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- Coal and Gravel Delivery
- RE: Two ears, etc.
- A little quieter these days
- 1100 2nd Street SW
- Shedshrinkflation
- The Long Shed ...
- Trestle
- Pass to the right
- Who's on Second?
- 2nd story story
- Did they get to eat it?
- Two ears, etc.
- I Miss The Smell
- What is that?
- Sauced
- Whose?
- Mrs. Landis
- The location today
- Not the marrying kind
- No kisses in Lititz
- That plate at the near end of the table --
- Poor kid
- Freedom from Want
- Did Mrs. Landis
- Wait. a. minute. here --
- Mrs. Landis
- Shades of Belushi
- Cranberry ... the condiment and the color
- The old man
- Plumbing?
Photos submitted by Shorpy members!
Printporium
Family Room: 1942
June 1942. "Brooklyn, New York. Red Hook housing development. Mrs. Caputo and her children in the living room of their four-and-a-half room apartment for which they pay $5.35 weekly." Acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Office of War Information. View full size.
The Radio
I'm not sure what make it is, but that set would have been pricey when new. I have a similar one that is a Canadian-made Northern Electric model, and as on this one you can slide two panels shut that cover the speaker and controls.
$400 a month
$5.35 is equivalent to about $100 today. $400 a month for a 4½-room apartment! A real bargain!
In the 1950s
... Ralph & Alice Kramden were paying only $15 a month. Of course they only had two rooms on Chauncey Street in Brooklyn, overlooking a Chinese restaurant.
Not a bright future
Comparing prices in different eras is tricky, but the CPI suggests that 5.94 in 1942 is $110.83 today, which would make the monthly rent on the Caputos' apartment equivalent to about $450. The 2023 rental market shows 2-bedroom apartments in Red Hook Brooklyn going for between $3500 and $5000 a month.
But if this is the Red Hook Houses project constructed in 1938-39, then paying subsidized rent might be the least of problems. Aside from other urban ills, the area is in a flood zone 1 and was inundated by Superstorm Sandy, losing power, water, and telecommunications for months. Various "resiliency and renewal" and "model community" projects have been initiated, with the usual difficulties.
Armchair Antimacassar
Mrs. Caputo appears to be crocheting a doily to complement those under the clock atop the radio and under the lamp. When used on a chairback, doilies are known as "antimacassars" -- so named for the thin Macassar oil hair tonics from Indonesia (then colonial Dutch East Indies) popular from the mid-19th to early 20th century. Menfolk applied the hair tonic so liberally that absorbent pads were required to protect upholstery, and were a staple in Grandma Goober's house.
Goober Pea
4½
I guess they just couldn't afford $5.94 weekly for five full rooms.
1942, June 12
President Roosevelt made a radio appeal in support of the scrap rubber campaign, held because the Japanese had cut off 92 percent of the U.S. rubber supply.
4½ rooms
What exactly is half a room?
[A ro. - Dave]
They're Trouble!
Why has no one noticed that Tribble on the floor!! GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!!
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