Should I move to Harlem, Wash Heights, Inwood, or, uh *SoBro*

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Heh, so no sooner do I post about Jersey City than we decide we might need to move (mostly for my wife's teaching job). We're looking at these neighborhoods because she teaches in the Bronx and I also need to be able to get to the bridge (GW) so I can do the reverse-commute thing.

We're both 27, no kids. I'd like to have decent groceries, eateries nearby, maybe a little nightlife. Hipsters are neither preferred nor shunned, but I'd rather take a less hip neighborhood that's a bit safer and more pleasant (relative to the South Bronx) than a neighborhood that has new art galleries but your car windows get smashed every week.

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 7 December 2006 00:53 (nineteen years ago)

Argh - this was supposed to be on temp ILX.

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 7 December 2006 00:57 (nineteen years ago)

Well it's let me know there is a place called SoBro so it hasn't all been in vain.

― jim (jim), Thursday, 7 December 2006 01:06 (nineteen years ago)

SoBro is realtor hypespeak for South Bronx. I'm not sure if ANYONE besides realtors uses it without irony.

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 7 December 2006 01:19 (nineteen years ago)

I've a friend who lives in Washington Heights who may be able to give you some pointers dude.
Be sorry to see you go.

― forksclovetofu (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 7 December 2006 01:50 (nineteen years ago)

harlem - this is a no-brainer. srsly.

― jhoshea (jhoshea), Thursday, 7 December 2006 01:59 (nineteen years ago)

wash heights/inwood = too far.
s bronx = too gully.
harlem = sweet toke.

― jhoshea (jhoshea), Thursday, 7 December 2006 02:01 (nineteen years ago)

Isn't Harlem a little pricier though?

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 7 December 2006 02:20 (nineteen years ago)

the parts of harlem that you want to live in (s of 125th or so, no?) are likely a little more expensive than yr other options. but i'm not sure that you really want to live in the s bronx and wash heights/inwood are faaaaar. wash heights is probably the nicest of the lot, if you don't mind boring and isolated. but it might not even be cheaper than harlem - not sure.

― jhoshea (jhoshea), Thursday, 7 December 2006 02:42 (nineteen years ago)

I feel certain that KRS1 would punch anyone who said "SoBro" in the face.

But shit, I never even been to NY.

― austin!@#$ (austin), Thursday, 7 December 2006 03:09 (nineteen years ago)

how do you say SoBro in the face?

― grbchv! (gbx), Thursday, 7 December 2006 03:13 (nineteen years ago)

what area of the bronx does the missus work in? Wash heights/inwood is well served by subway, but getting to bronx from there can be tricky except for riverdale/kingsbridge. why not look into Marble Hill, so you can live in the Bronx & Manhattan simultaneously.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marble_Hill,_Manhattan,_New_York

Also, SoBros before SoHos, amirite?

― bliss (blass), Thursday, 7 December 2006 03:21 (nineteen years ago)

marble hill sounds interesting

― grbchv! (gbx), Thursday, 7 December 2006 03:29 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.newspacephoto.org/images/gallery/krs1.jpg
WALK RIGHT UP 2 UR FACE AND SAY SOBRO U!

― jhoshea (jhoshea), Thursday, 7 December 2006 03:32 (nineteen years ago)

Is there anything you DON'T say in the face?

― austin!@#$ (austin), Thursday, 7 December 2006 04:38 (nineteen years ago)

When I was looking for a place in August, Harlem (north of 125th) wasn't necessarily more expensive than Inwood/Washington Heights, but there were fewer available apartments.

I had thought I really wanted to move to Inwood, because it's so pretty and kind-of strange, but when I actually started looking at places up there, I decided against it. It seemed like very little was open at night and that there were only a few places to eat. The buildings I looked in were all beautiful from the outside, but really dark and lonely inside. But it's probably still worth looking at places up there, especially if you want a lot of space.

