I had to live in NYC for a couple of years for business reasons. I am from Singapore and knew of another Singaporean (older woman) who lived there (in the 1960s) and raved about it. She told me of the great times she had there. She showed pictures of beautiful mirrored lobbies, lovely pools, and told me about the great shopping just near by, and the fantastic neighbors she had; high class European immigrants, Japanese expatriate families, etc. So I decided "why not?" and thought it would be the place for me, and rented there, despite being disappointed when I first saw the place. (Hint: NEVER go against your gut instinct.)
Well, it MAY have been great in the 60s but it was a real slum-de-la-slum when I lived there. I can never forget it, not even after having come back to Singapore a year ago. In fact, I am still trying to get over the trauma I had from that place. Ai-yo!!!
First off, many of the families there were on government assistance, and their children were largely unkept, loud, unruly, and often dangerous. There was this constant smell of urine (some say animal urine but I think that of humans) everywhere to the point where I got so used to it that going to work meant my getting "used to" fresh air. Many of my "high class" neighbors were hoodlums, drug addicts and the ony thing Japanese must have been the beetles infecting the shrubery outside.
Needless-to-say, I had problems with the plumbing, toilets, electric, etc. Management never did anything to help. The outside neighborhood was just as bad. Hard to believe that there was a slum right in the midst of such an affluent part of Queens.
I did have the luxury of having free "pets" like the mice, rats, roaches, flies, spiders and other cuddly fellows that made my pantry their home. And no matter how tightly I packed my food, they found their way in! (It is a good thing I don't eat yellow rice!) Of course management did nothing, and so I was stuck with these guests in my home until I left.
Crime was everywhere. Horrible things happened, most of which did not get into the news. Most people get the blues about going to work. I had the blues when it was time to go home! It was so bad I refused to have friends over, even friends from Singapore that needed a place to stay as I did not want to lure them into that death trap.
As many posters have written, the Lefrak web page pics are lies. My cabinets were from the 1960s when they first put that place up. The studio was over $1,000 which is NOT a bargain for a tenament, and the depression I had to suffer made it all that much worse. Yes, I should have moved but was on a company budget and did not plan to stay more than then 3 years I was transferred by my bank. I really thought that I would "rough it out" but that was a mistake.
While we have poor areas in Singapore, NOTHING and I mean NOTHING comes near to the deprivation, filth, disgust and horror I had when in Lefrak City. No, it is not a matter of what building you live in here, as all the buildings are part of the Lefrak prison and once you are in, you are stuck. Stay far away!
All-in-all, it was a blessing to get out of there and come back to a civilized country like Singapore. Never again, is all I can say. Please do NOT, I repeat do NOT move here unless you have to. So bad it was that before leaving to return back to Singapore I discarded nearly all my household things and most of my clothes, from the fear that insects would have found their way into them. I was a fool to rent there and if I had known of this site at that time I would never have done so after having read these reviews. read more