Tuesday, May 27, 2008

First Posting - New to Blogging

Hello

I wanted to submit this posting because I actually live at 132 N 5. I write this in order to facilitate the possibility of us “All Just Getting Along”. I saw a sign that asked the question "Why can't we all just get along" hung in our stairwell after a series of other signs leading up to that one.


About DJ’s and Subwoofers and or heavy base in general on the roof:

If you live on the 4th floor – it is genuinely excruciating. All you get is the base and a lot of it. I have tried pillows over my head, earplugs, pillows and earplugs,. No luck. I have even tried the Bose QuietComfort® 2 Acoustic Noise Cancelling® headphones to no avail. But For the love of god - the pounding, pounding, pounding in my skull. I am begging for mercy on this one. You could have 400 hundred people on the roof – nothing. However, one person with a DJ or subwoofer – holy fucking shit. You can’t even watch T.V. during the day. I think the roof becomes an extension of the actual speaker cone. Also, It matters very little where you set up the system the above remains to be true.

About jamming the front door open for a party:

This is why I think it’s a bad idea. I recently applied for renters insurance for my apartment here at 132 N 5th St.. This building has a very high “hit” rate. Meaning there has been a lot of burglaries here, one less than two months ago actually. Why not? – the door is wide open. If you don’t believe me, apply for renters insurance yourself. It’s all fun and games until you come home and your shit is missing. Also, you haven’t lived until some nasty sweaty drunken person, comes into your apartment unannounced and uninvited looking for a bathroom – only because you forgot to lock the apartment door. Not to mention the people that just try to open your locked door at all hours which is very creepy on its own. So, I am of the school that if you are having a party you are responsible for knowing who your guests are and you should at the very least know who you are letting into the building. It’s so fucking easy, you could let someone into this building from Beijing with your cell phone.


About the garbage, spilled beer, puke, and or feces (dog & other) on the roof and in the hall:

I seriously don’t believe I have to write this, but I will. It’s just not cool. If it’s your party you have to know it’s your responsibility to clean it up after it as quickly as possible. And if you have a big building party you have to know that the roof is going to be trashed. Going up to the roof on Saturday and or Sunday late morning and finding a dump is really disheartening and the longer it lingers the more disheartening it becomes. This seems to be a relatively new issue. But I have to say with complete sincerity - C'mon, no really, C'mon.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great first post. I've lived in the building for 2 years now, and it has recently gotten a lot worse. Parties are great, but the people have gotten more and more disrespectful (case in point the 3rd floor shitty marker graffiti and idiots banging on the hall walls when drunk at 4am). These fucking idiots are going to get our roof privileges revoked and then we'll all be stuck with a great roof that we cant use.

Anonymous said...

I also have lived here for 2 years and definitely agree with the clean up after your parties. The broken glass is what really gets me upset mainly because half the people in the building have dogs.

The front door thing is definitely a problem. It should not be open or even held open for people you don't know. If they live there then they have a key. If they know someone then they also should know their buzzer number. A few days ago I seen some guy who looked like he got the shit beaten out of him all bloody and black and blue in the face. All I could think is that dude probably didn't even live there.

On the other hand if you "can really appreciate a good party" then why would you move under one of the biggest roofs in the center of one of the more "party neighborhoods" in New York? Doesn't make much sense for someone that lived on an "Ashram for 5 years"?

Now drinking and getting laid are definitely part of the party but come on what is a party without music and dancing? I would rather have a problem with music then have people who are "drugging" running around my building or who knows what else. I'm pretty sure none of us bite (maybe unless we are drugging) but you can always ask to turn the music down... especially before you call the police.

Maybe we can do a building only party thing instead of everyone having random assholes show up that disrespect our great dusty building. I'm very happy Mr. Bard you started this blog and am sure a lot of people have a lot of things to say.

Anonymous said...

Concerning:

“On the other hand if you "can really appreciate a good party" then why would you move under one of the biggest roofs in the center of one of the more "party neighborhoods" in New York? Doesn't make much sense for someone that lived on an "Ashram for 5 years"?”

Great question!

Ashram living aside (I certainly wasn’t expecting that kind of life here on any level) - As hard is this is to believe I was horribly ignorant to the extent of “party aspect” of the building. It was so close to the “L” train and what a great roof! Also, my first year here was so very amazing and doable. I am always meeting very cool people. Also, Music and dancing and big parties are great! It’s the base man it’s the base.

Anonymous said...

As silly as blogs are, this is actually a really good idea. As being one of the residents that live under the "allowed" part of the roof, I can safely say it is very loud. But it's not just the parties that are loud... one time after many thuds and pounding noises overhead I went up to discover two girls doing some sort of dance/cheerleading/workout routine.
I mean maybe people don't realize how loud they are but come on... don't do your dance routine on the roof. You know that's gotta be loud.

