Considering moving to Ocean Avenue and Parkside

Because people doing their laundry tend not to haul it very far, I recommend spending about an hour at the laundry mat closest to where you are considering living.

There, you find people who are bored out of their mind, often young, often broke, and often willing to talk to you about the immediate area.

By seeing them in person (as opposed to asking for advice on a message board), you can ascertain whether they can provide a reliable gage as to where one can get a good cold beer, and what boedgas (if any) are merely fronts for drug activity.

Good luck!

P.S. Bring a roll of quarters, this way if the coin machine breaks, you will be the most popular person in the place.

It is supposed to be decent, though a female co-worker of mine who lived near the Parkside stop did have trouble with catcalls and once had a man following her around while out and about near there.

I lived on Winthrop and Bedford in 09-10, which is by the Parkside stop. I imagine the area has only changed in ways that would benfit you since then.

At the time I enjoyed it. The busines strip in front of the train station is not great to look at and people complain about the crowds in front of the bottle machines, but I've never had any problems. Walking down Ocean during the day will be beautiful. The park is right there and there are great drum circles every Sunday in the summer. At night, I imagine it might be a little dark and quiet but depends on how you walk, and it sounds like you don't have far to go when you get off the train.

The Q is a great train, for what it's worth, so that's a perk.

Labor Day weekend will be ridic and you will hear the most creative slew of cat calls you could imagine.

In terms of quality of life, there's not a lot of entertainment, cafes, bars etc, or even sit down restaurants, though there are a few. If you are into Caribbean food there's some of the best. If you walk down Flatbush towards Caton there's a cool market place and Mango Seed is probably still there which is a nice sit down Carribbean restaurant. There's also a pizza place, Indian place, and I think possibly a coffee shop between the Parkside stop and the Prospect Park stop. Oh and a wine shop too that sometimes has events. You can also follow Artists of PLG on Facebook.

Wholesome Gourmet Market is more like an upscale bodega/deli than a full grocery store but it's open 24 hours.