Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
Let's Talk About Peggy's UES Apartment Hunt On <em>Mad Men</em>
By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 29, 2013
Modified Apr 29, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 29, 2013
Modified Apr 29, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
We'll get to unpacking all of last night's Mad Men episode, but right now let's talk about Peggy's hunt for an apartment.
Her first look was at a 2-bedroom on the Upper East Side—in Yorkville, to be exact, at 84th and York. The real estate agent notes that the apartment is "1290-square-feet... let's say 1300 with the balcony. 1.5 bathrooms—that means it's a full bath and a powder room." The 11th floor pad also included 2 bedrooms and 1 parking spot (with the option for a 2nd)... all for $28,000. While inflation brings that number up to $182,000 in modern day money, the actual cost of a Manhattan apartment has obviously skyrocketed—listings for 2-bedrooms in the same area now are around the $750,000 range.
In 1968, the current Mad Men year, New York magazine documented the "mad scramble for affordable apartments" in a September cover story titled The Great Apartment Grope. While Peggy seemed pretty chill about her apartment hunt, the article details the extreme lengths people were going to to secure one at the time—“Surgeons have postponed operations, housewives have gone back to work, hippies have cut their hair and families have destroyed their pets" (!!!!).
Real estate agents in New York magazine, 1968
The article also mentions that "little hope is held out for the middle-income ($15-20,000 a year) people, career girls who do not want roommates and couples with more than one drawer-sized infant.” Last year Peggy was offered $19,000 for the job she accepted at Cutler, Gleason and Chaough, and presumably still makes around that now (though the apartment would be shared with her boyfriend, she is noted as being the breadwinner who would be paying for it).
Yorkville (via Lost City)
In the episode, Peggy tells the realtor, "It's a little farther east than I wanted. You can see the highway from the corner." And in typical realtor speak, she is told, "You can see the river. And who needs Central Park when you can smell the ocean and the Hungarian bakeries." She also promises Peggy, "Believe me when they finish the 2nd Avenue subway this apartment will quadruple in value." LOL STILL WAITING. What the realtor didn't mention was that Frank Sinatra was living in the area at the time—on East72nd Street, also with a view of the FDR. And years earlier the area had already started attracting young women, and was dubbed the “swingiest” square mile in Manhattan by one magazine:
Spoiler alert: In the end, Peggy doesn't get the place after her agent puts in a low offer, counting on the riots uptown to bring the price down. So where will she look next? Her boyfriend Abe wants to live in the West 80s, saying, "It's still run down, so it's sort of cheap. Just get some lumber, a coat of paint... people are doing it." The area at the time, as we noted last year, was more dangerous and less desirable than the UES.
Tagged
apartment
mad men
real estate
ues
yorkville
original
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
'You Can See Everything' … as long as you go to Staten Island
Nathan Fielder’s Elizabeth Holmes documentary has been selling out across Manhattan and Brooklyn. Tickets to see the film, however, are very much available in other boroughs.
By
Sonia Rao
Published Oct 27, 2026
Inside the hidden chamber that controls Lincoln Center's magnificent fountain
Gothamist went behind the scenes to learn how the NYC landmark keeps its majestic waters flowing.
By
Sonia Rao
Arts & Entertainment
Inside the hidden chamber that controls Lincoln Center's magnificent fountain
Gothamist went behind the scenes to learn how the NYC landmark keeps its majestic waters flowing.
By
Sonia Rao
In the algorithm age, NYC college radio DJs are still broadcasting the funky stuff
By
James Ramsay
A Queens prop shop shutters, bunnies find a home uptown, and more openings and closings
By
Hannah Frishberg
A new film invites you to eavesdrop on one of the greatest conversations in NYC history
By
Sonia Rao
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .