Brinton's apartment is great, it has all you need for your stay, its warm, cosy, beautifully furnished and has amazing natural light. There's also cable and a great surround-sound (perfect for those nights you just want to order in and chill) It was my first time visiting New York, I was a little nervous about not being more centrally located, but the city is a (very) loud place and we were thankful for the quiet after a day of being tourists or nights out. The area, at first, is a little intimidating, but we never had any trouble or any actual reasons to be worried. After a couple days we realised looks can be a little deceiving, and we were happy going out and exploring the area.
The street has a massive CVS, starbucks and a few take-outs, all surprisingly close (3-4 minutes walking) not to mention the amazing diner downstairs. The subway station is practically on your door step, serving the 2 and 3 trains, so getting down town and back was a breeze once we figured out the subway. We didn't actually meet Brinton, but he was always on hand and happy to answer our questions via email, and always replied straight away. I couldn't be happier with my stay here, and I can't recommend the apartment enough!