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if you had ur druthers — Brooklynian

if you had ur druthers

thalia
thalia
edited November -1 in Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bed-Stuy
how many of you would be in Manhattan? Or for that matter, anywhere else. A friend mentioned reading somewhere that Manhattanites are flocking back to the island..because Brooklyn has become so pricey and they prefer Manhattan anyway.

Comments

  • shishkab
    shishkab
    not a chance. years ago i moved out to brooklyn from manhattan by choice, and i plan to stay here as long as i can. brooklyn is my home, and i love it!
  • escap
    escap
    I was recently considering moving into Manhattan, but as of today I'm leaning strongly towards staying here in FG. There are a few cool areas in Manhattan that I'd like to live in, but I'm not down with paying $4-5K a month, and the more affordable areas like Battery Park City can't compare to Fort Greene in terms of the restaurants, the bars, the people or the atmosphere. Yes, living in Manhattan would be convenient as far as my commute and as far as getting home after going out, but it's not worth it for now.

    However, I have to admit that one day I'd love to be able to buy a beautiful loft or condo in one of the prime downtown neighborhoods (Tribeca, Gwch Village, Soho, etc.). :oops: Sorry, I know it's a taboo to say that in Bklyn, but I've lived here virtually my whole life and have always been curious about life across the river.
  • ajf27
    ajf27
    Yeah, I've seen those articles too. In general, I feel that I gravitate toward certain neighborhoods less than I do a specific borough. That said, I generally prefer many neighborhoods in Brooklyn over Manhattan. I've lived all across Manhattan, but when I moved to Brooklyn I felt like I had finally found real communities.

    When I first moved to the East Village, I thought I'd moved into "one of the last real neighborhoods in Manhattan", or at least that's what I was told. But aside from some old hippie or punk or hipster holdouts from the EV heyday, most of the people in old tenanment building were too-cool-for-school artist/designer/hipster types or they were Wall Streeters. No one said hello in my building. The bodega guys were not friendly. the bars were too crowded to get to know the bartender. I just couldn't connect. I move to CH and immediately know the local deli/bodega owners, my dry cleaner, the people at my bus stop. Just today a lady walking her dog stopped to commiserate with me over the bus driver who took off and left me high and dry (and cold) waiting 10 minutes for the next bus. I like this neighbrohood, the people here, the few amenities that there are, and look and feel of the place.

    So, to go by neighborhood, my faves are:
    1) Prospect Heights
    2)Fort Greene/Clinton Hill
    3) (Very far)West Village (the quaint streets and blocks, not the busy ones...)
    4) Park Slope
    5) Brooklyn Heights

    I guess you can tell that I like the brownstone neighborhoods... If I found the perfect brownstone, I guess I'd move to which ever of these neighborhoods it was in! But I must say, it's awfully nice to be a Brooklynite. I guess I could move back to Manhattan, but I think I'd dislike it and come back to Brownstone Brooklyn.

    And to the folks who've always really wanted to be in Manhattan anyway, I say good riddens. I used to be offended by the Manhattanites who thought trekking to Brooklyn was so hard. Then I realized I moved out of Manhattan to get away from preceisely that kind of person.

    So, I'll see you at the Alibi or Ici or in line at Choice. Cheers to my fellow Brooklynites!
  • brooklynjay
    brooklynjay
    I doubt that I'd ever live in manhattan again. living in clinton hill you really do get a sense of "neighborhood" and I really like that. I also like the fact that most of fort greene is historical so there's never really going to be these huge developments in that area. Around it is another story...

    Plus most of what I enjoy in the city, good food, good bars, etc., is opening up in this area. I feel less need to be in the city as I can find almost all I need in Brooklyn these day.
  • escap
    escap
    It's funny, almost all the non-native New Yorkers I know who have lived in both boroughs prefer Brooklyn, and reasons such as those above are the usual ones cited (not that you guys are non-native, necessarily--I'm talking about a lot of comments I've heard over the years). Native Manhattanites tend to be loyal to their borough, but otherwise 9 times out of 10 I hear people complaining about living there. Of course, some people must like it, since they're willing to pay thousands of $$ a month to do so, so maybe my pool of friends is just skewed.
  • anonymous
    anonymous
    I could afford Manhattan, not the Clinton Hill brownstone I live in now, but a nice apartment if my family up and sold. I originally chose Brooklyn over Manhattan (where I work) because I did not want to leave work on the 40th floor late at night to go back to my high rise cube of an apartment.

    Recently I was walking down a landmarked block on the UPW and remarked to my wife that the feel of the area was not very "neighborhoody". We used to think that if we lived in Manhattan, that would be the area (or some awesome Tribeca loft). Also, during our walk in the UPW, I said I didn't know where I would go for an afternoon stroll if we lived there. I suppose we could wander over to Central Park, but to get there, you usually have to deal with crowded sidewalks, cross avenues that are almost always full of traffic, and frankly, there are less contiguous block of beautiful period homes. Also, with the towers here and there on the UPW, it is darker, especially in the late afternoon, so you don't get that lovely light on the old rowhouses like you do in Brooklyn.

    I'm definitely for Brooklyn all the way over most areas of Manhattan and would almost always choose Brooklyn as my first place to live. More of a community feel, friendlier people on the streets, still urban but not crowded with tourists, and has its own good restaurants and hang outs. Kind of ironic that I finally moved here, because after researching some family history after we arrivd, I found that with the exception of my parents, my family has lived in Brooklyn since the 1840s, they moved there from Manhattan! Some of the old family were born in houses within walking distance of where I live. Guess it's in the blood and I did not even know it! lol
  • boygabriel
    boygabriel
    ajf27 wrote: ...I've lived all across Manhattan, but when I moved to Brooklyn I felt like I had finally found real communities.

    When I first moved to the East Village, I thought I'd moved into "one of the last real neighborhoods in Manhattan", or at least that's what I was told. But aside from some old hippie or punk or hipster holdouts from the EV heyday, most of the people in old tenanment building were too-cool-for-school artist/designer/hipster types or they were Wall Streeters. No one said hello in my building. The bodega guys were not friendly. the bars were too crowded to get to know the bartender. I just couldn't connect. I move to CH and immediately know the local deli/bodega owners, my dry cleaner, the people at my bus stop. Just today a lady walking her dog stopped to commiserate with me over the bus driver who took off and left me high and dry (and cold) waiting 10 minutes for the next bus. I like this neighbrohood, the people here, the few amenities that there are, and look and feel of the place.
    Couldn't have said it better myself. I also started off in the East Village (while at NYU) and ended up in Clinton Hill.
  • thalia
    thalia
    Escap..they're no right answers (saw the reponse you removed :)) just a matter of preference.. If I had my druthers I'd own my biz and live on a warm Island...spending the summers in Brooklyn

    I love my piece of B'klyn for the reasons mentioned above..I,also, love the diversity...

    I have a friend who was born and raised on the UES..at one point she had think about moving to B'klyn..it gave her nightmares..the streets were too desolate (lol)..she felt safer on the busy Manhattan streets..so her hubby gave up his nice spacious B'klyn apt and she's happily crammed into a small UES one..lol
  • queencallipygos
    queencallipygos
    I lived in the LES for 12 years in a tiny apartment, when it was still the "last real neighborhood in Manhattan." But what is endurable when you are 24 is different from what is endurable when you are 36.

    Plus, the neighborhood changed and the rents rose, and it was just time.

    Now I'm in a place with three times the space and cheaper rent, and I actually feel like I could take up bike-riding again in the neighborhood. It's also got more of a sense of the older history of the place to it -- while there are some neighborhood holdouts in the East Village (Streits' Matzoh factory, Katz's, ABC No Rio), others have gone the way of the dodo (the Second Avenue Deli, Kiev's, the Theatorium).

    I also am rather much in love with the Brooklyn Public Library System and now am only a 10-minute bus ride from the Central Branch, which makes me very happy.
  • leffertsgirl
    leffertsgirl
    escap wrote: It's funny, almost all the non-native New Yorkers I know who have lived in both boroughs prefer Brooklyn, and reasons such as those above are the usual ones cited (not that you guys are non-native, necessarily--I'm talking about a lot of comments I've heard over the years). Native Manhattanites tend to be loyal to their borough, but otherwise 9 times out of 10 I hear people complaining about living there. Of course, some people must like it, since they're willing to pay thousands of $$ a month to do so, so maybe my pool of friends is just skewed.

    I'm an Atlantan that moved to an apartment in east midtown this past April. I was there for all of five months before I moved to Clinton Hill a few weeks ago. It wasn't until August that I first visited the borough and I absolutely fell in love with it. Reminds me a bit of home.

    The friendly people, the diversity, the great restaurants and beautiful brownstones...I can't get enough. If I had serious cheese I would probably buy a place in Fort Greene but I know I won't live in Manhattan again.
  • escap
    escap
    thalia wrote: Escap..they're no right answers (saw the reponse you removed :)) just a matter of preference.. If I had my druthers I'd own my biz and live on a warm Island...spending the summers in Brooklyn

    I love my piece of B'klyn for the reasons mentioned above..I,also, love the diversity...

    I have a friend who was born and raised on the UES..at one point she had think about moving to B'klyn..it gave her nightmares..the streets were too desolate (lol)..she felt safer on the busy Manhattan streets..so her hubby gave up his nice spacious B'klyn apt and she's happily crammed into a small UES one..lol
    :wink: Yeah, I decided I wasn't in the mood to be contentious after all. I do love both boroughs (and have a new, grudging respect for parts of Queens even!), but Brooklyn will always be my only home, and I'm quite happy to keep living here for a good while longer. If a make a few mill, I don't know if I'll be able to resist the temptation to buy a phat loft in Tribeca, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. 8)
  • thalia
    thalia
    oh man..I considering buying a house in Queens some years ago..I juss was not feeling it..Kew Gardens..

    What part do you like?
  • escap
    escap
    Oh, don't get me wrong, I don't think I could live there anytime soon. But across the borough, from Flushing to Jackson Heights to Corona, I love the incredible diversity and amazingly good ethnic food.
  • hill38
    hill38
    I'm definitely a Brooklynite to the core. The city still feels too fast for me. I'd like to get back to CH, or maybe hit the lottery and try out BK Heights one of these days. :)
  • tommyill
    tommyill
    The only place I would consider choosing over Fort Greene, at any price, would be Paris. I pray that I can afford to stay here, because i sure can't afford Paris.
  • boygabriel
    boygabriel
    tommyill wrote: The only place I would consider choosing over Fort Greene, at any price, would be Paris.
    ^ ^ quote of the month ^ ^
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