Life in the Big City (OT)

An advertisement seen on The New York Times website.

Whenever I tell anyone I live in New York, they automatically picture the City. Just FYI, I'm nowhere near New York City. I'm actually a lot closer to Canada (two and a half hours to Niagara Falls) than I am to Manhattan (four hours and forty minutes according to the iPhone, but I've never made it that fast—more like five hours to a commuter hub way outside the City and then another hour-plus by train to downtown. Sarah and I used to do it that way. New York might be the best place in the world to visit, but only if you can leave).

Is "studio" a universal term, or just here in the US of A? It means a one-room apartment. With a bathroom and kitchen, but you sleep and live in the same room. I lived in a studio apartment in D.C. for most of the '80s. It started out at $315 a month and the rent more than doubled in the time I lived there. It also had a little entryway and a small dressing room. Anyway, if you want one of those studio apartments—the ones above that cost $775k—good news: they only need 10% down. It's your lucky day.

I'll tell you what. If I buy a $775,000 studio apartment, it had better come with a masseuse for twenty minutes every evening and free sushi delivered for dinner, that's all I can say.

Mike

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Featured Comments from:

Robert Roaldi: "Whoa. You have to want to live there something fierce. Years ago in another life, my company sent me to the NYC office for a day's meetings. I met a guy who lived in Pennsylvania and commuted to NYC every day. From home he drove to a train station that took him to a station in NJ, from which he switched to another commuter line that crossed the river into NYC (Penn station maybe?), then took the subway to the office. It was a 3.5 hour commute each way, every day, except when the weather was bad and it took longer. He only saw his kids on weekends."

Not THAT Ross Cameron: "Yes, we have studios Down Under. Whether by importation of the term, or other reason, I know not.

"I managed to avoid living in one. However for a while I commuted from Sydney to Melbourne on a regular basis for work. My employer used to find the cheapest last minute accommodation available, so I got to see a mix of semi-decent to absolutely dire places to stay. That includes one ‘studio’ that was basically a slightly decorated concrete box. Shower / toilet was a nook created in one corner, with kitchenette in another. Moving around the room involved shuffling around the bed. There was a window, but it faced onto the concrete wall of the next building a few meters away. The studio was only 1st or 2nd floor, and permanently in shadow of the high-rise buildings in the area, reinforcing the vibes. Yes, it was basically a place to sleep and do one’s morning ablutions. Thankfully the next place I stayed was an apartment, and I managed to talk to my employer and the apartment manager about staying at that place for the rest of the gig, and a few others. Still, a first world problem, on many levels."

Alan Whiting: In the UK, it's called a 'bedsit.' Since you're a contemporary of mine, you probably have in the back of your mind somewhere the line from the Moody Blues' 'Nights in White Satin:' 'Bedsitter people look back and lament/another day's useless energy spent.'"

Roger Bradbury: "Often called a studio flat here in England, too, but used to be called a bedsit. I lived in one which only got direct sunlight into the bedsitting room on two or three days a year. It got so little daylight that I needed to have the light on nearly every day, and on the ground floor that meant no privacy as anyone passing by could see in. It was horrible, but I have a bungalow now which is very good; the morning sun comes into the bedroom and kitchen, the evening sun into the living room; ideal."

Mike replies: Sounds very pleasant. In my current house, sunlight makes all the difference: on gray days it's rather somber and drab indoors, but when the sun shines it's like a different world, the visual equivalent of a warm Summer breeze.

Comments

[Jeff]

Seems a bargain in NYC

https://www.castle-avenue.com/average-manhattan-new-york-apartment-prices.html

[John]

It’s gotten absolutely crazy here (here, because I’m in NYC for a month). Add to that the cost increases for eating out and groceries. Living in this city has become a luxury you must really desire, which I find I don’t. Not even sure it’s still a luxury, as the city doesn’t excite me like it used to.

[Arg]

When I lived in such an apartment in Johannesburg’s CBD in the early 1980s, it was called a bachelor’s flat. My new wife and I slept on its single bed. Rent was $100 per month.

[J D Ramsey]

Mike - C'mon man. Like this is news? This hasn't change in the last 25 years. Gotten even worse? Maybe. But the money people just keep encroaching on everyone else in NYC. Disappointing? Yes. But old news? For certain.