recommendation on a Brooklyn area

From what I hear, Montrose isn't ideal - there isn't much on, and although it's safe enough there could be safer! It's not really a Neighborhood in the same way Williamsburg or Greenpoint is, but make of that what you will! It could be the next Long Island City - a great area waiting to happen.

Montrose itself is a safe and greatly gentrified street. The L train is awesome, and you're right about the G. Montrose IS in Williamsburg, though close to the Bushwick border at Flushing. And Bushwick is ALREADY a lot like LIC, FYI.

There is a cool bar on the street (Duck Duck) and it's close to Boulevard Cafe on Bushwick Ave and some junk shops and a location of Khim's Millenium Market (an organic store you may have seen in the more hipster area of Williamsburg). The area a bit south of Montrose - closer to Broadway - gets sketchier and is not really as nice as Montrose and you have to keep in mind that there are low income housing projects relatively close by. But up there you are close to a lot of Wiliamsburg bars - you can walk to Barcade and Kellogg's and such.

Here's a good article for the Bushwick doubters: http://bushwickbk.com/2008/04/01/is-bushwick-safe/

I know crime does happen in the area, but it can happen anywhere. I've lived in this area (though in the sketchier part) for more than a year and I've never had a problem and never met anyone who has either. Really the best advice anyone can give is to come check it out for yourself. Montrose is definitely not Soho or the UES, so who knows if it is exactly what you personally are looking for.

Montrose, that sounds like an interesting area to live. Not sure if I want to live there, but it does sound good though.

Okay, so to report back, the apartment I saw was so awful in so many other ways, that the neighborhood was then a moot point. Although you get off at Montrose and you're right near a school, I still wouldn't feel especially safe there. That perception probably has more to do with how the streets a couple of block down turn industrial, and unless you're a drummer with a desperate need for large space away from everybody else, you have to ask yourself why you'd want to live in a neighborhood that's so ugly. Just my two cents. Probably might have tried to talk myself into the area if the apartment itself had been astonishing, but it just wasn't worth the trip out there.

It may have been just the apartment. I wouldn't stop looking if that area is suited to your price point. Bushwick is really gaining some momentum in popularity because the rent problems in Willy are pushing everyone back. I know a relatively well known actor (he's in the upcoming show "Boardwalk Empire") who has lived in Bushwick for years. He has a giant place for next to nothing, comparatively speaking. And, when the L train is "on," it's one of the best trains in the city. It's so fast and they come around every four minutes. The only problem is that sometimes the line just shuts down altogether and a cab from Bushwick isn't exactly 5 dollars.

How often is the L train not "on" ?