KellyAnn

A lot of young people have been moving to the neighborhood of Greenpoint lately, as rent rates in Manhattan and Williamsburg, Brooklyn keep on rising. If you can’t afford to live in Williamsburg, but want to be close to it, then Greenpoint is a great choice.

Greenpoint Ave is obviously one of the main arteries of the neighborhood, and its crowded with businesses at the street level as well as residential habitats above. The street features a sports bar (Red Star), a recording studio (Rough Magic Productions), and various car services (because getting a taxi in Brooklyn is not exactly as easy as getting one in Manhattan).

Manhattan Avenue is actually in Brooklyn, and though it may seem far from the city, it actually offers its fare share of places to eat out. As the rents in Williamsburg keep going up, hipsters are slowly moving to nearby neighborhoods where the rent is cheaper, and the trendy businesses seem to follow them…slowly. If you’re in the neighborhood and need coffee, check out the Ashbox Café – it’s one of the better little cafes in the neighborhood.

Nassau is a main drag in Brooklyn, but there really isn’t much to do there unless you are a local resident and you need a new mattress. There are all the standard Brooklyn dwellings – pizza places, delis, and grocery stores. Brooklyn is a great place to live if you like a quieter scene – this borough is less intimidating and much cheaper to live in than Manhattan.

There are a lot of businesses to visit on this street for those who are hungry or simply looking to leave New York with a really full suitcase. For those looking for a present to bring home from their New York trip, Lorimer Wines & Spirits offers some interesting bottles that you may not be able to find in your hometown.

Union Avenue is a wonderful Williamsburg hotspot for visitors and residents. On the street is the music venue and bar Union Pool, and the restaurant Santa Fe. Santa Fe is offers the public handmade margaritas (a rarity in itself), and Union Pool is a great place to see local bands (they can be really good in Williamsburg).

This street is a pretty quiet one, even if it is close to all the art and music venues that Williamsburg has to offer. On the street is another doggy daycare (there seem to be a lot in the neighborhood), as it is a popular place to have a dog.

Also on North Twelfth Street is a kid’s store called Mini Jake. It offers everything you can think of for babies and tots – tricycles and strollers, etc.

North Eleventh Street is part of a great neighborhood – if you can find a place that has a decent rent, then it’s the perfect residential place (if you can take a little weekend party noise).

On this street is Eva’s Play Pups, a 24-hour daycare service for your dog (LOTS of people in this neighborhood have dogs for some reason, even dogs that seem too big for New York apartments).

On North Tenth Street, you’re slowing starting to stray from the center of Williamburg and the scene that the neighborhood is known for (music, art, and vintage shopping). There are places to go on this street, though, like My Moon, a restaurant that offers a gorgeous atmosphere and an eclectic menu (everything from tuna tartar to braised organic pork belly).

If you’re feeling pasty and fat, then this is a good street for you – it features both a tanning salon (Pacific Tanning Salon) and a gym (Maxim Health & Fitness). I’m not really sure how the gym stays in business, since it’s smack in the middle of a hipster neighborhood, and hipsters are famous for staying skinny through nothing more than deprivation.

North Seventh offers some pretty cool commodities, like the D.O.C. Wine Bar, and the DownTime Spa. The D.O.C. Winebar is a tiny place that not only has a great wine selection, but a good selection of cheese as well. (If you didn’t know, D.O.C. is the acronym for a phrase you see on wine labels which means the wine comes from a controlled place name – that the wine is of legal quality.) DownTime Spa offers all the usual beauty treatments, which you may find you might need after spending a week in the city.

This street is part of the center of Williamsburg, and it gets busier as it gets close to the center of the neighborhood. Over on towards the East River, though, the street can be pretty quiet, and it’s a great place to live if you can afford the rising rents. If you are young and you love going out then this is a great neighborhood to visit as well, and this street is right in the middle of it.

This area is right in the middle of the nightlife scene in the area – it cuts through the neighborhood’s main avenues, and on any given night there is a good deal of foot traffic around. Worth a visit for a tourist (and for residents as well) is Brooklyn Fox Lingerie. The pieces can be a bit pricey, though, so if you’re not looking to spend money or get something amazing for a love cruise, then don’t bother yourself.

North Fourth Street cuts through a lot of the main avenues of Williamsburg (like Bedford), so there are parts of it that are none too quiet – though the neighborhood can be pretty quiet during the work week. I lived nearby and was never overwhelmed by any party noise, however. This street is pretty residential, though it does offer scattered novelties (like any street in the neighborhood), like Wonk Furniture (which is a cool place if you can drag yourself away from IKEA).

