There is a new Little Free Library one block away from this spot, which I nominally call “home.” This place has never felt like home. It’s Tom’s Place. Tom is 85 years old, as I recently learned without intending to. I wanted to see if I was spelling his last name right. Even though it would likely not provide an authoritative response I shouted out to the Internet for suggestions. First thing to appear was one of those smarmy people-finder sites with all kinds of Tom’s PII, including his age.

Speaking of this being Tom’s Place and not mine, just for the hell of it I ordered a printout of this apartment’s rent history. If you are in a rent-stabilized or regulated apartment, as am I, you can request this for free from the State of New York Division of Housing and Community Renewal.

I got 8 pages of rental history starting from 1984, when Tom bought the building. I was not expecting any real surprises but I will say I only expected to see a history of what the rents had been over the years. I did not expect the full names of all the previous tenants here to be included.

I thought I knew who the previous two renters here were but it turns out there was another in 1996 who only stayed a year. Then there was the Japanese woman who was still living here when I viewed the place through a broker. Before that, from 1990-1995 the place was occupied by Tom’s son. He was the exact same age as me and, according to Tom, a “picture of health” when he one day dropped dead at his home in Houston. That was probably 2018 or thereabouts.

Prior to Tom’s son occupying this space there is a name of a woman I’ve never seen connected to this place, and I’ve done some research into this apartment via Ancestry and other sources just for the hell of it, imagining I could summon an alumni society of people who lived in this space.

Going back to 1984 there is just a last name. In 1984 this place was “RENT CONTROLLED”, which is different from stabilized. On account of it being rent controlled there was no information recorded for rent between 1984 and 1987. In 1988 this unit became rent-stabilized and was occupied for two years by the aforementioned woman whose name I’d never seen connected to this place.

An interesting little window in time, or something like it. Slightly voyeuristic with the peoples’ names included.  In a similar spirit I was surprised some time ago to find online photos of an apartment I lived in a long time ago, on the Upper East Side. I sometimes feel I never should have left that place but I let it go.

The photos online were from a real estate broker, and revealed that the place I lived in had been renovated a bit and made to look magnificent in the way real estate photos make modest dwellings look like mansions. The place was tiny, but it worked.

At the time I got it the rental market was said to be pretty ridiculous in terms of finding anything available, so it seemed strange that I just walked in to a prime Upper East Side neighborhood and signed a lease the next day.

It turned out the place was slated to be demolished. Just as the wrecking ball was being limbered up the building and most of the others on the block were declared a landmark. You can’t tear those down, not easily at least. They still stand today.

When I got the stabilized lease I now have I was not aware that such leases are, depending who you talk to, coveted. I don’t feel especially covetous of this place. Life itself is a rental, after all. But I can’t complain about the 2-year rent freeze announced yesterday. I will be vigilant,of course. The last time there was a rent freeze a certain somebody tried to increase my rent anyway. I caught him in another lie.

I left a big, bland book of poetry at the new LFL. I had to wait in line. Two women ahead of me were either taking from or tending to the LFL. This new LFL appears to be made of metal, which I noticed because I’d been commenting lately that they should be made of something sturdier than wood and plastic.

I’ve been recording a lot of new audio, in the spirit of flaneur.nyc. Walking and talking, hoping for the best in terms of audio quality. For now it amounts to nothing more than a fresh mountain of raw content for me to wade through, process, edit, and maybe turn into something interesting. In spirit it’s like the next iteration of Payphone Radio, in a city without working payphones. All phones are payphones, of course.

When I was out earlier I’d intended to commence my daily 10k steps routine but it started to rain and while I am no wuss about most weather I hate being in the rain. It seems the rain has stopped and I can now go soak up some 80+ degree Friday.