Bushwick

So many people keep saying it's an up and coming area, but overall Bushwick is still pretty gritty and not all that attractive part of town to move into. It is nice to see that's it's an area where small and unique business are popping up, so it's probably a little more affordable for some to follow their dreams here. Good spot for the young and older hipster and artsy crowd to call home. The area itself is an artists haven with some amazing murals and graffiti art on sides of buildings, open air galleries, and cool bars which feature it and have it adorned as part of the decor.

A very old review that Yelp just informed me was posted to the wrong page, my bad. Just dropping it here, hopefully I got it right this time. "Did NY forgot about here? I'm not easily scared, nope, not I. But over on this side of Brookly gives me the jeppers-creepers. Each visit. I love riding the subway all over NY. Coming to Bushwick though, I always pray that I'll be afforded a private car ride to and fro. My place of visit is usually between Broadway and the Eastern Parkway side. Whether it's dark as midnight or light outside I'm always holding everything closer than I usually do, keeping my ear buds in WITHOUT music, being extra observant of my surroundings and keeping a relaxed, yet tough look on my mug. One day around 5pm I waited on an "L" line train and almost £#^÷^÷£$€÷ myself because I was the only other person on the platform with two males who were less than gentle. Lol. Yep, I almost screamed (with laughter of relief) when the train showed up in (what felt like 3 days) 3 mins. Residents I've encountered in shops look sad, lost and I can't say why. As nosey and forward as I can be when things interest/bother me, I don't dare ask why. For all the crappy feelings I just shared that this place evokes, I still love Bushwick Brooklyn! ! I really do! And get this, for the exact same reason it scares me! I've always preferred digging for my own diamonds over a trip to Kay's anyway. I WILL find something amazingly wonderful about Bushwick! "Don't believe me just watch". The End."

Up and coming Brooklyn neighborhood. Some will argue that the neighborhood has already arrived. The neighborhood has seen an influx of new restaurants, bars and a variety of small businesses. Rents in the area have risen as has the population. I would say that gentrification is ongoing as neighboring Williamsburg has priced out many. Much of Bushwick is still industrial in nature with warehouses and distribution facilities, many of the manufacturers have pulled out of the area due to rising real estate and labor costs. The area can be quite fun if you choose the right location.

The side near East Williamsburg is fine...otherwise, I wouldn't walk there much. One of the very few areas in the city I've been in where I wouldn't walk around during the day. Some good inexpensive food though, as expected. Also the L(ate) train is not fun.

*Whirls around in dirt storm* Bushwick was actually the first neighborhood I lived in when I moved to Brooklyn. The year was 2002. It was called East Williamsburg back then...until you looked on the subway map and noticed it was Bushwick. Before the cafes, bars and shops at Morgan and Montrose L stop, there was only Chinese takeout. Before the fancy condos and lofts with nice windows there were artists spaces and live in drafty loft apartments with rooftop parties. I come here often, biking on Flushing, seeing all the tattooed young people, ignoring the old neighborhood folk. I see trash whizzing about as people sit outside enjoying brunch. I like Bushwick because it still has that artists feel ( and good food) but miss some of the edginess that is slowly fading away as more Manhattanites move in.

Bushwick is an up and coming area. I know its not the fanciest place in the world but it is def improving. It is filled of amazing puerto rican people and it is welcoming hipster people who are improving the area. It has new coffee shops, new improved apartment buildings and many new places that improve the area. It is an area that has great potential and it also has beautiful murals. I fell in love with bushwick.

"Up and coming" neighborhood that's not quite "up" yet. My car has been vandalized three times here, my street is pretty grimy, and there are ex-cons milling around the bodega around the corner. Two people that I know have been mugged nearby in the last year and a half. I don't feel safe walking around here late at night by myself. That being said, my apartment is pretty nice and the rent is reasonable. There are also a couple of decent restaurants and coffee shops nearby.

