I can't help but to admire Anthony's entrepreneurial spirit. He's converted a three-bedroom, two-bath apartment into a 5-bedroom living space by closing off both the eat-in area of the kitchen and the living room. This space is the former eat-in area of the kitchen. His side of the business is very well-run - the place is clean (particularly the bathrooms), and he is a good host - friendly, accommodating and easygoing. The place met all my needs - a safe, quiet (for Manhattan), private room, kitchen to prepare food in, clean bathrooms, a very comfortable bed, and a nice view. It reminded me of a classic budget hostel, except without any common space. I bumped into a couple other people throughout my stay and they were very pleasant.

There are a few things worth noting about the place:

* As Anthony himself explained to me when showing me how to slam the refrigerator door so that it would stay closed, the place is not well maintained by the apartment's management. That said, while I was there, the moldy caulk in the bathrooms was replaced with new caulk, and a new toilet was installed, so perhaps the management has decided to mend its ways.

* The laundry facilities downstairs are fantastic. I'd recommend that if you plan to do more than one load, that you spend the $5 for your own card. Anthony was kind enough to lend me his twice, but each time I had to add value to it, and the minimum is $10, so I ended up spending $20 on two loads of laundry.

* Probably due to the distance of my room from the router, the internet connection was slow. Good enough for e-mail, certainly, but I wouldn't recommend it for watching videos.

Personally I also found the area to be a lot more convenient after I signed up for Citibike. Getting to the A in 10-15 minutes on a bike makes it a lot faster to get uptown.