Initially developed under a city initiative to provide long-term affordable apartments for middle-class tenants, Starrett City opened in 1974 and was, at the time, not a bad deal. That is, if you believe the folks "interviewed" for this amazingly dated commercial from 1979 promoting sales there, which we wrote about years ago but had forgotten about till Gothamist dug it up today. Who wouldn't be excited about this monolithic complex in East New York, mere miles from JFK? "Big rooms!" "Parquet floors!" "Tennis courts!" Without further ado, to brighten up this dreary day, here are seven seriously awesome things about this ad.
1) The robotic voices of what we're assuming are terrible, terrible actors posing as enthusiastic tenants.
2) The woman who remarks that the complex is lovely because there are "lots of trees" (around :20), while in actuality there are leafless clusters of sticks poking up behind her.
3) The skinny dude doing a somersault off the diving board into the communal pool (:58)?clad in a Speedo.
4) The little promo for a game show called Make Me Laugh right at the beginning of the clip, which features contestants with, you guessed it, awesome facial hair. (It wouldn't be the 70s without that.)
5) The bouffant-sporting lady with a thick Brooklyn accent, who delivers her testimonial at :46.
6) The emcee of the entire televised masterpiece, who sounds like a used-car salesman.
7) Then there's the gent who closes the commercial near the 1:08 mark. Flanked by his wife and infant, he boasts both an incredible accent and a spectacularly groomed mustache.
The development has since been subdivided, refinanced, and renamed Spring Creek Towers. Units are still up for rent, by the way, if anyone's interested.
· Here's The 1979 Commercial For Brooklyn's Starrett City Apartments [Gothamist]
· Starrett City coverage [Curbed]
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