$1,021 | West Village, Manhattan

Kate Walter, 69

Occupation: Writer of creative nonfiction and recently retired staff instructor at the Borough of Manhattan Community College.

What is Westbeth: The first and largest federally subsidized artists’ colony, opened in 1970 in a cluster of converted Bell Laboratories buildings. The wait list has been closed for years. To get in, Ms. Walter had to prove she was an artist by showing her work, and she had to be recommended by other artists in her field.

An aging community: Although Westbeth is a NORC, or naturally occurring retirement community, in recent years Ms. Walter said she has noticed more children in the halls.

Creative pursuits: Ms. Walter is part of an acting group and a singing group called the Bliss Singers. Both workshops are held at Westbeth and taught by Westbeth residents, but they are open to others who live in the neighborhood.

On how other residents live: “It’s really interesting to see what other people in your same line do with their space,” Ms. Walter said. “Some built rooms; one woman built lofts; another couple built all these cabinets. Another guy had his bed and his desk against one wall, and the other 80 percent of the space was his painting studio. Everyone’s apartment looks different.”

Of course, she added, “living here has its ups and downs — people know your business and that kind of thing.”

It also took her 14 years on the internal wait list to move into a one-bedroom apartment, a 600-square-foot space for which she pays $1,021 a month.

“My friends like to joke that it only took me 24 years to get a one-bedroom in Westbeth,” said Ms. Walter, who consulted several people in the building to help decide whether she should take the apartment or hold out for a potentially better space in the future.

After a weekend of consideration, she told the management office she would take it, and she felt certain she had made the right choice when they told her they had been inundated with calls and inquiries from other wait-listed residents.