Greenpoint’s my new favorite neighborhood in NYC. Besides Greenpoint’s well-deserved reputation for crazy delicious Polish Food and its “I grew out of billyburg and moved here” rep, Greenpoint offers a general sense of small town charm that’s really hard to find in nyc, even in Brooklyn. While neighborhoods like Clinton Hill/Fort Greene/Bedstuy (these are my home turf) and cobble hill/carrol gardens/boerum hill all blend together, Greenpoint feels a lot more autonomous and isolated—in the best of ways.
Step over the borderline from Williamsburg and all of a sudden, the air feels a bit cleaner, the noise level goes down, coffee shops and book stores stop looking overly hip and start feeling genuine (ex: book stores that stock amazing poets, affordable coffee shops that still taste good, bars that may actually ask you to stop being so damn rowdy).
There are also some really beautiful quiet side streets here—lined with row homes, each in different colors, each one’s done something unique in their little front yard space. It’s quaint and low key enough that you start to feel like you’re not in the city.
cheap polish food, authentic small town vibe, a wide variety of residents (different ages, different backgrounds), a low key atmosphere w/ enough nightlife and cool restaurants to still keep any sane hipster happy, cool industrial waterfront space, quite safe
Greenpoint’s a bit more expensive than Bedstuy. Also, depending on where you live, the G train may be your main public transit option—this isn’t much of a problem during the day, but late night service can get pretty slow.
