lauritasita wrote on Mar 25, ’08

Sis, I remember that photo of Stuyvesant Town being built. I can’t believe how many summers we lived through without air-conditioning ! It was fun growing up there, though. My favorite memory was the Good Humor Ice Cream guy that would come around the playground, “Fernando.”

markg1 wrote on Mar 25, ’08

I remember when I lived in Las Vegas in 1986, I lived in an apartment that had no air conditioning, it was a studio apartment and I used a swamp cooler for the summer and a space heater for the summer.
Was the best experience of my life.

lauritasita wrote on Mar 25, ’08

We used PLENTY of fans in the summer, that’s for sure ! My favorite was the stool fan ! Maybe I’ll dig up my old Yahoo 360 post about it ! YEAH !!!

belita747 wrote on Mar 25, ’08

Very interesting photos!

wrenomatic wrote on Mar 25, ’08

Wow. So that’s what part of NY looks like. Interesting story. 🙂

jayaramanms wrote on Mar 25, ’08

Beautiful.and brilliant photos and write up. Thank you;

starfishred wrote on Mar 25, ’08

New York is so full of stories and you did a wonderful job on this intro and the poem thank you

markg1 wrote on Mar 25, ’08

Wonderful photos of New York.  The pictures are what I have always thought it was like.  Very Naked Cityesque.

sanssouciblogs wrote on Mar 25, ’08, edited on Mar 26, ’08

Wonderful photos of New York.  The pictures are what I have always thought it was like.  Very Naked Cityesque.

I can only say that there are so many neighborhoods with such different characteristics that a block from here–and these are not current photos–the world is totally different. Manhattan is such a unique place.  The architecture you see in pictures of this project is not what you see all over Manhattan.  This was built as a middle-income development and middle class–how can they afford to live there with families? Unless they are making a bundle on Wall Street.  There are subsidized housing projects which are much blander, extremely ugly, and some are too dangerous to hang around. ~Sans

danceinsilence wrote on Mar 26, ’08

It has been since the early 1970’s I was last in Tompkins Sq. Park, or for that matter any part of the city. I remember (somewhat) seeing these buildings back then. The photo your father took was the same year I was born.
Very nice description of times gone by and for what still remains. It’s things like this that keeps some parts of history from going by the wayside.
The sad part to the cost of living and the greed in pockets these days leaves a sour taste in my mouth considering what places like Stuyvesant Town was built for originally.

tulipsinspring wrote on Mar 26, ’08

I love this! I have a friend from Brazil, who just came back from her first visit to NYC. She was utterly enchanted by it. I don’t think there is anyplace on earth quite like New York. And I loved this insider’s glimpse into the place where you grew up. The rent stunned me, wow!
Thanks so much for this. There is a feeling to New York that is like no other place, and you have captured it beautifully. I am thinking of going there soon. I was supposed to go in February, but it didn’t work out. Now, May is looking possible. I can’t wait. Thanks for a great post!

knightstar wrote on Mar 26, ’08

In my travels as an army brat, I was twice in NYC.  We stayed for several months in a place call Fort Hamilton, which was within a few minutes walking distance of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, on the Brooklyn side. The first time we were there, the bridge was unfinished, each span, one from the Brooklyn side and the other from the Staten Island side, hanging about a third of the way across the water.  I believe that was in the very early sixties.  The second time we were there, we drove over the bridge.
–M

7jewel wrote on Mar 26, ’08

Great photos – Sydney is still a baby in comparison

millimusings wrote on Mar 26, ’08

I have friends who have stayed in NYC and they just loved it. I think it must have been an exciting place and of course John Lennon chose to live there and he died there too. Thanks for all of the interesting information about Your Home Town. My the changes that have taken place are mind boggling. The good and the bad.

philsgal7759 wrote on Mar 26, ’08

$2500 WOW You could pay off my little  house in 2 years for that! II haven’t been to NYC in years but it is a wonderful city. Great write up

sweetpotatoqueen wrote on Mar 26, ’08

Wow. The government actually took care of our veterans back then! This is an impressive complex….so urban and so different than my world here. All the more fun to see the visuals!(OMG $2500 for rent!!!!)

sanssouciblogs wrote on Mar 26, ’08

$2500 WOW You could pay off my little  house in 2 years for that! II haven’t been to NYC in years but it is a wonderful city. Great write up

Rents are so high it is staggering. When my parents moved in in the late 1940’s into a 1 bedroom apartment after the war, the rent was $59.  When they left the apartment in the late 1970’s, they were paying about $400 (including gas and electric) for a 2 bedroom. My mom is now 90 and wishes she could come back from Florida. “Just tell them I am an original tenant,” she said, thinking they’d have an apartment ready for the same $400.  That same apartment now, with the kitchen and bathroom redone, would probably be close to $4,000/mo.  She can’t conceive of that much money.  The maintenance on her 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo in Florida is about $200. In order for young people to live in Manhattan, they have to share with 40 people, sleep in shifts, rob a bank. inherit millions, work for Donald Trump, get hired for The Apprentice…”  Most condos are over a million.  I do NOT live in Manhattan, but a fairly short distance away, where if I had to buy a house now, if I were just starting out, I’d be out of luck.  Co-op apartments, where you own shares in a corporation, are competitive with houses.  It’s unreal!

