Washington Heights- The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (Amsterdam: middle-class, hotels)

[Lost_Boy]

Just curious to see which area's do YOU think are nice safe areas to live? The bad, dangerous areas to live/hang out in and just the plain dirty areas. Oh and are there any hidden areas/gems you know that you'd like to share.

I live in Washington Heights in Fort Washington Avenue and I love it, I couldn't see myself moving out of NYC ever or Washington Heightsss.

[citylove101]

In general in the Heights you have four decent areas to live in:

1) Hudson Heights, which is roughly from 181st St to the Cloisters west of Broadway
2) Audubon Terrace, which is the little area where 155th St hits Riverside Drive
3) some of the blocks just around Yeshiva Univeristy in the 180s near Amsterdam Ave
4) parts of Edgecombe Ave. north of 155th. Duke Ellington used to live at #555 and its still a nice looking building.

The rest of the neighborhood is pretty much block-by-block in terms of QOL, crime, noise, dirt, retail, etc. Parts of Ft. Washington Ave below the GW, for instance, are still really nice. Parts aren't. Amsterdam Ave near Yeshiva is nice. Amsterdam Ave in the 160s, not so much. And some streets, like Wadsworth, look like you'd never want to live on them. But it ain't the bad old days in The Heights, with the killings and drug wars. Now its just your usual immigrant poverty, loud music, and bad schools.

But I think most of the Heights won't stay that way for more than a decade. More affluent people who can't pay downtown rents are already in the Heights (and not just the "nice" areas I mentioned) and I think that movement will pick up as the economy improves. More Dominicans will be priced out as landlords realize they can get higher rents. And I bet you'll see more building rehabs and new construction. While there are many tenements, a lot of the neighborhood was built to middle-class standards (for the time) and you can see that in the architecture.

[Lost_Boy]

Originally Posted by citylove101

In general in the Heights you have four decent areas to live in:

1) Hudson Heights, which is roughly from 181st St to the Cloisters west of Broadway
2) Audubon Terrace, which is the little area where 155th St hits Riverside Drive
3) some of the blocks just around Yeshiva Univeristy in the 180s near Amsterdam Ave
4) parts of Edgecombe Ave. north of 155th. Duke Ellington used to live at #555 and its still a nice looking building.

The rest of the neighborhood is pretty much block-by-block in terms of QOL, crime, noise, dirt, retail, etc. Parts of Ft. Washington Ave below the GW, for instance, are still really nice. Parts aren't. Amsterdam Ave near Yeshiva is nice. Amsterdam Ave in the 160s, not so much. And some streets, like Wadsworth, look like you'd never want to live on them. But it ain't the bad old days in The Heights, with the killings and drug wars. Now its just your usual immigrant poverty, loud music, and bad schools.

But I think most of the Heights won't stay that way for more than a decade. More affluent people who can't pay downtown rents are already in the Heights (and not just the "nice" areas I mentioned) and I think that movement will pick up as the economy improves. More Dominicans will be priced out as landlords realize they can get higher rents. And I bet you'll see more building rehabs and new construction. While there are many tenements, a lot of the neighborhood was built to middle-class standards (for the time) and you can see that in the architecture.

I was shocked at some of the buildings around riverside, it looks like it shouldnt even belong in that area. Some look like hotels especially one in particular a little bit more west at the end of the cemetery. Also I just recently discovered the area under the george washington bridge near the lighthouse. Beautiful scenery and pretty romantic.

[SeventhFloor]

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