Kent Ave, Williamsburg

Whether you are in south or north Willburg, Kent Ave is equal parts beautiful and scary as hell. It's the furthest street west in Williamsburg before you drop off into the East River. And, there are definite pluses and minuses to being the last / first street before the water in New York City. The view is incredible from pretty much any part of Kent. You can see the entire Manhattan skyline from the park and I looked at an apartment on Kent once and the entire wall was windows and Manhattan. You get to watch boats go by, and you can see all of the bridges . . .it's pretty hard to beat. It's also pretty quiet around Kent because you only get noise from one side and Kent is a little off the path as it is. Some of the apartments (especially in the south number streets) are converted factories from the 19th century so the apartments are really cool as are the buildings. They're kind of ghostly / creepy but cool, nevertheless. My good friend lived on Kent and south 11th and they had a huge deck with an expansive view of the river and city.
Having said the cool things, lets get to the bad, shall we? Because it's a little off the path and next to the water, Kent is scary as hell at night. Actually, South kent can be scary during the day. There are a lot of abandoned buildings, old and new, and there aren't any restaurants, bars or shops on Kent so it can feel like a ghost town late at night. And, I'm not kidding when I say there aren't any businesses. I think on all of Kent, there is one restaurant: Giando. Sidenote, Giando is actually hilarious to go to because it's a gaudy Italian place with a lovely on the water patio that they really cheese up. We're convinced it's a mob front. But, back to my point, Kent is kind of creepy.
The apartments are a mix of old and new. They started to put up so many condos a few years ago on the water and then the economy collapsed, so a lot of them are abandoned. And, the ones that came to fruition are pretty expensive for living in Brooklyn if you ask me. But, there's a cool water taxi to Manhattan you can take during the summer if you live in one of them.
All in all, Kent is kind of a personal choice as far as living. If you can find a place you like and it's not terribly overpriced, then it's worth it because of the view. It's close to a million bars and restaurants and relatively close to transportation. I would just advise that you don't live south of Broadway at the absolute maximum.

Kent Ave is Williamsburg’s waterfront (read: East River side) street, where there are a lot of old factories converted into apartment buildings. These are pretty cool – I looked at a few of them before moving into the area – though they tend to have a lot of bedrooms, meaning you would either be paying a lot of money or having a lot of roommates.