How would you describe living in Brooklyn New York?

If Brooklyn had refused Manhattan's offer in 1900 it would have been the largest city in the country and if it combined later, the whole city would be called Brooklyn, not New York.

Sadly, Manhattan had Brooklyn by the short and curlies because it had water and Brooklyn ran out. Also New York had been persecuting Brooklyn for hundreds of years by controlling its waterfront for its own agenda, a privilege granted by the Dutch.

The only people who say Brooklyn is as good, convenient, etc. as Manhattan are people who live in Brooklyn.

Why would anyone want to go to Brooklyn?

Brooklyn is a huge place. With very rizty neighborhoods to more gritty areas.

And neighborhoods like Brookyln Heights or Williamsburg are more convenient than living in Upper Manhattan r3. Of course they are also incredibly expensive.

Well, at least it's better than Queens, isn't it?

It's awful, all the apartments are two rooms next to Chinese take out food. OK you can set your watch by it, but still. You have iceboxes and no upholstered furniture and just try to get a phone installed in one of them.

All while you're bitch of a wife, complains about cleaning and really how long can it take to clean and keep clean a small two room apartment.

Brooklyn the Garden Spot the World. HUH

It's wonderful, I get to see all the sights from my house in Brooklyn Heights

A lot of trees grow there

Anyone here know specifically about the area around Tandon School of Engineering which is located within Brooklyn?

One of the best subjects is Brooklyn on the study of Urban culture in Anthropology. Pretty fascinating.

The only places to live are in Brownstone Brooklyn or Williamsburg as all the other areas are crap and filled with low class scum loaded with crime and poverty!

R12 bullshit... Most 'real' bklynites know Manhattan has no more room and is buying and moving into Brooklyn, shipping out the poor every year.

Love it and hate it. Lived here all my life and loved it. Safe, quiet, middle class, working people. Mixed races and religions. Loved it all. Then in came the rich yuppies, the Wall Street babies and the "artists" being supported by rich mommies and daddies. Suddenly all kind of expensive stores and restaurants sprout up like malignant tumors. Brown women walk the streets pushing blonde babies in double strollers while their rich spoiled blond mommies walk behind, too lazy to take care of the kids even though they don't have to work. They sit with their strollers all over the sidewalks having 7 dollar muffins with 6 dollar cups of coffee. They pay 10 times what an old roach filled walk up is worth and suddenly the poor and middle class are being thrown out of where they've lived their entire lives.

So I live what my Brooklyn neighborhood used to be, but I hate what it's become.

R14...Yep that sounds about right. But you know bklyn could change in about 20 years all over again. We shall seeeeeeee.....

I love these National Geographic pictures of Brooklyn in the '80s

Another one.

The only part of Brooklyn I've spent any real time in is Red Hook. Visited a friend who was temporarily living there a few years ago. It was kind of cool, but it was hipster overload for me.

It's not Park Avenue.

More '80s pics

Brooklyn is a third world dump.

Brooklyn Heights waterfront is superb but very expensive

I'm hardcore Brooklyn born and raised and I agree with much of what R14 describes. My neighborhood is still a wonderful mix of races and religions but the rich blond mommies and spawn and those who have perfected their vocal fry started moving in over the last ten years. They add nothing to the neighborhood in terms of character. They're just annoying.

How is Brooklyn heights?

How would I describe it?

Sadly, expensive. Overpriced. No longer a bargain compared to Manhattan.

R25 very white upscale pretentious expensive

[quote] Brooklyn's official motto, displayed on the Borough seal and flag, is Eendraght Maeckt Maght, which translates from early modern Dutch to "Unity makes strength".

Seems very Norsefire.

from the Brooklyn Heights

the best views of the city but for a price

You can easily tell Manhattanites who down Brooklyn are NY transplants. Manhattan was mostly a shithole full of project buildings in the 1970s and 1980s and far worse than Brooklyn before the carpetbaggers and rich people came. I know this may come as a shock so get the smelling salts ready but Times Square, Chelsea, Hells Kitchen, Harlem, LES all used to be not that much better than the Bronx. Manhattan's transformation happened in the 1990s.

Sadly, Brooklyn is transforming now too just like Manhattan did in the 90s. My wager is Queens is safe because it's far from the city, but the Bronx might be next due to its proximity to Manhattan. Could the South Bronx become the next yuppie and latte mom paradise?

