I first came to New York in my twenties, in April 1969, as an office boy near Union Square.

I had no place to stay and around $200 in funds.

People recommended I look for an apartment in the so called East Village. Apartments listed in the Village Voice were renting for sixty dollars a month then, sometimes less. (Sometimes sixty-five.)

Never having lived in an apartment before, let alone a New York apartment, I did not like the idea of a tenement flat with a shared bathroom in the hall and other drawbacks. I found an L shaped studio in Queens for $105 a month.

My salary was eighty dollars a week before taxes. As a rule of thumb, I tried to live on five dollars a day.

To give an idea of how New York City costs have changed since then, here are a few examples.

In 1969

subway: 20 cents

pizza (slice): 20 cents

papaya and banana smoothie: 25 cents

club sandwich (from deli): 65 to 75 cents

coffee (at counter): 15 to 20 cents

beer: 20 cents (in smaller glasses than in pubs today) … as a rule: every third glass was on the house

The New York Times: 20 cents … Sunday Times: 75 cents

movie ticket: $1.75?

weekend restaurant meal with friends (at a relatively cheap neighborhood place): maybe $3.50 per head

Automat cafeteria style meal; 85 cents to a dollar

lunch with fellow workers at an Italian restaurant: $3.00 to $3.50 per customer

Yankees or Mets ticket: forget; probably around three dollars

— Roger W. Smith

   October 2026