Small price to pay: NYers' love for tiny apartments

NY Post ^ | Dec. 13, 2009 | ANGELA MONTEFINISE

[lowbridge]

They do their dishes in the shower, sit sideways on the toilet and need to watch their weight just to fit into their bathrooms.

But these cramped New Yorkers wouldn't have it any other way.

A week after The Post told the story of Zaarath and Christopher Prokop and their 175-square-foot micro-studio on Sunday, other New Yorkers lined up to share their tales of living small, including a 55-square-foot apartment in Hell's Kitchen and a 90-square-foot home on the Upper West Side.

"To me, it's all about location," said Eddie Rabon, 24, who lives in a microscopic Hell's Kitchen abode. "I'm in an amazing neighborhood, and the money I save on rent alone lets me really enjoy New York for what it is. My apartment is a place to hang my hat and catch a few hours of sleep. That's it."

[lowbridge]

(a pic at the link)

[Brugmansian]

Bet they are environmentalists. They breed and live in cramped quarters.

[Gaffer]

A population in a constant state of transience just one step up from an Obama cardboard box over a steam grate.

It is no wonder these urban indoorsmen and women voted for him in massive numbers. They have nothing of value except their own desires (which seem to be centered on location and ability to communally congress with one another).

Maybe we can make them feel at home and give them a tiny berth of a freighter out of the country.

[Daisyjane69]

Thanks for posting that!

Must be something wrong with me. I actually like being able to turn around when I walk in the door of my place.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

They breed and live in cramped quarters.

Like roaches and mice.

[DemforBush]

I’ve never felt the need for a mansion, but man, I don’t think I could do those places. My beat up old tool shed is bigger than a couple of those places!

Then again, as much as I love visiting NYC from time to time, I’m not exactly itching to move there, so it’s probably just as well.

[dcwusmc]

I love my 2700 square foot house that my wife and I fit into so well... AND the location’s good, too!!!

[Yaelle]

Trailers of Manhattan

[mewzilla]

Human ant farms.

[SamAdams76]

Well when I was single and in my 20s, I would not have minded this setup at all if the trade-off was living in the big city. I'd spend my days in the parks, bookstores and libraries (when I wasn't working) and my evenings at the nightclubs. All I needed back then was a warm place to catch a few hours sleep.

Having been in the Marines where I had to share an open squadbay with about 80 other Marines, a private "jail cell" apartment in Manhattan would seem the lap of luxury.

Now that I'm married with teenage kids, I have a 2,800+ sq ft house in the suburbs but I like to get away from the noise - so I setup a tiny nook in the corner of the top floor where I get a great view of the woods behind my house and a quiet place to read - or surf Free Republic in peace.

[Bertha Fanation]

Advice: Find a skinny wife.

[hal ogen]

Good for them. I hope more people move there. That leaves more space for me. Now...if the main effect of their cramped living spaces would be to make them not vote...that would be something!

[MarkL]

I used to live in NY (but not the city - Yonkers, and I went to school in Stony Brook), and the housing prices are outrageous. Of course, the further from NYC you live, the more reasonable the prices become, and it's not unusual for people to commute more than 2 hours each way on a train every day for work, in order to find decent housing but work in the city.

There's no way I could live in a prison cell (let's face it, that's the size of these "apartments") like that and want to spend any time at home. I guess for young people who only come home to change clothes and sleep, it would be OK. Maybe I'm just too much of a "home-body."

But housing is so crazy there... My sister's a Realtor in Hoboken, just across the river from NYC, and she tells me that it's not unusual for a studio apartment condo with no parking (you apply for a permit from the city to park on the street) sells for upwards of $400,000. It's just nuts!

Mark

[RU88]

They’re nuts.

[Gorzaloon]

Glorious Heroes of lowered expectations.

What ugly, pointless, mean miserable lives.

All this for the priviledge of living in an old city.

[Right Wing Assault]

“But now I love it. It’s cozy,” she said of the 12-by-7-foot place, which rents for just over $700 a month.

Such a deal. When the enviros find out people can live in a place like this, they will have the UN mandate we all do the same.

You must break your 2500 square foot place into 30 or so apartments.

[gthog61]

and Yankees call Southerners stupid

[peggybac]

If I were young and wanted to live in NYC, the place would be great. Work during the day and out every night, it’s a perfect apartment since the rent is so low (for NY). I wouldn’t disconnect my cable though - one thing I would have to have no matter how little time I spent at home.

[Zhang Fei]

Bet they are environmentalists. They breed and live in cramped quarters.

They may live and have recreational sex in these quarters, but they certainly don't breed. NYC's population has increased roughly 500K (from 7.9m in 1950 to 8.4m today) in 60 years mainly on the strength of foreign immigration - an increase of less than 7%. Over the same period, Houston's population went from 600K to 2.2m - a 360% increase.

[Oshkalaboomboom]

I bet the designers at Ikea would have a field day in those places.