South Slope/Sunset Park
We are about to buy a property West of Greenwood Cemetery near 26th Street. I wanted to ask about the area and if any of you can comment on safety and quality of life. The area seems great but we’d like to talk to people that live in the area.
We are about to buy a property West of Greenwood Cemetery near 26th Street. I wanted to ask about the area and if any of you can comment on safety and quality of life. The area seems great but we’d like to talk to people that live in the area.
Hmm, I don’t believe soccer teams compete in Sunset Park. Yeah, guys play soccer there, but just for fun. The entire park is on a fairly steep slant. To see actual teams, go to the Red Hook fields.
The entire area is pretty safe. But common sense is always important – use your street smarts – don’t walk around alone acting confused or lost, don’t walk around with a friend oblivious to the surroundings. the biggest drawback is the mix of commercial businesses and residential homes. But most of the people who live in the area around 26th st are absolutely terrific.
One of the great strengths of the location is “the location” – you are central to a million great new york places – you can get to manhattan, to yankee & shea (and even coney island cyclones), by car to all three airports, quick subway link to all museums…don’t leave out the world class Brooklyn Art Museum or the Botanic Gardens…
Cheap times abound also – Staten Island Ferry rides, walks under the Verrazano Bridge on Shore Road, fishing off 58th Street pier, crabbing behind Toys R Us at Bay Parkway, bike lanes all over, great public pool nearby at 44th & 6th…a diverse community – Sunset Park – experience the entire world within walking distance – walk 8th Avenue around 55th Street at dusk – like a walk in old Hong Kong, walk around 14th Avenue and 50th Street on a Saturday morning and you are in “religious” Israel, Sunday morning go up to the park (44th & 6th) and watch Mexican and South American soccer teams, and on and on and on…
PS — I posted to you above at 3:48.
I forgot the most important thing — Don’t trust me! I do, truly, live in Sunset Park, and for that very reason I’m an unreliable witness. I’m invested in my neighborhood and my property and I’m unlikely to tell you the downsides. Not deliberately, mind you, but out of my positive bias toward my own life circumstances.
For example, after I wrote the above, I remembered how much the excessively loud car stereos that frequent 5th Avenue in this area bug me. That’s definitely a quality of life downer. It’s not that I deliberately excluded this from my post above, but I really just didn’t think of it.
You really need to spend time on your potential future block at various times of day and night, and especially on the weekend, to see what things are like for yourself. Take the subway to 36th St. after midnight and then walk to your prospective home. Walk from that home to wherever you expect to shop for groceries. Etc. Check it out, and don’t rely on those of us who are already here to tell you everything you might like to know.
Safety:
I have lived in Sunset Park, across the street from the park itself, for 13 years. For most of that time, I have had a car parked on the street — the only thing that ever happened to it was once the plastic cover to one rear turn signal was stolen. I have walked home from the 36th Street station late at night without incident (I am female). I feel quite safe on this walk because plenty of people are using the train at late hours, and also because the bus depot and the 24-hour diner and corner store that serve the drivers means there are always people around. I don’t know if these things are different on 26th St. but I guess I’d be surprised if they were.
Quality of life:
We do most of our food shopping in Park Slope (the co-op), although the Key Food at 44th and 5th is perfectly acceptable (although a bit far from where you’d be). There are no cafes or yuppie bars in SP, so if that’s your scene, you’ll be traveling. There are some new places in the South Slope — Bar BQ, a restaurant next to it (6th Ave between the expressway and the cemetary), a cappucino place on 5th Ave south of the expressway. There are also bars on 5th just north of the expressway.
Transit is excellent — N and D express at 36th St, plus R and, on weekdays, M. N and D are extremely quick to Manhattan — stopping only once more in Brooklyn. I would recommend walking to the express rather than getting on the local at 23rd. Sunset Park is a little jewel of a park with stunning views of the harbor.
If you are counting on lots of amenities coming in the near future — don’t. As I said, I have lived in the area for a long time, and for as long as I can remember, people have been saying Sunset Park is the next Park Slope. That has not been the case. I think the cemetary is a formidable barrier against spreading gentrification, and that the building craze is going to crest and subside north of here.
The downside to 26th St. is that it is kind of cut-off on all sides — the cemetary and then 4th Ave — and not part of the South Slope, nor part of Sunset Park proper. On the other hand, I bet it’s pretty quiet on those blocks.
Hope this helps.
South Slope and Sunset Park is very uneven, and block-by-block in its appeal. Because some blocks are all houses, then some blocks are mostly large low income apartment buildings with houses mixed in. Which means more noise and more outside people coming and going, which means less safety.
I live in South Slope – Not a bad place and getting better all of the time.
General Rule is closer to subway, better the area.
Sunset Park is safer than Brownsville but less safe than the Upper West Side.
Quality of Life is better than East New York but worse than SoHo.
26 st and what ave??
People are dying to move there 😉