Remember when the McKibben Dorms (er, Lofts) were the place where everybody knew your name? Where you could play experimental 8-bit music until six in the morning while throngs of creatively pierced fellow artists interpretively danced about you with nary a care in the world? Well, those days are drawing to close as a crime wave sweeps the area. more ›

The Gray Lady slums it out to far East Williamsburg to report on the hipster bohemian squalor of the sprawling McKibbin Street “dorms;” two hulking buildings converted from garment factories to lofts in the late nineties by a trio of savvy Stuyvesant alums. It’s since become a filthy, bed-bug ravaged rite of passage for the young DIY arts set, who pile on top of each other in warren-like lofts more crowded than one of Dan Deacon’s dance-a-thons. more ›