Ed, age 65

Back in 1970, this place was like a divorcee's heaven...haven, actually. My theory was, as you went through a divorce, you go back to something that you're really comfortable with, and a lot of guys had boating in their backgrounds, so they picked up boats down here. Back in 1970, this place had kids showing up on weekends for visitation. Now it's become more of a family place; then it was a party place.

So I was going through a divorce, we were Sammy and Sandra Surburbanite out in East Brunswick, New Jersey, and I was playing Charlie Commuter into the City everyday. So, when we went through the divorce, we put in our separation agreement that both of us had to move into Manhattan, because I wanted my son half the time. Back in 1970, it was very tough to get your child half the time. So she picked up an apartment on the East Side, and I remembered reading an article in the Times about this place, and got the boat and started living on it here. That way I could take Todd over to school, drop him off and come back, late in the afternoon, to pick him up.

When I first moved here, I got a little astro turf Welcome mat, and put it right near the front door of the boat, and I'd water it every once in a while just for nostalgia, remembering the old lawn around the house.

It's the greatest way to live in New York City. You've got all the city aspects a couple of blocks up, you don't have the noise or any of the typical city type things, because you're buffered by Riverside Park. And you've got an eclectic community: we've got out-of-work people, and partners in Goldman Sachs, and starving artists, and nutty mariners.