Bushwick, Bushwick. I grew up in Bushwick when "East Williamsburg" was just Bushwick. I saw the Italians and Germans leave the neighborhood over time, and generally all but African Americans leave Bed-Stuy, our neighborhood to the south. Bed-Stuy was Black, Bushwick was Puerto Rican and Queens to the North was White. I grew up with the white kids calling me a spic and some black kids calling me a white boy. I fought both of them often, just because I refused to loose. I won some and lost some. I used to joke that I was gray. Regardless I had good friends in both groups. Unfortunately I agree that the neighborhood went downhill. Racial redlining and ignorant people of all sorts where a lethal combination for Bushwick, amongst other socio-economic issues. Broadway (the southern border) used to have businesses until the riots and now its coming back. I must say growing up here made me hate the ignorance and survive the crime. With all I saw I decided not take this path that I saw many take around me. My family, myself and many others found ways to be happy have very good friends and live constructive lives. I have lived in several cities since I left Bushwick, have experienced and chosen a better way to live, however Bushwick is my home. When I'm here visiting my family I feel a measurable degree of centeredness. I see the hipsters moving in and marvel at how safe they feel walking down the block where I saw so many people die over the decades. Slowly pushing out people who have been here 2 or 3 generations. But those who invested in the neighborhood when no one thought it was hip are now collecting rent and growing financially. For those who never bought a piece of Bushwick are at the whim of the rental market. When I visit I still hang-out on the streets I grew up on and the hipster spots in Bushwick and Williamsburg. I consider myself a local and still enjoy all aspects of these neighborhoods, it is home.

I like the neighborhood for its trendy cafes and cheaper rent, though it can be a struggle to get it here via public transport.

Bushwick I have to agree can not be sugar coated. I think it has improved some over the years but in general the area is not really good at all. I used to go to junior high school in the area and did hang out around town after that as well during my high school years. I even got robbed here at least twice, caught out there with out any of my friends on the wrong block. Yes, and most of the people were undesirables and I was the only one in the group that was not getting arrested. The truth is yes, we are not talking about East Willamsburg (Morgan Ave on the L train) but J train Knickerbocker Avenue at night. A part of town you do not normally want to be anywhere near. It is the northern part of Brooklyn and is right next to Williamsburg but its still hood. 16 Years ago, it was even more violent and stuff. I am not gonna share much of what I saw but it involves everything you see like high crime: women getting their pocketbooks stolen right off the train around THANKSGIVING time. -Only thing I really did like was walking along the train line and going into Ridgewood, Queens to go to stores there, also hangin out at the Burger King right on Mrytle and Greene. Good luck to clearing up Bushwick a bit more in the future. I have noticed at least some improvement in these past 16 years when I was a regular in this part of town.

After living by Myrtle Wyckoff Ave for 2 years, my feelings are pretty mixed about Bushwick as its right next to Williamsburg. I've seen the neighborhood go through many changes in terms of real estate and property, where prices sky rocketed to attract new clientele that want to be closer to Manhattan. There is a large amount of landlords that did absolutely nothing for the tenants where they landed on the worst landlords list of NY, my landlord in particular was a total jerk who only did repairs when he had to undergo inspection. Some newer lofts and condominiums that were built during gentrification [which is still an ongoing debate from those that lose their old school properties to make room for new ones] are seriously not affordable, not built properly with no permits or licenses, they break many zoning laws thanks to crooks that hire contractors to build cheap units that have the thinnest walls [or no walls at all]. While the location is convenient in terms of travel with lines like L&M trains , this neighborhood has been overpopulated and is rather disgusting. I've seen rats and roaches on the streets, dirty subways, dirty fast food chains and a lot of crime with gangs claiming territory on many blocks. I also recall hearing about many shootings in local lounges, clubs and billiards which isn't great for nightlife which was once great on the east and south side. I also heard about many people I knew personally being sexually harassed so for women in particular I don't find certain parts of Bushwick to be safe. I have to admit, the nightlife is great towards Bedford avenue with many cool bars, art galleries, cool murals, restaurants and lounges along very talented music artists and painters; I find that many hipsters have taken over these establishments and I don't remember them being too friendly to me. I can't say I hate the experiences or memories I had here, I felt like it was one big melting pot of cultures and I learned a lot about different groups of people , but I never felt like I "fit in". I think many residents can agree that there is a decent amount of supermarkets, pharmacies, dry cleaners, tattoo shops, nail and hair salons at decent prices, nice cafes and food trucks plus hospitals and doctors to dentists that are easy to get to. There is also really cool boutique and thrift shops that sold really nice vintage stuff for good prices . It was also nice to see that there was a good amount of churches for many religions, I happened to find a Greek Orthodox Church where there aren't too many of them in Brooklyn. Overall, I think the reason why Bushwick is not the most favorable neighborhood in my opinion despite its trendy cool factor is because the residential homes are mixed in within close proximity to projects that have high rates of crime. I probably wouldn't return to live there again. & P.S. the parking here is a total fail, you are way better off riding a bike or using uber. The trains are overcrowded and are often delayed.

