Living in a meatpacking district
The OP lived on 14th Street in 1997, which was famous for meat processing. We couldn’t imagine what it’d be like to live within smelling distance of a processing plant that left meat to rot. On top of that, there were dangerous entertainment spots for dangerous folks, but they didn’t bother anybody who wasn’t asking for trouble.
And to make matters even worse, this guy was living in a super-tiny apartment four stories up! He was only paying $750 for his shoebox-sized apartment. What do you say about that? This guy had nothing but good things to say about his former apartment.