JenMac

I like Monitor street. It's a cute, residential street with a lot of really lovely apartments. It's quieter and cleaner than a lot of streets in the area. And, it's close to both McCarren and McGolrick parks which is great. But, there are a lot of things about the street that make it so that I would probably never live on Monitor. For one, it's kind of in between neighborhoods. It's almost in Greenpoint and almost in the Graham area of Williamsburg. But, it's about a 10 minute walk toward either area before you come across any bars, restaurants, shops . . .even a deli. I feel like this would be a major thorn in my side all of the time. I loved living across from Khim's Deli. it was so easy. Having to walk ten minutes in the winter to get a coffee sounds really unenjoyable. It also sounds a bit scary at night. It's not a bad street and it's safe as far as anything in New York can go. But, the streets that have no nightlife on them scare me a little. They're a little too quiet at night for my liking / walking. It's also a bit of a walk to the Graham Ave L train stop which can be a pain sometimes.
But, the thing I mostly don't love about Monitor is that so many of the buildings have been converted into "luxury" homes that the street is now insanely expensive. I can't justify spending hundreds of dollars more to live with nothing fun around me than to live on Graham or Lorimer. It makes absolutely no sense to me why anyone would pay over $2000 / month to live 10 minutes away from any sort of convenience. But, I guess people do. I just think it's a shame because it's a really lovely street that I wouldn't mind if it were actually less expensive than the hip streets.

Melrose has really cheap rent -- and, by cheap I mean you can get a two bedroom apartment for the price of a one bedroom in Williamsburg proper. But, that's legitimately the only plus side to living on Melrose street. It's a really ugly street that's kind of in the middle of nowhere in Bushwick. And, it's fairly close to all of the Bushwick bars and restaurants: Roberta's is a few blocks away and Melrose connects with Flushing which is the major strip in the neighborhood. So, I can see the appeal for living on it with students, hipsters, artists and other people that are a little strapped for cash. But, I just don't think there's quite enough to do or quite enough conveniences in the neighborhood to live here. And, it's dangerous. And, it takes a while to get to Manhattan. You add those things together with the fact that Melrose looks like a dump site for run down warehouses and it's not exactly an enticing street to live on. But, then again, I'm not twenty years old. It's just really ugly and sketchy even during the day.

McKibben Court Ct is a tiny street off of, surprise, McKibben Street. It's actually a pretty cute street and it reminds me of all the little, quaint, really expensive alleys in the West Village. The apartments are old and nice looking and the street is quiet. The bad thing about this street, though, is that it's not one of those quaint alleys in the West Village. It's a cute street off of an ugly street in Bushwick. And, Bushwick isn't the best neighborhood. It's up and coming but it has been for some time. I guess McKibben Court wouldn't be awful to live on as far as little streets in low rent areas go. But, I feel like most of the youngsters and arty people who moved into the neighborhood kind of want to be in the thick of things and this isn't it. I don't know. I'm not a huge fan of Bushwick, in general. But, if you want a quieter street that's in a cheap neighborhood and you're not scared of the occasional mugger on the neighboring streets, then this might be a place to look for an apartment.

Oh, McKibben Street. I can't think of this street without thinking of the McKibben Dorms. The "dorms" are a massive two building converted factory living situation wherein you pay almost a thousand bucks a month to rent a room with shared bathrooms on every floor. That has got to be some sort of sad joke. Also, there's a housing project just east of the dorm so now you know you're in Bushwick. The funny thing is that these rooms actually rent. They go out to a lot of the youngsters, artists and hipsters that have come into Bushwick in droves over the last five or so years. And, I can't for the life of me figure out why they don't just get into groups of three and rent a three bedroom actual apartment for about the same price just up the street. Which brings me to my biggest complaint about the street: why is the rent here so high?
Yeah, it's significantly lower than Williamsburg proper, but McKibben is in Bushwick which is still a really scary neighborhood that just happens to have a lot of hipsters and hipster bars trickling in. It's kind of like the wild west out here. Cowboys and Indians are fighting for who gets the land. And, yes the cowboys are going to win because the rent is already ridiculous for this neighborhood. But, I don't think the Indians are going down without a fight and a lot of muggings. Yeah, McKibben isn't a completely awful street. And, there are a lot of things to do popping up in the neighborhood. But, it's not nearly safe enough, aesthetically pleasing enough, fun enough or close enough to Manhattan to justify the amount you pay for living in a rat den in between "artists" and criminals.

