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I am planning to buy a house in huntington since i will be working as a fellow at Stony Brook Medical Center while trying to make it convenient for my wife who will be working in nyc. I was hoping to get some feedback about the Huntington community in general and especially if there were certain areas that i should avoid completely, and which areas are A+
It is important to know that there are 3 "Huntingtons" (from smallest to largest, in order of acreage):
1. There is the Hamlet of Huntington (whose "downtown" commercial district is colloquially referred to as Huntington Village);
2. There is the "Huntington, NY 11743" ZIP Code postal zone, and it includes the Hamlet of Huntington and parts of 2 villages (municipal corporations) and 5 other hamlets (unincorporated areas) within its service area; and,
3. There is the Town of Huntington, and it includes 4 villages and 15 hamlets as well as the "Huntington, NY 11743" ZIP Code postal zone and all or parts of 11 other ZIP Code postal zones, within its borders.
For those who may not be familiar with Huntington:
Huntington is a hamlet (an unincorporated area) in the north part of the Town of Huntington, in the northwest part of Suffolk County.
Beginning on the north and moving in a clockwise direction, the Hamlet of Huntington in the Town of Huntington is bordered on the north by Huntington Harbor, the Hamlet of Halesite, the Village of Huntington Bay, Huntington Bay and the Hamlet of Centerport; on the east by the Hamlet of Centerport and the Hamlet of Greenlawn; on the south by the Hamlet of Huntington Station; and, on the west by the Hamlet of Cold Spring Harbor and the Village of Lloyd Harbor.
The Hamlet of Huntington has a different border than does the "Huntington, NY 11743" ZIP Code postal zone (i.e., a place can have a "Huntington, NY 11743" mailing address and not be in the Hamlet of Huntington and a place can have other than a "Huntington, NY 11743" mailing address and be in the Hamlet of Huntington): places that have a "Huntington, NY 11743" mailing address that are not in the Hamlet of Huntington are in the Hamlet of West Hills, the Hamlet of Halesite, the Village of Huntington Bay, the Village of Lloyd Harbor, the Hamlet of Centerport, the Hamlet of Greenlawn and the Hamlet of Elwood; and, at the same time, there are places in the Hamlet of Huntington with a "Huntington Station, NY 11746" and a "Greenlawn, NY 11740" mailing address.
I am planning to buy a house in huntington since i will be working as a fellow at Stony Brook Medical Center while trying to make it convenient for my wife who will be working in nyc. I was hoping to get some feedback about the Huntington community in general and especially if there were certain areas that i should avoid completely, and which areas are A+
Much appreciated
I've lived in the area well over 20 years and LOVE IT! From culture and entertainment to a large variety of food establishments, from Festivals to free Summer concerts in the park, etc., etc., it's a great place to live. In general, people are friendly and accepting (there are always exceptions, but they exist everywhere...) There's even one of the last independent book stores downtown - a great place to have a cup of coffee or tea, meet authors for book signings and then window shop in the "Village".
It also sounds like an excellent compromise location given your two destinations .
With regard to certain areas to avoid, for the most part, it may not necessarily be a large area in any one location, more like "pockets" where you might hesitate to buy. But that's also a personal preference, whether it's about diversity or obvious income levels, not necessarily a hard and fast "rule".
sure , I've lived in huntington township for 30 years !!( commack)
avoid huntington station if possible , problems with ILLEGAL ALIENS , Gangs drugs . the huntington school system is a mess. alot of kids in private schools.
south of jericho tpk is good as is huntington village, e.northport, elwood.,
dix hills , llyod harbor ,.
Newyork ave from jericho tpk south to the big H shopping center Is a MESS.
Drive it and see.
The town govt is ultra liberal.
good luck
the a+ areas are most of huntington village , llyod harbor , llyod neck ,centerport( real Nicce) , northport,
North of 25a is the best , if you got the cash
[disclaimer: I have included statements involving the mention of different ethnicities and socioeconomic statuses. none of this is meant to be racist or whatever the money-equivalent of racism is and i apologize if anyone takes it to be anything but providing legitimate info to someone interested]
I've lived in Huntington my whole life, be it a relatively short one so far, and if the original poster or anyone else is still looking, I have a few helpful statements:
- If you're new to the LI area or even the NYC metro area in general, almost any house you can buy is gonna cost you a lot. House prices have skyrocketed in the past few years and may have dipped a little but still remain high even in this recession. Case in point, my former neighbor bought her house back in the late 90's on 0.4 acres for around 150k, and 3 years ago sold it to a contractor for $600,000 who knocked it down to build 2 houses on the land (yes that is more than a half-million just for the less than half acre lot) and sold EACH .2 acre house for $800,000. If you know where to look however you can find a good house without breaking the bank
- The "civil township" (aka the big town that contains all the hamlets/villages) of Huntington has many different areas varying from a spanish ghetto up to multimillion dollar waterfront mansions.
However seeing that you stated that you guys would both be using the train station I'll stick to that general area near it and assume from your job that you guys are looking in the middle or upper-middle price range ($400-700k house)
- Huntington Village is actually a decent "downtown" area (almost always called "The Village") in the center of the hamlet of huntington (2-3 miles north of the train station) with stores and restaurants although many of them are expensive and mostly cater to upper class middle aged white people. Don't know if that suits you but I'm just just putting it out. There is also an 8 screen movie theater, a few decent bars, some decent stores, some good relatively cheaper places to eat, a nice park (Hecksher) with a lake and a small art museum and an outdoor stage that gets good use in the summer, and generally just an interesting area to walk around when going out for the evening/night.
