban newcomers at bay.

And to top it off, the graffiti and trash is quite omnipresent. Brooklyn on the whole is far cleaner (ironically) in it's nice parts. Any place with a large amount of immigrants (as well as deep ghetto) is going to have serious trash problems.



If Astoria doesn't work out, a neighborhood that is very similar in terms of crime and access is Sunset Park in Brooklyn. it might actually be cheaper as well.

[Henna]

I really like Astoria. I live nearby but not in the neighborhood. I'm not sure about the trains, but honestly, anyone can tell a bad story about any train line that goes to any of the boroughs. I just told a bad one about the L train (which goes to williamsburg) in another thread, and williamsburg is one of the priciest nabes around.

There are some great Astoria blogs such as Joey in Astoria and the Astorian (or Astorians). Check them out for a better idea about the area.

and by the way, I like Astoria about as much as I dislike Sunset Park.

[straightshooter]

i can't really find a bad thing to say about astoria. if my roommate would move up there, i'd go.

[stretch00]

The N/W train lines are perfectly fine. A 10 minute delay might happen once/month, a more significant delay once every few months. This is typical of the other lines, and you would not have to deal with the cattle car density of the 4/5/6 line.

The restaurants and takeout places in Brooklyn are better than Astoria. There is no good chinese food anywhere in Astoria. There are more trees in Brooklyn. Prospect Park is better than Astoria Park.

Lower Manhattan from Astoria takes a fair bit of time to get to, but because of express trains, Brooklyn can get to mid-town in less time.

Overall these are pretty minor things, and Astoria is a good neighborhood.

[scatman]

The Greek restaurants in Astoria are slammin!!!!!!!