Jackson Heights Life

 I would not recommend young & single individuals to move to JH. But, there are exceptions to every rule, are you a homebody? very independent? Are you a pet owner? then maybe you could give it a try.

I think the stock for singles has gotten considerably better in the last few years as many people have been priced out of other "cooler" neighborhoods. I have a few friends that have moved to the area and they are pretty hot! The 74th st hub is excellent.


I wouldn't care about the gardens bc you generally wouldn't even use it. Something to think about might be traffic on apartments on the streetside, but that might be choosy of you.


I am on 73rd, north of 35th. Sometimes the traffic is annoying but it's not something to move over. I LOVE how quick it is to get on the train. I Love the choice of supermarkets and the different enclaves, especially Elmhurst. I love Elmhurst. Astoria is pretty lame but I do get jealous on how busy the restaurants are there, how much participation non-families have in that area. JH is excellent for families. I was a single here 12 years ago and I admit it was definitely difficult but now it's better.

I live in a garden apartment and the biggest benefit is that all our bedrooms face the garden, makes it so very quiet as oppose to facing the streets. I live on 2nd floor and in my living room faces the street and u can can almost heard everything.

If you are not drawn by the bar/cafe/restaurant scene in Astoria and like to do your South Asian grocery shopping in Jackson Heights, you might very well enjoy JH more. There are lots of cafes and bakeries here of various ethnic persuasions if you care to sit in one or grab something to go. Roosevelt Avenue is dirty, yes, and that's not good, but I do like having people out and about late at night. It feels safer. I can come home at midnight and it’s like rush hour (well, not quite, but full of people). It’s great to be at an express subway stop with multiple lines, too.

I was just responding to the suggestion that a reason to live in the 80s is you can then walk through and get to see a chunk of the neighborhood to get to the 74th St station. But of course you can always walk the other way--so I don't think that holds up as a reason for choosing to live in the 80s.

Yeah, that's definitely holds up as a reason to live in the 80s. People who aren't you can have different reasons for living 10 blocks from where you choose to live, well, because they aren't you and are allowed to have different priorities from your own.

I know when I started looking in the neighborhood to buy, I ended up deciding on a place in the 80s, even though I had initially wanted to be closer to the 74th Street station. Some people like to walk -- it's good for your long-term health -- and the reality is between the local 7 or the express E & F lines, you gain and lose something on each commute. You're more likely to get a seat on the 7 at 82nd St at the expense of a longer commute. On the E & F,  you'll get to midtown faster, but are unlikely to get a seat. When I was younger and I rolled out of bed with the bare minimum necessary to get to work on time, I was more likely to take the E & F (and walked from 80th Street to do so). Now that I seem to be adopting the sleep habits of my grandmother -- up before the sun more often than not-- I'll just take the 7 to get a seat and allow myself more commuting time. When I want to get a little more walking in for the day, I get off at 74th St. and walk up to the 80s.

Different strokes for different folks.

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Hmmm...well I live near 74 St station, but in fact I do walk up into the 80s for a number of reasons. To visit people who live there, to patronize stores and restaurants located there. It's hardly true that I am cut off from that part of the neighborhood because I live in the mid-70s.

I think it was meant to be a generalized statement about people's general habits of staying closer to where they live rather than walking 10 blocks to a particular part of the neighborhood. Able-bodied people aren't cut off from any part of the neighborhood, but how often do most people actually walk 10-15 blocks to go to a particular restaurant, grocery store, coffee shop or visit a friend? There's fine restaurants, coffee shops and grocery stores throughout the neighborhood, so you don't really need to make a daily or multiple-times a week trip 10 blocks away unless you're very specific in your want/need.

Part of the reality of this is if you're going to walk 15 blocks to get somewhere, sometimes it's not that much more of a commitment to just get on the subway and go a few stops further to Astoria or something where there's a different selection of restaurants etc.. I think that factors into it sometimes.

Captain Flannel--relax, you'll have a cardiac event. Of course people have different tastes and priorities, live wherever you like for whatever reason--but it's just a fact that a transit hub with 5 subway lines is an advantage over the 82nd St station with just the 7.  It's one of the pluses of the 70s. This is a fact--nothing to do with my "perceived superiority." I just thought the idea that living farther away from the transit hub because then you can have the pleasure and extra exercise of walking more blocks to get there seemed kind of far-fetched as a reason to live in the 80s. Sorry to upset you!
 

Since there've been many posts, here are my impressions:

I live on 82nd Street between 35th and 37th Avenues.  Our place is in the back, so we literally hear no noise whatsoever, despite being on a bus route.  37th Avenue, and 82nd Street, as well as the area around 74th, tends to get messy during the day, but go beyond those blocks and it's clean.  I actually prefer living on 82nd because in the morning, I stand on the subway for one stop, and then many people exit at 74th, so I almost always get a seat.  Been here over 15 years, and I can count on one hand the times that I didn't get a seat. 

We moved here when we were in out 30's.  We're a gay couple, but not much into nightlife, so this suited us.  When we were in our 20's we lived in the East Village.  If you go out at night, and still want to stay in Queens, try Sunnyside as the nightlife is better there.

As for safety, as a guy, I've never been scared.  Having said that, I also never go on Roosevelt after, say, 11 p.m.  And the residential streets can get spookily quiet at night, so if I was a woman, and someone was following me on them, I'd have my guard up.  When I find myself in that situation, I just sing along to the music on my headphones just to make myself known so the woman won't think I'm sneaking up on them.  Most of the times, I get a chuckle as I pass, but better than scaring the crap out of someone.