― C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Thursday, 7 December 2006 04:40 (nineteen years ago)

Someone I know has an apt in one of the big old buildings in Inwood and it's nice inside! Not the sprawling loft-sized thing or 15-ft ceilings, but nice-sized rooms. Plus since the walls are old and thick and solid plaster, she says lots of musicians and vocalists live up there cos they can practice.

― Laurel (Laurel), Thursday, 7 December 2006 04:44 (nineteen years ago)

west of b'way is best uptown, east was (still is? i haven't been there in a few years, don't know the current gentrification pattern) dicier. real solid art deco style 6 story buuildings a-plenty up there.

off topic but when is gentrification gonna come to the Grand Concourse? those buildings rule!

― bliss (blass), Thursday, 7 December 2006 05:07 (nineteen years ago)

marble hill is totally yuppified, there's a starbucks and a target and everything. you'd love it!

― paresthesia hilton (get bent), Thursday, 7 December 2006 05:16 (nineteen years ago)

why not get started on your geriatric years? move to Riverdale! Liberty Lines can't be worse than the PATH.

― nuneb (nuneb), Thursday, 7 December 2006 05:25 (nineteen years ago)

riverdale isn't bad -- the people i know from there are jappy girls whose parents weren't rich enough to move to westchester.

― paresthesia hilton (get bent), Thursday, 7 December 2006 05:29 (nineteen years ago)

off topic but when is gentrification gonna come to the Grand Concourse? those buildings rule!

it's totally already started.

Washington Heights is probably the 'nicest', but would Inwood be more interesting?

― nuneb (nuneb), Thursday, 7 December 2006 05:29 (nineteen years ago)

SOBRO

http://glob.anewyorkthing.com/wp-content/photos/plastic3.jpg

― obi strip (sanskrit), Thursday, 7 December 2006 05:32 (nineteen years ago)

marble hill is totally yuppified, there's a starbucks and a target and everything. you'd love it!

-- paresthesia hilton (jb...), December 7th, 2006.

Are you taking a shot at me?

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 7 December 2006 05:57 (nineteen years ago)

that pic made my morning

― Ray Cummings (skateboardr), Thursday, 7 December 2006 12:48 (nineteen years ago)

too bad, i could've hooked you up with a sweet, huge 1br for cheap on 127th between 5th and lenox earlier this fall that my friends moved out of. i think it's taken now, tho.

― Tyrone Slothrop (Tyrone Slothrop), Thursday, 7 December 2006 12:49 (nineteen years ago)

I think aNYthing is the company of the dude that I took the A-Ron name from.

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 7 December 2006 14:14 (nineteen years ago)

oh no that article from the times magazine where they tried to make him the vanguard of his generation and the best he could come up with was i have these names for the different downtown cliques we're called the cool kids and then there's the parent haters and i'm all those are your names the cool kids really and nike buys you stuff so naturally this is where it's at

― jhoshea (jhoshea), Thursday, 7 December 2006 14:27 (nineteen years ago)

Fucking TARGET, man that shit is so booji, district we ain't even got one yet, got like three Starbucks though, movin' on up

― TOM. BOT. (trm), Thursday, 7 December 2006 14:33 (nineteen years ago)

The part of JC where I live doesn't even have a Starbucks - but if you go down to the high rise "LIVE WORK EAT" section on the water there's a Starbucks and then another Starbucks IN the Target.

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 7 December 2006 14:36 (nineteen years ago)

(You know, I think there was going to be a Starbux in the Rocket Building, when that first floor was renovated...? We waited for a few months to see what happened but it ended up being another shitty furniture store.)

― Laurel (Laurel), Thursday, 7 December 2006 14:38 (nineteen years ago)

there's a Starbucks and then another Starbucks IN the Target.

this, exactally, in the atlatic terminal Mall too.

― jhoshea (jhoshea), Thursday, 7 December 2006 14:41 (nineteen years ago)

And in the Starbucks there's a little miniature Target! It's so cute!

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 7 December 2006 14:45 (nineteen years ago)

but i'm not sure that you really want to live in the s bronx and wash heights/inwood are faaaaar.

