The Hunt, Part VIII (Beyond my Wildest Dreams)...

Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that I would be able to move to New York City and get an apartment in Magic Land. If I had been told back in April, when the first serious plans to move to NYC began to form, I would have never believed it.

On Friday, I signed a lease and got the keys to a 274 square foot rent stabilized fifth floor walk-up studio in what is arguably the most important cultural neighborhood in North America, the West Village. This is significant in more ways than can ever possibly be described here, and to be honest, I am not sure where to begin.

I guess, I can begin by explaining how I got a rent stabilized apartment in one of the most coveted neighborhoods on the planet. After working with Camille, Maria, and Marcus (not their real names) for nearly two weeks, viewing a total of twelve apartments, missing two good ones only by minutes, and waiting six days for an application to never be approved, I decided I needed to branch out and look at other options. On Thursday morning, I expanded my parameters on Craig's List to include apartments as high as $1,700 (from my previous limit of $1,600). I figured, if it was the right place, I would be willing to pay more for it. Suddenly a whole new wealth of listings appeared, many in areas which previously had little to none listed.

It was while doing this new search that I found a rather an ad describing a quaint little rent stabilized studio on Horatio Street in the West Village. The ad went into great detail about the apartment and painted quite a lovely picture. The ad was so wordy, it was a bit intimidating, but my curiosity was peaked and I called. I spoke with the broker who made it clear that this was not a fancy place, and that I should keep an open mind, and that I can see it at 2:00pm.

I arrived in the neighborhood early and walked around in stunned amazement at the idea that I might be able to live in very neighborhood that Jane Jacobs lived in when she wrote "The Death and Life of Great American Cities", the most important book on urban studies ever written. (Its #39 on the National Review's list of the 100 best non-fiction books of the 20th century.)

Sarah (not her real name) arrived on time and lead me up four flights of stairs to an apartment that was tiny, yet amazing. I knew within seconds that at a rent stabilized price of $1,630, I wanted this place, and thus began the application process. As I was filling out the application, Marcus called and said he had a nice studio ($1,740) on W 16th street and 7th Avenue, and could show it at 3:00pm which was about half an hour away. I told him I would be there (still not knowing the situation at this place) and continued to fill out the application. At this point, Sarah called Sylvia (not her real name, but a very fitting one) the landlady and began to read off what I had written on the application. In a surprise twist, it turned out that the rent was actually lower than advertised. The real rent is $1,527 a month (yes, you read that correctly). It was listed with a higher rent to show up in querries over $1,600 on Craig's List. So after a few minutes, Sylvia checked my credit (it's golden), and took down a few more bits of info... She asked if I was straight (I'm not), she likes the gays and told me I would fit right in... and I got the apartment. Sylvia told me to come to their offices in Midtown on Friday morning to sign my lease and pick up my keys.

As for the other guys... (I did meet up with Marcus at 3:00 for that studio on 16th, but I informed him that I had put an application in on another place.) Ultimately, what they were showing me just didn't come close to what I ended up with. That said, I have nothing but good things to say overall about my experience with them. Marcus especially spent a lot of time working with me, he was very professional and I felt fortunate to have such a decent person on my side. (I will gladly give you their real information upon email request.)

So, now to the apartment itself (see pictures below). The building supposedly dates back to the 1880's, and was built with the typical four apartments per floor. The broker said it was a sailors flop house, which given that it close to the Hudson, there may be some truth to that. I did some checking online and found out that there were building permits issued by the city for renovation including electrical, plumbing, and such issued in 1934, which fits perfectly with the interior. My unit is on the top floor (the exercise will be good for me) in the back of the building overlooking the backs and backyards of the buildings on the neighboring street. There is little privacy but being on the top floor, I have tons of light and open sky to compensate for all the windows on the bottom half of my view (see pic above). I have a fire-escape running across the entire back wall which can be a mini terrace. There is a back garden for the residents to use. They keep the garbage cans back there as well so they aren't out front like most Manhattan apartment buildings. Only on trash day will I have garbage out front.

I have a non-working fireplace and lots of built in shelving, a decent sized clothing closet (3'x3', this is New York after all) and a pantry/linen closet. The bathroom is from the 1934 renovation and features the original 19th century skylight (which is fabulous!). The kitchen... Well it is quite petite. The 1934 kitchen is in the little nook and is about 40 inches wide. It contains a sink and a stove. The refrigerator is housed in a peninsula built more recently by a previous tenant (who also built all the shelves and cabinets surrounding the fireplace) along with drawers (another rare find) and more cabinet space. The floors are original 19th century and in pretty good shape (except for the typical rotten flooring around the radiator). There is definitely a tilt to the entire place, but that is to be expected for this old of a space, and it is not unmanageable (unlike the wonky place I saw last Wednesday). There is also a slope to the ceiling, but that is due to the roof being directly above. My biggest challenge is that I left an apartment that was twice the size, and now I have to squeeze myself into one of the smallest spaces I have ever lived in. I am quickly realizing that the only way to make this work is to sell off most of my furniture and scale down. It will take a lot of effort, but I can do it.

I noted at the beginning that the significance of this location cannot be described, I can tell you a few of the things that make it important to me. Proximity is perhaps number one on my list. I am next to everything. I have seven subway lines within a short walk, easy access to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's on 14th Street, restaurants and night-life to die for, easy access to sunset views along the river walk on the Hudson. Neighborhood-wise... I have within a short walking distance (less than one and a half miles) the following areas; (all links open in new window) West Village, Meatpacking District, Greenwich Village, SoHo, Chelsea, Flatiron District, and the East Village. Click on any of these neighborhoods and you can see why this place is so special to me.

When I made the decision to move to New York, I wanted to have an apartment in Manhattan that give me the opportunity to walk out of my front door with my camera and easily access all that is New York City. I was hoping for a place south of Central Park, and kept my eyes on Midtown East because I thought it attainable. Well, I got more than I bargained for and right now I feel like the luckiest person in the world. Thanks for coming along on my adventure, I can't wait to explore the neighborhood photograph it and report on it...

Here are the promised pictures of the new place.

My living-room, bedroom, dining room

Looking back the other direction you can see the kitchen in the little nook behind the counter.

The non-working fireplace.

The kitchen (needs some work).

The 1934 bathroom (also needs some work).

And finally another shot of the main room.

It is a tiny jewel box of a place, but location will always trump space in my book.