I don't know a single New Yorker who actually enjoys signing a new lease. You're pretty much signing away yet another year of your life to gentrified NYC and its exorbitant monthly rent. 

Not to mention that moving everywhere else in the country is a walk in the park compared to the uphill battle it is here.

Could you imagine every New Yorker moving on the same day though?

Neither can we. But it really used to be a thing. From colonial times up until WWII, May 1st was the designated "moving day" for the city's residents. 

The tradition came from the Dutch who used to head out for Manhattan on the day annually. At one point, landlords were ordered to let tenants know that their rents were going to increase on February 1st, effective 3 months later on May 1st, 9 a.m.  

You could figure how crazy those May 1st mornings must've been. 

The streets would be filled with "moving vans" aka horse-drawn wagons carrying New Yorkers' belongings as they moved across town. 

[anad]

And you bet your timbs those movers capitalized on the chaos. They would charge $2 per one-horse truckload within two miles and a hefty 50 cents per extra mile. 

Shit got so crazy, that they ended up canceling school on moving day. It's estimated that 1 million New Yorkers participated at the height of moving day. 

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Thankfully, the tradition died at the start of WWII when people couldn't find enough movers. We'll stick to our mid-month move in peace, please and thank you. 

[Feature Image Courtesy 6sqft] [via 6sqft] 

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