Randell Pearson remembers the first time he saw Ditmas Park, Brooklyn.<\/p>\n
He was 18, fresh out of the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan, doing some work for the furniture designer Vladimir Kagan. \u201cHe had me deliver a project to a house on Avenue D,\u201d Mr. Pearson recalled. \u201cI went and it was like, \u2018Wow, this neighborhood is beautiful.\u2019 It\u2019s like this little oasis.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was taken aback by the tree-lined streets with large single-family homes. Although he had spent most of his childhood in nearby neighborhoods, Crown Heights and Flatbush, they were nothing like Ditmas Park. \u201cThere were all these Victorian-style houses. A lot of them are landmarked, and it\u2019s just an amazing neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eight years later, when Mr. Pearson found himself looking for an apartment with his new wife, a broker reminded him of the oasis he\u2019d seen only once as a teenager.<\/p>\n
So, Mr. Pearson took one look at an apartment in Ditmas Park and signed a lease. Forty-four years later, he\u2019s still there.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going to have to carry me out of here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The 70-year-old\u2019s affection for his one-bedroom runs deep. It\u2019s outlasted two marriages and has become a defining feature of his life in New York. \u201cIt\u2019s been my sanctuary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally intended for the superintendent of the six-story building, Mr. Pearson\u2019s apartment is on the first floor, which means he\u2019s never had to wait for the elevator. He also likes that he\u2019s near the building\u2019s main entrance and can see all the comings-and-goings out his window.<\/p>\n
Most of all, he appreciates the sheer size of the apartment. \u201cThese prewar buildings have some very large rooms,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are three windows in my bedroom \u2014 that\u2019s how big it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Pearson\u2019s bedroom is large enough to include a home office, with a large desk near one of the windows. \u201cIt\u2019s the creative space of my apartment,\u201d he said. It\u2019s the place where he\u2019s spent his career working as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer. His forte is children\u2019s books, having worked on 14 different titles, including \u201cKia and the Magical Spikes\u201d by Dr. Rukiya Jeffers Ware and \u201cThe Caterpillar and the Cloud\u201d by K.R. Avery.<\/p>\n
The office is also where Mr. Pearson displays his collections of \u201cone-sixth figures,\u201d each 12-inches tall with articulating limbs and detailed facial features. At one point Mr. Pearson had more than 300 of the figures but he has since sold many of them. He still has scores of different collections, from Marvel superheroes and Star Wars characters, to N.B.A. legends and hip-hop artists. His most prized collection is of tribute figures of the musician Prince.<\/p>\n
Even for all its spaciousness, his apartment can, at times, feel quite full. \u201cI\u2019ve got so much stuff,\u201d Mr. Pearson said.<\/p>\n
He also has extensive collections of CDs and vinyl records, as well as art from his travels around the world. \u201cEverything\u2019s very eclectic but harmonious at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the apartment is packed with decades of living, everything is in its place. \u201cI\u2019m very fastidious,\u201d Mr. Pearson said. \u201cI know where everything is. Turn something a quarter of an inch, I can tell when something\u2019s been moved.\u201d<\/p>\n
The high degree of organization extends to the kitchen cabinets where items are all strictly arranged by size.<\/p>\n
Outside the building, Mr. Pearson\u2019s neighborhood has always been everything he hoped it would be. \u201cYou never hear sirens and things going on,\u201d he said. \u201cIf anything, the local fire department runs drills, and that\u2019s basically the only time they might come through the block. Other than that, it\u2019s always quiet. There\u2019s an invisible force field around this neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
He used to keep a car but it became too expensive and, over the years, more and more amenities came to the neighborhood, putting so much within walking distance.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything I need is right here,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Q subway line, pharmacy is around the corner, supermarkets, restaurants, everything is around the corner. It\u2019s such a great neighborhood and a great building, great people \u2014 why would I ever leave?\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just fondness that has kept Mr. Pearson in Ditmas Park but economics too. His apartment is part of the rent-stabilization program, which means any annual increases in his rent are set by the New York Rent Guidelines Board, not the open market. \u201cWhen I moved in here,\u201d he said, \u201cI was paying $350. Now I\u2019m paying $1,427.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many market-rate, one-bedroom apartments in Ditmas Park now rent for $2,800 or more.<\/p>\n
The affordability of Mr. Pearson\u2019s home has, over the decades, helped him cope with a freelancer\u2019s unpredictable income. \u201cWhile I\u2019m not rich \u2014 I \u2019m far from being rich \u2014 I\u2019m happy. I got a roof over my head. I\u2019m never hungry, you know. Life is good.\u201d<\/p>\n
He still remembers when the bottom fell out in 2008. \u201cI went from making six figures to a McDonald\u2019s salary,\u201d he said. When his work dried up he had to rely on unemployment benefits. \u201cThe loss of income was sudden and devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n
His manageable rent was one of the reasons he was able to get by. That and the generosity of family and friends. \u201cI was always the guy who was buying dinner for everybody,\u201d he said, \u201cand that was remembered when I was having a hard time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most of Mr. Pearson\u2019s income now comes from his social security benefits. But he still takes on a few gigs here and there. \u201cWhen you\u2019re a creative person,\u201d he said, \u201cyou\u2019re a creative person. Being an artist is not something that you retire from. I\u2019m never going to want to stop drawing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Pearson has, reluctantly, started to consider what his life will look life when and if the day comes that he can no longer live independently. \u201cIt\u2019s something I have to think about,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A close friend of his moved to Georgia and built a house. \u201cShe\u2019s a good 25 years younger than me,\u201d he said, \u201cShe\u2019s like, \u2018Randy, you need to come down here and live with me because I don\u2019t want you to be by yourself.\u2019 She\u2019s afraid I\u2019m going to keel over.\u201d<\/p>\n
He laughed then smiled and added, \u201cShe\u2019s sweet like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately though, he said he\u2019s likely to pass on the offer. He can\u2019t imagine his life outside Ditmas Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t ever plan to leave this neighborhood,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll work it out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Randell Pearson remembers the first time he saw Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. He was 18, fresh out of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,174,29759,9,24,56,63,578,13995,52065],"class_list":["post-281960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-content-type-personal-profile","tag-ditmas-park-brooklyn","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-real-estate-and-housing-residential","tag-rent-control-and-stabilization","tag-renting-and-leasing-real-estate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}