The Rent Portion of CPI Is a Reminder of Its Impressive Pointlessness

In his 2020 memoir, director Barry Sonnenfeld (Get Shorty, Addams Family Values, Men In Black) described finding a place to live while a film student at NYU in 1975. One of his classmates lived a few blocks from campus across from Tompkins Park. About the area, Sonnenfeld recalled that it “was like living across the street from Vietnam, though not as safe.”

The classmate alerted Sonnenfeld to the availability of a one-bedroom in his building for $238/month. When Sonnenfeld’s mother heard of her son’s living plans, “she wept for days.”