Studios go for $400k 1BR $800k 2BR $ 1.2M 3BR $1.8M in the Heights

R30 Manhattan is where it's at and where it's always been no matter how shitty it used to be. There's nothing relevant in Brooklyn compared to Manhattan.

R33, The only people who adore Manhattan are old queens who think the Park and 5th Avenue days of grandeur are still here. It's nothing but a hub for farmed cubicle slaves and Chinese investors now.

R34 I'm not an old queen. I'm just being realistic. There's not much in Brooklyn. Every important institution is in Manhattan. You have to be delusional to deny its importance.

When people say "The Big Apple" they mean Manhattan. Sorry Brooklyn folks, but that's just how it is. And, no, it does not take 20 minutes to get from Brooklyn to Manhattan, unless you mean getting on at Bedford and getting off on 1st Ave.

[quote]Every important institution is in Manhattan.

You speak in terms of institutions. Other people speak in terms of character. Manhattan is little more than a sterile playground for the rich now.

There was a time East Village was haven for artists, now that is Bushwick.

R34 = Brooklynite. Boy bye.

Too many Jews!

Every city has it's own Brooklyn, in LA it's called Silver Lake

It's better to live in Brooklyn because when you live in Brooklyn you look out of your window and see Manhattan. If you live in Manhattan you look out your window and see Brooklyn.

What r34 and r37 said. Sure Manhattan is Manhattan, but in terms of the creative, interesting soul of the city that is in Brooklyn these days.

[quote]When people say "The Big Apple" they mean Manhattan. Sorry Brooklyn folks, but that's just how it is.

Who in the hell argued with you about this?

Sweetheart, we know it's where the tourists flock to - Thank God.

When I was in grad school, I had an internship one afternoon a week in Park Slope. I couldn't wait to get back to Astoria! Some would say that's rather a lateral move, but a big difference for me.

Park Slope is freakin stroller central, it's like urban suburbia r44. As a grad student I'm not surprised you didn't like it.

I was older and this was years ago. However, the self-employed folks I work for were an older husband and wife, who had just had their first, and I believe only, baby. The first time I saw the kid after she came home from the hospital, one of their friends who was visiting took me aside explaining, "You're expected to gush a bit."

[quote]And, no, it does not take 20 minutes to get from Brooklyn to Manhattan, unless you mean getting on at Bedford and getting off on 1st Ave.

It takes FIVE minutes to get from Bedford to 1st, you ass.

Yes, the institutions are in Manhattan, and Manhattan has plenty to offer, but for god's sake everyone knows that Manhattan is becoming bank after bank after chain store after Starbucks after bank after chain restaurant. Brooklyn is where the truly cool, forward-thinking people live.

QUEENS is the third world shithole. I lived in Astoria for 9 years, just moved to Greenpoint this year, and couldn't be happier. And I've worked—and continue to work—mostly in Manhattan. The choice is clear, for those of us who are interested in character and grit: Brooklyn, by a mile.

I'm happy in Queens. Fuck Brooklyn.

I thought Greenpoint was dominated by homophobic Polish people?

Hipsters have longed moved into Greenpoint r49, it is even where Lena Dunham set her show "Girls"

Dis basically sumszihidup, OP

Lots of Irish girls fresh off the boat selling nylons at department stores and secretly marrying young Italian plumbers.

Flyover borough.

I don't get people who use the "third world" insult (racist bullshit, of course)...as if I'm supposed to prefer a fucking Golden Corral in my neighborhood over a choice between Indian, Middle Eastern or Thai cuisine (among others).

The reason I love Brooklyn is specifically because I have a myriad of choices of incredible food and Int'l markets. My neighborhood is mixed and guess what, I could easily sell my home for the equivalent of five McMansions in OK where it isn't "third world." The America that Trump speaks to is why he has no business living in NYC anymore. The asshole belongs in the Midwest with the rest of the "real Americans" and their "greatness."

OMG, R51. I know exactly where that is - I used to buy Parmesan cheese from that place in the background.

BTW, some of the greatest Kosher delis, too. Awesome pastrami and corn beef. You can have your over-priced tourist traps like Carnegie.

R54, can you please post where some of the Kosher Delis are. Every single one I knew growing up doesn't exist anymore. Most of my beloved diners are gone too. The Del Rio Diner on Kings Highway went out of business just a couple of weeks ago. We would travel across Brooklyn to get to that place. I can't believe it's gone.

