COMMENTS

22 responses to “Open Thread Update: First Apartments”

1. I had my heart set on a cute little place in a complex near my job. I fell in love with the “model” I was shown. My mother was with me on the second visit and asked the representative to show us the actual apartment that I would be renting. It did not look like the model and opened a kitchen drawer…running roaches!
   I found a huge pre-WWII one bedroom with a porcelain tub for $425.00 per month. Public transportation nearby, shopping up the street. Loved that place!
   I became an adult there.

   Reply to Michele

2. During college in Detroit I lived on campus, due to racism prevalent among property owners off campus.
   After moving to San Francisco, I encountered racism again. I filed a successful complaint with the CA FEPC and moved into my lovely furnished studio a month later. Sixth floor with a partial view, $125 a month, steam heat and utilities included.
   Pay phone booths everywhere. Fresh chicken 69 cents a pound. Clean safe streets. Another world.

   Reply to dr jeanne powell

3. My first apartment was in New York City in 1969.
   It was a one bedroom apartment, second floor, walk up.
   I shared it with a friend from high school.
   It actually was very nice and the rent was $225.
   I only had to deal with roaches, but not a chronic problem.

   Reply to Marigold

4. My first apartment was a furnished, one-bedroom duplex apartment with a large kitchen and window. I was in the process of divorce, becoming a single parent of an adorable two-year old girl. She was a twin, but her brother died a few hours after he was born. There was a yard between the two duplex buildings where my daughter could play in her kiddie pool each summer and I could hang my clothes on the clothesline outside. I paid $80 a month in 1974. This apartment was absolutely perfect for us!

   Reply to Pat Barton

5. My first apartment was in 1979 in Newport, R.I. after I graduated from college. I think rent was $250.00 and it was right across from the Bay where there was a small beach. Located on the 2nd floor of a private house, it had 2 bedrooms, a full kitchen and living room. It had a private entrance with 2 enclosed staircases. Scenery was lovely but I had to pay for oil heat and since I made very little $, I didn’t always have heat, which led to the oil burner cracking one cold winter. Oppps!

   Reply to Pat Kramer

6. Ms. Randall thank you for talking about your first apartment. That is something so practical and fundamental to life–we all need a roof over our heads, a place to “hang our hat,” so to speak. I wonder how many people have uprooted their lives to move on to more affordable accommodations. I’m amazed at people who find “deals” in costly areas. As a younger woman, I took a government job in the Philippines. My first apartment was small, cute, marble floors for $125 per month; lived there 3 years.

   Reply to Diane Shelton

   1. Is this Diane from Boise, per chance? If so, Ziggy sends a big hello to you!

      Reply to Robert Keith Zigler

7. My first apartment had walk-in closets, a roomy kitchen, and my own private laundry room. I had a private door on a corner lot, with a bay window.

   I also had a neighbor who lived above me who often let her bath run over, flooding my unit. Mold started growing everywhere. Drug deals could be seen through my window. I was on a street so busy that cars could not get in or out of the parking lot.

   Reply to Virginia

8. My first apartment was in Newquay, Cornwall in England. It was 1968- I was 18 and was working in the hotel industry which normally provides accommodation but in this case no. Rent was cheap and I shared a double bed with my friend. Newquay is a surfing town and there were many Californians among the local surfers.

   Reply to Jude Parry

9. 1959: My first apt in KC, MO midtown was 4-plex nice older bldg owned by landlord next door. I shared a bathroom with the neighbor across the hall. I had 2 rooms: kitchen sink, stove, fridge, table & chairs, living room/BR with full bed, chairs, closet & gas heater. The bldg had brick walls 2′ thick. Warm in winter & cool in summer. No Air. Rent $50 a month. I loved this apt, neighborhood, landlord. Lots of stores, eateries, hospital, busline closeby. Walk to work. Today? Studio $13K+util.