The art scene in Williamsburg is what drew in a lot of the subsequent bars and restaurants that have popped up just about everywhere in the neighborhood – which is easy to forget when you look around and don’t really see too many art objects, but instead just a lot of low brow entertainment. One such art space is on this street – Money Town. The space doubles as a restaurant (which isn’t really shocking), and it features different bands and movie shows.

On North First Street, you’re getting closer to the heart of things in the neighborhood. As far as restaurants on the street go, there is China Noodle and Muffins N More. China Noodle is pretty much your standard New York noodle shop (as far as I know they offer free delivery). Muffins N More is a wholesale bakery that sells any muffin imaginable in bulk, which is perhaps good to know if you’re planning on throwing a party that involves muffins.

Grand Street offers a lot of the typical Williamsburg wares – there is a neighborhood “day spa” on the street called Grand Relax Center Day Spa, and it offers the standard pedis and manis. There are also plenty of restaurants on Grand like Aurora. If you’re visiting the area, then it’s worth it to stop here; it’s a cozy place with exposed brick inside, and it also offers brunch until 4p.m. on weekends. (I know when I lived in Williamsburg, I was always looking for places that had late brunches!)

If you want to be close to everything that the neighborhood offers (the art scene, music scene, shopping and restaurants), then this is a great street. There’s a burger place over on Bedford between South First and Second called DuMont Burger that has some good beers on tap. The street is relatively quiet during the day, though there can be meandering groups of party-goers at night

South Second Street in Williamsburg is close to all of the nightlife and other youth commodities that the neighborhood has to offer. It’s a safe street, and can be pretty quiet most of the time. You have to walk a bit to really get into the main restaurant and shop area of the neighborhood, so it’s a good place to live if you like a relatively quiet street.

With Williamsburg becoming a tourist attraction for drunken youths, it’s easy to forget that the appeal behind the neighborhood wasn’t always about bars and restaurants – but art. South Third Street offers a unique art gallery space (that is open by appointment only) called Holland Tunnel. They are constantly offering different exhibitions.

As Brooklyn looks more and more like the Lower East Side (with an abundance of things to buy in restaurant, bar, and vintage clothing store forms), you can pretty much stroll anywhere in the neighborhood and expect to see all of these sorts of commodities. South Fourth Street has a dog-friendly café that is unimaginatively named South 4th Bar & Grill.

Broadway in Brooklyn isn’t much like its Manhattan counterparts (you never really think about there being more than one Broadway, but it just happens that there are many). This street extends from Williamsburg all the way to Flushing, so it is not easily described. Notable on the street, though, is The Diner at 85 Broadway – it’s a restaurant that is actually a restored 1927 dining car.

There’s a Thai restaurant on this street called Sea that isn’t bad. It’s a little out of the way, though, if you are doing the Williamsburg tour during your vacation – just about all that the neighborhood has to offer is a bit north. As Williamsburg gets more and more expensive, though, neighborhoods a bit further from the city have become much more appealing.

The streets on the south side of the Williamsburg Bridge tend to be quieter – there certainly isn’t the number of bars and restaurants there that you see on the north side of Grand Street in Williamsburg. This area is mostly residential, and it’s close to the neighborhood’s nightlife. Businesses here tend to be of a more commercial sort – like upholstery businesses.

South Ninth Street doesn’t have to much to offer a tourist, but for a prospective twenty-something resident, it’s a good choice. It’s relatively close to everything as far as shopping needs and restaurant choices are concerned (it’s also just a short train ride into Manhattan). It’s a pretty quiet street, even if the neighborhood is young.

This street is relatively small, and doesn’t have too much to offer from a commercial/tourist point of view, but if you’re looking to move into the neighborhood, it’s a good one. It’s not too far from the nightlife areas, but it’s far enough from the noise that you shouldn’t be kept up late at night.

On South Eleventh Street there is a really awesome clothing store called Beacon’s Closet (they also recently opened a Park Slope branch as well). You can sell your clothes to them as well as buy some tasteful vintage pieces to get your picture on the Last Night’s Party website. The Street itself also features coffee houses and other clothing shops.

This street isn’t nearly as trendy as Bedford Ave, but it has its share of New York-style restaurants, like the Brick Over Gallery and Buffalo Cantina. These places are pretty affordable, and small – maybe not worth going out of your way for, but if you’re in the neighborhood and don’t feel like going all the way back to Bedford, Havemeyer can feed you.

Roebling is part of a nice neighborhood that caters to a pretty young crowd – and a trendy one, too. Highlights on the street include Roebling Pizza (which has its own Facebook group), a neighborhood-oriented pizza place that will really give you a good idea of what New York pizza should be.