A couple of places I go to are Essen on Coney island Ave. and Jay & Lloyd's on Ave. U., R57

[quote]t takes FIVE minutes to get from Bedford to 1st, you ass.

Yes, from the moment the subway door closes in Brooklyn and opens in Manhattan, you ass. Not the time it takes you to get to the station and then wait and wait and wait for the L train.

And how many L trains do you have to let pass for being overcrowded in the morning?

Sell that bullshit to someone else, please.

Do you prefer Meserole Avenue or Meserole Street? Compare and contrast. I may start a "pole".

I don't do boroughs.

R59, where do you live, exactly?

Thanks R58. I will check them out. I'm dying for a good Kosher Deli.

Thank jeebus I got the fuck out of Williamsburg. Was there for ten years and the last two were pure hell. Being around a mass density of affluent white kids trying to aggressively out cool each other by dressing the same was utterly exhausting.

And r59 is 100% on the money. It would take me 10 minutes to walk to the subway. Up to 20 minutes to get on a subway (always waited for two to go by before squeezing on to one) and then another 10-15 to get to Union Square, as the trains would just coast due to traffic ahead of them.

Now I live way the fuck out in Ditmas Park...which is actually lovely...and guess what? Takes me the same amount of time to get to my office.

My partner and I will probably end up buying in Queens. The hip white thing is now really cranking up out here and I figure we've got only two years before it is lousy with affected honkies and uptight stroller mommies.

L trains during the day run every FOUR minutes. The maximum amount of time you have to wait on the platform is four minutes. There's a good chance you won't have to wait that long. Once you're on board, the train pulls into 1st Ave within five minutes.

I do this every single day.

How long you have to walk to get to the train station is your problem, and you CANNOT include that when you talk about how long it takes by train to get from Williamsburg to Manhattan. You people are being utterly dishonest.

R65 is 45 and hangs out at The Charleston.

I moved to Greenpoint after college in 1998 and lived in the area until 2011. When I moved in it was cheap, close to my office in Manhattan and pretty gritty with a mix of old polish families and younger folks like myself. Now it's overrun with hipsters who have encroached from Billyburg and extremely expensive. Glad I lived there but also happy that I moved to Philadelphia where there is still some semblance of culture and affordability. Yet the hipsters will take over here too I suppose.

What about Bushwick, R12?

Well if you are the type to care about r12's complaints, omg there are ethnic people and people that aren't rich...then Bushwick is definitely not for you.

One of the big draws of leaving Manhattan is that you aren't surrounded by just bland, homogenous rich people. That's the appeal of places like Bushwick.

Yeah, but one of the draws of living in Manhattan is that it doesn't take any time to get anywhere you want to be on the island because you are simultaneously at all places at all times. No need to take a cab or the subway anywhere because you are already there. Right, R30/35/36?

A lot of Queens is not reachable by subway. Robert Moses deliberately did that so black people wouldn't move there. He saw Queens as a suburb of the city...a place where blacks did not belong.

Queens.

Oh god, Queens.

I lived briefly in Bayside, Queens. There was no subway.

I was told, "Don't worry, the express bus has a stop right on the next block." Ok. Since I lived 17 miles from my job, I figured the express bus would be fine.

It took an hour and a half to get to the city and another 20 minutes to walk to my job.

The "express" bus made about 100 stops. There was nothing "express" about it. It was a joke.

So one day I called a cab to get to the train station. I figured I'd take the LIRR into the city. On my way out the door to the cab, I realised I forgot something and went back upstairs. The cab starts beeping its horn. Wtf? I hired you. I tell you when to go, you don't tell me. Or so I thought.

Well, no. Turns out the "cab" was a van filled with people who were agitating to get out of the driveway because they had to make two other stops before getting to the train station.

When I got to the station, I waited for the train. And waited. And waited. The train was a half an hour late and I couldn't get on it. Turns out it that on Mondays in the summer time, it was filled with people returning from the north shore beaches where they'd spent the weekend. The train had no room after three people got on it.. I was two hours late for work.

I almost lost my job. I had to wait 6 months before I could move back to the real city, Manhattan, because my landlord didn't want to let me out of my lease (meanwhile in Manhattan, landlords love it when you leave because they can jack the price up).

