The apartment is the second floor of a secure, no-frills, four-story, 19th-century walkup -- no frills meaning no laundry but there's a good laundromat a few doors away. There is a super but not on site. It is best for a single person but also fine for a couple.

The apartment is fully and pragmatically furnished. It has double-paned windows front and back to keep it quiet and bring in daylight. The layout is a U-shaped railroad, though I turned the bedroom into a home office, so the living room is basically a bed-sit with a queen bed and living area with streamingTV, audio speakers, and a lot of books. Wifi reaches every room.

The eat-in kitchen is all-electric but it's large and well-equipped (though no dishwasher). Appliances include a microwave, big fridge, milk frother, electric kettle, induction hotplate, stove, and a toaster. The full bathroom has vanity and full-length mirrors. A middle, alcove-like room - i.e. the only room without a window - has a studio bed suitable for an overnight guest or a child, but it’s also where the closets are, so it functions as a dressing room, has a sturdy, garment center clothing rack for use by renter and, like every other room, has plenty of books.

The neighborhood is a residential-commercial mix in what I call lower Hell's Kitchen, though it seems to have been renamed Hudson Yards, even though technically it’s neither. It is near all public transportation, including the Port Authority Bus Terminal and Penn Station, about a 10-15 minute walk to Chelsea, Bryant Park or Hudson Yards, 25 to MoMA or Columbus Circle, five minutes to theater district. Not a pretty location, but a useful one.

It offers several options for groceries of all sorts, including a good 24-hour deli downstairs and a small, independent market that stays open to 10 pm, a wholesale fish market, a nearby butcher, a Brooklyn Fare supermarket, a Key Foods, Whole Foods, and another independent market a block away, where the core business is meats. Plenty of restaurants and take-out places all around.

About This Lister

I'm a writer who works mainly in this apartment, where I've been renting for ten years. I keep it tidy. I have a lot of books and files, but I will clear as many drawers and surfaces as I can.