Fascinating! Judith Matloff impulsively plunks down cash for a former crackhouse in West Harlem, and then has to deal with the consequences (crackheads trying to break in, to dealers pissing on the stoop, to a nest of termites in the kitchen). Somehow she and her husband survive being literally the only two white faces on the block and find themselves part of a vibrant community--"one of the last places in New York where kids can play on the street" and where neighbors help each other out.

Great read. Made me miss my Sunset Park, Brooklyn sublet.