sanssouciblogs wrote on Mar 26, ’08

In my travels as an army brat, I was twice in NYC.  We stayed for several months in a place call Fort Hamilton, which was within a few minutes walking distance of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, on the Brooklyn side. The first time we were there, the bridge was unfinished, each span, one from the Brooklyn side and the other from the Staten Island side, hanging about a third of the way across the water.  I believe that was in the very early sixties.  The second time we were there, we drove over the bridge.
–M

Now THAT’S a memory!  I recently saw an exhibit with photos of the Verrazano going up.

sanssouciblogs wrote on Mar 26, ’08

It has been since the early 1970’s I was last in Tompkins Sq. Park, or for that matter any part of the city. I remember (somewhat) seeing these buildings back then. The photo your father took was the same year I was born.
Very nice description of times gone by and for what still remains. It’s things like this that keeps some parts of history from going by the wayside.
The sad part to the cost of living and the greed in pockets these days leaves a sour taste in my mouth considering what places like Stuyvesant Town was built for originally.

Thanks, Bill. Tompkins Square Park was a wild place. My library branch was across the street, still a low-key area until the 60’s and the world turned upside down.

sanssouciblogs wrote on Mar 26, ’08

I have friends who have stayed in NYC and they just loved it. I think it must have been an exciting place and of course John Lennon chose to live there and he died there too. Thanks for all of the interesting information about Your Home Town. My the changes that have taken place are mind boggling. The good and the bad.

Hi, Milli~ The last few mayors have really cracked down–where the city was a mess in the 70’s, it is now deemed the safest! No little infraction was permitted so that the message would go out–we take EVERYTHING seriously. The Times Square area was very seedy and creepy and it’s been totally cleaned up and family and tourist oriented. It’s a progressive place. It all seems to happen here first. No smoking laws… No crappy oil in fast food…pick up after doggy..

sanssouciblogs wrote on Mar 26, ’08, edited on Mar 26, ’08

Wow. The government actually took care of our veterans back then! This is an impressive complex….so urban and so different than my world here. All the more fun to see the visuals!(OMG $2500 for rent!!!!)

It was private housing, not public, Sweetie. It was owned by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, not subsidized. A sister development went up in The Bronx called Parkchester.  Looked almost the same except there were statues like WPA gargoyles hanging off the buildings. And $2500 now is the low end of the rent scale! It goes up!! A lot up!  And outside of Stuyvesant Town it’s MUCH MORE.  I know of people who live in Manhattan who were paying as much as an apartment rent, hundreds of dollars monthly to garage their cars–parking is at a premium.

asolotraveler wrote on Mar 26, ’08

i absolutely LOVE trips backward like this visual and written journey – THANKS

sweetpotatoqueen wrote on Mar 26, ’08

Sue: You guys have a very high cost of living for sure! We get tons of folks investing here in NC in real estate..it’s a bargain compared to your market!  But that is the nature of living in such a large and interesting city!

sanssouciblogs wrote on Mar 26, ’08

Sis, I remember that photo of Stuyvesant Town being built. I can’t believe how many summers we lived through without air-conditioning ! It was fun growing up there, though. My favorite memory was the Good Humor Ice Cream guy that would come around the playground, “Fernando.”    

just added a reading to that very blog, sis! http://sanssouciblogs.multiply.com/journal/item/11/11._Poetry_1959

philsgal7759 wrote on Mar 26, ’08

I bought my house 4 bedrooms (small only 10×10) but bedrooms none the less My kitchen is also tiny but my living an d dining rooms are good sized with basement partially fnised attic a big basement and a garage/shed for $60,000 7 years ago Houses range from about $75,000- 300,000 You can rent nice apartments for about $500 for a 2 BR you pay over $1,000 only for the bay or lake front properties. Of course  to save money you have to be willing to live with snow and ice from Nov-April/May! but our summers are wonderful. We do unfortunately have a lot of unemployment but it seems to be turning around a little.

opossumd wrote on Mar 26, ’08

New York has always been a legend to me. The city that was always talked about, always show in movies, the model of urban perfection. Coming from an old world of ancient grey squat palazzos, porticoed streets and piazzas, ornate fountains and shadowy courtyards, all lying horizontally, like lazy Roman emperors on their triclinia, I could only dream of giddy skyscrapers, offering a thrilling skyline made of competing peaks, a vertical world. When the Region Building was erected in 1960 – 32 floors, yeepee – all the newspaters went mad and dubbed Milan ‘the New York of Italy’. Go figure…

papahere wrote on Mar 26, ’08

I went to an elementary school on 14th St between 1st and 2nd Ave in 1939…everyone was poor at that time and the community was designed for the lower classes…what made the deepest impression upon me was the energy and activities of the area that seemed like a huge playground to a young child…I use to wander by myself all over the neighborhood without any fear of danger. ~ Papa

suggar202 wrote on Mar 27, ’08

learning time for me again and loving it…

astranavigo wrote on Mar 27, ’08

My Dad told me that New York was a CITY back then; thriving and moving, without the high rents and the nonsense — nowadays, it’s completely different – or so I’m told, by longtime residents like you.
Out west here, it’s different — we don’t have Broadway; Times Square; the Statue of Liberty – but we measure land by the acre, not the square foot; you can actually see for miles, and a garage-rent doesn’t equate to a house-payment.
Still — there’s magic in that town….

pestep55 wrote on Feb 10, ’09

Sounds like you have wonderful memories /:-)