I love how friendly it is. When my partner and I were just starting to go to open houses in the neighborhood back in 2001, we ran into someone walking their dog, stopped to say Hello to the dog (as you do when you're out and about) and, when she found out we were looking to move to the neighborhood, invited us to look at her apartment (we were in front of her building), which wasn't for sale, just so we "would have an idea about how apartments look in some of these buildings". After 15 years in Brooklyn, NO ONE that we didn't already know ever did such a thing. I had a friend from down south visiting a couple of months back, he lived in Brooklyn in 86, and he remarked how people we would pass while out walking around, would make eye contact, would say or nod hello as you pass and how it was nothing he expected.
I still feel connected to the city here; when we were looking at apartments in Forest Hills Kate's comments were that it felt more like we were on Long Island than in the city.
And I gotta say, I love my apartment.