John was a gracious and accommodating host. I got to his apartment two hours late due to a messed up flight and an unplanned closure on my intended subway line, and he texted with me to help me figure out an alternative arrival strategy and then stayed up to welcome me in person. He even made me a midnight snack of toast from a loaf he'd baked himself (which was phenomenally good). The place looked to have been professionally cleaned that day. The sheets and towels in my room were good quality and seemed brand new--great colors and textures. John had to be at work when I left, but he made arrangements to drop the keys at the sweet little cafe down the block so coming and going was easy as pie. The food at the cafe (Taszo) was delicious and not too expensive and there was excellent thin crust pizza about 2 blocks away (Antika I think?).
The place itself is a friendly refuge in Manhattan--I liked the twenty foot ceilings, the big table for eating and drawing and hanging out, and the meticulously clean and well-appointed kitchen. The bathroom was hygienic too. I don't usually sleep well when I travel so I especially appreciated the very comfortable bed and the peacefulness. You can hear a lot of birds and not a lot of street noise. Plus the place is really really pretty! Lots of color, lots of art, a lighthearted fun vibe. The living room has a disco ball, also a wall projector and big speakers for watching movies or listening to music. My little room had a wall painted a dull metallic gold and hot pink curtains, so it glowed softly in the morning--which made it much easier to get up. (Plus the bed was silver, with blue sheets. More color, more pretty.) Also, even though it's further uptown than I've stayed before, it is within a couple of blocks of 2 subway lines (the 1 and the C) and several busses, so it was totally fine.