Is This New York?
Soon after finishing college, Yohannes Abebe attended a party in Tudor City and was smitten with the out-of-the-way area. He recalls thinking, "Is this really New York?" When the engineering consultant, originally from Ethiopia, had a chance to move to the neighborhood, he took it. In 1985, Tudor City was converted to Co-Ops, and a lottery was held to see who would get first dibs on open apartments. Abebe entered the lottery and his number was the first one picked. "I had my choice out of all the one-bedroom apartments in the building," Abebe recalls, "and this apartment was the first I saw, and the one I chose." Almost twenty years later, Abebe is still in the same apartment.

Pictured: Yohannes Abebe in his living room.