Never again Queens

Hey neighbor at R64. I live in Ditmas Park too, grew up here. It is lovely, however I do not like the influx of the rich in the past few years. I miss the middle/working class feel. I hate the yuppies and their little brats and strollers. I miss the Ma and Pa stores that were forced out of business to make room for expensive restaurants and food stores. I hate that the prices at the coop have quadrupled as well as at Natural Frontier. I hate that people are paying thousands a month for shitty apartments because when those that have more money than brains are willing to overpay for food and shelter it makes it hard for everyone. It breaks my heart when I hear how landlords are torturing old tenants to get them to leave so some rich moron can move in and pay 5 times more for the same ratty apartment with a few new kitchen appliances added.

I'm able to still be okay money wise living here but as I said, my heart breaks for those who can't/couldn't and have been forced out. I'd rather have a neighbor on welfare and Section 8 than the rich yuppies and their spoiled brats.

They aren't hipsters, thank god, but to me just as annoying.

Not to change the subject but have you been to George's restaurant since it reopened. It sucks. I'm here long enough to remember George's before it became a filthy dive and the food and atmosphere was great. Yeah, it's clean again but nothing special. The only thing it's good for is if I'm a little under the weather they do deliver and it's something other than Chinese or Italian. Speaking of Italian, San Remo isn't nearly as good as it was. The food from Corner Pizza on Church in Kensington is much better. I'm not about to pay 12 dollars a pound for potato salad at the coop and the rest of their highly overpriced takeout food. Most of it isn't even organic. I don't know WTH they're charging so much.

Still, are you sure you'd rather be in Queens than Ditmas Park? I mean it costs millions to buy a house in Ditmas Park but Queens? Maybe it's because I've lived here all my life but I can't imagine myself in Queens. For all my complaints, this always has been and is still my home.

Hey, r73 - I'm just seeing this now. I understand your feelings about the rapid changes in the neighborhood. Whenever my partner and I drive down Ocean Ave, with all of those beautiful buildings, we always lament the fact that those residents are living on borrowed time. In 10-years or so it will be all affluent white dickheads.

I love the diversity of Ditmas. The energy of so many different kinds of people who make up the community: black, white, latino, middle eastern, gay, straight, trans, etc.

Have to admit you would probably identify me as one of the new crop of folks that are ushering in change. Though we aren't wealthy, we eat at the overpriced places. Most aren't good. We like Lea. But Farm on Adderly is offensive in their pricing ($15 for a thimble full of wine).

I have been to George's. Yeah - I agree nothing special.

As for Queens, I'm being realistic. We do want to buy. We love Sunnyside. Reminds of some of the villages outside of Dublin. Also love Astoria. I would love to stay in Ditmas, but the crosshairs are fixed on that neighborhood. It will go the way of Park Slope very soon. So - off we will go.

In the meantime, see you on Cortelyou!

R72, but then when whites left to Long Island, blacks and Asians moved in to buy those homes.

You should live in Astoria if you want to be in Queens and have transportation.

Hi R64/74. IA, great assessment of Ditmas Park. Oh yeah, those apartments on Ocean Ave will be millionaires row in 10 years. I've seen some of those apartments, HUGH! They can do a lot with them. I honestly have to be starving to go into Restaurants on Cortelyou. ITA about Farm on Adderly. It is a pretentious, overpriced dump. I hated that they closed VOX and John's bakery. Granted John's wasn't what it used to be but it was still the only real bakery we had. I confess to going to the coop and Natural Frontier now and then. Some things, like salad greens, they say are important to buy organic, but if they have them at Shoprite on Ave. I, I will buy them there. They have a pretty decent organic section. I just miss my old neighborhood and if I almost get run over by one rich yuppie mommy with her triple stroller I swear you'll hear me screaming like a madman.

I had a great aunt who lived in Sunnyside and it was beautiful. She's been dead for a very long time so I haven't thought about it in years but if it's still even a little like I remember I can see why you'd think of buying there. Back then the people were lovely, middle class or just a tiny bit above but sweet and respectful of all. They had nice size houses with nice lawns and backyards. Can you believe that some of the Victorians in our neighborhood are going for over 3 million???? Boy there must be a lot of very rich but very stupid people around. I'll bet they all have nice renovated kitchens and baths and the rest of the house is falling apart and crawling with mice and roaches. I mean come on, houses that old have to be, even with the best of care.

Yeah, so it's not just me. The real George's is gone forever. Nothing at all special about it.

Who knows, perhaps we have stood on line next to each other and never known it. LOL, we should wear big "I go to DL" letters on T shirts, .

Thanks for the lovely post back.

