No, can't see, but I can hear WAY too much!

ugh. I live in a back apartment above a garage, which means I have a birds eye view into both my neighbor's house and her guest house. You have no idea how many pair of saggy tits and balls I've seen. I'm not even trying to snoop! Her house has sheers that are totally useless for hiding anything and the back house has no drapes at all. I'm guessing because the window is next to her fence, they think no one can see. Well, I CAN!

hmm....were you reading about this on the Daily Intel blog? :)

My parents dining room looks onto an air shaft alley. Directly across from them is someone's bathroom and bedroom. For years they had curtains, but then I guess a new person moved in and doesn't seem to mind a full size window in her shower not being covered...all I can say is family dinners are really awkward when there's a naked woman soaping herself up out the window.
Where I live now I am in the tallest building around in a lovely victorian neighborhood. I can't see anything but trees and rooftops out my windows and, very far in the distance, the top of the chrysler building. I love it. On the other hand, the first time I ever lived by myself my bedroom window looked across an alley at a family's dining room. I was really lonely at the time and it was nice to pretend to have dinner with them sometimes.

I have an inside corner apartment in a courtyard building, so I can practically reach into my neighbor's living room window. I can see his TV while sitting on my couch, and even if I couldn't, his enthusiasm for New York sports teams would be unavoidable. I can hear the guy screaming "GO BABY YEAH BABY YEAH BABY YEAH" while he's watching football, and occasionally while playing video games.

I can see into someone's bedroom from my bedroom. Their headboard is directly against the window and they have a curtain that goes across it diagonally. I've never seen anything, but my fiance said he once glanced over and saw an amorous encounter going on. We keep our honeycomb blinds down when we're home for the most part because I'm sure they can look into my room!

Our rental sits in a way that we can see into 3 different neighboring homes from our master bedroom. Unfortunately, all the views are direct! The widows have a great tint to them but you can see everything after the sun goes down. We solved the problem by spraying the offending windows with Rustoleum's glass frosting spray--cheap, fast and removable!

I can't remember on which post this came up within the past few months, but I remember an AT poster saying that s/he dealt with the nude neighbour issue by putting a sign in the window that read, "If you can read this, we can see you naked." One of my favourite comments ever. :)

Shlozi - that's really funny about the family dinners. Have your parents considered installing drapes/blinds on their window?

Just last week I looked out my window across 3rd Ave in NYC and saw a naked man getting out of bed. Definitely made my morning coffee a little more interesting.

Three days after moving into my Manhattan apartment, I looked out the window early one morning to see a neighbor across the street looking out as well.

Only she was naked.

It was my "welcome to NYC" moment.

My friend's small apartment livingroom window was airsaft away from a new all glass apartment building. The apartment's occupants, aprx. 86 old man and 70 year old woman, considered clothing to be optional, so full frontal was a daily evening occurance. The man of the house also enjoyed the private moment in the bathroom door open. An old droopy butt taking a leak is not a pretty sight. Gave us intresting dinner conversations. Thank god we are from scandinavia and somewhat use to nudity.

I just watched this movie again last weekend! Our top floor flat in SF has a many windowed living room in the back that looks out over the backyards and into the windows of seven buildings. We vicariously enjoy our neighbors' backyard parties and bring up Rear Window every time we sneak peaks.

While we stayed with friends for a while in Paris, their apartment looked down onto the back terrace of Segolene Royal's (rented out) apartment during the elections. A guy with his back to the window was happily surfing porn while we ate dinner every evening, so, since there were no curtains, watching him and speculating about who he might be in politics became part of the dinner conversation every day. It's a weird view for meals but weirder still that he didn't realize we could see through his leafy greenery from above. Hellloooo? He was a very conservative suited guy, we kept waiting for political intrigues to start up but it didn't get better than porn. Fun!

