The Normandy Apartments

The manager made a hard time on me with the deposit.
I still have about one month rent deposit there, which I could not get it back since everytime they have various reason to refuse me.
Updated: they gave me back the deposit

Oh memories. My very first «Big Girl» apartment in the big bad city of San Francisco. I have mixed feelings about this place — mixed because while I loved living here there were a few downsides.
PRO’s
— Location: Central to everything! Right between Japantown and Hayes Valley, walking distance to the Fillmore, the 38, 49, 47, 19, 21, and 5 buslines within close walking distance.
— Parking: A COVERED parking garage underneath the building is available for an additional $ 175 a month. Muy importante for a girl from the burbs who commutes to the Peninsula.
— Studio size and layout: Great layout and amount of space for one person. Rather than it being one big square, it was more of an L-​shape with a «sleeping alcove» so it felt like the sleeping space was separate from the living space.
— Closet space: Huge amounts of closet space. You walk in and on the right-​side of the entry hallway is long closet space. Just off of the sleeping alcove, there are two additional smaller closets leading to the bathroom (a la Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment) one with shelves, one with a hanging rod. Ironically, I am the one girl in SF who doesn’t have a shit ton of clothes, and so ample was my closet space that I actually stuck my dresser into one side of the closet space so I’d have more living space, and STILL had plenty of room to store stuff. It was ridiculous. Ridiculously awesome. And I was the envy of many friends.
— Balcony: I had a huge balcony on the first floor of the south side of the building. Which means I got lots of natural light and had a huge outdoor space nearly the size of the studio for entertaining. Not that I ever did, but just imagine the bbq’s I could have had… you know… had I actually gotten around to bringing out my bbq from the East Bay… and got patio furniture… And apparently other units had stove-​pipe fireplaces. Cool!
— Maintenance staff: So nice, so responsive, so awesome! Patrick you’re the best and I shall always remember you fondly!
CON’s
— Location: While very convenient to everything, sometimes it was a little dicey considering how close it is the the TL and Section 8 housing and sometimes there would be questionable folk walking through the hood. Though you’d never know this by looking at it.
— Thin walls: You hear EVERYTHING. And I cannot tell you the number of times I got to hear my upstairs neighbor having a Gaga dance party. Or next door neighbor couple arguing. Which inspired this passive-​aggressive rant:
— 6 Washers and 6 Dryers — for about 100 units.
— Management: James is an old-​school hard ass. And the office is ONLY open from 9 — 5, Monday through Friday.
— Colorful neighbors: There are some interesting and wide variety of characters that live here. Young professionals (like moi). Senior citizens. Alcoholics. Stoner teachers. Families (yes, FAMILIES. IN STUDIO APARTMENTS). Drug dealers and hookers. I am not shitting you about that last part, and I only found that information out on my last night there.
— $$$: I paid $ 1300 a month for my studio and parking spot. This is a pretty good deal for SF, especially when you consider the size and layout of the studio, and factor in the covered parking in the same building. But it’s still $ 1300 and for what I made at the time, it nearly broke the bank. You can find a better deal elsewhere, if you look hard enough, cross your fingers, pray to the gods of Apartment Real Estate, and the sun, moon and stars are aligned. But I swear, it DOES happen on occasion.
BONUS: Being able to tell people I lived across the street from a House of God (that would be St. Mary’s). Mirth would ensue shortly afterward. That is, until the crowds of Sacred Heart children and their damn parents would clog up the street and make me late to work in the morning.