How Would You Move To Another City In The 70/80s?

I'm writing a story where two young friends are moving to a new city wanting to have a fresh start as they had, had enough of their hometown. I am very confused to how they would move as they would know no-one in the city, not have many belongings and it would be 5 hours away.

QUESTIONS THAT I WOULD LIKE ANSWERED:

• How would they go looking for a home? Would they go through newspaper advertisements or is there any other way to look?
• How long would they have to work for to earn money to go or should they just go?
• What accommodation should they stay at?
• How long would it take to find a home?
• Should they stay in a motel or have a place to live when looking for jobs?
• Would it be possible for them to just go or should they save up

I would appreciate more information that would be relevant
xx

 

I can't help with most of those questions, but I can say this—and it applies more if by city you mean a residential area—the suburbs—rather than a metropolitan center (downtown area). When I was a kid in the 60's and a new family moved in on our street or near it, we would get dressed up in our Sunday best and go knock on their door to welcome them to the neighborhood, foodstuffs in hand. My mom would cook a bunch of stuff and each of us would carry something, a casserole in a glass dish with foil over it, a cake, some kind of greenbean dish or something, maybe a couple bottles of wine (one of which got opened immediately). We'd sit and talk for an hour or two, get to know them all by name and maybe have some new friends if there were kids our age. This was done for us when we moved in as well. In fact, there was a period of a week or so after somebody moved in when this would happen, until just about all the neighbors had welcomed them.

I don't remember exactly when that custom disappeared, but definitely by the 80's, so probably midway through the 70's. After that it was like people would move in and you might never know their names or talk to them. Neighbors became a lot less neighborly and a lot more anonymous.

Edit—Oh, and by the way, I just noticed this is your first post. Welcome! Have some virtual casserole and cake, and let's crack open a little of the vino!

 

I can also say that if it's their first time moving somewhere, their parents or some relative would probably help, though I don't know how they got their information. My mom and aunt were amazing in that regard, as was my grandpa (their dad). They came from a small town where everybody knew everybody, and if you'd mention a town or city nearby they knew a bunch of people who lived there and somehow they knew about the prices of property there, where the good neighborhoods were, and all that kind of stuff. And I mean, they could tell you about individual apartment complexes, whether they're good to live in or not, how expensive they are etc.

I think it was because they'd have long discussions with the people they knew there, and would deliberately ask about these things. That's something I've noticed about older people (than myself)—when they meet people they start asking all the questions about where they grew up, where they work, how much they make, who their parents are, etc. I think that plus newspapers were mainly where they got their information from.

 

A newspaper would help, though they'd need a local paper, which presumably wouldn't be available where they were moving from. Perhaps they could ring up a newspaper in the city they're moving to and ask them to send them a copy.

One option is to move there and stay in a cheap hotel. I remember staying in a bed & breakfast (effectively a cheap hotel) when I moved to another town in the mid 90s, using that as a base to look for a place to rent. Once there, newspapers and estate agents (realtors) were great for looking for somewhere.

Of course, if they want to save money, driving there then sleeping in the vehicle might be an option.

 

To find a real estate office you could stop at a phone booth (a what?!) and check the yellow pages. Phone booths were on many street corners, in front of bars, gas stations and some stores, and you'd find banks of them in bus stations, train stations, airports, and malls if it's the late 70's or 80's. Oh, there were also public phones inside many places, just like a phone booth but without being in a glass box. Hard to remember, but I want to say you could make a call for a quarter, and if the call lasted very long the operator would come on and tell you to drop in more money—a dime or so would buy you a few more minutes.

 

Thank you for the all responses.

I'm also interested in what furniture buying was like as well, was furniture like mattresses, couches, etc.... cheaper than it was back then?

There had to be some accommodations other than hotels that had some furniture left in for people to move in or was everything brought

 

Everything was cheaper back then. Riding the bus was 20 cents when I was a kid, now it's a dollar. But of course, people's pay was way lower too. Minimum wage was around $3.00 an hour then, it's closer to 8 now. And then as now, you cam get an apartment or a house either furnished or unfurnished. But if it was furnished you'd still need to stock the kitchen with your own utensils, pots and pans, dishes, silverware etc. That's a thing again the parents or relatives usually help with, by giving you a bunch of their old stuff they probably had in storage in the basement or the back of the cabinets or something. Or you'd buy used stuff cheap from a Goodwill or Salvation Army store. Of course many people just starting out would have like one skillet, they might use jelly jars for glasses, paper plates, and sleep on a blanket on the floor or on the couch or something. Often you'd start off with little or no furniture and get ahold of what you can as cheap as possible, maybe resorting to having a friend with a truck pick up couches and chairs people were getting rid of. They'd put them in front of their house with a sign saying "Free" or "Take it" just like they do now. The trick is to get it before a big rain hits and ruins it. So you'd end up with a bunch of heavily used, mis-matched furniture with big duct tape patches here and there and stains all over.

If they needed to go without having jobs or with little money, they'd either need to have a friend they could stay with or spend some time in a home for the poor, where they'd have cots set up and you could sleep there for a few weeks without paying. The Salvation Army had places like that, and there were other government-sponsored homes. You'd be staying there with homeless and drug addicts and all kinds of desperate people. I mean, not all of them, but there was a good chance there would be a few. And if you weren't able to find a job there was always the military, which provides free housing and food of course. People living in that kind of situation were highly aware if they didn't find a job quick they were looking at homelessness or jail, with the military as a last resort. And you had to not only find a job but be able to keep it, which means getting mature pretty quickly if you're rebellious or lazy or just don't like to do what you're told. Having to make rent payments or car payments and insurance is often what makes people grow up quick and start to take responsibility seriously. Especially after they lose a car or a home.

