Coming from LA-LA Land

[mead]

Probably because the neighborhood is now known as Rego-stan. Lots of Central Asian Jews moved into the neighborhood after the collapse of the Soviet Union. They are all from those Stan Countries in between Russia & India (Uzbekistan, Kazachstan, Tajikstan, Turkmenistan, etc). The Central Asian Jews (also known as Bukharian Jews I believe) from over there literally abandoned those countries and moved to either Israel or Rego Park.

I guess it is a similar situation to what happened to parts of LA that have a large presence of Iranians.

Originally Posted by madmj

Thank you all very much for the help and recommendations. I really really appreciate it.

Strawberry if Rego is something you think I may like, what is it that you dont? Just curious. Thanks again

[madmj]

Oh, o.k. enough said about Rego Park. I don't think I will look there. You guys are great. This is the kind of advice I was hoping for. I have read 2 books on moving to the city but neither goes into detail of neighborhoods in it's current state.

[StrawberryOctober]

Again I agree with Mead. I will say that it is safe and there is some good shopping in the area. I mentioned the area because of proximity to the city, the ease (only one subway) to get into the city and the size and price of the apartments. Due to your budget and desire to be close to the city, you have to decide what is most important to you and realize that there are some trade offs.

In my apartment search, I found Astoria to be very similar to this area in terms of crowd and cleanliness but it is closer to Manhattan but more expensive. Again, its all personal preference so you should really look around and decide what is best for you.

[madmj]

Thank you Strawberry. Actually I think Astoria has been the overall #1 recommendation that I have been given. Overall it seems to be pretty highly regarded. I'm in the middle of researching the town. Rego doesn't sound bad including all in all. I just have some particulars such as hopefully living in either an italian or irish prominent neighborhood. Like I said, it's not a must but it's what we are hoping for!