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New York City |OT| GAF's Guide to the Greatest City in the World - Meetup on 18th

Patriots7

Member
What are the prices like in LES? My lease is up in June and I want to move to Manhattan (I commute to Times Square for work). I'll probably look in downtown, LES, UES, and Murray Hill. If none of those work out, I'll probably just do Park Slope.

I have the same question.
Compared to most of my peers, finding a place in Manhattan is incredibly difficult than most big cities in the US.
 

nel e nel

Member
How about the Blind Barber. Its located on the LES/Chinatown and its disguised as a barber shop but you go through a door and its a pretty cool lounge. Its defiantly more of a local NY scene than the major clubs in the city.

If anybody has any questions on the nightlife let me know. Ill do my best to contribute to the thread since the NYC nightlife is more my lifestyle lol. I just can't sit in while living in this city.

That looks nice! I admit though, I'm out of touch the last couple of years of spots, and the turnover is so fast that if you don't pay attention for even a few months you're out of date.

Whatever happened to 205 down on Chrystie? That was a dope spot.
 

bob page

Member
There's a bar similar to the Blind Barber that's inside Crif Dogs on St. Marks. Not sure of it's name, but you need a reservation to get in (you say your reservation password in the phone booth within Crif Dogs and the wall slides open).
 

nel e nel

Member
Sometimes you have to check the internet for live shows. My brother rented out a place and he got Cam to perform. The indy scene is pretty strong in NYC. You just have to do a little digging.

yeah, I'm on a couple of mailing lists so get a bunch of local stuff. brooklyn seems to pop off more than Manhattan nowadays. Isn't there a Beauty Bar and some other spots out in Bushwick near Flushing and Myrtle?
 

nel e nel

Member
There's a bar similar to the Blind Barber that's inside Crif Dogs on St. Marks. Not sure of it's name, but you need a reservation to get in (you say your reservation password in the phone booth within Crif Dogs and the wall slides open).

Yeah, heard about that, but haven't been. If you want a real clandestine experience, try and hunt down Milk & Honey. You have to make reservations months in advance if you don't have a membership, and it's $$$ (like, $16 per drink) but it's effin' phenomenal.
 

Kisaya

Member
Oh I don't know if anyone mentioned this but a while ago I went to this really cool bar/venue called the The Bell House. It's in Gowanus and the surrounding area looks kinda sketchy, but it really was a nice place :) Saw these two bands called Val Emmich and Good Old War perform and had a great time.
 
Yeah, heard about that, but haven't been. If you want a real clandestine experience, try and hunt down Milk & Honey. You have to make reservations months in advance if you don't have a membership, and it's $$$ (like, $16 per drink) but it's effin' phenomenal.

Milk and Honey is awesome and if you know someone with a membership you get a huge discount, I think it was 50% off but from what I hear it's expected that you tip very well.
 
I have the same question.
Compared to most of my peers, finding a place in Manhattan is incredibly difficult than most big cities in the US.

Keep checking online for places. I think it was the Post that had an article yesterday on how much prices are in each area in the city.

LES - * Note* these are a rough estimate on what you should be paying in this area.

Studio - $1700
1 Bedroom - $2400
2 Bedroom - $3500
 
Craigslist is pretty much your best bet for finding an apartment. Washington Heights is a bit lower income than other places in Manhattan and Brooklyn, so you can probably find a place for cheaper there. Brooklyn is usually $1500+ for 1BR and Manhattan is $2000+ for 1BR.
You're number are skewed kind of high - for Manhattan it's like you're averaging UWS and Tribeca prices into the cost and then eschewing everything north of 100th St. Similarly, Brooklyn is only that expensive on the West side in Williamsburg and down in Park Slope...

