If someone is an Art Director for Barneys' windows (as Marie was, although maybe Simon Doonan was doing it even in the 1980s), and the husband is a magazine writer published, I presume, regularly in New York magazine, then they could afford that ground level apartment on the upper upper West side (not above 96th, but still upper West). It looked like about 700 square feet plus small outdoor space. Believable for the jobs they had in the 1980s.
Fifteen years later, a magazine writer couldn't live decently in prime Manhattan on the salary they'd make for magazines, but in the 1980s a magazine writer could make high five or low six figures, a well known and in-demand art director high five figures (Barneys was a prestige gig -it was a gig Marie mentioned to Harry at Cafe Luxembourg) and they could do it. Rents and purchase prices were not as obscene as now. Jess is more legit, but if we say Marie is about 33 or so, she had to have an in from her parents or somewhere to be designing the windows she was doing then. These things are never emphasized when NY types are profiled, but connections and trust funds play a role.
I know a nice young woman, very kind, who did not like her job at a big law firm as an associate. She hunted for a non-profit spot, and after a year, found one. I am positive her mom used her connections to get it for her, because it has some fun and glamour to it, and her mother is connected to here and beyond. If this were the movies, that young woman would diligently put out her resume and finally get this nice job. But in real life? NO WAY in real life without a connection.
Sally was a journalist at the NY Daily News and Harry was a political consultant. I believe Sally's apartment (which she kept after Joe moved out, and was probably rent controlled), but Harry's not so much. Harry had a pretty glamorous space - maybe dial it down a little. I knew people back then with real jobs - lawyers, writers, professors - who had very nice spaces which would never ever be accessible to them now. I didn't live anywhere fancy at first, but did go to nice restaurants, clubs, I shopped, etc. It was fake "privilege" because we did that stuff, but where we lived was terrible. But then my husband and I did buy an apartment in Brooklyn which we found after searching all over and working OT for the down payment. It was the cheapest, on Prospect Park, a very dull, old people neighborhood stuck in the 1960s, and the only one that was configured like a real apartment (vestibule, hallway, reasonable square footage). FF ten years and the price blew up and the neighborhood became invaded. We could never buy it now.
Now, not just their apartments, but the JOBS of the characters in When Harry Met Sally would require connections and trust funds. Sally couldn't be this kid out of Chicago U, attending, I presume, NYU School of Journalism, going into massive debt (that's what would happen today) but getting hired for a NYC newspaper right out of Journo school. No way.
Harry? Political consultants, if you're young, also require an in from your parents or a connection. But, in the 1980s, it was still possible with some energy and luck.
In SATC, Carrie was the only one with an absurdly unrealistic life style. Even if her apartment were rent controlled (and the real one is downtown, not on the UES), she spent quadruple her rent on shoes and designer clothes, for writing one column a week in the lowest paying paper in NYC (The Village Voice). The others had privileged lifestyles, but circumstances that were believable. Charlotte was very obviously a trust fund baby. She worked in an art gallery in her 20s. That pays *beep* but she dressed well and lived nicely. TRUST FUND. Miranda was a lawyer with a decent - not spectacular - decent - one bedroom in Manhattan, and a once a week housekeeper. Totally realistic in the 1990s-2000s. Samantha was older and obviously got into P.R. in the 1970s or eighties, so she was ahead of the intern stage that paid nothing. She had nonstop energy, worked her ass off, and didn't live that high. I remember her apartments were nice, but not that big.
If you made low six figures (or even high five figures) in the 1980s you could buy a place. Not prime real estate, but within the desirable grid (below 96th). Combine the salaries of two people with that income, you'd be fine. Today people with that income move to Brooklyn (and are being priced out of Brooklyn or lived in super cramped spaces) or New Jersey.
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