I don't think a building party is such a bad idea. I'll even co-organize it. It might be corny, but hopefully it will help facilitate us all getting along and respecting our neighbors more.

And also, the walls in the hall are getting a bit out of control, maybe we can get all the artists together to make a nice stairway mural or something. Just a thought.

Peace.

Unknown said...

As an audio engineer I understand well that bass sometimes amplifies through walls depending on speaker placement, reflections and what material the PA is around.

Thats why I think this blog is a good idea. If someone is going to have a party it should be announced. If there will be music then we can work with our neighbors with placement of speakers to where everyone is happy. The last time I was part of a party on the roof the cops were called (at 12 am!) and my friend (fellow neighbor) and I now have 2 ridiculous summons we have to go to court for.

That said I won't be doing anything with music on the roof anytime soon but I work my dick off all week and most weekends too and enjoy some bass in my life for a couple of nights out of the summer. So for next time maybe we can set up early and test out the sound before and adjust to keep everyone happy. =)

Unknown said...

I think the wall painting is a great idea. Probably wouldn't hurt to ask if Moses or Abe would fund it.

But yeah I think it would be good to have a little bbq/party for the 132 community. I know there's a lot who won't be involved since they are too cool to say a simple friendly hello back to a fellow neighbor.

Maybe we can all wear name tags with names and apartment numbers.

Kidding

Anonymous said...

i'm really glad people are talking about this. i'm new to the building and love the energy and excitement of living so close to all the action.

i helped throw the party on the roof a month ago, but when the cops came, cody and i were the only ones who talked to the police. even though there were 3 other apartments involved in having people out. i got two tickets and a court date.

if anyone in the building has a problem with the noise, please come and say hi and we'll turn it down. we're good people and would like to have fun without paying $$$ to be on a roof at a bar in the city, or cause problems and having to hire lawyers to take care of tickets.

as far as the mess, i've personally been in the hallway after every one of our parties sweeping up the next day.

unfortunately, it is easy to get into the building. this is a problem we can work together to solve, just knowing your neighbors and who belongs and who doesn't will go a long way. my roommate had his laptop stolen out of his room over the weekend. Not a fun feeling. and we've had random people knock on our door at all hours of the night.

thanks again for putting up this blog! let's have fun together!

- eric

Anonymous said...

and i'm down for having a building party/meet and greet. and would be down to help paint the hallways that are covered in the shitty green marker. we could get an artist to do a mural easy.

Anonymous said...

my apartment is probably the main one under the "allowed" part of the roof, and i must say, it can get fucking loud.

especially when people jump.

i'm all for parties (in fact i managed to make it to the party on the 2nd floor on friday night randomly), but there's somethign to be said for respect. there were people yelling and screaming at each other at 5am. there were people SO LOUD in the hallway as if no one could possibly have been sleeping at 4am. you can have a party and still be respectful.

i even tried to look for the people living in the 2nd floor apt to say hi, but to no avail.

so if you're going to have a party, please keep it in check.

and please also use the OTHER bigger part of the roof for parties so we don't die from all the loud thumping.

Anonymous said...

Love the idea of this blog.
Which apartment are you in?
I need to buy you a beer or a bottle of wine.

I've lived on the 4th floor of 132 for well over 3 years and have to say, things have changed quite a bit since I first arrived.
Things seem to be getting more way out of hand with the roof situation. I hardly even go up there anymore because it's like a big, filthy ashtray and smells disgusting on a hot day because of the half-filled bottles of beer that are left behind by irresponsible partiers (don't even get my started on the dog shit...it's appalling that people feel that it's okay to let their dog shit on the roof and then leave it up to someone else to clean that crap up).

In response to the person who made this comment:

"On the other hand if you 'can really appreciate a good party' then why would you move under one of the biggest roofs in the center of one of the more 'party neighborhoods' in New York? Doesn't make much sense for someone that lived on an 'Ashram for 5 years'?"

Not all people move into 132 to party. It's our home...not a freaking club or a bar.

For the most part, the 4th floor is VERY patient when it comes to parties. However, there's a point where we feel as if our neighbors are disrespectful to us by running, jumping and having djs up there past a certain time.
It's just common courtesy to stop the music and control your guests once it hits midnight. Enjoy the roof...go ahead but be considerate to your neighbors as well.

For those of you who don't live on the fourth floor, I invite you to come over when there's a dj party on the roof. And fyi...the roof is really thin so even if you're just lightly walking across the roof, we hear it as loud stomping. I kid you not. That can't be helped but it should give you an idea of what it's like when there's a dj up there.
It's true torture when you're trying to sleep, watch tv, read, write or what have you. Some of us work our asses off during the week and look forward to relaxing on the weekends in our own homes.

Whoever said upthread that we should use this a place to announce parties, I owe you a beer too. I think that's a great idea. In the past, we used to put up signs a few days in advance if we were bringing dj's up to the roof. This gave other tenants enough time to go elsewhere if they didn't want to be inundated by the beat beat beat of the bass bass bass all day/night long.