My first apartment in Brooklyn was $1400 a month and it was three bedrooms. With roommates my rent came out to around $400/month. My cousin lived in an apartment in West Williamsburg a few blocks off the East River near Bedford Ave. and she barely paid $1600 for her 1BR. Shopping in East Williamsburg and West Bushwick my roommates and I were looking at a 2BR flat for $1600 and this had a backyard, a laundry room, and two bathrooms! My apartment in Manhattan is $1850 and has 3BR. The last girl I dated lived in an apartment in Hell's Kitchen and paid $2300 for a 2BR on 50th and 8th.

This is all within the last year.
 
Club news

EMM Group who owns 2 hot clubs in the city SL & Tenjune are opening a place called 199 Bowery which they claim will be a more local type lounge on the LES and will have a more local feel to it.

Should be pretty cool.

I can't believe I forgot this club. Provocateur. Hot crowd
 

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
You're number are skewed kind of high - for Manhattan it's like you're averaging UWS and Tribeca prices into the cost and then eschewing everything north of 100th St. Similarly, Brooklyn is only that expensive on the West side in Williamsburg and down in Park Slope...

My first apartment in Brooklyn was $1400 a month and it was three bedrooms. With roommates my rent came out to around $400/month. My cousin lived in an apartment in West Williamsburg a few blocks off the East River near Bedford Ave. and she barely paid $1600 for her 1BR. Shopping in East Williamsburg and West Bushwick my roommates and I were looking at a 2BR flat for $1600 and this had a backyard, a laundry room, and two bathrooms! My apartment in Manhattan is $1850 and has 3BR. The last girl I dated lived in an apartment in Hell's Kitchen and paid $2300 for a 2BR on 50th and 8th.

This is all within the last year.

DC apartment prices make NYC look cheap.
 

bob page

Member
DC apartment prices make NYC look cheap.

Uhh... no. In NYC, cost of living is the highest in the country by far considering what you get for the money. My apartment is 500 sqft for $1700. In Manhattan, apartments are even smaller and cost even more.

The only city that's remotely comparable is SF.
 
NYU us all over the city but I don't there's any campus's on the west side of town. You have the bulk in The Village, a handful of NYU Medical campuses around Gramercy Park, the art institute up in the UES, the Business center down in Wall Street, and the Polytechnic Institute in Downtown Brooklyn (Metrotech).


What's your price range for rent?

Not sure yet... $2,000?
 

bob page

Member
Whats does 'no fee' mean? I've seen that in a few places.

Some listings go through a real estate broker and they charge a fee for their listing. The fee is usually one month's rent or 10-15% of the yearly rent total.

On craigslist, they have a listing section specifically for apartments with no-fee.
 
Not sure yet... $2,000?
Just for yourself? Shit... that's quite a lot, you can get a studio almost anywhere for that price and a 1BR should be easy to find as well if that's what you prefer. Go downtown for hip and trendy or LES/Hell's Kitchen for a little more... sophistication I guess.

If you want a 2BR you'll mostly be relegated to Uptown Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. Still, very nice areas for that price. If you want a 3BR for $2000 you need to start going a little further Uptown Manhattan... North Harlem, Southern Washington Heights, at this point I would avoid East Harlem, Inwood, and Northern Washington Heights - it'll start getting a bit shady. You can also go into East Brooklyn, but the further you go East the crappier it gets, for 2000 you can get a nice 3BR though in Bushwick just do your best to avoid Bedford Stuyvesant, East Bushwick, East New York, and the shitty parts of Crown Heights at that price range.
 

Piggus

Member
Thanks.

I can see actually how NYC would be considered the biggest city from a business and political point of view, but I don't really care too much of that when considering the greatest city. It would still have to go to London for me, Culture and History is far more important to me than business and politics which are constantly changing. That's just me though.