Roebling is part of a nice neighborhood that caters to a pretty young crowd – and a trendy one, too. Highlights on the street include Roebling Pizza (which has its own Facebook group), a neighborhood-oriented pizza place that will really give you a good idea of what New York pizza should be.

This is my old Brooklyn dwelling – it’s a great residential street, and I paid a great price for rent, though I may have just gotten lucky. I lived right above a bar and a restaurant on the corner of North 8th Street, but the noise was actually pretty minimal (well, for New York). Driggs is just one block from Bedford, and it features some cafes and restaurants of its own (like most avenues in Williamsburg).

This is the main drag as far as hipster life in Williamsburg is concerned, and it has plenty of places for hipsters to do what they do best: spend money. There are cafes and vintage clothing stores and flea markets on Bedford – things to do here are really endless. I lived one block over from Bedford, and though the partying keeps up all the time, the noise is not as prevalent as you would think.

Like most streets in Williamsburg, this one has just as many bars and restaurants as the rest. The nightlife scene here is at it every single night – so don’t move in unless you’re planning on partying, or at least listening to other people partying all the time. Highlights include Teddy’s Bar and Grill – which as been around for ages, even before the neighborhood was full of rich kids.

Kent Ave is Williamsburg’s waterfront (read: East River side) street, where there are a lot of old factories converted into apartment buildings. These are pretty cool – I looked at a few of them before moving into the area – though they tend to have a lot of bedrooms, meaning you would either be paying a lot of money or having a lot of roommates.

Prince Street is another excellent example of what Soho has to offer – that is, a lot of great restaurants, shops, and general places to spend money. You can venture down Prince Street if you don’t have any money to spend, though you may find doing so a bit depressing. Highlights on the street include Savory restaurant, and the Apple (of course) retail store – though it seems these are sprouting up more and more everywhere you go.

Spring Street is home to New York’s first (or so they tell everyone) pizza place – Lombardi’s. For some reason this restaurant is always hiring – just about everyone I know has interviewed to work here during their college days. Spring Street is the ultimate Soho street – it’s a must see for anyone visiting the city. Tons of restaurants and shops line the street, and if you can stand the noise and crowds, it would be a fun place to live.

West Broadway is home to some swanky hotels and spas – the Soho Grand Hotel, for example, or the Bayan City Spa. This is also where you’ll find Cipriani Downtown – and really, people, it doesn’t get better than Cipriani (if you have the money to wash away during these economic times, anyway).

Greene Street is home to come lovely architecture, as well as the standard Soho shopping and eating affairs. On this street shoppers can find everything from antiques to espresso, as well as get their teeth cleaned at Greene Street Dental (if that’s what you’re into on your vacation time). In general, Greene Street is a great place for people watching – as there are usually plenty of people about.

Crosby Street in Soho is a fun place to be if you are a tourist or just a professional shopper – the street is full of restaurants and shops. It can get crowded, though, especially on weekends. If you’re looking to move to Soho, it is an ideal neighborhood if you have the money to spend on rent. Soho is close to the trendy Lower East Side, as well as to the East Village.

Ah, Chinatown. Canal Street is absolute madness. If you hate crowds, hanging out here is like the equivalent of heading over to Times Square for a random stroll. It’s not really a place where actual New Yorkers go. Chinatown isn’t the cleanest neighborhood, and during the summer months the smells can be overwhelming. Canal Street is ALWAYS packed with tourists who come to check out the designer imposter street markets. Don't get me wrong - there are some great places to go in Chinatown, it's just that none of them are on this street.

The landscape of this area is constantly changing – bars and restaurants in New York are constantly opening and closing, and this is especially true in areas where both businesses are especially numerous, like on Elizabeth Street. This is an especially interesting area for tourists, or people who just love to shop, as the street offers plenty of fashionable stores and places to eat.

Houston is one of the great dividers of Manhattan neighborhoods – West Houston Splits up Noho (North of Houston) from Soho (South of Houston), and is a busy main drag. It’s close to anything you can imagine being close to – as it is right in the middle of these downtown commercial hotspots.

You can find some NYU buildings on this street, along with the offerings that come with the classroom facilities – the nearby inexpensive restaurants and chains. Washington Square Park is also in the vicinity, and in the warm months people flock to the area, and it can get pretty crowded with people who have to be there (residents and students) and people who are just visiting (tourists and the homeless).

Sullivan Street in Soho is generally a long line of shops and restaurants. This area tends to be pretty packed with tourists, but I’ve seen some celebrities in the area as well. You can also find the standard New Yorker fare in Soho (and on this street), like the Sullivan Street Diner.

