Comments on: City of riches

By: Nancy

Nancy — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:27:45 +0000

It wasn’t fancy but I “decorated” it with Indian bedspreads from Pier 49 and Japanese Paper lanterns from Japan Town and thought it was extremely chic (for the times). Most small apartments in SF in the 1960′s cost between $50 – $90 a month but we also didn’t make much money. Still, you could – with a little imagination and willingness to volunteer/ and/ or usher at events – have a great life style which would include opera, symphony, ACT and the ballet. I can’t remember what tickets cost for the Centro Cedar, The Surf or other small theatres but they were not expensive. Afterwards, we would go to Chinatown or North Beach and have a huge meal for less than $5 a person. I never thought I’d look back on the past with such nostalgia.

By: xensen

xensen — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 05:51:01 +0000

$50 a month for an apartment — wow!

By: Nancy

Nancy — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 04:57:51 +0000

Good points in the article, if sobering and somewhat sad; I doubt if very many young people without a trust fund or generous parents could survive here now. I came here in the mid-60′s, managed to go to the Art Institute by working nights. My apartment cost $50 a month and came with a Murphy bed and I felt that I was the richest, most lucky person in the world. We all got cheap seats at the ballet, the symphony and the opera and could see a world class film almost every week at any one of the numerous small theatres around SF. Maybe it’s a sign of age but I think that we aspired to a deeper level of culture than what I see now (but not always – I’m trying to be fair). Now, when I look around the art scene, I see kids who can afford the huge tuition at the Academy of Art or the SFAI, wear expensive clothes, eat out in expensive places and have a life style that my generation of artists would not have imagined. They appear to spend more money on tattoos than I spend on clothes over a five year period. I wonder if a Diebenkorn, Still, Thiebauld, Nieri, Olivera or Joan Brown will emerge from their ranks much less a Ferlengetti.