- The immediate surrounding area of about a mile is composed of mostly middle and upper middle class white people, and has a wide variety of nice houses that are almost reasonably-priced (for LI) and I would honestly recommend this area as a top choice, for having the village close by with things to do and being only a 5-10 minute drive to the station.
North and east of the village, getting closer to the water (Huntington Bay, Huntington Harbor, Centerport) houses start to increase in cost and lot size, and if you're making a hefty salary you might want to check this area out but I wouldnt say that its worth the big price jump or extra commute
- Going south on route 110 (the main artery of the region) once you pass the Big H shopping center (has a Kmart, Home Depot, Burger King, the DMV, and about a half-dozen other small stores) the area starts to go downhill as you head into Huntington Station. Here youl'll find rundown stores, and a few clusters of relatively new housing project-type buildings which have cleaned up the immediate north of the station a bit, but this is where the problems begin. I wouldn't suggest even looking for a house within a half mile of the train station because this area has become poor and run down, especially in the last decade For whatever reason in the past couple years there has been a huge influx of immigrants, a large portion from El Salvador, and it has transformed from being a mostly blue collar white (heavily italian) and black neighborhood into a mostly black and hispanic community. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but most of them are below the poverty line and many former places on 110 like family restaurants and mom and pop stores went out of business and were replaced with bars thinly disguised as restaurants for tax purposes, and bodegas. Many of these places dont serve anyone who isnt black or hispanic, (if any ever enter :P) and some are popular locales for people selling drugs (mostly small-time highschool kids selling dime bags of weed but there is a sizeable presence of gang members pushing ounces and coke) in these places with the owners consent for a small cut. As the pattern became evident, many middle class people (of all races) who could afford to move away a little, did, and the houses left were filled by new immigrants, many of whom are living in rundown illegal apartments and having many children at young ages, reinforcing the poverty. It's not like you're gonna get shot or mugged just driving through here but the areas around the train station, pulaski rd, and the Ave's (between New York Ave aka 110, and 11th Ave) are pretty rough places to live. East of NYA and the southeastern part of Huntington Station as a whole is more "family-friendly" and is a decent area of middle-class whites and a few middle class English speaking Hispanics
- East of here are Greenlawn and Elwood, which are mostly residential neighborhoods with nice decent houses in the center and eastern areas, some "projects" near pulaski road, mostly middle class whites and blacks, but in general nicer houses as you go eastward and more grimy areas as you get closer to the greenlawn station, jericho turnpike or broadway. However because the train to NYC starts at the huntington station your wife would either have to drive an extra couple miles to get to it or wait for a transfer at huntington.
- The western edge of the township is Cold Spring Harbor and West Hills, which are similar to the Harbor/ Bay area in that they both are more upscale and have bigger more expensive houses, but are far away from almost anything interesting. There is the cold spring harbor train station but, the train going to stony brook also starts at huntington, so YOU would have to drive further, mostly on backroads, or wait for a transfer.
- South of Jericho (rte 25) is South Huntington. This whole area is "clean", and mostly middle and upper middle class whites, generally a pretty nice place but farther away from the train. East of pidgeon hill road, the houses get bigger, more secluded, and more forested. Between 110, the northern state parkway and wolf hill road, is the area referred to as "the triangle", which is similar to the rest of south hunt, maybe a tiny bit nicer, but still just your run of the mill middle class suburb.
Overall, I'd say, because of where you both work the best place for you to look would be just north of the "Big H" because its both close to the train station and the village, without breaking the bank or being unsafe. Just avoid right next to the village if you dont want to hear the traffic in the day or drunk people at night. If you dont find anything there, I'd look in Huntington Station or South Huntington in the areas near Depot Park or Koster Park (from a block or two east of 110, to a few blocks east of depot road, and south of 13th street. If you're driving around near the station, dont be put off by the grimy main roads. The neighborhoods dramatically change in most places only a couple houses away. It's really quite unbelievable even to me, and i live here
Regarding markusa's comments: Yes, New York Ave from the Big H to near Jericho is mostly "a mess" as he put it, but the mess stays either close to the road or spills over to the west side a couple blocks; And, the reason the huntington and south huntington school districts are rated badly (by long island standards) is because the non english speaking immigrants bring down the districts test scores. Both districts are actually very well funded and the published data results including only native english speakers are actually better than many other schools in the area. However the original poster didnt mention a kid, so i doubt he's worrying about the schools for now
Anyway, I hope this helps
Let me know if you want to ask me anything else
I am planning to buy a house in huntington since i will be working as a fellow at Stony Brook Medical Center while trying to make it convenient for my wife who will be working in nyc. I was hoping to get some feedback about the Huntington community in general and especially if there were certain areas that i should avoid completely, and which areas are A+
Much appreciated
For me A+ is anything north of 25 A. I am in the Harbor area. Great dog park and beautiful scenery. It is not as convenient to the parkways but well worth it. The village is nice, too. The trains to NYC are frewuent and take about 1 hr.
Huntington is a diverse community with a nice art cinema, great library and restaurants. One of the best places to live on L.I.
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For those who may not be familiar with Huntington
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Way too long but hopefully this helps
