What is Crown Heights like? We're moving in!

Crime is not bad ( although there was a shooting on my block last night) and I've never been involved in any activities that could get me in trouble, so I haven't had any in the four years I've lived here.

There's a decent little Key Foods supermarket on Nostrand between Prospect Pl. and St. Marks. There's plenty of laundromats. Bars and restaurants are lacking. The sit down places are few and most of them are hole in the wall Caribbean or Chinese with the occasional pizza place thrown in. The Starlight Lounge on Nostrand and Bergen is a pretty cool gay bar:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/starlite-lounge-brooklyn-2
There's Q's Bar on Nostrand and St. John's Place, a pretty good hloe in the wall. Secrets Lounge on Nostrand between Park Place and Prospect Place opens at late hours - never been there. Up Nostrand at Union, across Easten Parkway, there's Tavern on Nostrand. Nice place, sit down food is pretty good, too.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/tavern-on-nostrand-brooklyn
I like Tavern on Dean at Underhill.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/tavern-on-dean-brooklyn
Beast at Bergen and Vanderbilt is also good.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/beast-brooklyn
There's a burger place called Homage Park Place at Franklin. The food is okay; service is hipsterly indifferent.
I've heard good things about a bar called Franklin Palace, Franklin between Greene Ave & Lexington Ave, but I haven't been there.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/franklin-palace-brooklyn

Welcome to the neighborhood

to the south/west of you are a lot of nice places --

franklin and dean for sushi
franklin and prospect for A Slice of Brooklyn (pizza)
franklin and prospect for Bombay Masala (Indian)
franklin and park for Homage (burgers)
franklin and sterling for Bristen's (paninis and other food)
franklin and st johns for Franklin Park (bar!)
classon and park for Chavellas (mexican)
classon and st johns for Abigails (american food and bar(

s/he may be differentiating crime:

1. Crime that affects people involved in crime (i.e.drug dealer gets shot).

2. Crime that affects people who are not involved in crime (i.e. you are likely to get robbed while walking home from subway at a reasonable hour, while sober).

Lots of neighborhoods have #1, without having #2.
Neighborhoods that have both 1 and 2 are bad.

...but we may want to hear from Rosweed to be certain.

...

I'm on Bergen b/w Nostrand and NY

Nabe is OK

I used to live on St Marks/Prospect and Classon

Overall I would recommend living near or in the Alma Realty complex by the Park Pl shuttle stop

Why?

- Much easier parking. Alma Realty has monthly parking for $100 too which is prob. the cheapest in BK. I'm paying $160/mo now at a yard on Bedford and Atlantic which is a pretty long walk back home.

- Nabe is more "friendly" to young professionals. Granted I've been on Bergen/Nostrand for about 6 months now w/o too much incident (a bike got stolen, went through a whole thing w/a crackhead to get it back) but there are just a lot more young professional people as opposed to kids & young dudes standing on corners and stuff. Ppl get shot all over the neighborhood though... crime has been a constant since I moved here, but from what I udnerstand it's usually only a non-violent mugging or something you'd have to get involved in to get killed over.

- Newer buildings. In 25 years of living I've never had a clogged drain... my gf fell in love with this old brownstone we live in, and we had no kitchen sink for about a month. Pipes rattle and clang, our front door has trouble closing etc etc. All that charmy old world shit is for the birds.

- Proximity to Franklin + Vanderbilt. Granted you can get those crowds anywhere in Manhattan, but it's nice to be around the corner from a bar as opposed to a cab or train ride. There are tons of new bars opening up too; it's a cool (though somewhat derivative) scene.

- Franklin Shuttle. In your neighborhood you're bound to the A and I think the 3/4. Shuttle ties you to the 2, 3, 4, 5, B, C & Q and is pretty reliable. I work near Grand Central though and pretty much every combination of trains takes the same time; even the A from Nostrand. (about 25-30 minutes underground).

