A couple of years ago, when I first began thinking about IntoTheBox, I knew that the idea was one that would resonate not only with New Yorkers but with people around the country and the world. Everyone has their eye on New York City and the surreal real estate market that exists here. But there was no way for people to actually go inside of each other’s boxes and see and hear from New Yorkers about how they are managing to live in the best city in the world.

Making New York City real estate accessible to the masses was imperative to me - creating informative yet entertaining video is something that is at the core of our business concept.

Little did I know how big this little idea would become - and as the business around IntoTheBox has grown more and more time intensive, my team and I are now busy at work taking IntoTheBox into an entirely new stratosphere.

We will get in touch with you as soon as the new site has been finished. Register on IntoTheBox (the link on top of the home page that says “register”) so that you will be notified instantly when the the new site is officially up. We look forward to seeing you soon and you have no idea how much all of your support means to us.

It was 2005. I was dating a musician in New York the year The Hit Factory shuttered its doors. His continuous ranting about its demise was so voluminous that it still plays in my ears.

“New York is over. This city is dead. I’m going to kill myself,” he stated. Again. And again. And again. I nodded supportingly, not fully-understanding the gravity of his words, while sneaking a peak at a lovely Alberta Ferretti dress in W Magazine.

This videocast was initially geared toward the changes occurring in the neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen, but as we were filming I was given the opportunity to go into the nearly-completed Hit Factory condominiums.

The experience was somewhat surreal — musical greats like John Lennon, Santana and Stevie Wonder (to name but a mere few) recorded in the space that now holds sub-zero refrigerators and granite kitchen countertops. New York City real estate.

The actual apartments–we saw a few of them–are quite beautiful; light and airy, with a loft-like downtown feel.

When you first walk into the building, there’s a fitness center to the left (I noted the “gym” to my videographer so that he could grab some footage of it) but was quickly told by one of the men on site that this was no gym; this was a “fitness center.”

Yup. That’s how it’s rolling at the Hit Factory these days.

My Ex-New Yorker

I moved to New York more than eight years ago with a king-size bed and this 75-pound golden retriever named Murphy; my Midwestern naiveté about New York City real estate was comical at best, a disaster at worst.

My dog refused to use the pavement as a bathroom. She demanded something soft under her paws, thus making close proximity to Central Park a must-have. Who could blame her? For several years she had squatted on terrific terrain; some of the most sensational soil in the country, really. She was only three months old when I got her in Montana. It was Big Sky country with even bigger bathroom potential. She quickly became accustomed to the vast expanses of the land - Yellowstone Park; Glacier National Forest; the Gallatin Canyon. Murphy was doing business on God’s country.

Suffice it to say, the cement jungle of NYC was tough on her. In the morning, after putting her leash on, she would literally pull me to the park. We raced by city canines happily relieving themselves on the NYC sidewalks, as my poor pup could barely hold it in. She was like a bat out of hell, crazed to be outdoors but unable to find a patch of grass. She would beeline to the West 72nd street entrance of the park and then – joy of all joys – a patch of grass. And just like that, my mild-mannered Murphy reappeared.

The king-size bed went into storage, because 1,700-dollars on Central Park West does not rent one a room that fits a king-size bed. I sold the beast to an Irishman in the West Village who I ended up dating, so it was a win-win as I ultimately didn’t have to say goodbye to the bed until I said goodbye to the relationship. So I happily lingered on my mattress until I was ready to fully embrace my sofa bed.

At night, I would unfold the mattress in the couch and Murphy would hop in. This lasted for about six months. The lack of space had initially been amusing, but by the six month point had become ludicrous. My parents, who live outside of Cleveland, have plenty of space and generously offered to take Murphy until I settled in. They still have her now.

Today, I see all the women and men with dogs in the city and wonder if they just have more space in their apartments than I did when I first arrived here or if it really is about the social connectivity that canines bring to New Yorkers. In a city of 13 million residents, you’d think it wouldn’t be too difficult to meet people. But the pooch is certainly a great way to get that initial conversation going — maybe a story on ‘Pooch Love’ might be worth exploring; New Yorkers who have fallen in love at dog runs….