#1 — $1900 and 2500 — 1 and 3 bedroom: I know it’s expensive, but look at this place! Exposed brick, wood floors, tall windows and ceilings — and check out that bathroom! The ad doesn’t say where it is but I can see through the front windows that it is right on Knickerbocker Avenue across from the old Scaturro supermarket. Everything cool on Knickerbocker is downstairs — fruit stands, pizza places, the park, cannoli. Knickerbocker and Hart/DeKalb 1 bedroom | 3 bedroom
#2 — $1500 — 3 bedroom: I’m going to guess this is one of the large brick apartment buildings on Bushwick Avenue, and on a pretty sweet stretch of it, too. Worst case, it’s one of the well-kept row houses on the north/east side of the street. Three full, original bedrooms make the price totally sane. Not sure how much detail remains but the space looks cool. CATS OK Greene and Bushwick
#3 — $1200 — 2 bedroom: This is a great price for a nice place with two bedrooms. Decent renovation, wood floors. Wilson L stop, so it’s way down south. Schaefer and Wilson
#4 — $1490 — 2 bedroom: It is a bit expensive, and I’m not sure if it’s a railroad or not — from the pics, it looks long and narrow, and these tenements traditionally are railroads. The renovation of the unit, on the other hand, looks very tasteful. Good location as far as proximity to other stuff, but the block itself… let’s just say Puerto Rican flags hung high across the street remind you that the neighbors won’t be bringing you any welcome baskets. Open house Saturday from 1-2pm. CATS OK Troutman and Knickerbocker/Irving
#5 — $1400 — 1.5 bedroom: 1.5 bedrooms? I have no idea what that means. The size and quality of the apartment seems good, but the price is not justified, especially because of its south side location. I think an offer of $1200 is completely reasonable — you’re just saving the landlord time and ultimately money, after all, since at this price this is gonna sit. Cornelia and Evergreen
RIPOFF ALERT: This company is making this section too easy for me to fill. $3300 for a 2 bedroom apartment — but note that the second bedroom is the MEZZANINE! Don’t get me wrong, this seems like a lovely place — great kitchen, nice floors, fabulous windows — but it’s about a thousand bucks too expensive for the “Jefferson St. L stop.”
Bushwick wannabe: Cute, decent, and cheap. I like this apartment, but it’s in Bed-Stuy, although..it’s close enough. Everybody give this apartment a hand, it’s all right!
Dishonorable mention: Are you kidding me? This agency complained that I said $1200 was a ripoff for this unit last week, and said I should take the post down. I responded that they should drop the ridiculous price instead of telling me what I can write. The result? The same little dump is now $1300!
Becky September 6th, 2007 at 11:56 am
Hey! Troutman between Irving/Knick is a very friendly block. I’d bring you a welcome basket. I might even bake you some cookies.
Seriously, people are really friendly there once they get to know you.
jay September 6th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
but how do the friendly folks compete with the others with #4. the place does look cool. what kind of place do you have becky? nice kitchen to bake cookies in? be careful who you invest time and money on. folks can pretend they are all for the community and want to be good neighbors but sometimes they just want to talk with you on the streets, and see what they can get out of you. remember lots of old timers here may not appreciate newbies to the area with more wealth than them.
#1 is nice that bathroom is amazing. the kitchen and bathroom are amazing, but i’m not sure if the kitchen is part of the living room or not. do you think these apts. are 20′ wide? if so and they are not railroad the rooms gotta be small. that area does have a lot of activity around it versus SoBu, but does it bring other things such as people linger around businesses, more bums, noise, etc.?
that’s an ugly closet in #2 but will hold a bunch of stuff.
#3 has a cute kitchen, but again looks like just a corner of the living room space.
Jasmin September 6th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Re: the “dishonorable mention”…OBVIOUSLY, these guys are smoking crack!
The other apartments are cute, but I’m still a bit floored at the prices. I lived in Bushwick for the first nine years of my life in the early 70′s – an eternity ago! My how the rents have escalated!
