I finally figured out why its named Castle Apartments. Its like living in a castle, cold, dirty and noisy!
This building was design by Bernard Maybeck, same guy that designed Palace of fine arts. He was known for bringing lots of light into his buildings so each apartments have lots of windows. Great? Awful. First of all its designed so that you are actually not looking over the city, you are looking straight into your neighbours apartment! Privacy goodbye! This building is built in the 20s so it got single pane windows. Its unbelievable that the management havnt changed the windows, I guess they are cheap. Single pane windows on GEARY leads to two things: Incredible noisy from everything ( homeless crazies, bars, the 38 bus, firetrucks, dogs, car-alarms) and dirt (lots of black dust/grease crawls into your apartment like a monster in horror b-movie). It doesnt matter how often you clean, the apartment will be filled with the black matter in a day or two.
The walls are paper-thin so youll hear all the things your neighbours are doing, vacuuming, talking, having sex, playing music, picking their noses. Especially great for me since it seems like I am living next to a female prostitute that have parties 24/7. I hear a bass-drum ringing in my ears even though I am at work.
Some of the apartments have carpets, some got hardwood floor. I think all of them got fireplaces, which is one of the reason I liked the place. The thing is that they didnt tell me it actually dont work. I figured that out when trying to light it, it ended up with a apartment filled with smoke. I got an inspector to check it out and he told me that the fireplace havnt worked in atleast 40 years or so, maybe not ever. Great.
The plumping in the building seems to be a joke. Like to enjoy your morning shower? Forget about it. The water pressure is non-existent. When you finally managed to tune the temperature someone flushes the toilet somewhere in the building and you end up scolded. Nice if you like that redskin look. Its always either fucking hot or ice cold. Not too mention the sewage backup you get now and then. You get up in the morning and find grease, fish and hair in your batthub.
The apartments have pretty fancy ceiling fans installed, you can set the temperature and brightness of the lamps. Nice, but only in the summer. The place gets FRIGGIN cold during the winter. The two tiny heaters only works for a couple of hours in the morning and in the evening, not enough time to heat and maintain the temperature during the day and night. Be prepared to buy electrical heaters or put on some protective fat (I heard McDonalds is good for that). I cant be in the living room during the winter unless I wear winter clothes. Seriously. I wish they kept the heater running 24/7 and if the apartments had double pane windows it would keep the heat in and cold out, but no.
So. Ready to move in? There ARE nice things about the building.
Garbage shute in the kitchen, sweet, I am lazy.
Washer and dryer in building. They do raise the price every 6 months though.
High ceiling. I guess it feels airy.
Square footage. Big apartments for the prize. Crappy layout though.
Nice management. Friendly and caring (atleast it seems like it).
Great maintenance. The maintenance guys are very friendly and helpful.
Location. Well, it is the tenderloin. You have to fight your way through crazies and prostitutes but it is close to bars, restaurants, shopping and public transportation.
Month to month lease. Yes, you can get the hell out of there quickly if needed.
Security. Two locked doors to enter the building, cameras and suspicious tenants keeps most bums out.
The lobby. The lobby looks cool, its superclean and gets funky xmas decorations. And its a lot warmer than the actual apartments. read more