Bushwick is a wonderful neighborhood with much to explore. It is like a map that becomes more detailed as you try new things. With a lot of recent development, small businesses and restaurants have opened and it is inspiring to see people trying to follow their dreams. Art shows, galleries, and venues are all around if you know where to look. Check out the Shops at the Loom, Kave and Thrift/Vintage shops in the neighborhood. If you are bored take a tour of the free street art. I recommend reading Bushwick Daily if you do not know what to do and there is something always going on. El Fagon on Flushing Ave. is to write home about and order the 'Burrito Mojado'.

I've lived in a bunch of different areas in my time in NYC, I lived in Bed Stuy, Bushwick,Greenpoint and Hell's Kitchen, Bushwick was probably my least favorite (Greenpoint being my most). it's easiest to divide Bushwick into 4 sections, each with their own distinct characteristics. Industrial Bushwick is the area on the East Williamsburg border, sometimes known as Morgantown because of the Morgan Ave subway stop, it has lofts, bars, restaurants, coffee shops and parties, its not Bedford Ave yet and it will probably never be, but its definitely well gentrified by now. Moving East is family Bushwick, this is an area dominated by immigrant families, the slumlords who take advantage of them and the hipsters who are looking for the new cool place, its lacking in amenities, but not entirely so, as the Knickerbocker ave area has most shops you could ever need, even if few are hip and almost none chain. It has a few restaurants that are decent but not really worthy of mention and two supermarkets, neither of which is very good. The area is however quite safe, even if it isn't quiet and the housing stock is in disrepair. South Bushwick is much more dangerous and less populated than the rest of Bushwick, particularly around the Myrtle Ave area, amenities are few, mostly located on Broadway, which is not safe after dark, the area seems to have the highest concentration of hipsters moving in, but also a large amount of crime and hostility. The housing stock does seem better than the family oriented areas of Bushwick, but not greatly so. there are a few hipstery things popping up, Goodbye Blue Monday, the Chief Bodega and Market Motel, my guess is that this will be a gentrified area before too long. East Bushwick is again more family oriented and much more serene than the rest of Bushwick, but severly lacking in amenities and entertainment. You get cheap rent in Bushwick, but you also get loud neighbors, high crime depending on the area, few and spread out amenities, prolific vermin, particularly in the western family area and a general wary attitude from long term residents who watch young hipsters move in from all over and drive up their rent.

This review is for the Wyckoff Heights section of Bushwick, which is basically Queens. Many years have passed since the '77 blackout, when the Broadway border this hood shares with Bed-Stuy was burned to the ground, and it's amazing to see this thriving, family friendly neighborhood today. The media will thank the transplants, but the media is best ignored, since their worldview of NYC starts at 96th St. and ends at Lorimer St. YOU should thank the hard-working NYC natives and immigrants running independent businesses, fixing up houses, and making this their home instead. Yeah, some transplants' reviews of Bushwick are nasty and racist garbage, written by people who see what they want to see or push f*cked-up agendas. And some natives are needlessly vicious toward people who refused to waste away in communities with 16% unemployment, choosing instead to come to the city, work hard, and join this community. But if the internet's taught us anything, it's that the human race is a bag of dicks. Separate the dicks from the [wo]men when you Yelp, kids. As mentioned, Wyckoff Heights-Bushwick is great for families with little kids...well, Park Slope types excepted, but if that's you, seriously, just go to Park Slope. Other reviewers are complaining about noise, and I've gotta say, the high school kids' hijinks amount to typical 16-year-old boys' fare, i.e. showing off new driver's licenses/beater cars with stereo speakers cranked to 11 to "get chicks, huh heh yeah, chicks." (Yes, I've reached the age where all teenage boys and most teenage girls remind me of Mike Judge's lovable, huggable Beavis and Butthead, sorry!) If you dislike growing communities with young kids, perhaps the retirement home is more your thing. Noise ends by 9-10 PM at the very latest anyway - and that's in the summer, when school kids go to bed a bit later - which makes Wyckoff Heights great for working folks who need to relax and get a good night's sleep. And families/married couples aren't EVER "trendy" or cool, so rents are approximately half of what you pay in "Bushwick-Bushwick." Please note: Wyckoff Heights isn't the Bushwick housing Roberta's, or all those warehouse parties, nor is it the Bushwick that gets BJ's in the New Yup Times "Style" section on a weekly basis. This is a basic working-class family neighborhood, end of story. Its sister 'hoods are Ridgewood/Middle Village, Queens, not Williamsburg/Gowanus/Greenpoint, Brooklyn. If you want to open a nightclub here or install a bar where drunks rage until 4 AM, your business plans will be aborted by the long-term residents, and that's a good thing. The families will ask you to take your party elsewhere, and as long-term members of this community, that is their right to do so. Yuppies are not displacing anyone, nor are they - what a funny idea! - being displaced. Despite current lore, the vast vats of wealth just aren't here. This neighborhood is a) straight-up working class; b) comprised of natives and transplants alike, be they black, white, or brown, who work all day, and c) ideal for those whose station in life is slowly improving as the country climbs out of the recession. We would've stayed in our apartment longer, had we not lived behind an absurdly loud, as in "this would deafen Pete Townshend," Pentecostal church blasting its sermons straight into our bedroom, mic'ed up kick drums, bullhorn-amplified glossolalia, and all. Normally, I don't even notice churches, but this place was down to two parishoners, and visibly dying, so its owner [?] went into full recruitment mode up to 4 or 5 nights a week on certain weeks. We shared a building with another married couple and a woman who spent half her life on the same block in Bushwick, and the church annoyed them, too. There are a lot of Pentecostal churches in the Wyckoff Heights/Ridgewood area, of varying degrees of loudness, but a quick walk around the block to check your surroundings before you commit to a lease or mortgage makes sense for anyone, no matter the location. And keep in mind, you can get anything from furniture to affordable fashions, to toiletries, to Dominican cake within a two-block radius (and, there are no dumb Manhattan chains or ar-tee-sinal whimsical junk shops to be found) so on balance, the pros outweigh the cons. So, "family Bushwick," you're affordable, kid/married-friendly, on 4 train lines and 4 bus lines, and offer tons of cheap, great, locally owned shopping. You have chill people from multiple countries and some of the hardest-working, do-or-die blue-collar folks in the city. Stay beautiful, Wykoff Heights!