Your only piece of furniture for the first year or so might be a raggedy old folding card table you carried home on your back for ten blocks, and your only dishes some cracked chipped plates you found in a dumpster, but you'll end up loving that period of your life better than any other. Every month you might wonder if you're going to make the rent, maybe not eat for a week or 2 in order to do it.

It's when you're learning the important lessons of life and discovering what it takes to make it, discovering who you are.

Another big lesson learned around that age is when you're totally dedicated to doing whatever it takes to make this work, but the friend you moved in with thinks it's time to spend all the money on beer and weed and live the party life until you both need to move back home with your parents. Worse yet if you let them drag you into it knowing better.

 

Thank you very much.

 

I suspect all the questions have been answered. But I have moved about a lot and going back to the late sixties . The first thing you needed was a street atlas . Most big places had a daily evening paper that could be bought about 10 in the morning . There would be adds for work and accommodation. Basic accommodation was always available and cheep . There were some places that named themselves Hotels and had daily or weekly rates . In reality they offered a basic room and not really a hotel. But you could turn up and book in . It gave you a bit of time to look around for something a bit cheaper . There was always unskilled jobs you could apply for and start the next day. You could also go to employment and accommodation agents . Some agents would offer temporary work . You needed to live out of a suitcase, do any job and not mind living in a slummy area in a slum .

 

Mostly, I thought I wouldn't be getting any more responses and that it would be nice to say thank you to the suggestions, but I am happy to hear more.

 

My parents and I moved from Alaska in January, 1974 to Ohio.

• We hired a moving company (big rig). Took 2 weeks for stuff to arrive.
  
• Dad put a shell on the truck, built a makeshift bed for my sister and me, and added a Coleman heater to the back (freaking cold).
  
• He added two more fuel tanks (gas stations were far apart).
• He obtain tire chains.
  
• We pulled a fourteen-foot camper. Some friends pulled a U-Haul trailer.
  
• It took seven days. We were stranded in Canada during a heavy snow storm after jack knifing on the Alaskan Highway (ALCAN).
  
• Cash only. Lots of it.
  
• Stayed with grandparents for a couple of weeks until they could by a house.

 

That's Alaskans for ya! Real pioneer types, know how to fix anything with some duct tape, baling wire and chewing gum. But then, I believe OP is Australian, and they're the same way, or at least were back then. Not sure today's generations are quite as hardy and resourceful. And I mean that across the board—I don't think any of us can do what our parents or grandparents could (except maybe general contractors or the like).

 

@Xoic

I agree. I appreciate the Outback difficulties. I also include those travelers in the mid-western U.S. and Canada.

 

I think this thread is a bit of a microcosm of how people today struggle to imagine life before 'tinterweb (no offence to the OP intended).

 

Oh absolutely, it must be hard to imagine what life was like before things changed so much. It's pretty hard for me to imagine what life must have been like in the 50's and before, and i was born only 2 years after it ended. Even when you've seen a bunch of movies and TV shows, it's just not the same as actually being there and living in those times.

Hell for a story I was working on a while back I had to go back and do research to remember what 1979 was like, were the already microwaves, cable TV and VCR's? And I did live through that, it was a long time ago though and hard to pin down exactly what a particular year was like. To me it seems like all those things suddenly showed up together in 1980, but it wasn't that simple.

 

Thank you all for the replies!

I am aware of how people my age would struggle to understand how life was like back then, but happy to hear everyone's stories and suggestions. I have been looking up everything like crazy to make sure that it would have existed before or when it comes to existence.

Another question tho? Let say the characters are crashing out at a friend's place and they managed to find jobs, how much would the rent have been? And how much money would they have to save up to start finding a house in a lower-income suburb and how long would that take to earn?

 

Found some rent advertisements on Trove, and holy s***! There are a few houses that you could rent under $50 per week, were houses that really cheap to rent back then?

 

There was wide variation in rent across the country, and even across a small city. Your characters may encounter to their surprise what I did as a 21-year-old in 1976: slumlords charge far more for dives than sweet little old landladies charge for beautiful pads in a nice neighborhood. Problem was you had to really work to convince the little old landlady that you were respectable and would be no trouble. I stayed in a cheap motel for a few nights until I found a dive I could rent by the week or month. I stayed there a few weeks bathing with cockroaches while I toured places I found in the classified section of the newspaper. Think Craigslist. You called up the number listed in the classified ad, asked if the apartment was still available, and then made an appointment to look at it. Generally, if you really wanted it, you had better put money down on the spot and fill out the application with references. Then, you waited a day or two to hear if you were acceptable, or more acceptable than the miniskirted girl who toured the apartment with you and also filled out an application. "Hmmm, I wonder if she'd like a room mate."

 

I would add that there were no debit cards. You paid with cash or checks. Most everyone carried a checkbook around. That was a big deal for newcomers, getting an account with a local bank. People didn't like out-of-town checks. It took longer to find out if they were good or bad. So, they might be forced to use cash early on in their new city. You would pay a landlord an application fee of $25 or so. Once accepted, you had to rush the security deposit over to ensure the apartment would not go to someone else. The deposit typically was the equivalent of one month's rent, but it could be more.

 

Rents would vary based on location, including area within a city. But they'd also vary over time. The question asks for 70s/80s, and prices rose a lot from 1970 to 1989, so I suggest you nail down the year and location more. Prices were low then. That's because of inflation, but the flip side of it, and the reason we didn't all live like kings, was that wages were similarly much, much lower than they are today.

 

Yeah, I would avoid dollar amounts altogether. It will only confuse, or trip up, the reader. It won't relate to the present. What does relate are words like: affordable, pricey, high-end, low rent.