My First Apartment 2001 | Where I Wrote My First Novel, and the BEST Diner in Brooklyn

In today's outdoor vlog we take a trip back in time to 2001, and a formerly (once upon a time predominantly) Italian-American neighborhood known as Bensonhurst. And...MY FIRST APARTMENT. Where I only paid $650.00 per month rent. Nowadays, in New York City, rents are $3000.00 and up. You can't get $650 dollar per month pads furnished anymore. I had moved away from home back in 2000-2001. My first apartment was humongous. I had a computer-writing area, a giant eat-in kitchen, a gym, tables and couches, cable TV, PS2 console with collection of games and VHS tapes, all in a sizable basement pad. It's also where I penned my first full-length novel, aptly named ESPIONAGE FIRST. In the same area, was a twenty-four hour per day diner -- an INSTITUTION to old school Brooklyn, and neighborhood Italians, with some of the best food! -- called the DEL RIO Diner. They were forced into closure because New York State raised the minimum wage for food servers too high. The owner couldn't pay everybody a $15.00 hourly salary AND pay for food deliveries and the property tax. Sadly, this same scenario happened to most historical diners in NYC when the minimum wage for food servers went up. I think it's $20.00 per hour now. Here is the article on Del Rio Diner shutting its doors after more than 40 years: https://bklyner.com/everyone-has-a-del-rio-story-the-iconic-neighborhood-diner-says-farewell-bensonhurst/Show more

This right here is history of just one old school neighborhood in Brooklyn NY, where I once lived, and how so much has changed in the course of twenty-four years.