Sorry to beat this question into the ground. I posted a few weeks ago and had great suggestions, hoping for more ideas (and the post I just made was destroyed!)

Anyway, I just accepted a job in Englewood NJ and would love to live in the city. Last time I was on, a really helpful poster(Red) mentioned that GW bridge has a bus that can get to Englewood pretty quickly (15 minutes).

Hudson heights was suggested as a neighborhood which would meet many of my criteria for where I want to live. I am just looking for a few more ideas because I was also hoping to find a place where I could go out the door and find lots of bookstores, or things going on, etc.

Anyway, here is what I was looking for in a neighborhood, any suggestions would be helpful. I also have a couple listed below and if you know if they have problems/would not meet criteria, please let me know! Thanks I have appreciated info I have received so far.

Ideal neighborhood : Rent 800 - 1000 (don't laugh) - I guess I may need a roomate; safe; biketrail; can commute reasonalby to NJ (I don't want to be on the metro for 2 hours, bus, go to work, come back and do that all over again); here is the last part - near bookstores! I also loved the activity in central park - are there other parks like that?

Oh yeah, here are other neighborhoods that entered my mind:

-Chelsea (on craiglist rents looked cheap) - what is the neighborhood like? safe? Bookstores?

-Hell's kitchen (same as above)

-Astoria (would commute kill me?)

-Roosevelt island (would commute kill me? anything going on here?)

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

Chelsea is a fabulous neighborhood, full of bookstores and restaurants and gay men and nightlife, and it's insanely expensive. $800-1000 would be impossible there, even in a share.

Hell's Kitchen is also pretty great, a stone's throw from Times Square. I don't know if you would be able to find anything in your budget there. Probably not. Though I'm open to other opinions.

Astoria is where I live. I love it. Commuting to NJ would be deathly.

Roosevelt Island is a weird, freaky place. Totally dead. Good for families in part because it's so dead - kids can roam the island because there's so little going on. Don't do it.

Red,

Thanks for the info again -

When you say deadly commute from Astoria - 30 minutes? An hour? (One way?)

Is there anything else in reasonable distance like this? With bookstores, near bike path, can still get to NJ, and within that price range?

If not, well, its looking more and more like - Inwood or Hudson Heights for me...

Thanks

One more neighborhood I thought of that I was hoping for this info on- near Columbia university? Bookstores? Affordable? Safe?

I see that this bus goes from Englewood to GW Bridge Bus Station in about 16 minutes:

[www.njtransit.com]

Then you can take 1 or 9 train. The closest "good" area would be Columbua University area (111-118 streets around Broadway). It has lots of restaurants and shops and students. It's cool. All other areas that you mentioned are further from New Jersey. It seems like there's no NJ Transit train running close to Englewood. You can also live on uppwer West Side which just a few more stops on 1/9 subway towards downtown, but this area is more expensive than Columbia U. area. I don't think you can get any decent apt. in Manhattan below 1000. Only if you share. There are bunch of web sites where people post shares. DO a google search. As an alternative, you can live in Fort Lee which is on ther NJ side of GW Bridge. I bet you can find a studio for below $1000.

Go to craigslist.com to look for shares. From past postings I would go with the Columbia area. Also from past postings, I would check here when you are closer to where in the area, or maybe do a search here for Columbia all dates. You may find a query of interest.

I live in the Columbia area. I am three blocks east but it is a great area. I wish I was a bit closer to Broadway but definitely safe. I wouldn't suggest anything north of 116th Street but I don't think your commute would be too bad. You would have to transfer from the 1 to the A or you could just walk 6 blocks north from the 1. I would definitely look near Columbia. It is called Morningside Heights. There are lots of apt buildings in the area. I live in the attic apt of my building in a small (I stress SMALL = 250 sq feet) and only pay $900 including everything. You can totally get a good deal if you look hard enough especially in this area. It tends to be cheaper than 96th and south. Good luck!

NYCchic,

Hey, thanks for the info regarding the area that you live (I have actually become very interested in living in Morningside- on Craiglist I saw very affordable rents; it seems to be near central park; and not as isolated as inwood since there are still bookstores in the vicinity). The main info I was after was to find out if it safe - sounds like you think it is. Also, thanks for the heads up of where to live (below 116). I saw other previous posts also saying to stay west of morningside park - with those pieces of info, when I get there hopefully I can find a good deal. Thanks for all the input!