In 2020 during the summer I was feeling pretty depressed due to obviously Covid but also my father dying and a lot of riots were happening nearby. I was generally not in a good place and wanted a change to get out of the rut I was in.

I decided to move into an apartment exactly like this but near the beach. When I say near I mean I could see the ocean from my window. It was exactly this size and configuration. It cost $900 a month back then.

The problem wasn’t as much the size as the people you live with. It attracts either young adults who want to party or older people with big life problems, like addiction, divorce, mental health issues.

The place I lived was an old wooden building so it was very easy to hear my neighbors. I didn’t sleep well the entire time I lived there…

The communal bathroom was constantly dirty despite having a service come in daily and they had laundry room that was constantly backing up and malfunctioning.

The same place today goes for nearly $2k. I lasted two months before moving into a slightly larger place with a private bath, a left after my lease was up a year later.

Living at the beach was great, but I’ll never live in a place like this again.