Jeremy September 6th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Aw Becky, I’m sure you would bring cookies, but those banners are there for a reason other than mere boricua pride. They are a signal, however unheeded.
Jasmin, I can’t even make a decent guess as to what rent must have been in the 70s!
Jasmin September 6th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
LOL…my mom had a two bedroom apartment for $212 on Linden between Wilson & Knickerbocker. This was waaaaaaaaaay BEFORE the projects started going up all over the place in that section of Bushwick.
jay September 6th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Yes prices have changed, but Bushwick is still a place to get affordable housing close to the city. If only there was a way to monitor or be aware of gang activity. Perhaps what Jeremy is think is that they are marking their territory. Maybe gentification there might be a little tougher. Or else they are left over from a block party?
$3300 plus all utilites is very steep i don’t care how nice the kitchen is.
the bed sty 1 br seems a bit much. look at those bars on the windows and that corner is not the best, train noise, street activity, etc.
the last posting – i guess they are showing jeremy what nerve they have. what they are calling a mini loft is just a studio apt.!
while $212 for a 2 br sounds like a steal what did your mother and you have to put up with in the area for that. i guess you can’t even find a room for that price in brownsville.
linden is where all the wealthy brewery owners lived. perhaps she knew of them.
Ridgehooder September 6th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
$1490 for a railroad in deep Bushwick is ridiculous. I found my $925/month slightly run down railroad in the Ridgewood Times. Their classifieds are a good alternative to wasting time on Craigslist with crooks like “King David Realty”
Railroads are not bad at all for one person or maybe a happy couple.
Ex-StarrSt September 6th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Ugh…. I dealt with that last realtor for the overpriced “mini loft”, having rented a loft from them years ago… They totally lied about the square footage (over 2x the actual amount), and when we called them on it, they threw their hands up and said they never said it. Shady, greedy, and dishonest.
Jasmin September 6th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
@Jay…it sounds like we put up with much of the same stuff that goes on today. LOUD music, LOUD people, LITTER on the street (there were lots of stray dogs/cats back then)…but at the end of the day it was home I guess you could say.
Our apartment was great too. Lots of avocado green walls (lol), subway tile in the bathroom with a huge clawfoot tub/shower, hardwoods hidden under HIDEOUS linoleum (kitchen) and carpet (all other rooms), eat in kitchen and huge rooms overall.
We didn’t have rats like I’ve been reading about though…THANK GOD!
Becky September 6th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Oh Jay, I know you’re just lookin’ out for me. I know when the kids from next door yell at me down the block for candy, they really only want candy, but I still think it’s kind of sweet. But really, *some* people have been really great to me. For instance, I ran into my neighbors from the next building at Home Depot and they offered me a ride home, but refused to let me help pay. And last week one of my neighbors held onto a UPS package for me because she didn’t want anything to happen to it while I was at work. And the guy at the corner store totally sold me and my friend beer at 5am. Stuff like that.
I have a HUGE kitchen. The apartment doesn’t have a fancy renovation like that one. It got more of the cheapo renovation, vinyl tile floors, no new cabinets or fixtures, etc. But it did get a new full size stove and refrigerator last year.
Matt September 6th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
Flag that ripoff alert. It is not a 2 bedroom.
They have massive hairy balls to charge that much to begin with for a real 2br, and to then pretend its a true 2br? Jackoffs. And that studio space? puuuhleez.
THe only thing worse than these asshole prioces are the asholes who rent them. Enjoy.
Sorry, very very bitter today and needed to rant.
Jeremy September 6th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
Jasmin — $212!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know there was big inflation in the late 70s, but still, wow. It’s hard to even wrap my brain around.
Speaking of lineolum, I pulled down a wall recently and found some NAISTY shit under it. That white crinkly stuff, you know? Ughgh, who does that. They did make decent linoleum patterns even in the 70s, why pick the gross ones? And then when putting new floors in downstairs, under a rug was red and green linoleum, the hard kind — tacky Italians, anyone? Yikes.