Granted this neighborhood isn't bad, but for basically the same money you can get a place in what I think is a nicer neighborhood. Plus I hear Alma isn't raising rents due to lower demand/whatever, and they have some nice places. I would check them out first

http://brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=50302

I'm answering this a little late, but wanted to put my two cents in...

-Disclaimer: I have only lived in the area since October and mostly have only explored the North Crown Heights area.

I moved to Dean and Nostrand last October from the Franklin/Willoughby area, where I loved living, but had a crappy landlord. So far:

The trains are pretty good. I actually avoid using the A because it's so jammed in the morning, and often take the B65 down to Flatbush and hop on the 2/3. Pretty nice ride and I almost always get a seat. Sometimes I just walk up to Eastern Parkway and take a train from there. I looking forward to sitting on a bench up there in the summertime and reading.

I wish I lived closer to Eastern Parkway - the food seems to be better, there are more produce shops and smoothie places, where I am seems to be dominated by Crown Fried Chicken joints (4 places like that between Bergen and Fulton and crappy Chinese places. I definitely find myself eating too much of that stuff since I've moved here.

There is a produce store on Fulton that's alright, and when I really want to indulge David's Brisket House is AWESOME for a pastrami or brisket sandwich.

The B48 and 44 are easy ways home from my old neighborhood or Williamsburg.

Chavella's is my favorite Mexican joint in NYC along with a taco place in Sunset Park. They also deliver, which is fantastic.

Abigail's has a great brunch, and I generally hate brunch.

Gen sushi is pretty good and it's right on Washington and Bergen, although for some reason they charge $5 to go past Bedford, which kind of pisses me off.

I have found no good pizza in the neighborhood, although I have heard pretty good things about Slice of Brooklyn. I'm ready to try all the jerk/roti joints.

The Starlite Lounge is A LOT of fun.

The old architecture is great. I really enjoy seeing that statue of Grant.

I feel safe. I haven't had a problem yet. Even late at night when I feel a little nervous walking home, no one seems to care one iota about my presence, they all seem to be doing their own thing. A lot of neighborhood people are nice and friendly.

I now have a beef patty addiction I am trying to kick.

The grocery stores in the area are pretty awful. The big one at Restoration is ok.

I use the laundromat on the corner of Nostrand and Bergen for my drop-off. Some things have gone missing, like an entire whites section of my clothes, but they gave me a free load of drop-off when I asked. They do a decent job. Overall I like it here.

KHuebbe wrote:
Abigail's has a great brunch, and I generally hate brunch.

i love their food, but i actually hate the live jazz. firstly, it's too loud to talk to the people you came with. secondly, i am paying pretty decent money to eat there and someone comes around with a can to collect tips for the band? seems tacky to me... i am already paying for the food and tipping the servers!

i love cheryl's for brunch (i know, i know, prospect heights), chavellas (if i'm in the mood for a spicy wake-up), and of course tom's on washington.

Two thumbs up for David's Brisket House. So damn good!

@kHuebbe, you just lost me, which spot has the live jazz band and collects tips for the band!!?? lol, nooo way! I need to go there so i can witness this myself!

Hey,

I'm from Philadelphia also!

I moved to NY in the 90's through. I moved to Crown Heights from Park Slope in August of 2008.

I love this area! I have read about crime, mainly on this site and Brownstoner, but haven't experienced anything yet.

I'm at the corner of St . Marks and New York Ave. I live in the back so I rarely hear noise. I guess it depends on what street you live on.

I ususally take the 2,3,4 or 5 on Eastern Parkway over the A being that I live equal distance between the two and find the A too noisy and crowded.

Walk around various times of the day and see how you feel.

Big difference between northern and southern (across eastern parkway) crown heights. I live in SCH, and envy the new shops that have recently popped up over in NCH but I definitely appreciate the lower foot traffic where I am. There's a pretty good brick oven pizza shop on Union & Nostrand if you're ever in the area.

What is up with 960 Sterling Place? Is that a rental or coop? I want to buy a coop in CH. I heard the building has bed bugs? Any drama I need to know before I check it out?