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“for everyone who says they’d move to west village i’d suggest you spend more time there”
I suspect most of us who like the west village know what it is about. It is certainly not a quiet, sedate part of the city, although some blocks are very pleasant.
I almost took an apartment on Jane Street a few years ago. I was so tempted, but the space was just too small. The “2nd bedroom” had a full sized bed in it when we saw the apartment. The bed touched 3 walls of the room. 🙁 Almost took it anyway as the area was great and the price was OK (small building with owner living in the building who wasn’t using a realtor and didn’t care about squeezing every penny out of the apartment).
Curiously, someone is sitting on my post declaring my undying love for Brooklyn, but instantly puts up my comment about Gramercy Park! I’m not sure if it’s dog pee or poop, or a delicious combination of the above with restaurant gloop, but it is for sure the stankiest area – bar Chinatown on a hot summer day – I’ve stumbled upon. Oh, or the squid block where Frankie’s and Stumptown are setting up shop. I have never been in the park, though. Another reason to hate the ‘hood – a park that requires a key? Really? Yes, folks, I work in Gramcery Park.
SO you did Biff! I missed that. However, duckumu brings up a good point so I’m changing my mind and have decided to settle on living here.
http://www.sothebyshomes.com/nyc/sales/0015884
I’ll have to make do with the limited space.
P.S. For the record me and mine are both *from* NY not NJ. We just happen to live here now but we’ve nestled as close to the NY border as possible. In fact we can still see you from our roof!
duckumu, you say “french skanks” like it’s a bad thing.
Montrose, thank you. I’ve done self-guided walking tours of Harlem, but that was years ago. I should try to get back there soon.
I agree that there are very, very few streets in the West Village that are quiet. There are non in the East Village. As much as many people like to hate the UES, it was relatively quiet there on weekends as long as you were a block away from Bloomingdale’s and not on any of the streets leading to/from the 59th St bridge. That said, its nothing like the quiet of exiting the subway in Fulton Park and walking up Stuyvesant Ave.
I’d stay right where I am in Crown Heights. I really love this community, warts and all. My only change would be to live in a house on St Mark’s Ave, or on Park Place or Prospect Place. I love those blocks. I like not being in Manhattan for everything. Brooklyn is less crowded, less polluted, and the sense of community here can’t be beat. Whatever I can’t get or do here, I can always travel to it, and then come home.
If I had my choice of Manhattan, my first choice would be Harlem, in the Hamilton Hts/Sugar Hill area, for the exceptional architecture. Second, for houses, would be the West Village. Third would be Chelsea, near the Seminary.
If I were looking for an apartment, my first choice would be again, Harlem, in a huge pre-war on Riverside Drive, followed by further down RSD, near Columbia. I wouldn’t turn down a loft in Tribeca, way west, near Hudson, either.
This is a fun thread. Thanks, Biff.
for everyone who says they’d move to west village i’d suggest you spend more time there if you haven’t in a while. on the weekend, 40% of the population of new jersey occupies west village. it isn’t pretty. bleecker street and W 4th street are filled with NYU students, french skanks, and tourists looking for carrie bradshaw’s apartment at almost all times of the day. and there are no good parks nearby. i think the only saving grace is that the restaurants in the area are still the best…
BRG, good one. But then I would never get to see DIBS, unless we both switched to villagepeople.com
THL, I posted the same link at 9:58. It is a beauty!