I had a group assignment for student teaching in the Bushwick area. Bushwick is one of the furthest places in Brooklyn and nobody really talks about it. There's construction and renovation going on, on almost every corner, since the newer hipster generation is moving into town and creating a more modern lifestyle. There's Bushwick Campus (4 schools in one), sounds hectic, but really isn't and the overall environment is pretty nice.

This area has potential but it's got a long way to go. Right now it's pretty run down and in some places looks bombed to pieces. I don't walk around there after dark. Full of crumbling factories and abandoned industries. Kind of intriguing in a dark way. Interesting graffiti. Some surprisingly good thrift shops and a couple of health food stores. Every night I stayed here, I heard car alarms go off for hours. Lots of broken down cars and stolen parts as well. Not a place I'd like to live...

What can I say? I've lived here for three and a half years, long enough. For a cheap rent, it was worth it. However, the lethal hipster influx has turned up the volume on the negatives this neighborhood has to offer. Bushwick is quickly becoming the trashy younger sibling to Williamsburg - you're never going to replicate what has happened over there no matter how many scoops of artisinal ice cream you cram down people's throats. Someone said they can see it being like Soho (a friend echoed this sentiment) - why would you even want that? I can't even imagine a time when it's as quiet as Soho in the evenings. It seems generally safer, which is a plus. However, it's just as dirty and loud as it's ever been, if not more so. Less parking, more shit (literal as well as figurative) on the sidewalks. It's too bad, it was way more laid back and the people were generally friendly. If it got loud because someone was having a family party or a quinceañera, it was rare enough to deal with. Now there's an audio arms race between these parties and whatever hipster DJ set is booming from the roof of Castle Braid. For a fifteen percent increase, you can have it, who the hell knows how bad I'd get gouged the next year.

Now that I've moved out of the 'Schwick, it's time for me to write a review. After two years, I have decided that it's not all that bad. Yeah there wasn't anything to do save for go to a couple of bars or hit up Kiwi's at all hours of the night, and the J train kind of sucked, and the supermarkets were really lame, and people were loud at 2 in the morning but somehow it was still home for me. I had a large apartment for a decent price, kind neighbors, and a fantastic deli and liquor store just a block from me.

