Sounds like there’s more to living above a restaurant than the occasional funny smells. In fact, Bill Grimes presents a wide range of scenarios in the Times: One day you have your floorboards warmed and nostrils tickled by the all-hours bread-baking below (good!), then the next you’re playing unwilling host to a refugee camp’s share of mice (bad!). Living where Petrossian sits, at the corner of 58th and Seventh, means you get both a neighborly discount and caviar hors d’oeuvres at the building’s annual holiday party. Having Gramercy Tavern under your feet means you’re set for both pregaming and nightcaps. And living in Curry Hill means it’s always easy to catch a cab! It’s not always all guns and roses, however: Grimes quotes a guy who lived above a Stone Street bar that had a faulty boiler. It ended up blowing up his apartment. “I got home to find a Red Cross notice on the front door informing me that I had been the victim of a disaster,” he says, “and that shelter was being arranged for me at the Harlem Y.M.C.A..” [NYT]
