19 ms·
She lived in a New York hotel for more than 40 years, but her life was a mystery
- blamazon 3y agoThe Hart Island public cemetery, at the end of the article, is a morbidly interesting tangent: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hart_Island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hart_Island
- colonwqbang 3y agoI wonder how a rent-stabilised hotel room works and how they came to be. Maybe it's obvious to an American person what it means?
- Cthulhu_ 3y agoI did find this wiki page on rent regulation in NY, it mentions something about rent control and living continuously in a place since a certain cutoff date: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent_regulation_in_New_York https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent_regulation_in_New_York edit: > Rent stabilization sets maximum rates for annual rent increases and, as with rent control, entitles tenants to receive required services from their landlords along with lease renewals. The rent guidelines board meets every year to determine how much the landlord can charge. Violations may cause a tenant's rent to be lowered. Basically a cap on rent increases, looks like.
- chimeracoder 3y ago> I did find this wiki page on rent regulation in NY, it mentions something about rent control and living continuously in a place since a certain cutoff date: That's rent control, not rent stabilization. There is no cutoff date for rent stabilization. Different units became stabilized for a variety of different reasons over the years.
- toothrot 3y agoThe article briefly mentions the definition, but not in detail. They're part of Single Room Occupancy (SRO) programs for affordable housing in big cities. SROs have fallen out of favor with no good alternative, but they've been a lifeline for friends of mine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_room_occupancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_room_occupancy
- blamazon 3y agoA little known fact is that hotels constructed in New York City "before July 1, 1969 which cost less than $88 per week or $350 per month on May 31, 1968" are subject to a law that states that guests are entitled to become a permanent tenant by requesting a lease of six months or more, and hotels are generally barred from preventing such people from doing such that. There's someone who has been trying to claim ownership through this mechanism of the New Yorker hotel across from Penn Station, with surprising amounts of success: https://viewfromthewing.com/new-york-city-transfers-hotel-deed-to-guest-who-wouldnt-leave-guest-tries-to-take-out-mortgage/ https://viewfromthewing.com/new-york-city-transfers-hotel-de...
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Arrath 3y agoWhat a wild read.
- tecleandor 3y agoWell, and I see the owner of that hotel is the Unification Church (a.k.a. "The Moonies"). Now that's another wild read if you have some time to kill. One son of the founder is the owner of Kahr Arms (the arms manufacturer), and cofounded with his brother the "Rod of Iron Ministries", a weird gun centered church where they do AR-15 rituals and stuff... Both churches are involved in heavy lgtb hate, anti communism (although seems like they sent some money to North Korea in the 90s) and some other stuff...
- rafram 3y agoFrom the article: > At one time, there were many affordable places where a single person like Hasegawa could live in New York City. Many hotels offered accommodations consisting of a single bed in a cubicle, or a private room with a shared kitchen and bathroom. > In the mid-20th century there were close to 200,000 units designated as SROs — single room occupancy. But by the 1970s, they had gained a reputation as hotbeds for criminal activity and the city began to shut them down. So it was common at that time for hotels to offer long-term apartment rentals, but no longer.
- morkalork 3y agoIt's kind of maddening that cities cracked down on SROs because of crime and then complain about all the homeless people and crime they have on the streets. What did they think was going to happen? That residents were going to move into proper apartments? They probably would have already if they could, so now the problems are worse as a result.
- red-iron-pine 3y agoputs em on the street and now they're someone else's problem. a lot of them would then filter out to other areas, generally warmer ones, or areas that were easy to police. these measures are, on a long scale, what drove a lot of homeless and almost-homeless to the south and west. NYC winters will kill you, but it's not hard to scrounge up a bus ticket to SC
- Someone 3y ago> it's not hard to scrounge up a bus ticket to SC From NYC, you don’t need to pay for a ticket. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_homeless_relocation_programs_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_homeless_relocation_pr...: “For several decades, various cities and towns in the United States have adopted relocation programs offering homeless people one-way tickets to move elsewhere. Also referred to as "Greyhound therapy", "bus ticket therapy" and "homeless dumping", the practice was historically associated with small towns and rural counties, which had no shelters or other services, sending homeless individuals tickets to the nearest large city. More recently, a nationwide investigation by The Guardian in 2017 found that many homeless relocation programs are offered by cities with high median incomes, helping people move to places with cheaper housing and a lower cost of living, but also fewer economic opportunities. While some individuals welcome assistance to help them relocate, others say that they have felt "targeted" and forced to move, under the threat of arrest by police.” That Guardian article says (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2017/dec/20/bussed-out-america-moves-homeless-people-country-study https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2017/dec/...): “New York appears to have been the first major city to begin a relocation program for homeless people, back in 1987. After the current iteration of the program was relaunched during the tenure of mayor Michael Bloomberg, it ballooned, and its relocation scheme is now far larger than any other in the nation. The city homelessness department budgets $500,000 for it annually. Almost half the approximately 34,000 journeys analyzed by the Guardian originate from New York. In contrast with other relocation initiatives, New York is notable for moving large numbers of families, like the Ortizes.”
