Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I must keep my cat. I'd like to keep my car. I'd like to stay in NYC, but I don't think I can handle downgrading to a studio. And I really should not budget more than $1200/month toward rent. Not for long, anyway…
For anyone who read my other thread: don't let thorny issues around my qualifications for a lease enter into this one. I'd just like to get a feel for whether it makes sense to target Riverdale. I'd love to be near the last stations on the #1…
[edit] I guess I should include Kingsbridge and Marble Hill too? (I don't know the Bronx well at all, obviously ) Maybe I'd like those areas better, even though they fall into "seedy" on the safety map. I'd certainly prefer an environment that includes the prewar architecture I'm used to. Seems like maybe Riverdale is mostly postwar.
(This is the edited version that was supposed to replace the other one. Sigh. Guess I clicked wrong somewhere. If anyone has any advice for me, please reply on this thread.)
I think it is completely doable. You should be able to find a one bedroom for 1200/month. Of course, the deeper you go in Riverdale, the more expensive. But since you mentioned that you wanted to be near the 1 train, then that would be more the Marble Hill/Van Cortlandt Park area. Those areas are not bad at all, and near most everything.
You should be able to find something in the Riverdale area for your budget range. Parking can be an issue in some parts of Riverdale, where there are clustered apartment buildings, but it's not an impossible task to find. Marble Hill can also have parking issues, as can some streets in Kingsbridge. Kingsbridge above 231st and a couple of blocks west of Broadway is more to the prime area, than areas like Godwin Terrace and Kingsbridge Avenue. If you are open to a short walk or a short local bus ride to the 1 train, that would open up a bit more in Riverdale, though anything beyond the monument would be 15+ minutes on the bus to the subway.
__________________
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
[edit] I guess I should include Kingsbridge and Marble Hill too? (I don't know the Bronx well at all, obviously ) Maybe I'd like those areas better, even though they fall into "seedy" on the safety map. I'd certainly prefer an environment that includes the prewar architecture I'm used to. Seems like maybe Riverdale is mostly postwar.
Yellow areas are areas where there's nothing really wrong with it crime-wise, but if you're not used to an urban environment, you would think it's bad. Like the people on the LI forum who go "Oh, there's a few guys loitering at the store looking for work, so it must be bad", and a guy from another forum I'm on who's so elitist it's not even funny. People like them would consider it "seedy", but people like myself would say it's alright. You would probably be fine in those areas.
yeah i did notice that Kingsbridge was tagged as appearing intimidating to those not from the area. new york ny i am in the area you would love. I am a 10 block walk from the 1 train or a 3 minute bus ride to the 1 train. i am on 252 and broadway. 7 years ago i had to move and i was fortunate to have found a new place right on the next block. there is a lot of free on street parking here. i do wish we had more in the way of services tho. you have to walk to 242 street or up to Mosholu Avenue for that
Kingsbridge is not bad, just be sure you are looking at Kingsbridge and not Kingsbridge Heights. Only a few blocks would qualify as yellow from my perspective, and perhaps an isolated area or two, not the entire neighborhood. A large part of Kingsbridge is comprised of small single-family and duplexes in various iterations of colonial and mock Tudor design, interspersed with apartment buildings. A couple of blocks west of Broadway, and north of W231st is the better area of Kingsbridge, as you are away from the light industrial/auto repair/commercial sectors. Generally, the buildings are well kept, though I would avoid some of the tenement buildings on Godwin, Kingsbridge, etc. closer to W230th, not because they are inherently bad, but because quiet enjoyment can be more of an issue given the management of some buildings in that area. Really late at night, I have encountered some seemingly odd people by the all night Walgreens at 231st & Broadway, but that's literally in the middle of the night, and nothing untoward has happened to me, or my car.
Parts of Riverdale are Pre-War, but you would have to search out those buildings, and they are more likely to be co-ops that can be more expensive and have restrictions on rentals. There's no real district as to where to find Pre-Wars, either, as there are some off Waldo, near the schools, and then a few other buildings in Riverdale. Much of the Pre-War construction is comprised of single-family homes in Riverdale, whereas many of the larger buildings are slightly more generic Post-War construction.
