Impromptu (Thursday Doors)
Why is it I keep
traveling back to the past?
What is it I’m looking for?
Rain glooming the day–
buzzer rings—clouds lift, I smile–
we had all the time in the world.
Fifty years ago, after the dorm at FIT, this was my second apartment in the city. Located in the West Village, it was a fifth floor walk up with a laundromat on the first floor. When someone buzzed my apartment, I would toss the keys down to them, as there was no way to buzz them in. We had no computers, no cell phones, not even answering machines for our house phones. If they happened to be in your neighborhood, friends would just buzz your apartment to see if you were home. And I was (mostly) always happy to see them.
The West Village is quite upscale now, but evidently the building is still a walk up. There’s a first floor apartment available to rent for $5800/month, looking much the same but with a better kitchen. My roommates and I paid $300.
I was nearby for a memorial service last winter, and couldn’t resist visiting the corner on my way home. I only lived there for a year, but it was an eventful one.
My poem is a mondo for Colleen at Tanka Tuesday using the kigo word traveling.
And don’t forget to check out the rest of the doors at Thursday Doors, hosted by Dan Antion.
80 responses to “Impromptu (Thursday Doors)”
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- - September 19, 2025
method two madness 
It clearly brough back special memories.
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Thanks Esther. I never seem to realize what I’m doing until well after I’ve done it. Certainly I didn’t appreciate it enough.
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Oh, that first stanza…those are questions I ask myself all the time.
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Perhaps is just part of growing older…
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Yeah, I haven’t quite grappled with the fact that I’m in my 60s yet. 😉
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Late 60s was a tipping point for me in many ways, so enjoy it!
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🩵
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Love the sense of rain you captured in “Rain glooming the day.”
Wonderful verses, Kerfe. One’s past is perhaps the one timeline one knows with at least some level of certainty. I suspect there is comfort, for me, in that at some level of awareness.
A grand building, clearly built to last. Love the photo of the door and the walk-up steps. I like how your photos present an angle that draws the viewer into the frame, Kerfe. Well done!
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Thanks Suzette. It is a well designed building; I never noticed it when I lived there.
There is comfort in the past, but also mystery I think.
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You are welcome Kerfe. Thank you for sharing New York through your lens. Much appreciated.
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Wow! rent is untouchable in NYC! My goodness. The past is like fly paper- it is not always what you want to catch that actually gets stuck there is it?
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Thanks Violet. It’s interesting–rent was actually reasonable during Covid (I moved twice during that time)–but it’s doubled since then. Maybe if the well off flee to their country houses or Florida again like they are threatening to do if Mamdani gets elected the city will become more affordable for the rest of us.
The past is definitely slippery and sticky at the same time.
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The poem is lovely. Thanks for this glimpse into your past. Hugs.
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Thanks Teagan. It seems a very long time ago.
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Life was so much easier and sweeter before cell phones and social media. Yet, I ponder how we would share our poetry together without those devices. If they took away all social media but left WP for creativity, I would celebrate. I enjoyed your poem, Kerfe. I always enjoy the connections you make to the world. ☮️
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Thanks Colleen. I’m trying to figure out a balance, but it’s not easy.
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Ha! I remember when I had all the time in the world. Who knew it would go so fast?
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It’s a mystery D. Thanks!
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I love your poem, Kerfe. My husband mentioned that something cost 10 cents before is now 99 cents. I missed the simple life we had. People were friendly. Nobody rushed anyone!
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Thanks Miriam–it’s a bit disconcerting to compare prices between then and now.
I miss it too. I’m not sure the convenience makes up for what we lost.
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your old life sounds like a good one…..I can relate…..prices in London are utterly rediculous. I couldn’t possibly rent/buy my place to day…. I think many of us are looking back….great post. Thank you. x
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Thanks Janet. We can’t go back, but maybe we can revive some of the good things.
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As always, you hit the nail on the head…..Thank you…:)
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I don’t think we need the fast pace to accomplish more, Kerfe. It creates more stress anyway. We don’t stop to smell the flowers like we did.
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Thanks Miriam. You are right. The world is way too stressful now.
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Your poem spoke directly to me!
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Thanks Liz. It seems we all have those questions.
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You’re welcome, Kerfe.
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That’s a nice looking building. The idea of a five-floor walk-up isn’t very attractive though.
I’ve gone back to see the apartments I lived in during and after college. There’s a certain comfort from reaffirming those memories. I liked reading about the way you handled visitors. It’s pretty funny when you think about it today. $300 to $5,800 isn’t funny but it’s not surprising.
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Thanks Dan. I think I didn’t appreciate the architecture back then, but looking at it now, I can see its merits. I have this idea that eventually I will visit every place I’ve lived here and photograph the door. Of course I can’t remember all the addresses, but I have a general idea of where each one is.
As I was telling another commenter, during Covid rents were actually pretty reasonable for awhile. I don’t know where people are getting the money to pay these rents or what the solution to it is.
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I love the story and the building dropping the keys down, Kerfe. It’s sure changed and you were scrappy. Love that. On to the poem and doors! 💕
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Thanks Cindy. We are all more flexible about things when we are young I think. I still haven’t figured out how the new intercom in my current building works, but at least there’s a camera so I can see who is buzzing.
