For some, waterfront NYC living means a houseboat
NEW YORK — Gloria Weiss was living in a small SoHo apartment in the 1980s when one of her young students told her that he lived on a boat.
The teacher wasn't quite sure whether or not to believe him, so she decided to accept an invitation to check it out for herself. "I went to their boat and said, 'This is amazing, I could live here,'" recalled Weiss.
And for the last 20 years, she has -- as part of a tiny community of boaters who make their homes winter, spring, summer and fall on the Hudson River off Manhattan's west side, at the 79th Street Boat Basin.
The boat basin has been around for decades, built under the auspices of urban planner Robert Moses. While there are other marinas in the city, the boat basin is the only one that allows for year-round residential living, said Keith Kerman, chief of operations for the city's Department of Parks and Recreation.
Even in the famously out-there Big Apple and its eclectic collection of neighborhoods, this community is unique. But life on the water isn't all idyllic summer sunshine. The same place that seems like a dream location in summer can be much harsher in winter, when frigid temperatures, snow and ice make it more difficult.