Tony T September 6th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Jeremy. Puerto Rican flags have been flying outside windows thoughout Bushwick (especially Troutman street) since I was a kid in the 70′s. My people have a strong connection with the flag (cultural pride, independence, statehood, etc). I don’t recall flags being used as a deterrent to outsiders moving in. Is that what is happening now in Bushwick?
bk ex-broker September 6th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
King David realty – FIGURES. They are the horror show of all brokers. They are the “kings” of advertising places with dubious neighborhood pedigree, and when kids show up at their offices (and they make EVERYONE go to their offices), they put them in a van and drive them to the place, no explanation of where they’re going, and then hardsell them once they get there. I had a building on Evergreen, near the Police station there, and they were insisting it was Williamsburg.
idiots. keep up the good work.
Jeremy September 6th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
Tony, it’s not just a guess, I have heard people say it’s to stake a claim, in person and online. It’s not just a flag on a car or on houses. It’s run like garlands from building to building back and forth over the street and especially lately.
I could be overly sensitive. I do know that my dad’s cousins in the Bronx have a HUGE Italian flag in front of their house, and it ain’t just a decoration.
Tony T September 6th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
I see Jeremy. Still, placing flags outside buildings as a warning to newcomers is a passive aggressive act that seems foreign to Puerto Ricans. f they don’t like you in their neighborhood, they tell you. I’m sure there is a lot of truth to what you say concerning the attitudes in your neighborhood, but I am not so sure the flag is the symbol of that resistance to newcomers. I think the flag is being used (as it always has) to help compensate for the miserable failures many Puerto Ricans in Bushwick have become. When you have no accomplishments to be proud of, it’s convenient to place your pride on your race, especially since you had no say in that matter to begin with. Imagine that: taking pride in what flag the gods of chance decided you would be born under. Me, I prefer to take pride in what little achievements I have been able to muster in my long life. Wish more Puerto Ricans would follow my example. That being said, I can assure you most PRs (me included?) have a kinder disposition to newcomers. We’re an island people after all!
Jeremy September 6th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Tony, I of course have to step back and let you say it. Other Puerto Ricans I know — non-New Yorkers, I should mention — say the same thing, especially during Puerto Rican Pride (as one called it) a la “wow, isn’t it just so very exciting that I am of x ethnicity/nationality!?”
It was the same thing when we were walking down Flushing one day and a car raced past full of Dominican flags and somebody screamed at the top of their lungs “Do-mi-ni-can mo-tha-fuh-kaaaz!” I laughed because it was so goofy but the real answer is — and??
Maybe assimilation over the last 80 years has something to do with it but I don’t volunteer my ethnicities to people unless it comes up in relevant conversation. I am me, not a Sicilian or a Pole or an American, etc. Flying the flags of the various regions from which my people come strikes me as tacky. But then, I think flying the US flag is tacky, too, so maybe I’m not the one to comment. :-D
Jimmy Legs September 7th, 2007 at 8:33 am
maybe the Dominicans were actually members of the Dominicans Don’t Play gang. gang members love to tout their membership! then again, i’m not entirely sure that you have to be Dominican to be in DDP.
I think flags are lame but I defend to the death your right to paste them all over your car! the 1st amendment protects every American’s right to be tacky.
PKW September 7th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
I live in Bushwick and I am not Puerto Rican. We have great neighbors and they are nothing but friendly to us. I think it is all in how you interact with your neighbors. If you show fear and resistance they will only give that back. Treat others like friends and they will show you the same respect.
jay September 8th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
so do we accept the loud music blasting from people’s homes, on the streets, and by cars passing by as just a unique cultural trait in bushwick.
many associate this noise characteristic sometimes exclusively with bushwick, brooklyn.
Mr. Kraayon September 9th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
i thought DDP was a Bronx gang. The only gangs I think I see in my area tend to be Bloods and old Brooklyn 70′s gangs that are now MC’s. Although I think I did see some Deceps walking past my window the other day,rocking the purple. I know there are a great deal of dominicans in the neighborhood, so DDP having an offshoot here is no surprise.