In March 2009 I was on a business trip to New York City, when I took my first detour to Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
For the past 5 months, I had been living in Los Angeles, and I was planning on moving to New York City in May 2009 to open up the east coast office of a technology company.
I was excited about moving to Manhattan, but as soon as I arrived, I realized that searching for an apartment while living in LA, was not going to be easy. I was told that I would need all my paperwork in order, pre-written cheques and references. Not only that, but I would probably need to be up at the crack of dawn to compete for apartment rentals. Um okay. Can’t I just find something online? Yeah right, New York doesn’t work that way. It’s who you know, or who knows the landlord if you want to get a good deal, otherwise, you’ll be paying either one month’s rent or a 15% broker fee on your annual rent for someone to find you a place.
Luckily, I just happened to have a work colleague that introduced me to someone from New York who knew a girl that was looking to sublet her apartment.
The catch was, if I wanted to look at it, I had to act fast. She wanted someone to move in for April, but I wasn’t going to be moving until May. I knew I had to take the chance to win her over, otherwise, I’d be stressing out trying to find a place from the other side of the country.
I had a two hour window between work meetings so I hopped on the L Train to Brooklyn and I got off at the Lorimer stop.
After a five minute walk I saw the huge gas station, which was the landmark I had written down for directions. The apartment was literally across the street. 
I entered into the smallest apartment I’d ever seen in my entire life. One that I would have to share with someone I didn’t even know. We spent an hour getting to know each other and I took out my cheque book and made the decision to stay in this apartment as my starting point. I hadn’t looked anywhere else, but I wanted to secure the place, so I could relax during the rest of my New York stay. We made a deal for me to sublet from May until October or until her lease was up. I figured I’d move into Manhattan after that. Little did I know, that I would make my home in Williamsburg, Brooklyn for the next two years. Eventually I moved to the East Village, where I stayed for a year, but not before I fell in love with Brooklyn.
Below are photos I took as I wandered through my neighbourhood. I love the artsy, multicultural, gritty vibe of Williamsburg. Living there was an experience I’ll never forget.
Love,
Meg
