I used this as a writing retreat and it was perfect for that. The apartment is a large studio apartment with a decent kitchen, and since I spent a LOT of time indoors in it, and cooked all my own meals rather than going out or having food delivered, the comfort of the apt. was important to me. Yes, there is noise (the family lives not only upstairs but on the other side of a couple of locked doors) but it was never the kind of noise that bothered me (little kid noise, people talking, footfalls) and in fact, since I was a woman staying there alone, I found the audible presence of others nearby sort of reassuring. (If you are someone who needs silence, this is not for you.) It's also a bit farther from the beach than I thought (several blocks, a 10-12 minute walk) but I got used to that quickly and went to the beach every day after I knocked off work--and actually enjoyed the little bit of exercise (but unless you have a car, which I didn't, it's not a back-and-forth to the beach multiple times a day situation). All in all, I was pleased with my stay, got a ton of work done, enjoyed the cute back porch (where I had breakfast most days before it got too hot out), and got into the rhythm of my daily walk through city streets to Bay 84 (which is a fantastic piece of NY beach, by the way).