There isn’t really much going on down on Laguardia (other than the standard businesses that cater to college students) – it’s a pretty quiet street, and an ideal place to live if you want to be close to a younger crowd without actually being in the middle of the crowd. It’s close to the park, and it’s generally a picturesque street.

Thompson Street in Soho and the East Village is a long line of restaurants like Naked Lunch and Cuba Restaurant. Anywhere in Soho is teaming with tourists on the weekends – and I mean teaming; they file in and walk extremely slow past all of the street vendors (usually offering fashionable wares), so don’t walk through here if you’re in a hurry. However, if you are a tourist with hours to burn (and you also love to shop and eat), and this street is part of the Soho experience.

Once the home of Spice – the uber-affordable and delicious Thai restaurant that everyone within a twenty mile radius has been to – University Place still offers much of the standard NYU East Village commodities. There are plenty of restaurants that cater to people who live on student loans, so if you find yourself in this category head over in this direction.

There is a pretty cool outdoor flea market in this area that sells books and records, and especially caters to a younger demographic (being in the NYU neighborhood). Prices are pretty good, too, though maybe not as good as what you can buy from some of the homeless guys that sell stuff on the street illegally in the same area.

I love this neighborhood – it’s gorgeous with its tree-lined streets and brick buildings. It makes for an interesting stroll, as there are always other people around, and there are a lot of coffee shops and food stands in the area that cater to students. I would move in here any day of the week – but unfortunately, I don’t make enough money…

This street is part of a gorgeous neighborhood, and if you somehow get the opportunity to live here you have to take it up, whether you can stand the nearby crowds (especially during warmer months) or not. The street is in the NYU neighborhood, so there are a lot of students wandering around, and it’s also close to Washington Square Park, which also tends to attract crowds.

I’m familiar with Lafayette St mostly because it was home to my local Crunch (the gym), and also because if you turn off of Lafayette onto 4th Street, you come across Other Music (which sometimes hangs a banner outside of their shop, and sometimes leaves themselves relatively unmarked) between Lafayette and Broadway. If you’re into Indie music, then you’ve already heard of Other Music (like how members of Animal Collective used to work there) – so if you’re visiting you have to check it out.

Cooper Square, home to art school Cooper Union, is a relatively quiet place – it features some hotels and respective businesses. It’s close to things a tourist would enjoy, like St. Marks, and it’s also close to a lot of commodities that, say, an NYU student would enjoy, like McDonald’s. It’s a nice neighborhood, if you can afford it….

Third Avenue in the East Village, at the offshoot of Bowery can be relatively busy during the day –it’s an interesting place to wander if you’re a tourist because Cooper Square and St. Mark’s are nearby. If you are looking into moving here, then you may want to ask yourself if you can stand the crowds. In general, the area is packed with little restaurants and shops, and there are a lot of street vendors in the area usually on the weekends.

As you go west from First Ave, the scene changes from one that caters more to young people wandering in from the Lower East Side to one that caters to the brownstone apartment owners. There are a good deal of restaurants and shops to visit on Second Ave, like Veselka Restaurant. Veselka is a really great Ukrainian restaurant where I have eaten brunch several times (it was always crowded!).

In the East Village, First Avenue hosts a long list of restaurants and places best visited at night. If you’re looking for a quiet place to live, this isn’t it. But if you want to live in a place that is constantly busy but not overwhelmingly trendy, you should check out First Ave. If you’re just visiting, I can vouch for the bar Three of Cups – it’s just your standard pub, but I never had a bad time.

I lived on the corner of Broadway in the East Village for a bit, and though it may seem like it would be a bit of a pain, it wasn’t really that bad. During the summer there were a lot of homeless people around, but I never really went down the street except to visit the local Duane Reade. There was constant daytime traffic, but the nights weren’t too bad – it was generally a pretty quiet place to be at night.

Fourteenth Street offers what every college kid dreams of having in the neighborhood: a Trader Joe’s. I have been there many a time, and have often waited in line down the block just to get into the huge (for New York City) discount organic grocery store. The street is also home to Union Square, just a few blocks from the store, which is great for people watching and often home to street markets. It’s really busy around these parts, though, so if you’re looking to avoid a crowd, don’t ever come here.

As the neighborhood gets closer and closer to Gramercy Park, you see less and less of the sort of businesses that populate the Lower East Side and lower end of the East Village. That may be a good thing, if you’re looking to live close to all of the action but far from all of the noise. Thirteenth street is just a block away from the main drag that is 14th street, though, so be prepared for the pedestrian traffic (as well as street traffic) that will meet you there.

