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
Clearly the writer has not spent much time in FG. Yes, many of the blocks are beautiful and people who live there do have an abnormal bias for their hood, But to say it is very “real” is ridiculous. The old timers do give the hood some plausible realness, but anyone who moved in post 2001 have a cooler-than-thou attitude that is just a tad “fake.”
dave – scopello is just ok – cafe e vino on dekalb is much much better i think.
agree that smith and court have better restaurants but fort greene restaurants are probably more laid back/homely/cheaper/friendly….
as for the transportation- yes atlantic terminal + dekalb q/b = best in brooklyn.
i think fg has great value – as for the school comment – i dont think any school in nyc is worthwhile, even the “good” publics…
“Trying to crown one neighborhood as New York City’s best is kind of a silly exercise”{
That says it all Mr. B!
However, Ft. Greene IS one of the nicest neighborhoods in Brooklyn, along with Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Sunste Park, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, Bedford Stuyvesant, Clinton Hill, and (even if there are no brownstones) Victorian Flatbush 🙂
““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.”
Does that make Dumbo Brooklyn’s “least fake” neighborhood?
“More than ever, I found people who said they could never live anywhere else but right here.”
Clearly he hasn’t been reading this blog.
Hey Montrose, sorry, but no dice on my friend showing his house on the Crown Heights House Tour. He recently re-did his cellar and says the place just isn’t ready. The thing is he’s been asked already, since he is personally close to some of the Crown Heights North Assn. folks. I guess you’re right – it’s not easy to get folks to sigh up for this. Sorry I couldn’t do better.
First of all what the hell is this person talking about. Fort Greene is ok but its is not even close to being the best area in Brooklyn. Driving in and out of Fort Greene is horrible. Anywhere near One Hanson Place is a complete mess. YEah they have some good resataurants but nothing near the level of Smith and Court.
Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill and Boerum Hill all blow Fort Greene away. Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights blow Fort Green away even more.
I guess if you are into hanging out at shady havan outpost than go for it Fort Greene is for you. I just find that area very suspect and very hard to get in and out of. Its always a complete cluster fu*k.
I’m sure the park, the transportation and other amenities are also enjoyed by many in the projects as well, which by the way, are predominantly populated by the honest hardworking poor, not just mugging and drug dealing criminals.
I think Fort Greene is a great neighborhood, one of the best. It would be even better if it wasn’t so divided into us and them, the beautiful streets and the projects. Perhaps the resentment coming out of those buildings would be lessened by less talk of irradicating the area of those deemed unworthy, and finding ways of incorporating their needs and concerns into the greater community. It wasn’t too long ago that the entire area was vastly different than it is now.
damn… so if i want to be “real” i should be paying a ton more in rent? who knew! barf-a-licious blurb.
*r*
Goldie,
I’d argue that Ft. Greene in fact has one of the best transportation centers in all of Brownstone Brooklyn. It’s a little thing called Atlantic Terminal.