Maspeth is actually a really cute street just until after Cooper Park. It is only a few blocks away from the Graham Ave L stop and all of the bars and restaurants in the Graham and Metropolitan area. But, this is a really residential street so it's much quieter than Graham and Metropolitan. The street is maybe a hairline less safe because it's east of Bushwick Ave and because there isn't any sort of commerce on the street -- there's really no one out on Maspath at night. But, it runs right into Cooper park which is great. It's not a huge park but it's charming and there's a great little dog run. Plus, living around any sort of green is always a bonus.
The apartments are a mixture of old, three or so story buildings, a few townhouses and a lot of new condos or "Fedder" buildings. The newer buildings tend to be west of the park. And, the neighborhood around the park and a little bit of east of that is a bit older of a demographic with families, retirees, etc. This part of the street is largely Italian and they've been there for some time. But, I kind of like that. It makes the street have a neighborhood feel. The part of the street west of the park is a mixture of Italian, longtime families, hipsters and yuppies (who live in the newer buildings). So, it's a pretty broad mix of people. I like Maspeth and I would live on it. I would just walk briskly back to my place after dark.
Oh, the street runs right into an Industrial cloud just after the park so you have to live as far west as possible or else you're getting into scary territory.

Marcy Ave is a pretty big street in south Williamsburg, and I keep on thinking that it's going to get really popular .. . but, it still hasn't. There are some great apartments on this street. And, the rent is much cheaper than a lot of other streets in Williamsburg. And, if you live on the street close to Broadway then you're just a hop skip and jump away from great bars and restaurants (Moto is my favorite -- it is lovely). But, the street, itself, doesn't have much to do on it in the way of fun. And, it is pretty shoddy looking in some parts, well, in a lot of parts. And, the street is close to a train. The JMZ actually has a stop on Marcy so getting into Manhattan isn't difficult at all. The only bummer about this stop is that it's an outdoor station, so waiting during the winter isn't ideal.
It's not a terrible street to live on, as long as you keep to the north side of it, but it's not great either. The cheap rent is lovely and there is close transport. But, it's still really sketchy at night on most of the street. And, the trickle down of youngsters and hipsters hasn't quite hit yet south of Broadway so there isn't a ton to do. I suppose I may be more likely to live here than go into 'Bushwick if I needed cheap rent, but it would be a hard sell.

As with any other street that runs through or close to the Broadway Triangle, Lynch Street isn't great. It has the plus side of cheap rent and maybe a bit more space for your money. But, that's about the only up side to living on Lynch street. The street runs from the Broadway Triangle which is a span of land with old abandoned factories and a bunch of low income housing projects so that's not exactly enticing. And, to make things even better, it only runs down to nearly Bed Stuy, which is a really shaky neighborhood, but doesn't run quite into the now trendy Fort Green area around Pratt. So, it has a lot of near misses with fun, young areas and a lot of hits with crime heavy, abandoned looking areas. And, there's not a whole lot of convenience around Lynch. It's a pretty long walk to even a decent deli or coffee shop. And, any bar or restaurant venture requires a car ride unless you're willing to brave a sketchy street at night (which I'm not). Sure, the rent is reasonable, but that's not enough to entice, in my opinion. Furthermore, the street is pretty ugly with no energy to it.

Yikes, this street is far. Lombardy Street is so far north in Willburg, that it's neighboring on the northern part of Greenpoint and Queens. There's really nothing up here and it's bordering on the part of the neighborhood that's heavily polluted which makes it not exactly ideal. And, the southern part of Lombardy has some really beautiful homes and apartments that are pretty cheap with a lot of space (a lot of them even have yards which is crazy). But, the northern part of the street looks like an industrial wasteland with a bunch of warehouses. Getting a three bedroom apartment with outdoor space for less than $2500 / month is a pretty great deal, but you have to pay for it in other ways.
For one, transportation is criminally far away from Lombardy Street. So, if you have to commute into Manhattan, it's really a pain. And, the walk to even a deli or market is pretty far, let alone any sort of restaurant or form of nightlife. Running out to get coffee is a bit of a chore on Lombardy. And, the northern end of the street is pretty sketchy at night because it's so vacant. It's really a toss up. You have all of this space for a reasonable price, but you have to really enjoy that space because walking anywhere else isn't exactly pleasant or easy.