FROM THE GW BRIDGE????

bliss is right, btw, depending on what part of Bronx your lady works in it could be either reeeaaally easy from Washington Heights or a huge pain in the ass. Get one subway map, I'm assuming you know where the GW Bridge is, and pin-point from there. None of these neighborhoods are expensive. Nor will you get your fucking windows smashed in every week but I think jbr has already taken shots at you so I'll keep my mouth psuedo-shut.

― Allyzay is cool: with Blue n White, with Eli Manning, with NY Giants (Allyzay Ei, Thursday, 7 December 2006 15:24 (nineteen years ago)

off topic but when is gentrification gonna come to the Grand Concourse? those buildings rule!

well, gentrification of the south bronx has already been mentioned in the times, so i guess that it's a matter of time b4 the hipsters, the yupsters, and whatevahs show up.

agreed about those grand concourse buildings, they're sweet!

― Eisbär (Eisbär), Thursday, 7 December 2006 15:30 (nineteen years ago)

far from: downtown, midtown, upper west side, upper east side, brooklyn, queens, etc.

― jhoshea (jhoshea), Thursday, 7 December 2006 15:31 (nineteen years ago)

Are you taking a shot at me?

aw i was just teasing

― paresthesia hilton (get bent), Thursday, 7 December 2006 15:42 (nineteen years ago)

FROM THE GW BRIDGE????

-- Allyzay is cool: with Blue n White, with Eli Manning, with NY Giants (garance8...), December 7th, 2006.

My wife teaches in the Fordham area and her school is along the D line, which might be a good reason for Harlem.

I've lived in a few sketchy places before so it's not like I'm cowering in fear of crime here (there are plenty of muggings, window-smashings, etc. in downtown Jersey City) - the comment was only in reference to the South Bronx. I'm still a little skeptical about the gentrification there even though I've read the Times coverage and whatnot. I'd certainly sacrifice some safety and quietness for an interesting neighborhood with good food and things to do - I didn't mean to make it sound like I want suburban living in the city.

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 7 December 2006 15:47 (nineteen years ago)

i like how everyone here pretends we're not gentrifiers!

― Tyrone Slothrop (Tyrone Slothrop), Thursday, 7 December 2006 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

i'm a confessed gentrifier. thing is there's always bigger and better gentrifiers on yr heels. which leads to one of the most loathsome of all nyc ticks - OMG THE NEIGHBORHOOD HAS CHANGED SO MUCH REMEMBER THE CRACKHEADZ ETC! oh plz stfu.

my gentrification sweet spot - a few good restaurants around, but before the baby and pet stores. ft greene has gone way deep into the baby/pet store phase and is moving on to whatever comes next. i still like it tho - def couldn't afford to get a place here @ market prices.

― jhoshea (jhoshea), Thursday, 7 December 2006 15:57 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, stroller quotient is URGENT AND KEY. Prospect Heights probably halfway to strollerville but holding off for now.

― Laurel (Laurel), Thursday, 7 December 2006 15:59 (nineteen years ago)

judging from recent developments the next phase is known as lame restaurants - wtf is this place doing here? who are these people?

― jhoshea (jhoshea), Thursday, 7 December 2006 16:02 (nineteen years ago)

i would actually be kinda psyched to move into bed-sty except it would be really sad to give up the sweetest subway scenario in the city.

― jhoshea (jhoshea), Thursday, 7 December 2006 16:05 (nineteen years ago)

xpost Yeah, I find it's usually the younger folks and the renters (us) who convince themselves they're not gentrifying a place ("I'm just here cuz it's cheap!") and the older property owners who have fewer illusions ("I really hope they do something about those projects.")

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 7 December 2006 16:05 (nineteen years ago)

xpost - plus you'd have to not forget the "u" if you moved there.

― Tyrone Slothrop (Tyrone Slothrop), Thursday, 7 December 2006 16:06 (nineteen years ago)

what about pelham or eastchester?!?

― Eisbär (Eisbär), Thursday, 7 December 2006 16:06 (nineteen years ago)

stf

― jhoshea (jhoshea), Thursday, 7 December 2006 16:08 (nineteen years ago)

bed-stf?

