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The neighborhood isn't designed for young professionals who move to the city and want to have local entertainment and cool/trendy local places to drink and eat.
You will spend all of your time going downtown and eventually resent living so far uptown.
Don't get me wrong, there are a few jazz joints (St. Nicks Pub) and a couple of restaurants, but the area is still lacking.
I lived on ACP and 144th for 3 years...it just isn't worth it. There are so many better neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn.
Pretty much everything above 96th street is trouble with the exception of a few blocks. Even if you happen to find a decent street or building to live at in harlem, you'll always be within a stone throw away from trouble and violence. Last time I went to the DMV on 125th street I said to myself...."does'nt anyone work up here?" The entire strip was packed with shady (BLACK AND LATIN)people just standing around doing absolutely nothing!
Get a hold of EastBoundandDownChick. Let her tell you her story from her HarlemNewbie days. She made it in Harlem for only four months before she fled the city.
Safe? Eh, it's not great but it's okay. Depends on who you are and your tolerance level. For me, at 134th and Broadway as a white female I did not feel comfortable. Safe? I guess. But not welcome. Not at all. I was respectful and nice to my neighbors and we tolerated each other, but the whole time it was clear we were from two separate worlds... they wanted to keep life the way they had it, and that didn't involve others outside of their national origin. They didn't want their rents going up. The rent was cheap, that's the only good thing about it. You get what you pay for. In NYC, $700 a month for rent is NOTHING and you will likely end up in a crappy neighborhood you really don't want to be in for that kind of money... WITH roommates.
I was catcalled at on a daily basis as an average looking female. I got pissed off at the fact I had to jump the train just to get to a Starbucks when I really wanted one. Or any English speaking people I culturally identified with, for that matter. You find yourself living two lives- the one you live downtown and the one you live uptown. You hate the uptown life, and yes- you do grow to resent it quickly. Had I stayed in NYC I would have upped my rent to about 1K a month and gotten into a roommate situation in a better neighborhood in Brooklyn or Queens. Life didn't work that way but if I had to do it over, I would have taken the natives' advice and bypassed Manhattan entirely. Don't just think about safety as the deciding factor. Make sure you also consider quality of life.
I'm a single, middle complexioned, african american female. Like, not light, but not dark. Will I be safe in this neighborhood?
NO! U must make ur skin just 1 shade darker then no danger will come ur way!
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