Lee Avenue is a decent looking street and the rent is definitely cheaper than many other streets in Williamsburg. But, I wouldn't want to live on it. For one, it's pretty deep in South Williamsburg, neighboring on Bed Stuy. So, if you're living on the southern part of Lee, you're right on the border of a pretty rough neighborhood. It's not exactly close to transportation, and while there are little shops and restaurants, they're pretty much all catering to the Hasidic Jewish population that dominates this street and surrounding ones.
Lee is in the thick of the Jewish part of Williamsburg and that's pretty much the only people who live on this street. I'm not Jewish and certainly not Hasidic and while I wouldn't mind living in a Hasidic neighborhood, they don't seem to like foreigners on their turf. They stick to their own which makes neighborly interaction pretty difficult if you're not Jewish. And, there really isn't much in the way of food outside of Kosher restaurants. It's quite a hike to get to other restaurants, cafes, etc and there isn't a bar within spitting distance of this street. I feel like people move to Williamsburg because it's so lively with food, bars, art, etc and it's a bit cheaper than Manhattan. So, why move outside of Manhattan to live in a still pricey neighborhood with nothing to do? It doesn't make much sense to me. I feel like there are far better streets than Lee that aren't too much further up, price point wise.

i'm still not totally sold on Bushwick as far as safety and having a whole lot to do in a neighborhood. But, there are an awful lot of youngsters that seem to like this neighborhood and Knickerbocker is one of the main streets in it. I guess if you were going to live in Bushwick, this would be the street you would want to live on. There are a lot of condo converts that have popped up on Knickerbocker in the last five years or so. And, I know that's a sign that the neighborhood is taking off, but I can't get around the price of them. Or, the rental prices in Bushwick, in general. Because the young and arty have flocked here over the last few years because of rent hikes in Williamsburg, the neighborhood has become somewhat popular. But, that was because the rent was cheap. And, it's nearly the same as Williamsburg now without nearly the number of bars, restaurants, shops and art venues. There are a few, of course, but not enough to justify not living in Willy. And, there are some streets in Bushwick that still have significantly lower rent. But, Knickerbocker isn't one of them. I guess this is because this street and the streets that cross Knickerbocker have the most going on. And, it's pretty close to a number of train stops. But, I still wouldn't call this street safe. There aren't enough young and arty people on it yet to have completely gentrified the street. So, it's still pretty sketchy at night. And, it's not especially pretty . . though most of north Brooklyn is pretty ugly.
I guess if you can find a cheaper rent and you're young, this wouldn't be a bad street to live on. It has enough going on that it's decent. It's just not enough to entice me.

Kingsland Ave is a tough one because it has a lot of goods and bads. The blocks of Kingsland closer to Metropolitan are great and they're not too far from the L train or any of the bars and restaurants in the Graham Ave area. One of my good friends lives on Kingsland right at Skillman it's not too bad as far as convenience goes. He also has a back yard in his apartment which is nearly unheard of for anywhere in New York. The street is definitely a younger one. There are a lot of artists, students and hipsters on it because the rent is a bit cheaper than parts of Willy that are even off of Graham which is only a few blocks away. And, the further north you go on Kinglsand, the cheaper the rent gets because the further north you go, the further you are from any sort of convenience. It's a really residential street so if you live up toward Greenpoint, there's nothing in the way of bars, restaurants or delis near you. But, the walk isn't too bad. The other bad thing about Kinglsand is that the northern chunk of the street has a lot of pollution problems. It's right under the BQE and a lot of the new, expensive condos on the street are built on former factory sites that had sewage problems. Also, a lot of the buildings were put up really quickly so they have sort of tape and glue problems (i.e. poor insulation, electrical issues, etc). I guess I wouldn't mind living on Kingsland -- especially if I could have a yard -- but I would definitely live as close to Metropolitan as possible and I wouldn't live in one of the newer "luxury" buildings.

Keap street is a little too far out of the way for my liking. But, it's not a bad street. It has a decent neighborhood feel too it and it's quiet because it's far from most of the Willburg happenings. And, it's a few blocks away from some of the great bars and restaurants in South Williamsburg. It's really close to one of my favorite restaurants, Moto, and there are all kinds of things popping up in the vicinity. So, it's probably going to have a bit more bustle in the next couple of years. The thing I don't like about, Keap, though, is that it's still not exactly the most convenient street. It is a couple of blocks from any sort of restaurant, bar or even coffee shop. It's a bit of a hike to the JMZ line and that stop is outdoors so in the winter that's not ideal. Also, it's a little bit scary around here at night because nobody is out on the street because of the lack of night time activities. Anything around Kent or Wythe is a little desolate late at night to me. You add to that the fact that it's at Wythe in south Willy and it's even more absent of people. And, there are a ton of luxury condos that have gone into former factory buildings on this street so you're not exactly paying a reasonable amount. The condos are really nice but I don't know that I'd want to pay $400 k for a one bedroom loft close to the middle of nowhere. It seems kind of unreasonable to me. It's not a bad street, but for the most part, I couldn't justify the price to live on it at this point.

