Inside the Manhattan Bridge squatter’s makeshift home: Peanut butter, beer and pillows
It’s a cozy Big Apple pad with a kitchen, sleeping area and million-dollar waterfront views — rent-free!
Exclusive new Post photos reveal the inside of the makeshift hut erected by a Manhattan Bridge hobo on the historic span’s bike path, showing there’s no place like home, even for the homeless.
City officials vowed Monday to boot the street denizen, but the down-on-his-luck drifter was still enjoying his lifestyle while it lasted, allowing The Post into his homey, 16-square-foot, illegal digs, which feature a sleeping area, mirror and even a plywood “sink.”
A glimpse inside the tidy shantytown set-up shows a cheerful poster teaching the alphabet hanging on a wall and another colorful ABC banner erected behind the mirror in front of the “sink.’’
There is no running water in the graffitied abode, which was first revealed by The Post on Saturday.
The “sink’’ instead holds food staples such as a jar of Skippy peanut butter, two cans of sardines, a couple of Coke cans and what looks like a bottle of orange juice. A bottle of beer can be seen, too.
The street denizen, who is Chinese and appears to be in his 50s or 60s, has a pair of chopsticks at the ready on the “counter’’ next to the sink area.
A fluffy pillow hangs partly down from the top of the hut, in easy reach for bedtime.
The man, who told The Post on Monday that his name is Zou Yifan, said he ended up on the street because he couldn’t afford New York City rents.
“I got kicked out of my home. They raised my rent,’’ he said, speaking mainly in Mandarin with an English word or two thrown in, aided by a bilingual passer-by who roughly translated his comments for The Post.
“I have built somewhere I can live,’’ said the vagrant, wearing a purple NYC t-shirt while holding onto a cellphone and a screwdriver. “I do not have any family. It’s just me,’’ he said.
He suggested that he tried to get help from the city, to no avail.
“I went to City Hall, but they kicked me out,’’ the man said.
It’s unclear how long the vagrant has been living in the bridge abode — which is blocks from City Hall downtown.
But it has clearly been long enough for him to set up a comfortable outside living space for himself, too.
A foldable long lawn chair with a large bright-purple pillow is erected just outside the door, hiding a large suitcase behind it.
There also is a barrel that appears to act as a side table to the chair — on which the drifter keeps a bright green plastic bowl to use as a toilet.
He seems to want to remain as inconspicuous as possible.
Part of his shack, which is fashioned out of plywood and cardboard, is painted a dull gray, helping it blend in with the historic bridge’s fencing and stonework. He enters and exits by crawling through a small plywood door, which he secures with a bike lock.
But the snug set-up may not be around for much longer.
A rep with the city Department of Transportation told The Post on Monday that the site is on borrowed time.
“DOT is working with [the city Department of Homeless Services] and other sister agencies to clear out this site imminently,” rep Vincent Barrone wrote in an email.
The potential move comes after DHS and other agencies conducted a cleanup in the area Saturday but didn’t bother the man about his bridge quarters.
City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R-SI) has said he appreciates the man’s “ingenuity and dedication” but added that the Big Apple can’t let people put stakes down wherever they please.
