Bay Ridge vs. Astoria

[Citizenrich]

Originally Posted by RagerNYC

I've always considered Ridgewood apart of Brooklyn because it shares same streets as Bushwick. Its like a more safer Bushwick but in Queens

Ridgewood has always been a solid middle class neighborhood. In my lifetime, the area has gone from white ethnic (mostly, Polish and German) to middle class Puerto Rican and now it's middle class everything.

Ridgewood is a great place to live if you have car but you better love buses if you don't have a whip.

[ShirlMastic Beach]

Originally Posted by Citizenrich

Ridgewood is a great place to live if you have car but you better love buses if you don't have a whip.

There is the L and M lines in Ridgewood. You just happen to have alot of buses as well because it has the terminal supporting north and west Brooklyn.

[vision33r]

Astoria is gentrifying at a faster rate than Bayridge. There are many homes being converted to multi-level condos in Astoria while Bayridge has less. It all depends where you work and how close you want to be.

One issue with Astoria is that you are not that far from LaGuardia, you will hear lots of noise at night from trains to airplanes.

Bayridge has some noise but quieter.

[S.I.B.]

Originally Posted by vision33r

Astoria is gentrifying at a faster rate than Bayridge. There are many homes being converted to multi-level condos in Astoria while Bayridge has less. It all depends where you work and how close you want to be.

One issue with Astoria is that you are not that far from LaGuardia, you will hear lots of noise at night from trains to airplanes.

Bayridge has some noise but quieter.

Bay Ridge (two words) doesn't need to gentrify.

[ShirlMastic Beach]

Originally Posted by S.I.B.

Bay Ridge (two words) doesn't need to gentrify.

Nor did Astoria.

[whistlefish]

It is not that Bay Ridge peaked so much as other neighborhoods have caught up.

I met a girl and hit BR in 1980. so many bars - wall to wall. Bars for the 23 and younger crowd ( legal at 18 then) plus plenty of old man bars . It reminded me of the UK where people still drink a couple of pints during lunch and there might be 5 pubs on a block.

Meanwhile tons of bars were closing down all over Brooklyn - it used to be that all the stops on the Brighton line had a couple at least at each stop. Almost all closed.

Lots of places to eat. I was from Flatbush - very little going on at the time - I'd be in a place and hear people talking and know they were from other parts of Brooklyn.

Now there's restaurant and bar rows everywhere from Cortelyou Rd to Franklin Ave. CIA in Midwood is packed with places for the Orthodox community. Other places have caught up.

One long standing misconception about Bay Ridge concerns the Italian population. Lots of Italian food in Bay Ridge because people love it but the Italian speaking presence in the Ridge has always been much lighter than areas to the east and south.

Examples lots of restaurants in BR versus bakeries and social clubs in Bath Beach , Bensonhurst, Dyker ,or Gravesend

[city living]

Originally Posted by NYer23

Bay Ridge peaked as a neighborhood and it will only be in a decline in relevance as the surrounding neighborhood improve, while Astoria is improving and will surpass bay ridge in relevance given the city goal of renovating the waterfront facing Manhattan (east river). It takes the same amount of time to arrive in downtown Manhattan if you travel from Astoria or Bay Ridge (about 40 minutes).

BR is already stable and has been stable for many years. It won't decline---it will either slightly improve or stay the same. There is no renovating the waterfront because there are already pricy condos/coops/multi-million dollar homes there. Surrounding neighborhoods won't improve that much---Sunset will always be uglier/grittier because they will never transform all the industrial buildings and the BQE will always be there. Dyker will always be too suburban to have anything other than a few stores, mafia homes and no train access.

Originally Posted by vision33r

Astoria is gentrifying at a faster rate than Bayridge. There are many homes being converted to multi-level condos in Astoria while Bayridge has less. It all depends where you work and how close you want to be.

BR is coop city but they slowed/practically stopped the building of condos for awhile. People were razing beautiful houses and trying to put up condos in the middle of blocks with just regular housing. They make it difficult to put condos here now. There are a bunch in the 90s on Shore Road but they are SO overpriced---you can buy a house for what they sell condos for here. You can find condos here or there that are cheaper but those are the older buildings.

Frankly, I'm fine with that. I don't want more condos, I don't want a condo built randomly in the middle of a residential block, etc. Some of the condos they do a nice job with though---they make them look like row houses and I think that's fine. There's actually a bunch of those around but many people passing through wouldn't realize those are condos because they don't have the typical look that most of the ones in Park Slope, Williamsburg, etc. have.

[RagerNYC]

Originally Posted by city living

BR is already stable and has been stable for many years. It won't decline---it will either slightly improve or stay the same. There is no renovating the waterfront because there are already pricy condos/coops/multi-million dollar homes there. Surrounding neighborhoods won't improve that much---Sunset will always be uglier/grittier because they will never transform all the industrial buildings and the BQE will always be there. Dyker will always be too suburban to have anything other than a few stores, mafia homes and no train access.



BR is coop city but they slowed/practically stopped the building of condos for awhile. People were razing beautiful houses and trying to put up condos in the middle of blocks with just regular housing. They make it difficult to put condos here now. There are a bunch in the 90s on Shore Road but they are SO overpriced---you can buy a house for what they sell condos for here. You can find condos here or there that are cheaper but those are the older buildings.

Frankly, I'm fine with that. I don't want more condos, I don't want a condo built randomly in the middle of a residential block, etc. Some of the condos they do a nice job with though---they make them look like row houses and I think that's fine. There's actually a bunch of those around but many people passing through wouldn't realize those are condos because they don't have the typical look that most of the ones in Park Slope, Williamsburg, etc. have.

This is all true, you're right.