helly_k

I'm a single woman and I moved here in February 2013. I really didn't know much about Washington Heights other than that it was "up-and-coming". It's a very busy area. There are a lot of families. The men here are EXTREMELY friendly and some of them do heckle you, but as long as you make it known that you don't put up with that BS, they will leave you alone. The majority of the population is Dominicans, a handful of Jews and a few Asians (I've seen more and more since I moved here). It has been made known to me a couple times that I don't belong here. I live in a building with a lot of Dominicans and I noticed that they are very loud and love to socialize in the hallways (issue when you have paper thin walls). I've never felt unsafe or scared, but I'm not one that's easily intimidated. There are many late nights (midnight or 1 am) I have come home and never had an issue. I live in between the A and 1 subway stations. People around here love to hang out in front of their buildings, socialize and/or smoke pot (generalizng). There are some local bars and a few decent restaurants to go to, but not much. There are tons of local grocery stores and cheap retail clothing stores. It's very crowded on the sidewalks on St. Nicholas and also on 181st street with sidewalk vendors. I rarely hang out in this area - I always go downtown. It takes at least 45 minutes to get anywhere via subway to downtown Manhattan. What's nice is, if you work in the Bronx, you can take the bus over or if you want to venture into Fort Lee, you can do the same. I heard from people that have lived here for years that this area has improved remarkably.