Why even try to survive in the city? Everybody knows the green fields of Nature is where it's at. So why stick it out where the air is sooty, the noise clattering and there's a distinct possibility of getting robbed, arrested or worse?
Because it's exciting, for one reason. Because you have friends not yet as free (even) as you. Because, if you know how, you can live very well for very little in the biggest and best of the world's cities. And because there's nothing to keep you from having both a city and a country home.
Maybe you'll think I'm lucky. I've got a small, quiet penthouse-like apartment on New York's Lower Eastside (also erroneously referred to as "the East Village").
My pad has a roof to sit on, a courtyard kept breakfast plate-clean by our hardworking superintendent and all the necessities: Stove, refrigerator, etc. Everything but utilities are covered by a monthly rent of only $50. The three good-sized rooms are in a small rear building - like a carriagehouse - so I don't even hear most traffic except for the music of an occasional horntoot.
Before I moved in, I invested a few hundred in improvements: Burlapped walls, acoustic-tiled ceilings, wood louver shades and interior doors, a paint job and pull-chain Japanese lights with big globes (a big mistake, they're too fragile and expensive). Even put in a dimmer switch to rest these tired-of-typing eyes and hired some local guys to do the work.
My friends were amazed. "You mean you're spending $1200 to fix up your apartment?"
"Sure," I said, "other people spend $40,000 on a house and work forever to pay for it. Why shouldn't I spend $1200 on a place I expect to live in at least two years?"
Well, I've spent almost five happy creative poetry-producing years here now and I couldn't be happier.
But what about you . . . especially if you're coming into town for the first time and you're coming in broke?
OK. Arriving in the city without money is not a good idea and I don't recommend it. But it is possible to arrive with very little and to survive, especially in the towns (San Francisco, Atlanta, Austin, etc.) that have somewhat organized hip communities.
The key to the help you can get on arrival is the underground paper in each city. Most services center around the hipper churches, some of which provide temporary food and shelter, referral services, temporary jobs, medical services, etc.
If you've got enough bread to carry you for a few days, your first order of business will be to, as they say in New York, "get located".
New York is great. It's got strong rent control laws (unlike other big cities) but rents in the East Village - still the best cheap place to live - are going up anyway. Presently, there is a general apartment shortage in town as landlords withhold empty places in an effort to force raises through the city council. (Can't happen. Everyone knows there would be riots.)
It is common to have to deal through an agent (the fee is set by law at one month's rent) or to have to pay "key money" to a tenant in order to get a good apartment. Particularly if the apartment is low-rent and most especially if the tenant has improved the place. Under the law, key money is illegal and it is important that you get a signed lease before paying it.
Ads that say "furniture available" mean the apartment will be sold to the highest bidder. Sums of hundreds of dollars are not unusual in these transactions. The best deal, particularly if you have little money, is to get the cheapest good place you can find and fix it up.
As soon as you move into your good, cheap place, spend a few dollars improving its security or you're liable to find everything you own stolen the first time you're out. If it's any consolation, the rate of violent crime is lower on the Lower East Side than elsewhere in the city but - Oh, those second story men!
Once you have your lease file an application with the City's Department of Buildings to make sure the correct rent is charged. Don't let the weird New York rent rates confuse you, either. Controlled rents almost always end in an odd number since increases are pegged at 15% every two years unless the tenant remains. Obviously, under this system, a tenant who stays put enjoys relatively less and less costly rentals as the years roll on.
Report all violations (substandard conditions in your apartment or building) to the Buildings Department unless the landlord not only promises to have them repaired, but does so immediately. The City, slow as it works, will require the landlord to comply with regulations.
By the way, living in the slums of the Lower East Side can be a real trip if you've ever dreamed of going to Spain or Puerto Rico. When I moved into my place, I used to be awakened every morning (about 11 a.m.) by the trilling of a canary one of my Spanish-speaking neighbors down the courtyard kept. As the years passed, it was the melancholy voices of housewives singing in a manner reminiscent of the Portuguese fado that woke me. For a short time it was the exceptional singing of a man (who turned out to be a professional performer in Spanish stage shows) serenading his children on the fire escape near my window.
