Fort Greene: City's Best Nabe?
Trying to crown one neighborhood as New York City’s best is kind of a silly exercise, but if you were to concentrate on the criteria of culture, community, diversity and architecture, there certainly is a good case to be made for Fort Greene. “In all my days and nights of walking neighborhoods and asking people…
Trying to crown one neighborhood as New York City’s best is kind of a silly exercise, but if you were to concentrate on the criteria of culture, community, diversity and architecture, there certainly is a good case to be made for Fort Greene. “In all my days and nights of walking neighborhoods and asking people why they live where they live, I have never encountered a place that has this much heart, soul and pride,” write Daily News correspondent Jason Sheftell. “More than ever, I found people who said they could never live anywhere else but right here.” Unfortunately for those just hearing about Fort Greene’s charms, the days of finding a real estate deal are long gone (though they may return soon enough!), but it’s still worth it. (The writer naively claims that the Brooklyn nabe is as expensive as the West Village. Not!) People here do not like any fakeness in their neighborhood and they pay higher rents for that, said Denis DuPreez, co-owner of the Dekalb Avenue restaurant Madiba. We have beauty, and we have the good people. It’s hard to argue with that.
Fort Greene: The best neighborhood in New York? [NYDN]
Photo by atomische.com
I will verify the mugging. I saw and heard it. It was a group of young, possibly teen age males. What I witnessed was actually pretty amazing. When the victim starting screaming everyone who heard either came out of their homes or came running from surrounding blocks. One of the attackers was caught, wrestled to the ground, and very firmly held in place until the Police showed up and put him in the car. It was amazing to see people in the nabe come together to protect the victim. It made me very proud to live in a neighborhood where people stand up for one another only because they live next to each other.
Also, that group of kids has been causing problems for a while.
I hope the police were able to flip that little bastard and he ratted out his crew.
To crownheights2007: you have the Conservatory, but Fort Greene has the Brooklyn Music School, where my friends and I took music and they’re still teaching music and dance without the ‘Slope snootiness.
Fix up the malls, hire courteous employees, kick the public school improvements up a notch and Fort Greene will be really great.
To crownheights2007: you have the Conservatory, but Fort Greene has the Brooklyn Music School, where my friends and I took music and they’re still teaching music and dance without the ‘Slope snootiness.
Fix up the malls, hire courteous employees, kick the public school improvements up a notch and Fort Greene will be really great.
And we have trees!
Ah BrooklynGreene you are so kind. The South Oxford house we are referring to maybe different from the one you describe but not sure. Will check address and look it up on Property Shark tomorrow but thanks for the info and yes we can be easily contacted via email or on here….we read brownstoner obsessively:). Just drop us a line here and we will forward our email address anytime. Ok bonne nuit et merci encore.
BTW we couldn’t verify that mugging either but it may be too early…..
Hi PDT,
I’m not sure you’ll be checking back at this point but just to let you know I saw your last note. Yes, I had heard that the house on South Elliot was a mess. Another unfortunate house is that one on Lafayette in so-called “Prime Fort Greene” that had the back fall off during construction and had stop work orders slapped on it.
The other sad one is the one you mention on South Oxford. It had a fire in, say, 1974 (?) and the lady who owns it has battled the insurance company for years. She/the family own a good number of properties. Oddly enough, though she does not need the money (at all!), she goes around collecting cans for the deposits. She tells people it’s her Atlantic City money. I guess the old adage “God helps those…” is her life motto.
Anyway, when we’re looking to sell and move permanently to the country, we’ll let you know though I’m not sure how. We’ve been thinking of doing a low key sale with no listing. A quick and easy, although with probably less profit for us, type of sale because I would rather not try to wring every last dollar out of selling our house and have to also deal with the associated stress and possible sour deals that fall through. When we do the calculation, even with what people would currently consider a bargain price, the profit will allow us to buy the hobby farm with cash on the barrelhead and still have a nest egg.
I also wouldn’t mind selling for just under $1 million so a buyer could avoid the mansion tax. Maybe if the market keeps dropping, we *have to* sell for under $1 million. For now though, I have a feeling all of our real estate friends will be mad with us if we sell for that kind of price.
What does a 2-family prime FG house that needs TLC and new mechanicals go for these days?
Frankly, if you come to the table with an honest sale offer and have good will, you will attract that type of serious buyer. Selling one’s house is not necessarily a battle (as it often appears to me) but more a handing off of a home into another’s custodianship, especially with these landmarked houses.
To “FGLady” who wrote about the supposed mugging: I have a feeling that was a lie thrown into the conversation. That was your only post ever to this blog. Not that I’m that internet savvy, but even I can click on a name and figure out how many comments have been posted by that person. I live right near the supposed mugging spot and didn’t hear about it as yet…and the Brooklyn Paper’s crime blotter has nothing…Not that any of this is conclusive evidence to rule out your story but I just wanted to make it clear people need to take these one-off quickie comments with a grain of salt, especially when they lack information. Question, if there were 10 police cars there in seconds, were the muggers caught?…
girlongrand, PLEASE stay around the site and post more, and often! youre all kinds of wackadoo, and it’ll liven things up. propjoe has become boring (and a fake).
Action Jackson seriously shut it. Bottom line the area is over rated and Boerum and Cobble blow it away… There is nothing like driving or walking by Target and the rest of that horrible shopping area. It is a joke.
Heather, I usually enjoy your comments. Why did you seriously respond to such a barefaced racist?
girlongrand, very well reasoned analysis and profound insight.