Also...if anyone on the 4th floor is with me, let's paint the walls. They're fucking ugly.

Anonymous said...

Yes! PLEASE be reasonable no matter where you are. I've been at 132 for 4+ years and live on the 4th floor under that OTHER part of the roof. We endured the rocketfire puppy runs, falling ceiling paint and pipes, and living room floods due to big parties' beer bottles and butts clogging the drains for 3 years before the wire went up. Big messes will absolutely get the roof locked forever and almost did earlier this year - that was when the left roof door was removed and the right door installed. The front door is locked for a reason! Expect buzzers-in to get worse for a couple of months after the July 4th party when lots of strangers are allowed on our roof and try to return for picnics. NY City still gives rewards for graffiti busters. It's one thing to take your time and improve on what we have; it's quite another to write your name in green Sharpie with a line down the hallway Harold and the Purple Crayon style.
For those of us who have had to talk to the cops numerous times after our neighbors' apartments are broken into, it always helps to be friends when they come to the door at 4 am for information.
I'm all for the buy-a-beer spirit on here, and I'm totally into nametags. Cheers.

Anonymous said...

party on the 4th floor! JK.

i would like to stop by and see how bad the sound is. i wanted to use the roof for our last party, but knew it would only piss people off and that's not what i'm trying to do.

i had the party on the 4th floor, and did my best to keep the music quieter than our first party and keep people inside i kept the door closed. I went out side a few times and noticed the sound wasn't too bad when the door was shut and I couldn't hear it from the street. we actually taped off our windows at first to keep people from the street from seeing we were having a party. And to keep randoms from wandering in.

i want to have a lot of fun, but be respectful at the same time. i'm all for putting in work to make the place nicer and clean up after ourselves. i've noticed that on the weekends the roof gets trashed anyway. i think some people assumed it was us since we had a party on the 2nd floor, but it came from several sources. i swept the hallway and stairs on Sunday, but by Monday there was more trash everywhere.

and yea, this blog is a great idea. our first party i went door to door telling everyone on my side of the building we were having a party and they were invited, and told people if it was too loud to just tell us to shut up. sadly only two people answered their door.

-eric

Unknown said...

sorry i meant 2nd floor

OllieDevine said...

I wonder about how noise travels in our building because I have a grand piano and play it during the day (starting to give some lessons in the afternoons too) I can't imagine it affecting anyone beyond the people above and below but then again I just don't know. I haven't gotten any complaints so I suppose they dig Beethoven's late Sonata's, Glass inspired post rock and shoddy jazz meandering.

I've yet to see a proper "rager" up top, but then again I just moved in summer's barely begun. cheers on the blog from Oliver in 3F.

Anonymous said...

as i mentioned, i'm under the "allowed" part of the roof, and we just did a test with jumping on the roof the other day. needless to say, it sounds like the sky is falling down.

feel free to stop by 4i if you'd like to hear for yourself.

and yeah, great idea about the blog. nice to meet other cool people in the building, if only via comments!

Anonymous said...

As much as I will miss the passive aggressive note-writing in the stairwells, I agree that this blog is a fantastic idea. I'm all for a building party. Would love to meet the many faces of 132.

mihir kelkar said...

my name is mihir kelkar and i live in 2d. i'm pretty happy to see that we've got a blog now. i love blogs. i am the person that wrote the "why can't we all just get along?" sign with a shitty pen i got from that scion test drive outside the other day and its good to see that we've taken a step forward to ensure a more harmonious living environment.

i just moved in with a few other friends not too long ago and i've had the pleasure of meeting a few of you. needless to say, we're all reasonably nice people so i have no doubt we'll work it out and have a good time too.

i look forward to keeping up and posting here. looks good,

Anonymous said...

My name is Nina, one of the "few other friends" living with Mihir in 2D. We recently moved in and everyone seems really chill and friendly. With that said, we'd like to announce (and invite you to) the party we're throwing on Saturday night (May 31). So if you live in the building and want to come - stop by or find us online and introduce yourself before Saturday night. If we've already met you, definitely come to the party. It's BYOB since you live here, of course.

We know there are a lot of concerns about the noise and aftermath of parties, but we've only invited friends and plan on enforcing strict "clean up after yourself" policies. (Does anyone happen to have a large trash can we can borrow?) If at any point, the music gets too loud or people get too obnoxious, please stop by and let us know.

I don't know that I've ever heard of a building blog before, but I like the idea of it. As for the building party, I'll meet you all there :)

Anonymous said...

For Oliver - Glad to know where the music is coming from! You actually replaced another musician from last year (maybe more than a year) whose music wasn't as pleasant. It doesn't bother your up-door neighbors so far, but I definitely wondered about the source! :)