In 2005 I found my Greenpoint apartment on Craigslist. I'm still there.

When the Santander Bank on the ground floor vacated after 18 years, I talked my landlord into letting me rent the 4,000 square foot space as a studio, for $1 a month. For the first two months, before it was official, getting in required getting on all fours and crawling through a hole in the wall. I did it anyway.

Once I had a key (and liability insurance), I opened the space to the neighborhood. Children stopped in to paint. Strangers wandered in off the street and stayed. Artist collaborations and shows ensued. Two Santander employees — who happened to walk by one night and peer through the glass — came in, and left with three of my drawings. The New York Times wrote it up.

'Not Prime Retail' — the name painted on the window at my building manager's request — became what the neighborhood called it. A former bank, transformed by donations from neighbors, kids, and imagination, into the opposite of everything it used to represent. New York is not known for this kind of story, but I am good at making the seemingly impossible happen.

(All photos by Victor G. Jeffreys II)