Originally Posted by
Landing Gear
New Utrecht and where? Which cross street or address? PM me, if you feel you cannot say this publicly, but note that I don't recall ever seeing a hotel or motel on New Utrecht Avenue.
Just FYI, the D train runs on virtually the entire length of New Utrecht Avenue. This is an elevated line about three and a half floors off the street and it is very noisy. Yes, it is true that people do live within a few feet of the tracks. I have no idea how they do it.
OP sent me a PM with the exact address and at his or her request, I am not disclosing it here.
As luck would have it, I know a few businesses with offices in the area, so it was very easy for me to swing by and have a look.
First, the good news. This address is located within the 66th Precinct of the NYPD. According to the 2011 crime statistics, this was the safest area within Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx for violent crime. (The only safer areas of the city are in Staten Island.)
The building is three stories high with a fish store on the first floor. The front door is between the entrance of two stores and looks like the entrance to a residential (i.e. not a hotel) building. I would estimate the distance between the front windows and the D train tracks as no more than 15 feet. The D Train, like all elevated trains here, can be quite noisy. People I know tell me that it takes them about one hour to get from the nearby station (entrance about 50 feet from the door) to Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, contrary to what is listed on Embark.
The neighborhood is called Borough Park (sometimes erroneously spelled Boro Park) and the overwhelming majority of the population consists of Hasidic Jews. That means that almost all the food stores and restaurants are kosher and not open during the Jewish Sabbath from roughly sunset Friday until 26 hours later on Saturday night.
If you are looking for something cheap to eat, there is a Burger King a little more than a half mile away, a 7-11 a bit further and a McDonald's a little more than a mile away.
Other posters have mentioned the legal complications of dealing with unlicensed hotels so I don't need to repeat them.