Still, go London :p

I've been to London and New York. Did quite a bit in both cities. At least as a place to visit, New York is a lot more exciting and has more to do IMO. Last two times I went to London, it was cold and rainy most of the time... In the middle of summer. >_>
 

fancimus

Member
What are the prices like in LES? My lease is up in June and I want to move to Manhattan (I commute to Times Square for work). I'll probably look in downtown, LES, UES, and Murray Hill. If none of those work out, I'll probably just do Park Slope.
Depending on how much space you want, a studio is easily doable in Manhattan at your current budget. I live near the UN and have a tiny studio but it's 1685 all-in (electric/utilities included) in a doorman building with laundry, roof deck, etc.

I recently had a friend move to the financial district, she lives with two roommates but they have a really nice place and pay around 1100/person. It can get pretty quiet down there, but there's definitely some good deals to be had.
 
Just for yourself? Shit... that's quite a lot, you can get a studio almost anywhere for that price and a 1BR should be easy to find as well if that's what you prefer. Go downtown for hip and trendy or LES/Hell's Kitchen for a little more... sophistication I guess.

If you want a 2BR you'll mostly be relegated to Uptown Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. Still, very nice areas for that price. If you want a 3BR for $2000 you need to start going a little further Uptown Manhattan... North Harlem, Southern Washington Heights, at this point I would avoid East Harlem, Inwood, and Northern Washington Heights - it'll start getting a bit shady. You can also go into East Brooklyn, but the further you go East the crappier it gets, for 2000 you can get a nice 3BR though in Bushwick just do your best to avoid Bedford Stuyvesant, East Bushwick, East New York, and the shitty parts of Crown Heights at that price range.

Nope, 2k is for my wife and I. We'd like a 1 bedroom place rather than a studio, in a safe area.
 
Nope, 2k is for my wife and I. We'd like a 1 bedroom place rather than a studio, in a safe area.
That's still a very easy price to match.

You're cusping on the edge of LES (Lower East Side) prices which is probably a good place to start. East Village can probably match your price range and I wouldn't be surprised if you could find a small comfy apartment in Murray Hill either which I think is a great neighborhood. If you start going north you're gonna run into price hikes when you get alongside Central Park - especially on the UWS (Upper West Side) but you'll start seeing apartments in that price range possibly before you even reach Morningside so you'll never have to consider anything north of that (Manhattanville, Harlem, Washington Heights, Inwood, etc).

EDIT: Midtown West is out of your price range technically but I've known people to get great deals in Hell's Kitchen and if your budget is flexible a bit you could get lucky - not that I would really waste too much time hunting that area though
 

nitewulf

Member
East Village Resident checking in!

Love the Paquito's Restaurant and Dumpling Man near me. Need to start branching out more though, been here exactly for a year.
did you ever go to BUA? used to be my favorite bar, now it gets way too crowded way too early, still a pretty nice bar though.

things to see in manhattan:

Cloisters - an amazing slice of greenery in the city, you will have no idea that you are essentially on the upper west side. the museum is epic, with epic artwork, and the terrace with the view of hudson is heavenly, the surrounding parks with a hidden restaurant quite charming.

brooklyn:

Food:
Bonnie's Grill - the best burgers in NYC
The Farm on Adderley (great cocktails as well)
Surfish Peruvian Bistro
Geido - very authentic, neighborhood sushi joint

Bars:
Hi Dive
The Gate
Commonwealth
Pacific Standard (its a west coast styled bar, but i like the breezy ambiance they created)
4th Ave Pub


parks:
brooklyn bridge park
fort greene park
the park surrounding belt parkway (the most scenic drive in the city, take BQE to Beltparkway towards Staten Island, and you can basically take exits to scenic viewpoints...there are two of them, the one past the bridge is more expansive, prettier and better for picture opportunities. the drive itself is gorgeous, as the highway hugs the bay...and the other side is lined with trees...its quite amazing.
 

nitewulf

Member
Uhh... no. In NYC, cost of living is the highest in the country by far considering what you get for the money. My apartment is 500 sqft for $1700. In Manhattan, apartments are even smaller and cost even more.