The Puerto Rican people are very friendly and optimistic in spite of their poor lives and they are excellent neighbors. Anyone moving into the area should be prepared to learn a few words in Spanish to get to know them.
Once you're located in an inexpensive apartment, you'll find many other ways to live on little in New York City. The local supermarkets have special bins of damaged cans (be careful, don't buy cans which are rusted or unsealed or which have bulgy tops).
Search out the day-old bread stores (there's one on 9th St. near 1st Ave.) They have excellent buys on broken, quality cookies and good pastry.
If you smoke, roll your own cigarettes. The Tobacco Center on St. Mark's Place near Tompkins Park has inexpensive rollers and a large selection of good tobaccos.
Walk as much as possible (transportation fares are up and the exercise is good for you and, anyway, where have you got to go once you've seen uptown a few times?)
Fix up your apartment and cook and entertain at home.
Forget about the expensive commercial entertainment spots and "first run" movies. This may sound hard to believe, but I save a lot of money because, after years of seeing all the great films, I don't need to go much anymore. By "great" I mean the movie classics that are always so available in a city like New York. That's the main reason for living here, of course: The great diversity of things to see and do; the exposure to the smorgasbord of our culture.
This exposure doesn't take much money. The museums are free. The libraries are free. There are plenty of places to meet fellow artists-to-be that are free or inexpensive.
New York probably has more museums than any other city and many of them are free. The Metropolitan, alone, is so big you'll need a year to see it all. And there's the Museum of Natural History where Murph the Surf and friends picked up a.diamond bigger than the Ritz. Or how about the Morgan library of famous manuscripts? There's uncounted other collections of exciting things around town.
The Main Library on 42nd Street has plenty of good branches within easy walking distance of the East Village. They're all free. If the branch you're visiting doesn't have the book you want, the librarian can use the central locator to find it for you. You can then pick it up or, for a few cents, have it delivered to your branch on the next truck.
There are still good coffeehouses where a night of talk, chess, sharing dreams and creative arguing can cost you 25 cents or less. The De je vu, on East 10th Street between Avenues A and B, is one and it stays open all night.
The zoo in Central Park is free and the big one in the Bronx is free on certain days.
Cooper Union, a college on the gateway to the East Side, has lectures, dance programs, concerts and other activities three nights a week during the winter. All free.
The now-famous avant-garde La Mama, just one of the newer off-off-broadway showcases for talent, puts on a new play every week. The Judson Church in the West Village and St. Marks on the East Side also present such offerings. All for contributions, but reservations may be necessary.
The YMCA shows great movie classics for about $1.00.
Poetry readings are held somewhere every night of the week, usually for whatever you can contribute.
If you need any more ideas, the Village Voice lists a whole page every week and hardly anything-concerts, recitals, lectures, poetry readings, dance groups, discussions-costs more than a dollar. If all else fails, the Staten Island Ferry is still only a nickel and peoplewatching on 5th Avenue or St. Marks Place is free!
Now that your basic living and entertainment expenses are pared down, you may not care to work full-time. Is it possible to find part-time employment in New York? Easiest thing in the world! Even if you have "no skills" at all.
New York is swarming with temporary help agencies that always need typists and file clerks. If you can't type, tell `em you have experience filing. After all, any idiot - even me - can file stuff. Experience!??
Friends of mine pick up bigger chunks of money in less time by working on non-union piers unloading ships. For these jobs, though, you've got to be strong and know your way around.
You can also make good money with little effort and time as a nude model if you're well-endowed physically. The underground papers are full of ads for both guys and gals in this category. Seems amazing there should be so many painters and photographers these days ... but who am I to ask questions?
If worse comes to worse and you absolutely can't find a job anywhere, it is still possible to get on the welfare rolls in New York and other cities although the latest reports from the west coast indicate a general clamp-down and pruning of welfare out that way.
