“The community I lived in is small and we all know each other, and she really loved the apartment,” Mr. Bloom said of his friend. “I wanted to do the right thing. Plus, it’s nice having her in the building.”
In mid-September, he moved out of the Bushwick apartment, taking only a small amount of clothing, suits, shoes, coats, and several sentimental keepsakes, since he hadn’t accumulated any furniture from his previous rentals. His new lease didn’t start for another two weeks so he stored his belongings in his car and parked at his parent’s home in Williamsburg. Everything else he gave to friends or threw out.
“It was like starting over. I was shedding my old self. I wanted to take as little as possible from my old life,” he said.
Being without a home for two weeks, Mr. Bloom decided to travel to Israel and Jordan, and upon his return, moved into his new loft the first week of October. He quickly settled into a neighborhood that offered lots of parking spaces and an Equinox gym only five minutes away.
Mr. Bloom rattled off a list of additional local conveniences, including: a Walgreens; a gas station complete with a mechanic and a carwash; a barbershop; local bars; and perhaps most appreciated, an array of cuisines he hadn’t experienced: Indian, Argentine, and Mexican among them. “I’d never had tacos before,” he said. “There’s even a kosher restaurant and delis that stay open late.”
When he moved in, Mr. Bloom bought a number of essentials: a bed, a mattress, a desk, lamps, two TVs, a dresser, a couch and a table and chairs, all of which have helped to make the apartment a home. Still, it’s a slow process. Floating shelves sit next to an uncompleted bar area, and the second bedroom remains temporarily unfurnished.
Alix Strauss
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