At the north edge of the East Village, Twelfth Street maintains the same kind of brownstone charm as the rest of the neighborhood. There aren’t too many exciting bars or restaurants on the street, but it does feature some of the standard fare that appeals to NYU students – pizza places and bar & grill restaurants. It’s a relatively quiet place.

The upper streets of the East Village are pretty much populated by a wealthier crowd, though there are a few twenty-somethings who maintain the far eastside of the street (at the far eastside of the East Village). Yet just like any East Village street, there are plenty of restaurants to visit, and the business scenery is constantly changing.

I used to live on this street during my lovely stay at NYU, and the first thing that comes to mind is the smell of dog pee in the summer time. (Of course, fowl smells are pretty inescapable anywhere in the city during the summer.) However, the street and the buildings on it are beautiful – and there are actually trees lining the street on some blocks. It is a relatively quiet place to live.

I love St Mark’s Place – if you’re looking for affordable clothing, food, or just people watching in general, this is a great place to come, and it’s virtually always busy, especially on weekends. St. Marks is packed with vintage t-shirt stores and cheap sunglasses on sale from street vendors. The street is populated with fast-food style restaurants. I would probably never want to live here (though I did live in the vicinity, a few blocks away, and was never bothered by the chaos).

The East Village is not exactly a quiet neighborhood, except for perhaps late at night. I used to walk though this street on my way home from work, and though I sometimes left work in the early a.m. hours, there were usually still people out and about. If you’re looking for a quiet neighborhood, you should start with a place that doesn’t offer as much nightlife as the East Village does….

I agree with Macsizzle about the Brick Lane Curry House – it’s a great place. Just like much of the East Village, if you stroll down Sixth Street you’ll find yourself bombarded with restaurants, shops, and pilates facilities. Sixth Street is a great part of the East Village experience. If you’re just wandering, you certainly won’t be bored, and if you’re moving in, the same is true.

Fifth Street in the East Village is part of a pretty closely knit neighborhood that you really only notice if you live or work in the area. The East Village is one of those neighborhoods that residents hardly ever leave, which is partially due to all its streets have to offer. From Fifth Street, just about anything you can think about doing in your day-to-day life is close at hand.

If you’ve been to the East Village lately, you know what to expect: restaurants, bars, and shops. The good thing about the East Village is that although there has been an influx of commodities, the big chains stay pretty close the NYU/Washington Square area. Which mean that there is still a variety of privately owned businesses that contribute to the diversity of this street.

Third Street is pretty standard for the East Village – it houses a bunch of restaurants, and various shops. Mama’s is a soul food restaurant I used to pass every day on my way to work (when I used to work in an East Village restaurant myself), and when I finally made it a point to stop there I found it was pretty good, and I really recommend going.

The lower part of the East Village tends to be packed with bars and restaurants and like places to spend your money. I lived close by, but this street was a bit quieter than mine. The East Village has been pretty much completely commercialized, so don’t expect to find a treasure trove of starving artists and their crafts.

The East Village always reminds me of a generation past, even if young people continue to hang out here. 1st Street is definitely a part of that vibe – the neighborhood offers the standard karaoke bars and coffee houses. In general, it’s an interesting street to walk down if you’re just looking to be entertained by a stroll – the commodities on the street are pretty diverse.

This is another standard Alphabet City affair – clubs and restaurants abound, though perhaps not as much as the streets further west. It is a bit more residential and unassuming compared to the rest of the neighborhood. Public housing remains on the street, but I’ve never had a problem in the area, even during late nights out.

There is an abundance of restaurants on Avenue C – like Esperanto and Royale. Alphabet Lounge and Sunburnt Cow are also an okay places to hang out. It’s probably not as bustling with commercial activity as Avenues A and B.

Fun fact: this was once the marker of where the East Village ended, but the river was filled in with landfill, and thus extended the island and the neighborhood.

Alphabet City is nothing like it looks on the movie version of Rent, thank you. It’s an extension of the East Village, and houses bars that are still holding on, even if they have been there for at least a generation. This is a nice street to live on – it’s not as trendy as it once was, though the neighborhood can attract a younger crowd when it wants to.

If you are a tourist or just new to the neighborhood, you should really go visit Babycakes on this street. It’s a vegan/organic bakery that is pretty impressive, especially when you consider how difficult it is to bake without dairy products. Broome Street is pretty cool as far as the neighborhood goes. There are a few bars and the usual young crowd.

Delancey is one of my favorite streets – it can be pretty busy with street traffic as well as pedestrian traffic during the day, but at night it slows down a lot. I’ve seen a few shows at the Bowery Ballroom music venue, and can’t really complain (it’s one of those large-yet-intimate venues).