Actually, you should feel no guilt about accepting welfare, especially if you're a creative person using the money to survive as you learn your art in order to make a greater contribution to Society later. I tell young people that welfare is their own Guggenheim Grant (since the real Guggenheims go only to the well known and connected . . . people who don't need them anyway).
It's really a shame that more creative people don't take advantage of welfare funds and free food rather than get ground to gristle in the corporate monsters. We think nothing of allowing our government to grant billions of dollars to a corporation in subsidies and grants for the development of another overkill war machine . . . yet consider it almost a crime for the same government to guarantee a minimum existence to a single citizen while he develops his human potential - an infinitely more valuable commodity.
Getting on welfare is easy if you've ever been in a mental hospital . . . or you can simply say that your parents won't help you and you desperately need funds. Talk to the Welfare Rights people or people of your age who are receiving checks and they'll help you. Many workers in the Welfare Department are quite sympathetic to young artists (even so-called "hippies"). A friend of mine who is a welfare investigator once said to me, "I am beginning to realize the only thing that separates me from my clients is my title." Unfortunately.
Just a few years ago I really hit bottom. I was broke and starving. I was too disgusted with "the system" and too depressed to get a job. I could have gotten welfare easily but I didn't know that.
I survived that bleak period - and survived fairly well - by cutting my expenses to the bone, rolling my own cigarettes and scrambling for corn the markets threw away. And never did corn taste more succulent! There is great strength to be gained by overcoming such adversity and not "copping out".
Those lean days are now past for me. On about $150 a month, I live very well in high Bohemian (a Bohemian is somebody who gives up the "necessities" - on occasion - to afford the "luxuries" . . . like Life, Liberty and the Pursuit and Conquest of Happiness) fashion.
What I am saying is that it is possible to live freely and very comfortably in the city. City living has many advantages over the country: The great diversity of things to do; intellectual stimulation counterbalanced by opportunity for solitude; the freedom that city life's anonymity offers; the sense of privacy and toleration of differences which - while far from Utopia - is considerably more advanced than you'll find in the American small town of my acquaintance.
I realize that I've just scratched the
surface with this article and that you
may have further questions. If so, I'll
be happy to answer them to the best
of my ability (I enjoy corresponding).
Just write to me at 258 East 4 St.,
New York, N.Y. 10009. Please
enclose a stamped, self-addressed
envelope.
Tom McNamara
I' m now planning - with some friends - to establish a country retreat. But I don't think I'll ever quit the city entirely. Not unless things get much worse than they are now. For me, survival in the city is definitely worth the effort!
GEORGE METESKY wrote the following three or four years ago and he says it's all FREE of copyright and may be reprinted by anyone at any time. So be it.
FREE is specific to New York City andmore specifically - to the New York City of three or four years ago. But it's techniques may easily be adapted to any large city at any time.
FREE
FREE VEGETABLES Hunt's Point Market, Hunt's Point Avenue and 138th Street. Have to go by car or truck between 6-9 A.M. but well worth it. You can get enough vegetables to last your commune a week. Lettuce, squash, carrots, cantaloupe, grapefruit, melons, even artichokes and mushrooms. Just tell them you want to feed some people free and it's yours. All crated and everything. Hunt's Point is the free people's heaven.
FREE MEAT AND POULTRY The closest slaughterhouse area is in the far West Village, west of Hudson Street and south of 14th Street. Get a letter from Rev. Allen of St. Mark's on the Bowerie, Second Avenue and 10th Street, saying you need some meat for a church sponsored meal. Bring a car or truck. There is some law that if the meat touches the ground or floor they have to give it away. So if you know how to trip a meat truck, by all means.
FREE FRESH FISH The Fish Market is located on Fulton Street and South Street under the East River Drive overpass. You have to get there between 6-9 A.M. but it is well worth it. The fishermen always have hundreds of pounds of fish that they have to throw away if they don't sell. Mackerel, halibut, cod, catfish, and more. You can have as much as you can cart away.