The only city that's remotely comparable is SF.

quite honestly you are overpaying. move to downtown brooklyn or LES, your rent would still be comparable.

in downtown brooklyn, the luxury towers (Toren, DKLB, The Brooklyner) are like $2300 for studio, and $2500 for one bedroom. i am moving there or to LES/SoHo in a few months.
 

tino

Banned
I am glad this thread exist. I have been meaning to make a

"Brooklyn Bridge Park-Governor's Island-The High Line"

3 park mini day trip write up. This will motivate me to actually write it.
 

Zee-Row

Banned
I've been to NY once , it was alright. Not totally blown away but i still love Florida because its more laid back. Seeing Niagara Falls in person was pretty awesome though.
 

stupei

Member
And the hipsters are middle class art school students from flyover states.

Actually, in my experience as a film student from Ohio, most of the hipster art students are from Jersey too and act like anyone from outside the tristate is from another planet.
 

bob page

Member
quite honestly you are overpaying. move to downtown brooklyn or LES, your rent would still be comparable.

in downtown brooklyn, the luxury towers (Toren, DKLB, The Brooklyner) are like $2300 for studio, and $2500 for one bedroom. i am moving there or to LES/SoHo in a few months.

I'm not though- it's a pretty average price for Williamsburg. I looked around for 2 months and most comparable apartments in Williamsburg were $1600-$2000 (my building is 4 years old, have cherry wood floors, steel appliances).

You could say, however, that living in Williamsburg is overpriced.

I've been to NY once , it was alright. Not totally blown away but i still love Florida because its more laid back. Seeing Niagara Falls in person was pretty awesome though.
The main problem with tourists coming to NYC is that they're told to go to a set group of sights and rarely venture into the real meat of the city. The main sights are merely average compared to the rest of the cities offerings (Times Square... urgh).
 

Zilch

Banned
I've been to NY once , it was alright. Not totally blown away but i still love Florida because its more laid back. Seeing Niagara Falls in person was pretty awesome though.

Niagara Falls is 7+ hours away from the city that this thread is about!!
 
Actually, in my experience as a film student from Ohio, most of the hipster art students are from Jersey too and act like anyone from outside the tristate is from another planet.

but this is true, i don't understand how there is a country outside of the tristate New Jersey New York and Pennsylvania. You richie richie Connecticutians can go to hell.
 

Wortany

Member
Thank you Gaf, you always know what to post on the right time. (Going 3rd of february for a week)

I'll be certain to look into some of those places to eat. Damn, I'm getting hungry by that list.
*sneaks away to the fridge*
 

nitewulf

Member
You could say, however, that living in Williamsburg is overpriced.
i guess. if you move a bit internally, like ditmars park/kensington, you will get a bigger place around the same price. park slope is more expensive though, as is fort greene, both of which are kickass neighborhoods.
 
Oh I don't know if anyone mentioned this but a while ago I went to this really cool bar/venue called the The Bell House. It's in Gowanus and the surrounding area looks kinda sketchy, but it really was a nice place :) Saw these two bands called Val Emmich and Good Old War perform and had a great time.

Bell house is a few blocks away from where I live, awesome venue. I should work on the Brooklyn music section that alone could fill up an OP.
 
You could say, however, that living in Williamsburg is overpriced.
Williamsburg is quite overpriced in general. It's one of those newly gentrified Brooklyn neighborhoods that everyone moved into 4 or 5 years ago. It's reached critical capacity though and landowners are taking advantage... It's happening right now in Bushwick, which is slowly tranforming from the west. Right now you can still nab apartments in West Bushwick and very East Williamsburg for not too crazy but every year they leap in price.

It's weird, there's very apparent borders in Brooklyn... where you see hipster-ville meet ghetto and the price changes accordingly.
 
New York City!

Greatest City on the world! Such a treasure trove for art deco buffs, immortalized in spirit by Glenn Frey in his You Belong to the City track. Every since I was 7 I've had NYC subway map on my wall and pictures of WTC cut from the National Geographic. Gots to meet you someday.
 
