“It’s rare to have so many scenes stacked like they are here,” said an 18-year-old poet living in 255 who gave his name as Eirehan Failte. “Even when it’s really loud, it’s still better than some terrible stock-trading roommate listening to Fox in the next room.”

The place is no secret. Some bloggers sneer at the McKibbin, calling it “Fort Whitey.” Gawker, the media and gossip site, tracks the McKibbin’s every move, calling it “our favorite Bushwick loft space.” Locating it in the wrong neighborhood is no accident: people at the McKibbin also say their neighborhood seems more a part of Bushwick, which was gutted by arson in the 1977 blackout, than Williamsburg. While Bushwick is home to a growing artists’ scene, many pockets are still poor and the crime rate remains relatively high.

Many McKibbiners say the place offers them a way of life and an instant artistic fraternity that is all but extinct in New York, all on a quasi island that is just a stone’s throw from the L train.

“The community is a microcosm of artists, musicians and D.J.’s,” said Kevin Farrell, who is 29 and works in video production. “You don’t have to leave this building, with the exception of food. I don’t really speak to the locals.”

Image Credit... The New York Times

Rents vary wildly. Two people can squeeze in to a four-by-six foot cubby in a loft, and pay $375 each, or a person can pay $530 to $800 to have a cubby of his or her own. Some spaces look more like doghouses than rooms, albeit doghouses set in huge lofts. Film screenings and jam sessions are encouraged, and television watching is frowned upon as too commercial; these people, after all, create art.

The McKibbin is a revolving door, with each weekend bringing wide-eyed newcomers, usually in skinny jeans and chunky eyewear. Vacancies, announced on Craigslist or spread by word of mouth, are quickly filled. The typical tenure at the McKibbin is one year, and residents often go through distinct phases.