- mattficke 3y agoNYC used to have a lot of Single Room Occupancy (SRO) residential hotels that functioned more like cheap apartments. Rent stabilization applies to buildings built before 1974 and kicks in for residents once they’ve been in a place for 6 months. Years ago the city changed the zoning laws to restrict SROs so there aren’t nearly as many as there were in the 80’s but a few have stuck around.
- mapmeld 3y agoEveryone has kinda answered your question about these old practices carrying over. We're seeing the end of the last surviving hotel residents - recently NYT covered the eviction of an 82-year-old, who took over a contract from his aunt https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/08/nyregion/stewart-hotel-long-term-resident-eviction.html?smid=url-share https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/08/nyregion/stewart-hotel-lo... Nikola Tesla famously died in his residential room at the New Yorker Hotel, and I recently learned that after his presidency, Herbert Hoover lived at the Waldolf Astoria for 30 years.
- krmbzds 3y agohttps://archive.is/bP3K7 https://archive.is/bP3K7
- jcrites 3y agoFor what it's worth, I had never heard of a rent-stabilized hotel room either. (American) From some other comments here, it sounds like the accommodations were more of an apartment than a hotel room.
- pyrophane 3y agoOne of the less talked about aspects of rent stabilized apartments is how people become trapped in them. I know people who have been living in rent stabilized apartments in NYC for decades who will never let them go, even though they no longer like the neighborhood or the unit. Of course, it is hard to feel sorry for someone living in a $1,200/mo 1-bedroom in a nice area in Manhattan.
- otoburb 3y ago>>Of course, it is hard to feel sorry for someone living in a $1,200/mo 1-bedroom in a nice area in Manhattan. Right -- that's not a trap; it's a choice.
- porkbeer 3y agoBut what choice could compete with that? It's a hell of a decision to relinquish such a situatuon.
- jeffbee 3y agoBut by this definition any situation that is optimal is "a trap".
- huytersd 3y agoI’m guessing you can’t Airbnb them?
- kristjansson 3y ago
- trollied 3y agoHaving worked in consulting & travelled for 95% of the time, I would not wish living in a hotel on anyone. I think my friends thought my life was glamorous flying all the time & going to different places. Nope.
- ghaff 3y agoMy travel maxed out at about 50% at peak. But that's traveling to generally interesting places and almost never for more than about three weeks at a time. I was mostly fine with that but always had a home base to return to.
- OfSanguineFire 3y agoHotels that allow one to live there permanently, accord what is essentially a private apartment, albeit often with the possibility of convenient meals and housekeeping. In terms of the ability to settle in and feel homey, is not very different from renting some flat from a landlord.
- jareklupinski 3y ago> essentially a private apartment, albeit often with the possibility of convenient meals and housekeeping i think it would be interesting to see more places lean into this. personally, I would gladly give up my apartment's kitchen in exchange for a staffed central building kitchen the chefs there are probably better cooks than me anyway
- ghaff 3y agoI would find eating out all the time to get very old. Even a stovetop and refrigerator would help a lot. I'm fine when I'm traveling--though I like a refrigerator--but I have the advantage of knowing it's not an open-ended thing.
- ska 3y agoLots of these sort of rooms have a kitchenette, with at least a cooktop and small fridge. At least the more modern versions The are bigger also, and sometimes suites (e.g. a separated bedroom). I think some of the older ones had shared kitchens, more like a dorm setup.
- yardie 3y agoOne of my grand-uncles lived in the Park Plaza Hotel. He was a widower, a WWII vet, and loved the city. I was a kid at the time so assumed his lifestyle was closer to "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody" and didn't know what an SRO was. I assumed he was able to afford it on his Army pension, LOL!
- cactusplant7374 3y agoSo there aren’t any details? How did she make money?
- qingcharles 3y agoThis article really leaves you on a cliffhanger :(
- helsinkiandrew 3y agoHart Island (where the occupant was buried) has an interesting history: "The remains of more than one million people are buried on Hart Island, though since the first decade of the 21st century, there are fewer than 1,500 burials a year. Burials on Hart Island include individuals who were not claimed by their families or did not have private funerals; the homeless and the indigent; and mass burials of disease victims." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hart_Island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hart_Island https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hart+Island/ https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hart+Island/
- altgeek 3y agoRarely, there are tours. The dock is on the east side of City Island. Incarcerated NYS/NYC prisoners are conscripted for burial and brush cleanup duty, so you would occasionally see those buses parked at the dock.
- couchand 3y agoThe Hart Island Project has done great work on this. Their website has a map of the potter's fields: https://www.hartisland.net/mobile-map https://www.hartisland.net/mobile-map
- arizen 3y ago"Staying up for days in the Chelsea hotel, Writing 'Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands' for you"
- alberth 3y agoThe hotel was effectively a rent controlled apartment. This story becomes way less interesting, and way more common (NYC), once that info is understood.
- pugworthy 3y agoI think the main topic of the story was the person, not the details of the rental/payment agreement.