Juliana Place is in the boons. It's a quiet street and you can find a great deal on a place (a lot of them are condos for sale). But, the reason you can find a good deal is because it's pretty far out of the way from pretty much everything. It's really far south and west and that's not a bad combination as far as being in a bad area, but it's not ideal. The street isn't unsafe, per say, but it's pretty scary looking at night because most of the apartments are in converted, old factories. There's not a neighborhood feel and there's not a lot of green around. It's pretty spooky around here and it feels like a ghost town.
And, the convenience factor to Juliana is awful. The closet restaurants are up at Broadway and though they're both fantastic, that's a bit of a hike to get to the closest place to eat. There's also a wine shop and a little deli on Broadway but that's pretty much it. And, it's not exactly at the end of the block. You have to walk pretty far just to pick up a coffee and the walk isn't exactly picturesque. The worst part about the location (as if having to walk six blocks to get to a deli isn't bad enough) is that getting to any sort of train is at least a 15 minute walk. So, any sort of commute into Manhattan is about an hour which is depressing considering you can see it from your window if you live on Juliana. There's just not enough happening on this street to justify living here at this point, in my opinion.

I could really go either way about Judge street. It's a few streets away from where I lived when I lived in Willy and it's a fine street. It's a couple of blocks away from all of the bars and restaurants on Graham street. And, since there's nothing actually on Judge, the street is a bit quieter than Graham. But, Graham's not a crazy loud street so I kind of liked that there's a little bit more going on at night. Judge doesn't feel quite as safe as a street like Graham simply because of the lack of people walking on it. And, anything across Bushwick seems just a little bit shadier to me.
It's not a bad street though. It's close to all of the bars and restaurants, close to Cooper Park, and a few blocks away from the L train so getting into Manhattan is pretty easy. The apartments look, roughly, the same as they do on any other street in the neighborhood: mostly older three to four story walk ups mixed in with a couple of newer "condo" buildings. And, the rent is pretty comparable to other streets: it's around $1800 / month or so for a one bedroom in one of the walkups. You definitely get more space around here for your money than you would around Bedford or even Lorimer. And, the street is a mix of longtime residents and the younger more hipster crowd, leaning more toward the hipster side. But, for some reason, Judge just looks a little bit shoddier than other streets in the area. Maybe it's less trees or that the buildings aren't taken care of to the level that others are, but it's just a little shifty. I feel that because the rent is exactly the same around Graham, I would rather live on the other side of Bushwick Ave. There's more to do directly around you and it's just a little bit safe feeling.

There is only one good thing about Ivy Hill Road: The street sign. This street is so far east and north, it's almost like it doesn't belong to a neighborhood at all. And, there's nothing up here. It looks like the sort of street where body dumping happens. A lot of nameless warehouses and nothing else. But, the street sign is pretty cool. I don't know if it was forgotten about because it's so out of the way. But, the sign for Ivy Hill Road is from the 1940's. It was never replaced and is one of the only signs in Brooklyn that hasn't been touched. So, it's kind of like you went into a time warp in a horror film on Ivy Hill. Other than that, there's no reason to ever go up here (especially not to live). And, I'm not sure that an old street sign is really enough for anyone to make the effort for that matter. It's far from everything, the street is scary looking and you'd be living in a warehouse. This is a no fly zone

Irving Ave is a small street in Bushwick. It's pretty far into Bushwick too so there's no fibbing about this being Williamsburg or even "East Williamsburg." It's within fair walking distance of the bars and restaurants in Bushwick as most are on or near Flushing. But, I just don't think there's enough close by for this to be a great street to live on. First of all, it's off the Jefferson stop of the L train which is a really sketchy stop. And, Irving's not the sketchiest street in the neighborhood, but this neighborhood isn't exactly safe yet. And, living on a street without a lot going on in a sort of scary neighborhood is a bad idea, in my opinion. There's not enough people on the street late at night and I feel like that's just asking for trouble.
The plus side of living on Irving is that the rent on this street is dirt cheap. You can get a two bedroom place on Irving for less than a one bedroom place around Graham Ave in Williamsburg. And, the two aren't that far away from each other, technically speaking. Though, they look like night and day and sort of feel that way too. There are a lot of young artists and hipsters that have moved on Irving but there's still a mix of them and the old demographic which keeps the rent down because it's still a little less than desirable (unsafe). I wouldn't live on Irving because of the safety factor and because it's just too far from Manhattan. But, a lot of young people don't mind it.