FREE BREAD AND ROLLS Rapaports on Second Avenue between 5th and 6th streets will give you all the free bread and rolls you can carry. You have to get there by 7 A.M. in order to get the stuff. It's a day old, but still very good. If you want them absolutely fresh, put them in an oven to which you have added a pan of water (to avoid drying them out), and warm them for a few minutes. Most bakeries will give you day old stuff if you give them a half-way decent sob story. A&P stores clean their vegetable bins every day at 9 A.M. They always throw out cartons of very good vegetables. Tell them you want to feed your rabbits.
FREE COOKING LESSONS (plus you get to eat the meal) are sponsored by the New York Department of Markets, 137 Centre Street, Thursday mornings. Call CA 65653 for more information.
CATERING SERVICES Check the Yellow Pages. You can visit them on a Saturday, Sunday afternoon or Monday morning. They always have stuff left over. Invest 10 cents in one of the Jewish Dailies and check out the addresses of the local synagogues and their schedule of bar mitzvahs, weddings, and testimonial dinners. Show up at the back of the place about three hours after it is scheduled to start. There is always left-over food. If you want the food served to you out front you naturally have to disguise yourself to look straight. Remarks such as "I'm Marvin's brother" or "Gee, Dorothy looks marvelous" are great. Lines like "Betty doesn't look pregnant" are frowned upon.
Large East Side bars are fantastically easy touches. The best time is 5 P.M. Take a half-empty glass of booze from an empty table and use it as a prop. Just walk around sampling the hors d'oeuvres. Once you find your favorite, stick to it. You can soon become a regular. They won't mind your loading up on free food because they consider you one of the crowd. Little do they realize that you are a super freeloader. All Longchamps are good. Max's Kansas City at Park Avenue South and 16th Street doesn't even mind it if you freeload when you are hungry and an advantage here is that you can wear any kind of clothes. Max features fried chicken wings, swedish meatballs and ravioli.
THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS is located at 26 Second Avenue. Every morning at 7 A.M. a delicious cereal breakfast is served free along with chanting and dancing. Also 12 Noon more food and chanting and on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7 P.M. again food and chanting. Then it's all day Sunday in Central Park Sheepmeadow (generally) for still more chanting (sans food). Hari Krishna is the freest high going if you can get into it and dig cereal and, of course, more chanting.
FREE TEA AND COOKIES In a very nice setting at the Tea Center, 16 East 56th Street. 10-11 A.M. and 2-4 P.M. Monday to Friday.
THE CATHOLIC WORKER, 181 Chrystie Street, will feed you any time but you have to pray as you do in the various Salvation Army stations. Heavy wino scene is the Men's Temporary Shelter on 8 East 3rd Street. You can get free room and/or meals here if you are over 21 but it's worse than jail or Bellevue. It is a definite last resort only. The freest meal of all is Tuesdays at 5 P.M. inside or in front of St. Mark's Church on the Bowerie, Second Avenue at 10th Street. A few yippie-diggers serve up a meal ranging from Lion Meat to Guppy Chowder to Cantaloupe Salad. They are currently looking for a free truck to help them collect the food and free souls dedicated to extending the free food concept.
LIBERATION NEWS SERVICE At 3064 Broadway and 121st Street will give you up-to-the-minute coverage of movement news both national and local, as well as a more accurate picture of what's going on. Call 865-1360. By the way, what is going on?
FREE LAND Write to Green Revolution, c/o School of Living, Freeland, Maryland, for their free newspaper with news about rural land available in the United States and the progress of various communities. The best available free land is in Canada. You can get a free listing by writing to the Department of Land and Forests, Parliament Building, Quebec City, Canada. Also write to the Geographical Branch, Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, Parliament Building, Quebec City, Canada. Lynn Burrows, c/o Communications Group, 2630 Point Grey Rd, Vancouver, 8, British Columbia, Canada, will give you the best in formation on setting up a community in Canada.
