This quote from the April 4, 1988, issue of New York magazine has been making the rounds lately on Facebook… it was filed under "the more things change, the more they remain the same" department at the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative Facebook page.
The quote was part of the magazine's 20th anniversary edition with a headline "From the 'Me' Decade to the Greed Decade."
What decade are we in now?
...$626 in 1988, East 11th, and it was the cheapest 288 sq. ft. walk-up apartment in the city!
ReplyDeleteEast Village is a flat circle.
ReplyDeleteit's the "get the fuck out of the city" decade.
ReplyDeleteThe difference between now and then is that those of us who moved here in the late 80's / early 90's moved here because it was affordable and interesting. We respected the neighborhood - its history, its goods and its bads. We paid our rent, shopped locally, enjoyed the local restaurants - old and new. We added to the neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteHa ha. Same old thing in brand new drag.
ReplyDeleteRents also jumped dramatically in the 80s and the cost of living did too. The only real difference between then/now is that the sky high cost of EV real estate drove arts/music scenes out awhile ago and so students and young professional kids are moving in now.
I left Greenpoint in 2012, paying 1500 a month for a massive two bedroom in a walk-up, which today is, sadly, considered a steal in that neighborhood. At this point I'll be rate in North Jersey by 2015.
ReplyDeleteHousing costs in NYC are unsustainable, just as oil, coal, and fracked gas are unsustainable energy sources.
ReplyDeletePlus, "Dubai on the Hudson Syndrome"... read the real estate sections of Crain's, etc. How many Louis Vuitton stores can one town accommodate? Greene Street? Really?
ReplyDeleteWhat next, Avenue A?
Looking forward to "Act Three" somewhere else, maybe Nebraska!
1996 I paid $750 for a 225 square foot studio in the Lower East Side (Stanton and Chrystie) I knew it was a good deal, but it seemed like a fortune still.
ReplyDelete...it was a fortune, considering rents elsewhere in the city at that time! (or most other cities!)
ReplyDeleteI moved into my rent-controlled East 10th Street tub-in-kitchen railroad flat in 1968, paying $65.06. Sixty-five dollars and six cents. Today I am still in the same apartment (who could afford to leave?) and I am paying $167.11 a month. The apartment has reached its city-determined MBR (Maximum Base Rent) and can never be raised. Since I'm now living on Social Security, I consider myself very lucky indeed. Especially since the landlord is charging two grand for the same space, renovated.
ReplyDeleteThe Yunnie Decade.
ReplyDelete