I feel like Ingraham is the street that let's you know that Bushwick is where all the artists live now. It's how I imagined streets in Williamsburg proper to have looked fifteen years ago. Ingraham is a really ugly street. It looks like a string of abandoned warehouses that are actually apartments. There are no trees anywhere. It's pretty sad looking. And, gritty. But, that's how hip people like it, I guess. Because there are all kinds of hip things happening here. There are a lot of trendy, Bushwick bars on and around Ingraham (like Alaska, which I guess is my favorite in the area). And, there is a cafe cum art gallery just up the street. There's a production space here, a music venue . . anything that artists do, you can find it on this wasteland of a looking street.
But, here's the thing I don't understand. It seems like the real estate on this street got a little ahead of itself. Usually, the arty people move to an area because it's cheap. And, then they make the area cool so the area gets expensive and fun. But, it's already not cheap on Ingraham and it's not cool enough or safe enough to warrant the price tag. There's not enough here yet. And, most of the spaces haven't been renovated. There are a handful of restaurants compared to Williamsburg and barely any conveniences. Plus, it's still kind of a sketchy area so if you can afford to live on Ingraham, why would you? It makes no sense.

I - 278 is actually a freeway, not a street you can live on. It's part of the BQE and it actually runs through all five burroughs of New York. The Williamsburg part of it is pretty small as it starts just after the Williamsburg bridge and runs up to Queens (which is pretty close to Williamsburg). I-278 isn't the most productive or fast freeway in New York, but it connects to just about every other freeway, directly. So, you can get to the airport, the Hamptons . . Connecticut. . . you name it, from this guy. Not much else to say about it, other than, don't live under it if you can at all help it.

Herbert street is a pretty decent little residential street that has a tiny chunk in Williamsburg but is mostly in Greenpoint. One of the downers is that it runs directly the BQE which doesn't do much for the aesthetic or noise level of the street. But, then again, there's not much aesthetic in Williamsburg anyway. The nice thing about Herbert is that it's a clean, fairly quiet street that's almost completely residential. There are some single family homes mixed in with older apartments and new condo developments. There's also a middle income housing project on Herbert which is either good or bad depending on how you look at it. You're a few blocks away from both the Graham and Lorimer stretches of bars and restaurants. And, just a few more walks away from all the chaos to be had at the Bedford stop. It's nice to be a couple of blocks away because the streets a lot cleaner. But, it can also be a bad thing because you can't just run across the street to grab dinner. That sounds lazy but when there's a blizzard, those few blocks seem a lot longer than they are. And, the walk home can be a little scary because the people on the street really start to dissipate the further away you get from those big areas.
The other major attraction you're right next to on Herbert is McCarren Park. This is also both a good and a bad thing. For one, it's fantastic to be this close to such a big, great park. I would have loved to be a smidge closer to McCarren when I lived in Willy. The bad thing about this, however, is that though Herbert isn't on the park, it's close enough that the rent reflects living on a park. So, the rent is a bit astronomical, in my opinion, for a street that's not directly on a park, isn't all that close to a train, and is a few blocks away from any sort of social activity. And, it's not like the homes are big on this street. They're old so you're not exactly getting a lot of bang for your buck. This is a deal breaker for me as far as Herbert is concerned. I just feel like, why would I pay 2 g's a month to live practically in Greenpoint and next to nothing? It makes no sense.

I remember the first time I walked past Harrison Place. I was going to Roberta's (my now favorite restaurant in the area) for the first time and kept on thinking that I was being walked to my death. This street is beyond ugly and scary looking. It looks like a series of warehouses where dreams go to die. And, you would never know that little gems are just around the corner. There are a lot of gems, like Roberta's, in Bushwick. But, there aren't enough, for me, to justify living on this street. And, I know that the hipster set like their buildings to look like abandoned warehouses because it ups the cool factor. But, I'm just not that cool. The insides of some of the buildings on Harrison are remodeled and very nice . . .but the outside. Dear of dear. It's as if no trees are on this street simply because they revolted. It's really scary.
And, the area is still pretty scary, in my opinion. It's scary during the day. The Morgan stop of the L train is right here and it looks like there's no train because almost no one is walking around at any given time. For any New Yorker, that's really creepy. There's nothing around here. At all. Around the corner toward Flushing, there are a few restaurants, bars, cafes, etc. But, absolutely nothing is on this street but what looks like abandonment. The neighborhood just hasn't developed enough yet that streets like Harrison are reasonably safe. And, I don't think any kind of cheap rent is worth that. I'd rather pay a little bit more and live a bit further west. But, if you're a brave, little hipster that won't let a potential mugging threaten your good time, this may be the street for you.