   Reply to Doris Yonker

10. My 1st apartment in 1969 was in lovely North Portland (well, it is lovely now….). It was an old building with wide staircases, huge bathtubs, and was walking distance to my first adult job. It was a furnished studio apartment and with the help of my sister, I made it more like my own. The managers were very attentive. They saw me coming home in a van with Peace/Love types of graffiti spray painted on it and called my sister to tell her and also called me into their unit to ‘talk about it”…

    Reply to Constance

11. In late 1974, I was a new second lieutenant in the Air Force at Minot, North Dakota. Because the bachelor officer quarters were filled, I had to live off-base. I found a newly constructed apartment building with a 1BR, full bath, living room / kitchen, A/C, for $165 a month, and had to figure out furniture, drapes, etc., in a hurry. I lived there comfortably and happily for 3 1/2 years until I moved to a 2BR unit in the adjacent building, for $240 a month, for another year. Then California $$$

    Reply to Eric Wallace

12. My first apt in New York City in 1977 was a miniscule studio for $225. Lived there 13 years and kept taking a 3-year lease. When I moved out it was $435. But! It was on Gramercy Park, well, on 21st St. I had casement windows and a tree outside my 3rd story place and best bathtub I ever sat in. . Took 10 minutes to clean the whole thing. Everybody lived outside, so it didn’t matter how small it was. Once had a party, 15 people, it ended when some tag along guy showed us his gun.

    Reply to Christina Sluberski

13. My first apartment was in a small town in Iowa. I took a job in 1972 and lived there during the week but drove home 70 miles each weekend. It was the second floor of a home but no private entrance. It was fully furnished with large rooms. The rent was a whopping $60. One month I forgot to deposit money in the local bank and my check bounced. No problem… the bank cashed my check and just told my landlord to have me stop by and repay the bank. Small town living is unique.

    Reply to Ann Naple

14. My first place was a townhouse apartment in Bloomingdale–a neighborhood in East Tennessee. It was a nice place for the meager $135 that we could afford in 1979 as newlyweds. The walls were paper thin, though, leading to a fond memory.

    One night after dinner, I sat down at my piano to relax and play some hymns. When I finished and began clearing the dishes, I heard the next-door neighbor singing the hymns I just finished playing. Next time, we just invited them over and sang together!

    Reply to Debbie Salyer

15. My first apartment with my name on the lease was a railroad department in the East Village across from Tompkins Square Park. It had a bathtub in the kitchen and one sink, also in the kitchen. The toilet was in a little closet off the kitchen. It was a fifth floor walk up which was okay since I was in my 20s. I moved there with my girlfriend in 1978 and the rent was $175. I moved out after a couple of years. We broke up and the neighborhood was on fire and it felt scary to live there alone.

    Reply to Kate Walter

16. The year was 1965 and I was a day hop at the University of Maryland . My then boyfriend Barry and I decided to get married the summer before my senior year and we picked out an apartment that was on the bus route to the university. It was called Kirkwood. I was only 19 and had never lived away from home. Because it was unairconditioned everybody young and old sat outside every evening. From those new friends young and old we learned to be adults. The rent was $75.

    Reply to Mary Moien

17. My first apartment was right out of high school in 1971. It was a studio apartment in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood. I paid $55 a month for it. It rents today for $1536 a month.

    Reply to Sebbie Coleman

18. My first apartment was in Cambridge, MA in 1963, I shared it with two other girls. It was on the floor above a grocery store and boy did we have cockroaches! It was $50 a month. We each put in $5.00 a week for basic groceries, and added an extra dollar if we invited a guest over for supper (usually spaghetti & meatballs). It was the height of the folk music movement up there and we threw parties frequently with free-flowing Chianti & beer, as well as all-night playing and singing.

    Reply to Sally Haver

19. My first apartment in 1970 was one side of a double in New Orleans. Rent was $55 a month. I was a college student, and also received food stamps.

    Reply to C de Ben

20. My first apartment was in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, well before gentrification. Second floor, the building owner lived on the ground floor. The neighborhood had a butcher shop, a candy store,a produce stand and a Puerto Rican deli that had THE BEST roast pork sandwiches. Similar to your story, I moved after my apartment was burglarized . Rent in 1970 was $170 for a one bedroom with a huge kitchen.

    Reply to Sandra Johnson

21. A true New Yorker, you are! I loved this not unfamiliar story. Grew up in the Bronx..$48 a month rent. And that gave us NYers a chance to succeed. And we did, according to our destinies. Bravo!

    Reply to Peter