― Tyrone Slothrop (Tyrone Slothrop), Thursday, 7 December 2006 16:11 (nineteen years ago)

bud-stfu

― jhoshea (jhoshea), Thursday, 7 December 2006 16:13 (nineteen years ago)

...and the older property owners who have fewer illusions ("I really hope they do something about those projects."

That gets overturned in places where people are both upstanding AND poor, though, Hurts. I eavesdropped on a bus convo once between an older man & woman, both longtime residents, about the fact that all the new apts going up in Prospect/Crown Heights would only be affordable to "working people", ie whites with white-collar jobs. (The term "working people" was repeated several times with particular emphasis.) They shook their heads sadly and sucked their teeth over it but what can you do?

― Laurel (Laurel), Thursday, 7 December 2006 16:13 (nineteen years ago)

I assume, if they were older people, that they referred to "working people" because they were seniors on social security - in a way they're the most invisible victims of gentrification.

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 7 December 2006 16:19 (nineteen years ago)

Oh sorry when I said "older property owners" I meant the incoming renovators, not like older people from the neighborhood who own property.

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 7 December 2006 16:20 (nineteen years ago)

(although sometimes you also have the established owners in the neighborhood welcoming the gentrification)

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 7 December 2006 16:21 (nineteen years ago)

the older people from the neighborhood who own property are laughing all the way to florida

― jhoshea (jhoshea), Thursday, 7 December 2006 16:22 (nineteen years ago)

Actually in Crown Heights they're laughing all the way to the suburbs, because they have kids and grandkids who they don't want to end up in the crackhouses on Franklin Ave. Also, re my bus convo, I don't remember any age-related subtext, Hurting, but definitely a sense of class divide and therefore basically a racial one..."working people" means educated, salaried people, in the sense that there are lots of nearby jobs in retail or construction or auto repair, but they don't make enough to live on and certainly not enough to pay $1100 for a studio in the old Brooklyn Hospital.

― Laurel (Laurel), Thursday, 7 December 2006 16:32 (nineteen years ago)

All this reminds me of an exchange from an interview with Todd P (they were asking him about cops shutting down his shows):

http://web.archive.org/web/20060221203340/http://www.mediumheat.com/odds/toddp.htm

TP: ...The cops, on the other hand, have these mixed feelings of on one end purely trying to push people out and raise real estate prices. And there's actually corruption going on where they harass people to clear the area. But I would say that's the minor motivation. The more important one is that there's actually this attitude that what they're doing is actually fighting gentrification. So they feel that what they're doing is protecting the old-timers.

JM: From young white kids?

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 7 December 2006 16:43 (nineteen years ago)

that doesn't seem to make any sense.

― jhoshea (jhoshea), Thursday, 7 December 2006 16:47 (nineteen years ago)

I mainly just like the interviewers incredulity. "Who, us, a threat?"

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 7 December 2006 16:51 (nineteen years ago)

there is (or there was) a direct bus connection between inwood & the fordham area in the bronx - if you can deal with buses (ugh). also, you can live in wash heights/inwood and take the A/C to 145 and catch the D, or you can live in harlem and catch it straight up!
the area of wh near the hudson & the cloisters is very nice. have any of you experienced the 168th street subway station with the elevator to hell? that is SOOOOOOOO new york, in all the good & bad ways......

― bliss (blass), Thursday, 7 December 2006 17:06 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, I take that elevator every mid-October to go to the medieval thingy at the Cloisters! It's more awesome when you aren't due on the field in 10 minutes and don't have costume on yet.

― Laurel (Laurel), Thursday, 7 December 2006 17:13 (nineteen years ago)

I'm not sure how affordable it would be (take a look at Park West Village?), but if I were in your position, I'd probably want to live in Manhattan Valley/Bloomingdale/the Upper Upper West Side. subway-wise, you can get the A/B/C along the park and switch to the D at 125. car-wise, you can get on the Henry Hudson at 96th.