i thought i'd write after being turned off by the other reviews. granted, there aren't many and its not really a yelp review type of place...or not that most people think of.. I've just moved back to bushwick after a few years of letting it cool down. My girlfriend and i came out to bushwick after graduating from art school....maybe 2006. we were the first white people in the neighborhood. when we went into a deli or something, we would be stared at. completely ignored with an awareness of prejudice i can't compare to anything but things i've seen in movies. That was the jefferson stop on the L. We made it about 2 years before bedbugs hit and we had to move to jmz myrtle. The jefferson apt. was 1000 bucks a month for a huge, 2 bedroom and by the time we left that apartment the neighborhood had already changed. There were artists like us speckled throughout the neighborhood. When we moved to Melrose Place, off the myrtle stop we were the first white people all over again. But this time the new building we moved into was filled with peers in the same situation as us. We lived there for 5 years before getting pushed out by rent hikes. I always wanted to be apart of something. In the middle of it. Reading about the hippies at woodstock or the beat poets meeting up, McKenzie and the school bus.....I didn't expect to be completely aware of it...but I really didn't realize until we moved what exactly we had been apart of. While making art at home, going to shows, putting art up in the streets and meeting others who did the same....idk...I'm not someone who thinks of hipsters as other people. If you are of a certain age and aren't complete trash...your a hipster. That's what they call us. I understand that people without a soul or too much money from the parents would think there's been nothing special about bushwick. Getting there long after the revolution to find a shitty neighborhood with high rent and only a few bars isn't much to live by. I get it. But people need to understand that the last thing to ever happen culturally happened mostly in Bushwick.

Well, I live there with my family (parents, 2 sisters and a brother) almost a half century ago, maybe about ten years not soon enough. My parents arranged for a moving company to come about 2 am in the morning one night because of the low life neighborhood teenagers and adults that started moving in over the years and terrorized us. They was afraid to move during the day for fear of what these animals might do to us during the move. They destroyed what was a decent neighborhood where I was raised and grew up and played on the streets all day until we were called to come home for dinner or because it was getting late. I forgot how many times my mother was robbed, kicked and stomped on the sidewalk and her pocketbook stolen (kicked and stomped right in our hallway when she was followed from the subway for her pocketbook she refused give up), knocked down and her bag was stolen when we were leaving the dentist office. There were so many more incidents and attacks, but Like I said I lost track of how many times. My father was robbed at knife point and they stole his wallet and his treasured Bulova watch. My sister was robbed and her two young boys (maybe 6 and 7 years of age were attacked and punched and knocked to the ground while coming for a visit. My relatives who came over every weekend for family dinners together never would come anywhere near the neighbor anymore. My older brother never came to visit every again. We had to drive all the way to Long Island to visit him and his family. My father and me and my brother had to meet my mother at the train station every night when she came home from work in Manhattan. Me and my friends got jumped many numerous times and were in a fist fight almost every week. Almost every other day there were fist fights on the street that when on for ever it seemed. Other neighborhoods used to come in a have rumbles with our neighborhood with chains, bottles, bats, etc. No guns though. Then by winter time when we would walk home from the subway with my mom, these lowlifes would pelt us with snowballs hitting us in the head, knocking off my father hat and laughing like animals as we tried to walk home. We were helpless actually and the police actually gave us the best advice which was the run for our lives and move the hell out. My bike was robbed twice by Hispanics with razor blades over the last years we were there. I didn't even want another one after that. My father cars was stolen twice and the second time he nearly cried with theft insurance on it. I am Italian and my friends were mostly Italian, and Irish and I also had black and hispanic friends who would hang out in my house with us. Sad to say and I hate to say it, but all these attacks over the last few years we lived there were done by the black residents of the neighborhood and neighboring areas who were moving in and changing the entire landscape forever. There were Hispanics also moving in over the years and living there, but we didn't have many problems with them. Oh sure there were a few among the criminals, but the ones who were my good friends actually helped me out a few times when the blacks would gang up on me or my friends and were looking for a fight. Random attacks from behind were normal and expected. Oh, what a great neighborhood it was once upon a time when we were young and growing up playing every NYC borough street game imaginable and sitting in front of your house with all the other neighbors that were long time residents as we were. They they ran us out with their crime and attacks. They were breaking into our apartment one day in the daytime with just me and my brother home (I was about 8 and my brother was 13 year old) and we were frozen in terror standing on the other side of the door with two knives and no idea what we would do with them. You could hear the wood cracked as they were prying it open and then my father walked in the front two doors to the apartment building and they must of grabbed their tools and walked right by him. He never new anything until he opened the door and seen what happened. Thank goodness he didn't or he could have been killed or severely injured. Anyway, stumbled until this site and the article and posts about Bushwick, Brooklyn and was compelled to stay up until 2 am to vent my memory of a once great place to live and grow up until they started moving in and ran us out. I wonder sometimes if any of my friends who I left behind are still there. I know some left before us, but there must be a few who stuck it out. For what, I would never understand. Thank goodness we left before the riots and looting of the '77 blackout which from what I read turned Bushwick into a war zone and totally devastated. Don't forget this was a half century ago. What a shame.