Welcome to The Dakota, New York's most exclusive building haunted by ghosts, murder, and a crazy co-op board
John Lennon was shot dead in front of The Dakota by a crazed fan.
Yoko Ono still lives in The Dakota and says she saw Lennon's ghost there.
When he was alive, Lennon told Ono that he saw a "crying lady ghost" in the building.
The building has no fire escapes.
Tenants are "forbidden" to throw away original doors and fireplace mantels.
The original owner's former apartment has sterling silver floors.
According to legend, it gets its name from its far-west location.
The building was situated so far West, people liked to joke that it might as well have been built in the Dakotas.
It's been a magnet for the rich and famous since it opened in 1884.
The building had zero vacancies for 45 years after it opened.
The current application process is insane.
Hopefuls must submit years of financial statements and tax documents, go through a background check, and pay a fee of over $1,000. After completing the rigorous application process, the co-op board can still deny applicants.
Celebrities don't get special treatment.
One particularly odd 10-room apartment has been for sale for eight years.
Apartment 26 has been on and off the market for the last eight years, dropping from a $19.5 million asking price to a recent $14.5 million.
It's rumored that $30,000 is buried under the floor of Lennon and Ono's apartment.
According to author Stephen Birmingham's 1996 book, "Life at the Dakota," the previous resident of John and Yoko's apartment hid the money under the master bedroom floor. Whether or not that's true will remain a question, as the board refuses to destroy the floor to solve the mystery.
Its boilers could can heat every structure in a four-block radius.
The Dakota has an in-house power plant so its residents will never have to shiver.
Leonard Bernstein's former apartment was the building's most expensive sale.