Mindy Kaling's Windsor Terrace

Mindy Kaling is an actress, writer, and comedian most known for her role as Kelly Kapoor on the TV show The Office. But before she was winning Emmy Awards, she was trying to make it in New York City--specifically, in Windsor Terrace. She and two female friends found an inexpensive railroad apartment in the neighborhood, which she details in her recently released memoir, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns):

When we moved there, Windsor Terrace was a Park Slope-adjacent mini-neighborhood that could've been the exterior set for much of Welcome Back, Kotter. Not grim, but not great. It was populated mostly by middle-age lesbian couples who had taken on the noble challenge of gentrifying the neighborhood…

In the summer, feral cats in heat clung onto the screens of our living room, meowing mournfully until we threw a glass of water at them. When it got cold, the roaches migrated in and set up homes in every drain. Sometimes, when I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, I would feel a disgusting crackly squelch under my foot, and I'd know I'd have to rinse off a roach from my heel. That was out apartment. We took the bad with the pretty good. Plus, we could afford it, Prospect Park wasn't too far, and people already assumed we were lesbians, so we fit into the neighborhood right away.

If you'd like to read more about her misadventures in New York, and her "unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood," you can order a copy through Babbo's Books. Just call the store at 718-788-3475, and Lenora can have a copy available in a couple of days to pick up.