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Depression II-Era NYC Finds New Hero in West Village
By
Billy Parker
Published Mar 15, 2009
Modified Mar 15, 2009
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By
Billy Parker
Published Mar 15, 2009
Modified Mar 15, 2009
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Mickey Rourke recently said, "Sometimes when a man's alone, all you got is your dog." The same probably holds true for the man that the Post checks in with who "lives in a van down by the river, literally." Jimmy Tarangelo is able to sustain himself in Manhattan along with his four dogs inside the 20-foot-long Boise Cascade Aristocrat he picked up used for $700 and is attached to the Ford Econoline he uses for storage. He does it all on the $750/a month he takes in via a Social Security disability check for depression. His $7,000 in parking tickets averages out to $600/a month for keeping the van on Clarkson Street near the Hudson in the West Village. He watches DVDs checked out of the library and scores free meals inside a strip joint. Tarangelo says, "I don't like paying rent. I had a house once. I don't mind owning something." As for his biggest problem—finding a toilet when he needs one—we hope that Tarangelo knows he's one printout away from a pee pee dance cure.
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Billy Parker
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