[quote] It is lovely, however I do not like the influx of the rich in the past few years. I miss the middle/working class feel. I hate the yuppies and their little brats and strollers. I miss the Ma and Pa stores

Same thing happened in my neighborhood in Yorkville (UES). We lived in a middle income housing project the city planted there to stop the encroachment of Harlem. The neighborhood was dicey. We tenants turned the neighborhood around. Most of the businesses around us were owned by tenants who started them after moving in.

We turned the neighborhood around so much that we all got kicked out. I go back there to get my hair cut and am so saddened I don't see people I know on the street or in the shops. We were a community. It's all double strollers and skinny jeans now. The city tried to prevent Harlem from spreading -- now the rich have spread into Harlem.

I swear, the rich are a pox on everything they come near. People really have to fight back. It doesn't matter who is in the WH. We The People have to have a real revolution, not that crap that was Occupy Wall Street. I had high hopes for that when it began until I realized what morons were running it, or should I say not running it. There were no leaders. We need large numbers and people who won't run when the going gets tough. There is going to be a new Assemblyman in my district. There is a primary coming up. I've been in email contact with all three asking them all the same questions. What is there stand on helping the very poor that are left in this neighborhood who are holding on with their teeth against the army of rich people moving here? What do they plan to do to help? How do they plan to keep housing for the poor and the middle class existing? Are they for expanding Social Security for seniors and the disabled who are hurting so badly? Do they plan to support Medicare for all or single payer?

They all call themselves Progressives. Two mailed me back bullshit answers that totally evaded my questions. Only one said what I was hoping to hear. He is the one I will be voting for. I have no doubt he will lose just like Bernie did, but I'm no longer going to stand down from my beliefs.

Women at the turn of the century banded together by the millions and got the vote, it was hard, dangerous and painful but they never gave up.

Black people did the same in the 1960s as did women and gays. Young people marched by the millions and stopped a war.

What they all had in common was men marched with the Suffragettes. White people marched with the blacks, men marched for Women's rights too and almost everyone marched for gay rights. People were willing to fight for causes that didn't touch them personally. They marched for what was right.

We have to get back to that. We have to save those with less than we have and in doing so we will be saving ourselves too.

r77. Don't get me wrong here. Though I lovelovelove the vibe of Ditmas, I'm also somewhat of a capitalist. I invest. I work in corporate and make what would be considered great money anywhere else BUT NYC.

However, we are at the point where even people like me and my partner - who could carry the mortgage on an apartment fine - are being marginalized due to the influx of mind-blowing wealth. We just can't pay cash upfront to buy an apartment. We worked with Abacus for a little while, but everytime we looked at a place we would be told that someone just made an all cash offer. Or bid up the price 10-20% more. So we threw in the towel. Aside from what people are saying on here about Queens, the neighborhoods we are considering are all within 10 minutes to midtown with ample transportation options.

BTW - speaking of Ditmas history, did you know Ric Menello? (see link)

Anyway, if you ever notice a big bearish couple walking around the 'hood (my partner has a full beard and I have a 'stache and shaved head) scream "Cheryl!" and we'll chat. Ha!

I live in Bayside, Queens. I don't work in Manhattan. I have a car. It's still a great neighborhood. It's changing, a complete gut job or a knock down special is a million bucks. The Asians have set their sites on all of north east queens, and they drove up the price on real estate and are keeping in high. I love the area, I can easily get into Manhattan when I want to on the LIRR. I can easily and quickly get anyplace on Long Island by car. Luckily I own my place. I'm more of a Queens guy, I like having a car and some space. It's like an extension of Long Island where I am. Brooklyn seems more cramped and congested.

Wonderful but terribly expensive in Bococa

[quote]How would you describe living in Brooklyn New York?

So desperately trendy that it's become completely unhip.

Loved in a few areas in Brooklyn. Nice but almost suburban - or London - like. Long walks to subway and then 2 subways to work. Took over an hour. On weekends, I never wanted to leave my neighborhood. In Williamsburg that was fine. In Prospect Heights, Fort Greene, Red Hook - you only had a few places to choose from.

After years of that and subway problems that meant it took an hour and a half sometimes, I decided to do actual suburbia - bigger house, bigger yard, cheaper. A walkable town with a few restaurants. Including walk to train, take an hour and 15 mins. Much happier. Especially now in times of Covid - a yard, a 4BR house, gardening and breathing space.