Posted on 05/09/2018 10:14:47 PM PDT by jeannineinsd
When Patricia O’Grady moved into the top floor of a Greenwich Village walk-up in 1955, she and her three roommates helped sweep the hallway in exchange for a discounted rent of $16 a month.
The unit was bare, no more than floor and walls, so the girls, all aspiring actresses, slowly improved it themselves, installing a sink and other modest amenities. While her roommates moved on, O’Grady never left the unit, and for that she received the ultimate New York City prize: unbelievably affordable rent.
Until March, when O’Grady, 84, was fatally struck by a car just a few feet from her home, she paid $28.43 a month for the apartment. “I consulted with an attorney to find out if this rent was possible,” recalls Adam Pomerantz, who bought O’Grady’s building, which also houses his business, Murray’s Bagels, in 2002.
It was legit, he found, but using a rent-control-formula worksheet, he was able to increase her rent a whopping $1.98 — it had previously been $26.45.
O’Grady was always early with her payments, Pomerantz says, in part because, despite the fact that his tenants can hand in their rent downstairs at the bagel shop, O’Grady insisted on mailing her check.
“She was the only one who walked to the corner to mail it,” says Pomerantz, “She was very quick paying her $28.” n addition to possibly being the cheapest unit in Greenwich Village, the apartment may also be New York City’s last cold-water flat: it had neither heat nor hot water. There were, however, two working fireplaces.
- snip-
With O’Grady gone, Pomerantz will be gutting and renovating the apartment, renting it out as a two-bedroom in the $5,000 range.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Why the bogus link?
Note the Hillary bumper sticker.
LOL! I see the Hillary! sticker on the right.
She was living the life! Woo-hoo!
Sorry, my mistake. Here is the correct link.
https://nypost.com/2018/05/09/how-a-late-actress-paid-only-28-in-rent-for-an-nyc-apartment/
Does anyone know how could I contact a moderator to request the link be corrected?
Looks like a real dump and there’s no space.
Based on the photographs that accompany the article, she was over paying!
Freaking dump!
$5,000 a month for a 2 bedroom apartment?! We have a brand new 3 bedroom, 2 bath home in a Dallas/Ft Worth suburb for a total of $1,100 a month!
Good god. She lived like an animal. My dog literally lives a far better life.
And rent control should have ended on VJ day. Hard to believe that NYC is seen as some kind of home of American culture and actually looks down on normal America.
I guess she never made it as an actress, or anything else.
Dump is right. Makes Ted Kazinsky’s shack look “homey”.
“and for that she received the ultimate New York City prize:”
Yes...”prize”. That’s just the word I was looking for. /s
I guarantee you, a year from now, that place will look completely different. All those shabby, shaky metal walls will be pulled out. New floors and resurfaced ceilings. The windows may be replaced with smaller versions.
It has to be brought up to code with safety standards, water and heat equipped as well.
I guess living a spartan existence was just fine with the late actress. She was able to stay in NYC for a little more than the cost of two Chinese Dinners plus the egg rolls.
My guess is she never asked the landlord for much of anything, keeping a very low profile.
Yeah, struck by a car...wink wink.
“My guess is she never asked the landlord for much of anything, keeping a very low profile.”
My guess is she was a couple cards short of a full deck. It’s one thing holding on to a *decent* rent-controlled apartment. Her place was barely one step above roughing it in Central Park.
That’s about all it’s worth from what I can see. Even renovated, $5,000 a month is sick.
She probably paid 30k a year to be deloused.
September 12, 1933 - March 12, 2018Obituary for Patricia Clare O'Grady
Patricia Clare O'Grady, an obscure Off-Broadway actress, named publicly by esteemed director, Herbert Berghoff, one of the best actresses in the United States, died on March 12.
She was 84 years of age. She died from injuries after being hit by a car near her home in Greenwich Village, New York City, according to her sister, Roberta O'Grady. Ms. O'Grady had a 50 year career in the theater, starting with a lead in an original high school musical in 1950 and ending in 2000 with The Dora Project, a play at the HB Studio on the later life of Dora Maar, one of the mistresses of Pablo Picasso.
In 1955, two weeks after graduating from UC Berkeley, she arrived in New York City and got her first paying job in a children's theater. She next joined a workshop on Chekov plays directed by Eva LaGallienne at the White Barn Theater in Westport, CT., where she played Masha in The Seagull and Irina in The Three Sisters. She was a finalist for admission to the Actors' Studio and was accepted into Uta Hagen's acting class, where she studied for the next 12 years. Late in 1955, she appeared in her first Off-Broadway plays, Shadow of a Gunman and The Apollo of Bellac, In 1956, '57 and '58, she performed with Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival as the third witch in Macbeth; Duchess of York in Richard III and Audrey in As You Like It.
She next was cast in the Off-Broadway production of Playboy of the Western World, presented by the Irish Players, with whom she appeared in two more productions, The Tinker's Wedding and Riders to the Sea , on tour to Boston and Chicago. Next followed a Broadway production of Macbeth, staring Jason Robards in the title role and directed by Jose Quintero. Again she was cast as one of the witches, but, sadly, the play never came to Broadway after trying out in Cambridge, MA. Her next job was with the Playwrights Horizon production of Santa Anita'42, regarding a Japanese Internment Camp at the beginning of World War II.
In summer stock, she appeared at the Gateway Theater in Somers Point, New Jersey, as Viola in Twelfth Night and as Tracy Lord in The Philadelphia Story.
In late 1959, she returned to the HB Studio where she appeared in over 20 productions, mainly directed by Mr. Berghoff for the HB Playwrights Foundation. She also appeared on TV soap operas, Another World and As the World Turns, and the TV special, The Best of Families, and in the feature films, Next Stoop Greenwich Village and An Unmarried Woman, directed by Paul Masursky; Taxi Driver directed by Martin Scorcese and Arizona Dream, directed by Cannes Film Festival winner, Emir Kustericas.
Ms. O'Grady often said that she \"made a life in the theater without making a living in it,\" (A quote not original with her) and this was made possible by her Village apartment where she lived for over 60 years and paid under $30 per month rent! A friend once dubbed it a ' dump with character', and as primitive as it was, it enabled her to do exactly what she wanted to do.
The only non-acting jobs she ever had were modeling bookings for fashion illustrators which enabled her to pay for years of dance classes at the Joffrey Ballet School and with legendary choreographer, Anna Sokolow, as well as Master teachers Wilson Morelli and Jocelyn Lorenz.
Ms O'Grady was born in Oakland, California on September 12, 1933 to Dr. H. W. O'Grady and Ethel Stone O'Grady. She is survived by her sister, Roberta O'Grady, of Alameda, California. Her partner of 16 years, summer stock producer and Director, David Fulford, predeceased her in 2009. There will be no funeral services. Contributions in her memory may be sent to the HB Playwrights Foundation, 120 Bank St., New York City, NY 10014, and the Joffrey Ballet School, 434 Avenue of the Americas, New York City, NY 10011.Patricia O'Grady passed away in New York City, California. The obituary was featured in San Francisco Chronicle on March 20, 2018."
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/patricia-o'grady-obituary?pid=188507617&view=guestbook
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