__________________
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
certain blocks in Kingsbridge Heights, like around Giles Pl and Sedgwick and north of that are gourgeous. I remember tho when i had to move i was offered an apartment right around there but i wouldn't even check it out. I always wondered why. bmwguy, tho it's certainly a stable area(238th and Sedgwick), it's still probably not quite as nice or as safe as where i am now?? what do you think?
Thanks everyone! Old Man Kitty had an episode and had to be taken to the emergency vets last night. He just turned 17, and I very much doubt he'll see another birthday… not much more could be done for him on a major holiday (do they EVER get sick when the resources are there to help?), but I have had to keep an eye on him and do some research, so I'm just returning to the forum now.
I really appreciate the details you all have shared. I've been stuck forever on being depressed and confused about having to leave Manhattan after almost 40 years. Should have looked to this forum for some "feel" and direction a long time ago. Brooklyn has seemed like the fire to Manhattan's frying pan in terms of trying to get out of living beyond my means. (I know, I know… the car. We'll see.) I doubt Queens is right for me. Long Island, sexy siren though she is to a shore-worshipper like me, could use some time in rehab from what I'm hearing/reading lately. New Jersey is the alternative I know best, from growing up there and from commuting there for the last 11 years that I worked, and it is where most of my small network of friends and family live, but… well, it's a love/hate thing. And I've adored NYC since I was a little girl in the era of 'Mad Men' (my dad was one) and thought the subways were the greatest thing ever.
As for the Bronx… I didn't know what to think. As mentioned here not long ago, I went to look around Little Italy/Belmont for the first time since the '80s. I was disappointed in some ways, but felt very comfortable in others. After that tour I thought of this forum and wondered if the area had been discussed recently. Of course it had, and those threads, the "Is it time to start recommending…?" thread, and other Bronx-related conversations have me thinking the borough is probably my best candidate for a new beginning. And not in a negative way. I'm actually getting kind of excited about going up there and looking around some more as soon as I finish some projects related to the apartment sale.
The Bronx is exotic to me in a way, because it's the only borough that's never been home to any of my friends or family. Only one work acquaintance—way, way back in the 1970s. A woman named Marie, respected in the ad agency where I'd gotten my first job. She invited me to come up for a visit after work one night. We never became good friends, but I still have a really strong gut-memory of that Bronx apartment, on a high floor somewhere. It had some kind of powerful resonance for me that I can still feel, some sort of connection made. Could be Marie's apartment is calling me home now, thirty-odd years later.
The other side of the Bronx is of interest, too, obviously. I've noted praise here for neighborhoods like Pelham Bay and Morris Park, I believe? And some others over there. The geography on that side is hugely appealing—the bay, the Sound, City Island. If anyone feels like contrasting that area with Riverdale/Kingsbridge in terms of the things I'm looking for, and the things we all look for, I'd love to hear your thoughts. I have to be pretty practical-minded and flexible in choosing my next home, but anywhere I can feel the old heart of midcentury NYC still beating is going to have a head start for sure…
Yellow areas are areas where there's nothing really wrong with it crime-wise, but if you're not used to an urban environment, you would think it's bad. Like the people on the LI forum who go "Oh, there's a few guys loitering at the store looking for work, so it must be bad", and a guy from another forum I'm on who's so elitist it's not even funny. People like them would consider it "seedy", but people like myself would say it's alright. You would probably be fine in those areas.
Yes, thanks—I've read the excellent legend with the safety maps… Having been living in the orbit of the Douglass Houses for the past 18 years, I guess as you say, I should be okay in yellow zones.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
) Maybe I'd like those areas better, even though they fall into "seedy" on the safety map. I'd certainly prefer an environment that includes the prewar architecture I'm used to. Seems like maybe Riverdale is mostly postwar.
