In today’s Reader Mail:
Dear Bunnyshop,
You’ve mentioned how much you love Brooklyn, so I thought you’d be a good person to ask about this: my boyfriend and I are moving to New York this summer and we have been thinking about living in Brooklyn or Queens. Do you have any suggestions for great neighborhoods in either of those areas? And please ask the bunnyshop community, too!
Thanks a lot,
A.
Park Slope Park Slope Park Slope Park Slope Park Slope. Er, and maybe Carroll Gardens. We are totally boring and provincial about this: Forget Manhattan, we’ll take the borough (the Brooklyn one) and we judge our general level of happiness by how successful we are at staying in north Slope: above Fourth Avenue, north of … wherever, 9th or 15th. We love lots of Brooklyn neighborhoods: We’ve actually recently been noticing how nice Prospect Heights is, and that whole area across Eastern Parkway from the Brooklyn Museum and the botanical garden. But we’re writing this in South Africa, we travel quite a bit, and it’s still Park Slope for us, all the way.
We can’t speak to Queens, and we invite other opinions for proper summer locales.
We’re actively looking for some new reader mail, and we obviously love all sorts of questions, so—send them in!
Above: Coney Island Mermaid tee, $24
B
Park Slope is lovely, lovely area, but it really is the land of baby strollers, so if that’s not your world, it’s something to think about. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/fashion/18slope.html?
_r=1&scp=1&sq=park+slope&st=nyt&oref=slogin
There are so many nice neighborhoods. Fort Green! Really nice. Yes, Prospect Heights and the Brooklyn Museum area, I agree. Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, Red Hook. Windsor Terrace or Sunset Park, especially if you want a house. So many more I don’t even know.
Do you need to be close to Manhattan? If not, there are some lovely parts of Queens pretty far east. Either way (B’klyn or Queens), it depends on what kind of housing you want, what you can afford, what kind of neighborhood feel suits you, what your transportation needs are, etc.
park slope and carroll gardens are the lands of baby strollers and the wives of writers/graphic designers/yuppies that push them. they’re lovely but i wouldn’t want to live there if i’m not married. i’m from queens and i love elmhurst/sunnyside/jackson heights for the diverse community. forest hills has lots of young couples that aren’t quite as yuppie as park slopers. long island city is great for ppl who want a fast commute to manhattan, and astoria has lots of hip folks and restaurants/nightlife.
Amandabug, you’re right that Carroll Gardens is getting all Park Slope-y, baby stroller-wise. If the letter writer wants to be in that general part of Brooklyn but wants to avoid that kind of scene, Boerum Hill is a better choice. Those are some good Queens suggestions, too.