Moving Downtown!

See ya later, Harlem. It's been... er... Harlemish.

I am finally moving downtown to a new apartment. I found an ad for a room that is available July 1st in Chelsea, three blocks from where I work. Naturally, I checked it out. The room is on the third floor of a walk-up building (goodbye elevator) that was built around 1910. The building is a 6 story townhouse that someone in their infinite wisdom decided to paint canary yellow with baby blue trim. As I was walking to go see the place I saw it from a distance and thought, "Aw crap, it's going to be that one, isn't it?" I know my luck. It's a nice building though; well maintaned and clean.

The apartment is actually two apartments combined together. When you enter on the first floor (on 3rd) you walk into a kitchen. There's a bedroom on the right, and mine is on the left. There is a spiral staircase in the corner of the kitchen that leads upstairs (4th floor) where there is an open space with a second entrance to the building's hallway on the 4th floor. The third bedroom is on one side of that upstairs space, and a big full bathroom on the other. My room is by far the smallest at about 7' by 12' and doesn't get much for natural light. I'm ok with it since it's about the same size as my room up in Harlem which also got little light. This new room, though, has a small 1/2 bath tacked on the end of it that will just be mine. Score! Regretably, I forgot to take any photos of the apartment itself, but I did take some of the building later.

Looking from the front door down the hallway to the stairs:

Looking from the stairs back toward the front door:

The view South from the rooftop. I can't wait to go up there at night!

The neighborhood is awesome, basically the area I would pick if I had a choice. The modeling agency is in Chelsea (26th St. & 11th Ave.), as is my office, on 7th ave and 19th street. The apartment? Three blocks South on 16th street between 7th and 8th. I will be able to just walk down the street to my office, walk home for lunch (save $$) and after work, walk home to pick up my gym clothes. I have been carrying a heavy gym bag with me to work since I switched gyms back in February. I can't tell you how excited I am to not have to drag that with me all the time. The walk takes me about 4 minutes. I timed it. To get from my place in Harlem to my office requires about a 40 minute commute with two different trains. I'd call that a good change!

Just in terms of neighborhood environment, take this as the comparison: Harlem- litter on the sidewalks, occasionally heckled for being white, occasional gunshots, no good places to eat/hang out really. Chelsea- tree-lined street with townhouses and rowhouses, banks, restaurants, nightlife, art galleries, parks in walking distance. Here's a photo of 16th street, the street I'll be living on.

From the corner of 16th, here's a shot down 7th Avenue. My office is in the tan building in the middle. My current apartment? Oh, about 113 blocks in that direction.Speaking of my office, here's a shot of the building

And the storefront

And my desk. I'm on the end of the row, under the whiteboard on the right.

So, there you have it. The big news. More photos once I start moving. I promise!