Nice thread. About time someone went ahead and did this so that we can be more coordinated with meetups and such.

That said, I won't be able to make it to the meetup on the 28th because I'm going to be in Vegas. Hope u guys have fun!
 

All Hail C-Webb

Hailing from the Chill-Web
Some listings go through a real estate broker and they charge a fee for their listing. The fee is usually one month's rent or 10-15% of the yearly rent total.

On craigslist, they have a listing section specifically for apartments with no-fee.

I'm a real estate broker in Manhattan. Happy to answer any specific questions that people might have. Also can do a GAF discount on the broker fee if any of you need help finding a place.
 
I'm a real estate broker in Manhattan. Happy to answer any specific questions that people might have. Also can do a GAF discount on the broker fee if any of you need help finding a place.

Keeping your business card till I either win the lottery or make a living as a scientist living off patent royalties one day. :)
 

Loki

Count of Concision
Damn when did Brooklyn become that super high

In my building 1 bedroom is $950.00-$1000.00 (depending on how many people) and 2 bedroom is $1250.00

Brooklyn is not $1500+ for a 1BR. More like $900-1850 depending on where it is - the trendier areas (i.e., spots closer to the city like Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Williamsburg etc.) tend to be the only ones that get above $1350. The average for mid- and south-Brooklyn is probably $1000-1150.

I live in the Gravesend area, (middle and upper class) across the street from Coney Island Hospital and three blocks from Lincoln HS

Haha, I grew up right around there. How old are you? We might know each other lol. AXB, yo. :p
 
Brooklyn is not $1500+ for a 1BR. More like $900-1650 depending on where it is - the trendier areas (i.e., spots closer to the city like Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Williamsburg etc.) tend to be the only ones that get above $1300. The average for mid- and south-Brooklyn is probably $1000-1150.



Haha, I grew up right around there. How old are you? We might know each other lol. AXB, yo. :p

Cobble hill is south Brooklyn.
 

Loki

Count of Concision
Cobble hill is south Brooklyn.


No, it isn't. For some reason this tradition developed of calling certain areas "South Brooklyn" when they're really North (Cobble Hill is Northwest). Not sure how it happened, but you can verify it on a map - maybe it has to do with the fact that they're South of Manhattan. South Brooklyn is Coney Island, Gravesend, and Sheepshead Bay.
 

bob page

Member
Brooklyn is not $1500+ for a 1BR. More like $900-1850 depending on where it is - the trendier areas (i.e., spots closer to the city like Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Williamsburg etc.) tend to be the only ones that get above $1350. The average for mid- and south-Brooklyn is probably $1000-1150.



Haha, I grew up right around there. How old are you? We might know each other lol. AXB, yo. :p

I don't really think people moving into the city want to live in those areas, though- they seem to be a better fit for native New Yorkers. Most people who move to the city want to be close to the action. For me, it's worth paying the price premium to have easy access to things that interest me.
 

Loki

Count of Concision
I don't really think people moving into the city want to live in those areas, though- they seem to be a better fit for native New Yorkers. Most people who move to the city want to be close to the action. For me, it's worth paying the price premium to have easy access to things that interest me.

True enough I suppose. Those areas ARE awesome, but hard to bankroll. And even South Brooklyn is only ~35-45 minutes from the city by train, about 25-30 min by car in good traffic.
 

legend166

Member
Brooklyn is not $1500+ for a 1BR. More like $900-1850 depending on where it is - the trendier areas (i.e., spots closer to the city like Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Williamsburg etc.) tend to be the only ones that get above $1350. The average for mid- and south-Brooklyn is probably $1000-1150.



Haha, I grew up right around there. How old are you? We might know each other lol. AXB, yo. :p

Is that for a month? That's so cheap. No idea how Sydney property prices became more expensive than NYC, ;_;


Anyway, thread bookmarked. I'm coming for a week at the beginning of June. Staying on West 37th Street.
 
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