From the East Village to Williamsburg: I wanted a calmer place away from the madness

Tiffany Sorya, a West Coast transplant, was living in the East Village when she and her boyfriend decided to move in together and try living in Williamsburg. They find their new neighborhood much cleaner and quieter than the East Village but just as pricey as Manhattan. Still, they are happy with their amenity-laden building. Here’s her story as told to Kelly Kreth.

I was born in Portland, Oregon but I had been living in Los Angeles, CA for nine years. In December 2021 I decided to move to New York City. LA no longer served me workwise and I was able to network more successfully in NYC. I liked the energy better and was dating my boyfriend who lived here.

I found a one-bedroom apartment in a walkup building in the East Village. It was small—about 500 square feet. It had no amenities and the rent was $3,400. It was a sharp change from LA where I was paying less and had double the space.

While I didn’t like the price and size, I did like that it felt very "New York." There was a fire escape outside and it was near Soho. I liked the energy of the area, but not how dirty it was.

[Editor's Note: Brick Underground's series “Transitions” features first-person accounts of what it’s like to move from one New York City neighborhood to another. Have a story to share? Drop us an email. We respect all requests for anonymity.]

I am the CEO and founder of a private homeschooling and tutoring company called Novel Education Group. We specialize in providing comprehensive in-home teaching services for students in grades K-12. I have an administrative staff of five and a team of 15 teachers in five different time zones. I work from home, which means my personal space is very important.

I'm very much into fitness and also the food scene and both things were very accessible from the East Village. I frequented Barry's Bootcamp in Noho, Corepower in Noho, Mile High Run Club and a few other places in LES as well. I loved having so many workout options.

For restaurants, I went to Lil' Frankie's all the time. Tropic Berry was the smoothie place, Bowery Whole Foods was my grocery store, and I was also close to Emilio's Ballato—my boyfriend and I are good friends with the owner. Prince Street Pizza is also great.

Wanted: A more spacious one bedroom for $4,000

In June of 2023 my boyfriend and I decided to move in together and try a new neighborhood. We decided on Williamsburg.

We checked out what was available on StreetEasy. We saw several apartments and faced a lot of competition because we were looking in June, a busy month for rentals. We looked for about two to three months.

Our budget was $4,000 for a one bedroom. We wanted a more spacious place with good light and a laundry room on the floor.

We finally found a place we liked for $4,000. The rent is higher than my previous place but we are saving money by living together. Our new building has a doorman, gym, lounge, and outdoor terrace on the East River where we can see the Manhattan skyline.

What she loves about her new nabe

Williamsburg is cleaner, but honestly the prices are about the same. I feel like apartments in this neighborhood are just as expensive as Manhattan, maybe even pricier than the UES.

The area is good for families, has lots of dogs, and we have great places to eat like Forma Pasta Factory and DOC Wine Bar.

I like that it's calmer and away from the madness of Manhattan but still close enough to get there. I like the community and walking around the area is relaxing and there are great parks, like McCarren and Domino. Sometimes I miss Manhattan's buzzy energy.

I go to Corepower and Form50 Pilates for exercise. My boyfriend is a personal trainer, and he has a much longer commute to his gym now.

A lot of my friends already live in the area so we socialize more often. Moving here was a great idea and I do not want to move back to Manhattan—unless it is to a much bigger apartment near Central Park!

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