― nuneb (nuneb), Thursday, 7 December 2006 18:58 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.therealdeal.net/issues/SEPTEMBER_2006/1157060985.php

― nuneb (nuneb), Thursday, 7 December 2006 19:59 (nineteen years ago)

lol, i lived in manhattan valley 16 years ago when it was crack infested(and my apartment was mouse infested!) there was a cool old bar on the SE corner of amsterdam & 106 that closed down like 12 years ago, across from the Night Cafe (is that still there?) I have no idea what that area is like now, other than over-priced, but it was cool to be able to walk over to Central Park (the relatively unknown northern part). and the subway ind/irt connection was key.

― bliss (blass), Thursday, 7 December 2006 20:11 (nineteen years ago)

that doesn't seem to make any sense.

I think it makes pretty good sense - the cops wanting to on one hand clear out all the "bad people" (poor) but protect "their people" (working class/middle class)

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Thursday, 7 December 2006 20:56 (nineteen years ago)

Go uptown to Harlem, tell 'em that I sent ya

― blastocsyt (blastocyst), Friday, 8 December 2006 13:16 (nineteen years ago)

Harlem is sounding like the best bet, although we'd like to spend an absolute maximum of $1400 a month and it sounds like that's harder in Harlem than in Wash Heights or Inwood.

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Friday, 8 December 2006 14:00 (nineteen years ago)

But not impossible.

Plus I just realized there's a Fairway in Harlem. I think the decision is made.

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Friday, 8 December 2006 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

oh yeah just hit that shit up on yr way home from work - so jealous.

― jhoshea (jhoshea), Friday, 8 December 2006 16:26 (nineteen years ago)

fuck it imna get someone to take me to the red hook one tomorrow.

― jhoshea (jhoshea), Friday, 8 December 2006 16:27 (nineteen years ago)

red hook one is dope, also in the warmer months they have a killer lunch counter/barbecue and you can eat outside on their patio right on the water.

― obi strip (sanskrit), Friday, 8 December 2006 16:39 (nineteen years ago)

We did our first feel-out search yesterday (we're on a month to month lease so no hurry) - saw a few different areas of Harlem. We want to either be near the D or the 6 line. No places that we really liked yet though - everything either too small or bad location.

The market up there isn't all insane like most of Manhattan - everyone was laid back about credit checks and none of the people even needed to hear back from us the same day.

East Harlem (6 line) seems like it might be a better value at this point, not to mention good Latin American food. I sure would like to be near that Fairway though. And damn, I must say that Dinosaur BBQ (across the street) is fantastic.

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Sunday, 10 December 2006 20:12 (nineteen years ago)

i went to fairway - glorious.

― jhoshea (jhoshea), Monday, 11 December 2006 19:40 (nineteen years ago)

The market up there isn't all insane like most of Manhattan - everyone was laid back about credit checks and none of the people even needed to hear back from us the same day.

We had back luck with these situations

― jw (ex machina), Tuesday, 12 December 2006 02:07 (nineteen years ago)

Queens.

take the 7 to D.

Take the triborough to drive to Bronx or GW Bridge.

10 minute drive to Grand Concourse/Fordham

― dan selzer (dan selzer), Tuesday, 12 December 2006 02:19 (nineteen years ago)

Live cheap and large.

― dan selzer (dan selzer), Tuesday, 12 December 2006 02:21 (nineteen years ago)

Has anyone ever actually been to this so called "Arts and Antiques District" in the South Bronx?

Also, what is yr guys's take on paying the broker fee for supposedly better apartments vs. that's bullshit just use craigslist?

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 01:01 (nineteen years ago)

be warned...these days many brokers are just getting apt listings off craigslist! be thorough with the craigslist...

we had a broker who showed up our apt. He was very rude and frustrating. We found the ad on craigslist. We went back to apt and saw it again. Super didn't recognize us from when broker showed it. We took apt, minus broker fee, after much debating of ethics. Upon signing of lease, manager says "so you found apt through craigslist? That's the best way...most brokers these days just show you the same apts that management companies/owners are advertising themselves...."

― dan selzer (dan selzer), Wednesday, 13 December 2006 04:26 (nineteen years ago)

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