Mad Men ’s last season premiere on April 5 , and throughout the years that it has been on the airwave , viewers have seen the character adjudicate on various fashion trends , cultural movements ( think " I ’m Peggy Olson . I require to fume some ganja " ? ) , and New York City neighborhood . But consider how much NYC has changed over the past 50 years , how realistic would theMad Menlifestyle be today ?
Peggy Olson ’s Upper West Side prima donna is now in a lovely residential neighbourhood ; the St. Mark ’s Place flophouse where Betty Draper looks for a runaway teen is probably now a eating place frequent by NYU kids . But what about Don and Megan Draper ’s swanky Park Avenue launching pad ?
on-line actual estate siteTruliaused Census data to watch the potential remuneration advertizement man Don Draper would have made at Sterling , Cooper & Partners as a creative director — about $ 45,000 — and the median monetary value of a home in sixties New York City , which would have been about $ 75,000 . Though the cost of Don and Megan ’s flat ( place at the fictional 783 Park Avenue ) is n’t revealed on the show , it ’s not a reaching to think that it would be on the high oddment . With its cool deep-set living room , multiple ( and wide ) bedrooms , and a patio overlooking the city — not to advert being fit out with swoon - worthy mid - century innovative furniture — it ’s essentially a ’ 60 fanatic ’s aspiration flat .
So how does that translate to 2015 ? Trulia says that a creative director ’s salary these days averages about $ 155,000 per class , which would put the Drapers in the market place to spend about $ 355,000 on a nursing home . But apartments on the Upper East Side , particularly in the arena around 73rd Street and Park Avenue , where the Draper apartment is locate , are basically off - limits to someone with that salary . ( Even when you take Megan ’s on - and - off acting career into chronicle . )
harmonise to Trulia ’s data , the intermediate apartment price in the area is $ 16.5 million , and several apartments have sold for well upwards of that terms ; 740 Park Avenue , just a few pulley-block from where the Drapers supposedly lived , islousy with schmancy apartment : Vera Wangpaid $ 23.1 millionfor an flat there in 2007 , and hedge fund coach Israel Englander pay a platter - breaking$71.3 millionfor a front corner duplex in 2014 ( the seller was only ask for $ 48 million ) .
Of naturally , notallapartments in the area are extravagant billionaire havens , but you get the approximation : if you ’re not at least a millionaire , it ’s hard to make it on Park Avenue .
So where could the Drapers live instead ? Trulia recommends moving out of the Upper East Side and looking for pads in the Financial District , where astudioapartment can be had for $ 450,000 , or even Midtown ( which , let ’s face it , would make for a much easier commute for Don follow his next two - martini lunch ) .
