Long before The Sopranos, or even before True Romance, a 1988 New York Times piece about the transient nature of NYC living featured a 26-year-old James Gandolfini, “whose calling is the theater but whose living comes mostly from bartending and construction,†detailing his system for surviving in the city:
Then there is Jim Gandolfini, who seems to thrive on the apartment-hopping life. Since moving to New York City four years ago, Mr. Gandolfini, 26 years old, has never had his name on a lease, never paid more than $400 a month in rent and never lived in one place more than 10 months. His wanderer’s existence has given him sojourns, some as brief as two months, in Hoboken, N.J.; Astoria, Queens; Clinton and the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and Park Slope and Flatbush in Brooklyn.
â€Moving, to me, is no big deal,†said Mr. Gandolfini, whose calling is the theater but whose living comes mostly from bartending and construction. â€I have a system down. I throw everything in plastic garbage bags and can be situated in my new place in minutes. Without my name on a lease, I’m in and out. I have no responsibilities.â€