Ségolène Royal was living with a guy who surfed porn, or rented out her apartment to someone who did? And it wasn't François Hollande?

i once lived in a large block of apartments on Townsend Street, SF. I could see one neighbor search frantically for her cat while the cat in question was peacefully having milk at the flat above :)

We chose our house because we can't see into anyone's windows, and no one can see into ours. We're at the top of a cul-de-sac, halfway up a hill with a field behind us! Perfect! In fact, from the back of the house, we pretty much can't see any other houses, despite being a 15 min walk to the centre of the city. It's awesome!

I said yes though technically only if the blinds are up or just opened (I'm talking apartment-standard mini-blinds), but the people in the building across from us never lower them, so it's a perfect view in even when you aren't looking. We just get used to either not looking in that direction or if I'm at my desk, closing one of the two living room window's blinds.

I am always having Rear Window moments living in NYC because I face the courtyard of our building. I get to look at everyone's windows (and they can look at mine....but I'm boring).

I find the most interesting things to look at are what people hang outside their windows that face the courtyard (not seen by the street). One neighbor has had a large black garbage bag that is very full hanging outside on the wall for a while. And on the other side he has an object wrapped in a green trash bag that is very clearly a rifle (kind of unmistakable). So rifle and huge sketchy bag of something... I keep an eye on his window and try to never make him mad.

This is my Rear Window moment.

I also spend a lot of time sharing apartment gossip with the guy who lives one floor up and directly across from me: He wants to know about the people whose apartments I can see into, and he tells me about the units he watches. We are the watchers. :-\

I just realized the neighbor's window is right next to my balcony... Imagine an L shape, my balcony is the long side of the L and the neighbors window is the short side. I dont like the idea that someone can watch and listen to me do my morning coffee or a hang out with company on the balcony. Its kinda of unnerving. Im considering balcony decorating options that could help.

Yes, I see everything that goes on in the apt. across from mine, in every room. The building is a mirror image of mine so every window: living room, dining room, kitchen, guest room, master bedroom all line up exactly. Plus most of the windows are quite large 5x7. I own my home but the unit across is a rental and it seems most of the renters don't bother to buy drapes. There are three college aged women living there now and I'm tempted to sell tickets to the show at times!

I think the apartment next to mine is cursed. Because every couple that has ever lived there has broken up. The current couple in the apartment fight like cats and dogs. Hmmm.

NY Times article on this was great. I love the artist who photographed people in their windows (see audio slideshow).

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/garden/12voyeur.html

I see clearly into a big high rise across the street from me. With the increase in TV screen size, I can clearly see what they are watching.

On the 7th Floor of that building there this gross fat old man and he leans out his window and looks into our windows and he can see when we are on our roof also. He has a nasty habit of um, pleasuring himself as he does this. Especially when I have people over. Now they know to ask about "the Perv."

A few years ago we had a party on the roof and a couple from the building next door came over and introduced themselves because we "looked like such fun people" and then proceeded to have drugs delivered. I guess they felt safer doing that in a non-doormen building!

In college, I shared an apartment with a lovely big porch that faced our complex's courtyard. One Friday night, my roommate was sitting around reading by the open french doors that led to the porch. Our neighbors across the way were having a party on their porch. For some reason, they started talking about her. Loudly. She told them that she could hear them and they packed up and went indoors pretty quickly.

My townhouse backs up to another court. Because of the placement of sheds, I can't really see into the ones directly behind me. But one Saturday morning, I could tell that someone in the row diagonal to me was also watching This Old House. Too funny.

In my old apartment, my neighbor and I had bay windows that were right next to each other. Like I could reach out and put my hand inside her apartment if our windows were both open. The last few years I lived there, we both had an unspoken agreement to keep the windows closest to each other closed as much as possible, but when I first moved in, the couple who lived there liked to keep the blinds open. I mentioned to a visiting friend that I'd seen obviously-naked legs before, she peeked out and saw them having sex.

Like Jeff, I pull up a chair and watch. Sometimes with a camera. Luckily, no suspicious murders yet. Unluckily, no nudes or hanky-panky, either.

It's human nature to take an interest in how your neighbors are, especially if you are living a somewhat isolated life as some people in big city apartment buildings do.