FREE SECURITY For this trick you need some money to begin with. Deposit it in a bank and return in a few weeks telling them you lost your bank book. They give you a card to fill out and sign and in a week you will receive another. Now, withdraw your money, leaving you with your original money and a bank book showing a balance. You can use this as identification, to prevent vagrancy busts traveling, as collateral for bail, or for opening a charge account at a store.
FREE BIRTH CONTROL INFORMATION AND DEVICES Clergy Consultation Abortion, call 477-0034 and you will get a recorded announcement giving you the names of clergymen who you can call and get birth control information including abortion contacts.
DIAL-A-DEMONSTRATION 924-6315 to find out about anti-war rallies and demonstrations.
DIAL-A-SATELLITE TR 3-0404 to find out schedules of satellites.
NERVOUS can be dialed for the time.
WEATHER REPORT WE 6-1212.
DIAL-A-PRAYER CL 6-4200. God is a long distance call.
If you want someone to talk you out of jumping out of a window call IN 23322.
If you have nothing to do for a few minutes, call the Pentagon (collect) and ask for Colonel John Masters of the Inter-Communication Center. Ask him how the war's going. (202) LI 56700.
If you want the latest news information you can call the wire services: AP is 757-1111 or UPI is MU 20400.
FREE GAS If you have a car and need some gas late at night you can get a gallon and then some by emptying the hoses from the pumps into your tank. There is always a fair amount of surplus gas left when the pumps are shut off.
THE NEW YORK TIMES RESEARCH BUREAU 229 West 43rd Street, LA 41000 will research news questions that pertain to the past three months if you believe there was a past three months.
FREE lessons in a variety of skills such as plumbing, electricity, jewelry making, construction and woodworking are provided by the Mechanics Institute, 20 West 44th Street. Call or write them well in advance for a schedule. You must sign up early for lessons as they try to maintain small courses. MU 7-4279.
FREE RENT There are many abandoned buildings that are still habitable especially if you know someone with electrical skills who, with a minimum of effort, can supply you with free electricity. You can be busted for criminal trespassing but many people are getting away with it. If you are already in an apartment, eviction proceedings in New York take about six months even if you don't pay rent.
FREE COLLEGE If you want to go to college free send away for the schedule of courses at the college of your choice. Pick your courses and walk into the designated classrooms. In some smaller classes this might be a problem but in large classes, of which there are hundreds in New York, there is no problem. If you need books for the course, write to the publisher telling him you are a lecturer at some school and are considering using the book in your course.
If you look relatively straight you can sneak into conventions and get all kinds of free drinks, snacks, and samples. Call the New York Convention Bureau, 90 East 42nd Street,
MU 7-1300 for information. You can also get free tickets to theatre events here at 9 A.M.
FREE MOVIES New York Historical Society, Central Park West and 77th Street, Hollywood movies every Saturday afternoon. Call TR 3-3400 for schedule.
Metropolitan Museum of Art Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street, Art films Wednesdays at 2:30 P.M. Call TR 95500 for schedule.
New York University has a very good free movie program as well as poetry lectures, and theatre presentations. Call the Program Director's Office, 5982026 for schedule.
FREE PARK EVENTS All kinds of events in the Parks are free. Call 755-4100 for a recorded announcement of week's events.
FREE PETS-ASPCA; 441 East 92nd Street and York Avenue. TR6-7700. Dogs, cats, some birds and other pets. Tell them you're from out of town if you want a dog and you will not have to pay the $5.00 license fee. Have them inspect and inoculate the pet, which they do free of charge.
FREE CARS If you want to travel a long distance the auto transportation agencies are a great deal. Look in the Yellow Pages under Automobile Transportation and Trucking. You must be over 21 and have a valid driver's license. Call them up and tell them when and where you want to go and they will tell you if they have a car. They give you the car and a tank of gas free. You pay the rest. Go to pick up the car alone, then get some people who also want to go to help with expenses. You can make San Francisco for about $80 in tolls and gas in four days without pushing. Usually you have the car for longer and can make a whole thing out of it. You must look "straight" when you go to the agency.
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