Yup, Bed-Sty was thought of as the epitome of the dangerous ghetto, with Bushwick close behind. That started to change probably around the late 90s but more in the early 00s, then young upwardly mobile white couples realized they could find great deals on old brownstones in Bed-Sty, and the rest is history. Still think it's gonna be a long time until places like Brownsville or East New York change much, despite what real estate developers might say.
An interesting factors is Manhattan doesn't have the allure it used. There's not a ton of stuff there that interests young people compared to the past, so living further east might not matter the same way it did in the 80s/90s/00s. Manhattan was where all the clubs and cool bars were, and if you couldn't afford to live there, you wanted to be as close as possible. Bands didn't play in Brooklyn. Once all the interesting clubs and bars got priced out of Manhattan, there became less reason for young people to go there.
