Moving is always hell. Now imagine if a million fellow New Yorkers were also schlepping their stuff to new living quarters on the same day you were.
Crazy, right? But this was a tradition in New York since colonial times, lasting until World War II.
[Above, an 1859 Harper's illustration captures the confusion]
On February 1 of every year, landlords let tenants know how much their rent increase would be, to take effect three months later.
If they couldn’t afford the new price, tenants had that time to scout new digs within their budget.
With the new rent due May 1, tenants waited until that day to vacate their old premises. Moving van (pulled by horses) companies and warehouse owners jacked prices; getting around the sidewalks was a serious chore.
“Old beds and rickety bedstands, handsome pianos and kitchen furniture, will be chaotically huddled together,” the New York Times reported in 1855.
“Everybody in a hurry, smashing mirrors in his haste, and carefully guarding boot boxes from harm. Sofas that go out sound will go in maimed . . . bedscrews will be lost in the confusion, and many a good piece of furniture badly bruised in consequence.”
The May moving day custom began to die down in the 1920s, as new rent laws gave tenants increased protection, and more Manhattanites decamped for new neighborhoods in the outer boroughs.
Tags: Harpers magazine illustrations, May Day, May First tradition, Moving Day May 1, New York City moving day, New York City traditions, New York in the 19th Century, rent control history
April 18, 2011 at 12:16 am |
This reminds me of how in Japan, April 1 is the traditional 1st day at work. Graduation is mid-March and new jobs start on April 1. (Just like April 1 is the first day of the school year — they have year round schools with a couple week breaks here and there.)
April 18, 2011 at 12:18 am |
Interesting, it sounds so regimented. But I guess it works for them.
April 18, 2011 at 2:07 am |
[...] http://upcoming.current.com/nyblogs?format=rss [...]
April 18, 2011 at 2:19 am |
i know a few tenants i’d like to see move on may 1
April 18, 2011 at 6:15 pm |
[...] One way to make the experience of moving infinitely worse: have everyone in the city move on the sam… And so it once was in New York, with tenants hearing about rent increases on February 1 and moving, if they couldn’t afford the new rent, on May 1. The custom ended in the 1920s, clearing the way for seasonal rental reports. [Ephemeral NY] Monthly Archive [...]
April 18, 2011 at 7:57 pm |
From her Domestic Manners of the Americans, Frances Milton Trollope described the mayhem:
“Another New York custom, which does not seem to have so reasonable a cause, is the changing house once a year. On the 1st of May the city has the appearance of sending off a population flying from the plague, or of a town which had surrendered on condition of carrying away all their goods and chattels. Rich furniture and ragged furniture, carts, waggons, and drays, ropes, canvas, and straw, packers, porters, and draymen, white, yellow, and black, occupy the streets from east to west, from north to south, on this day. Every one I spoke to on the subject complained of this custom as most annoying, but all assured me it was unavoidable, if you inhabit a rented house. More than one of my New York friends have built or bought houses solely to avoide this annual inconvenience.”
Burrows and Wallace, in their Gotham, ascribed the practice to Dutch custom.
April 18, 2011 at 10:16 pm |
[...] When May 1st was moving day in New York City (via Ephemeral New York) Posted on April 18, 2011 by ellenbrenna Moving is always hell. Now imagine if a million fellow New Yorkers were also schlepping their stuff to new living quarters on the same day you were. Crazy, right? But this was a tradition in New York since colonial times, lasting until World War II. [Above, an 1859 Harper's illustration captures the confusion] On February 1 of every year, landlords let tenants know how much their rent increase would be, to take effect three months later. If they … Read More [...]
May 1, 2011 at 4:50 pm |
[...] Enjoy Labor Day in New York City [...]
May 3, 2011 at 10:32 am |
[...] Ephemeral New York recently reminded us, for years May 1 was “moving day” in New York City, when all commercial leases [...]