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You are so very right, Kerfe! TG for cameras! 🎥😜
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Throwing the keys down to let someone in? That’s what I call old school. Thanks for the words to read; I loved your poem, in particular.
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Thanks Edward. Easier than going down (and then climbing back up) to let them in.
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nice poem and doors
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Thanks Tanja.
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This post is heartwarming, Kerfe. Beautiful memories.
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Thanks Robbie. It was a totally different world before technology took us over.
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Great pictures.
Yes, the old times were quite uncomfortable, but we compensated for it with a romantic attitude.
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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So true! Thanks!
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I like going back and looking at the places I lived, too, Kerfe. It’s like time traveling, and the sights/sites bring up a mixed bag of memories, mostly good, a few interesting.
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Thanks Diana. We just need to be careful not too spend too long there…
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🙂
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I think as we get older, it’s natural to look back. I like that you shared this place and your experience living there. I’ve only seen the throwing out keys in movies. 🙂
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Thanks Merril. My youth often seems like something from an old movie to me.
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You’re welcome, Kerfe. I understand!
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Cool building that looks a little rough around the edges. Mind-boggling they want that much for rent with, “Additional outdoor space available for an added $1300/month.” Perfect music for the poem.
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I can’t even begin to image where that outdoor space is–the roof? Economics is beyond me in all ways.
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Memories that never die. Great building and video Kerfe 😊
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Thanks Kamal.
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This was a delightful voyage to another time and another Kerfe! I wish we could wind back the clock to when $300 was all we needed for an apartment… I would also go back to when I could climb 5 flights of stairs! Best thing when time traveling is to pick and choose the bits that were good for us, of course. 🙂
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That’s true Sun. I live on the 8th floor now and when the elevator isn’t working it’s a long and breathless climb up. And yet it was nothing back then. As to rents…(sigh)
I know my memory is selective, and perhaps even a bit embellished at times.
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Interesting post, K. kept me mesmerized. No buzzers to buzz them in… but I love how you got round to doing things. Thanks for sharing. Lovely interesting post.
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Thanks Selma. We always adapt.
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There are some places perhaps it is better not to return to. We were in NJ for a wedding years ago and our first appartment together was raised for a gas station, our home that the owner was kind enough to give us a tour… had also changed its footprint. Hard to imagine I’ve been in my current home longer than any other. And I can’t imagine not living here.
I remember going to the Waverly movie theatre in the Village… I think that is gone now too.
Living in NYC was a good time then in the late 1960’s.
The only constant is ‘change’.
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That’s true Jules. It’s never the same when we return.
I lived in one building (in three different apartments) for the longest, in my 30s. But no place has ever felt like a permanent home. But then I moved a lot as a child as well. It makes you restless I think.
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I lost quite a bit of childhood possesions through moves. I think I’ve made up for them for all the various collections I have now 😉
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$5800 a month?? Be still, my heart! This is so timely because I too have been revisiting the first place I lived when I went out into the world. What a time of life we lived there! Yes, there was a sense of “all the time in the world.” I can’t help laughing at the image of tossing keys five floors down, but I can’t laugh at the thought of climbing five floors up! I loved your question “what is it I’m looking for?” What indeed.
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Thanks Maureen. Sometimes we need to see where we’ve been to figure out where it is we’re going. I could not make that climb these days–we never appreciate our youth when we have it.
And as one of our perennial mayoral candidates says during every campaign–“The rents are too damn high”.
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I agree a lot with that: we have to know where we’ve been to see where we’re going. I’d say that any candidate for anything is safe with a slogan like that!
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He’s always correct, both politically and literally.
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Always welcome Kerfe 😊
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Great poem, Kerfe!
Yvette M Calleiro 🙂
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
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Thanks Yvette.
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We sure did have a different time scale back then, for me tech has simply added the burden of immediacy and thus pressure, you mondo is evocative for me.
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Thanks Paul. I agree about the pressure. And so much distraction!
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My goodness, who can afford that?! That is crazy. Can’t believe how expensive New York is. What an interesting trip down memory lane. I love that you had to throw the keys out of the window because there was no intercom!
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It is crazy, isn’t it? Hopefully the rich (and the children they support by paying their rent) will retreat to their country houses when Mamdani is elected mayor, as they are threatening to do, and like they did during Covid. The rents went way down during those years.
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Hi K, I enjoyed your post (read it via email the other day) and oh wow – that rent difference is huge
$5800 per month compared to $300 back then –
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It is crazy. Thanks Yvette.
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I sometimes have to release regret because more than 20 years ago we almost bought some property in an area that was way cheap in 2001 – and now has skyrocketed – but I release any regret – because we make decisions in real time – and I also know that having a lot of money can “funk” some things up – and so I embrace what we chose to do (or not do) ha
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That is indeed something to remember: we make decisions in real time. It’s so easy to Monday morning quarterback, especially 20 years down the road.
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yes – make decisions in real time !
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I enjoyed your poem Kerfe and your trip down memory lane! I remember the good old days when we seemed like we had all the time in the world… how time flies!
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It does! Thanks Jill.
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I think the days of reasonable rents have vanished. But you never know. 💗
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I hope we can do something to make things more affordable.
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We shall see. We have fully emerged into the Aquarian Age, so it’s power to the people all the way! And though it likely will take time, I am sure that’s the desire of most of us! ♥️
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