The Rent-ish Pod

🏙️ Empire State of Mind and Trumps 2025 Tariffs

• Zach and Patrick • Season 1 • Episode 10

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In episode ten of The Rent-ish Pod, Patrick kicks things off with a quick rant about a recent Red Robin experience gone sideways—burgers, confusion, and a dash of fast-food drama.

Then it's time for Proptology, where Zach and Patrick scale the heights of architectural history with a deep dive into the iconic Empire State Building. From construction speed records to lightning strikes, this towering tale has it all.

Next, the hosts break down a major real estate headline: "How Trump’s 2025 Tariffs Are Shaking Up the U.S. Housing Market." They explore how rising costs on imports could affect home construction, pricing, and the broader real estate landscape—even if you’re just a casual market watcher.

🏠 Whether you're here for stories, stats, or skyscrapers, this episode delivers a tall order of Rent-ish goodness.

🎧 Listen now for architecture, economics, and a side of fries.

đź“© Got a real estate horror story or real estate question? Email us at questions@therentishpod.com and join the conversation!

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UNKNOWN:

you

SPEAKER_00:

What's going on, everybody? Welcome to the Rentish Podcast. My name is Zach, and I'm here with my co-host, Patrick. What up? We are your hosts this week and every single week that we do this show, at least for the foreseeable future. But we're a podcast about rental properties and hosted by a couple of guys that work in the real estate industry and kind of know what we're talking about.

SPEAKER_01:

But mostly don't.

SPEAKER_00:

That's right, Patrick. Mostly we don't, which is why you'll have fun listening to us talk to experts, get some actual opinions up in here and some insight, and you'll You're gonna just laugh along at how little we know throughout the process. Sound like fun? Sounds fun. We've been narrowing down this thesis the whole time. I think we're really getting into the groove of teaching people through the power of fun,

SPEAKER_01:

you know? Oh, you're

SPEAKER_00:

talking about... Us, the two of us. Us. Yeah, we're teaching people through the power of fun. We're like a PBS show. Would you agree or no? Yeah, I would say... You're feeling a little bit more educated since the day we started

SPEAKER_01:

this? I do feel like I know more. I guess, yeah, that's a good point. I know more. I'd assume that our listeners know a little bit more. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

We're

SPEAKER_01:

having fun. I hope the listeners are too.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we hope you guys are too. And if you are having fun, show us you're having fun by giving us a rating or sending us a comment. If you go to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, anywhere that podcasts are served, you can rate and review the podcast. Give us a 5-star, give us a 10-star, give us an A+. Prove yourself. Yeah, sure. And send us your questions to questions at therentishpod.com if you want to be featured on the show. And if you have a topic suggestion, a question for us, a question for one of our experts, we would love to talk about it. We'd love to talk to you guys. Again, remember, that's rent-ish. by the way. Tried going to Spotify and typing Rent-ish as all one word the other day, didn't show up. So Rent-ish. It's actually a hyphen,

SPEAKER_01:

Zach.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh,

SPEAKER_01:

hyphen. Yeah, so the dash is the longer one. A hyphen would be the one in that case.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't think I actually knew that difference.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah, hyphen would combine words together. A dash is kind of more like a pause. You know when you say a dash and there's a pause? So

SPEAKER_00:

Rent-ish. Yes. Should we change the name of the pod to Rent-ish? Rent-ish. Welcome to Rent-ish. I'm your host, Zach. Well, we're going to have a great show today. We've got a lot to talk about. We're going to talk about tariffs and how that could be impacting the housing market. We're also going to talk about the Empire State Building. But before we get into all that, Patrick, Red Robin Gate. We've got to talk about it. I'm upset. We've got to talk about it because you're already coming into the pod with a little bit of a down mood. We've got to tell our listeners why or else they're going to be wondering the whole episode. Why is Patrick so sad? He's talking about tariffs and he's sad.

SPEAKER_01:

Why are you sad? It's because of the Red Robin. So there's a Red Robin bottomless burger pass. Burger Burger month. Burger month for the month of May. You actually, of all people, told me about this pass. Yeah, I told you about this. Where you get a burger a day for a month for a pass of$20. You pay for the pass once,$20, and you can use it every day for a month and get a burger and a side.

SPEAKER_00:

And so today at 11 a.m. Eastern time, the passes went live on the Red Rock website. Yes, so I was on top

SPEAKER_01:

of it starting at 10.30.

SPEAKER_00:

And your experience was positive, right?

SPEAKER_01:

It was a very negative experience. I refreshed it. I was on top of it the whole time. I refreshed it as soon as the pass went live. And I got every single... broken website error that you could possibly receive like 502 gateway 503 504 refreshing like everything went haywire and after an hour they post on their site sorry we're all out of passes it's like your site was never working the whole from minute one how did you run out of passes

SPEAKER_00:

so marketing hype up

SPEAKER_01:

I just wanted burgers so

SPEAKER_00:

yeah not insinuating anything about Red Robin Red Robin if you enjoy the Rentish pod feel free to send a burger to questions at the Rentish pod Patrick is very hungry. I

SPEAKER_01:

love a Red Robin burger, and I'm just very disappointed by the outcome of this burger month thing.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I have no doubt that you're going to eat plenty of burgers during National Burger Month.

SPEAKER_01:

I had a burger today for lunch.

SPEAKER_00:

But it just didn't have that same sweet taste. It

SPEAKER_01:

didn't have, no, it didn't have the$20 burger month burger. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, keep us posted. I will. Can't wait to see how burger month shakes out. What do you want me to keep you

SPEAKER_01:

posted on? Me eating a burger not with the burger pass?

SPEAKER_00:

You

SPEAKER_01:

could

SPEAKER_00:

just come on and be like, I ate this really great burger, and I'll be like, okay.

SPEAKER_01:

I'll make sure to

SPEAKER_00:

keep you posted. Or if you're like, I went to this restaurant, it was the best burger I ever had.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it wouldn't be Red Robin, I guess, because I don't have the burger pass.

SPEAKER_00:

tough, Red Robin. You're going to have to email questions at the Rent-A-Spot if you want us to say positive things about you.

SPEAKER_01:

Take this to the email, Red Robin.

SPEAKER_00:

Patrick will be ready for you. Patrick, how about we get this conversation a little bit more lively by talking about tariffs? Let's do it. We're going to do real estate news or real news, whatever we call the segment here. Basically, we're going to talk about tariffs and how that's shaking up the U.S. real estate market. I'm going to read a lot. There's a lot on this page, Patrick. Did you read any of the article?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't I don't even have the article pulled up. Hold on. Or like, yeah, I didn't read

SPEAKER_00:

the article. That answers your question. Okay, just making sure. So today we're gonna be talking about the Trump administration's new tariffs, what they are, why they matter, and how they could affect anyone who's looking to buy, sell, or rent a home in the US. Patrick, it's easy to think, okay, housing market, housing prices, blah, blah, blah, all that stuff. We also have to think about that as renters, so you might hear our perspective about it. And feel free to just chime in and interrupt me. Trump's 2025 tariffs, what's new? What is a tariff? Patrick, what's a tariff? It's a tax

SPEAKER_01:

on American consumers when the company, or when the American companies, when the company imports something from another country, they have to pay a tax on the import. Like the American company has to pay it. And different countries have different tariffs. That's my understanding.

SPEAKER_00:

Is that pretty accurate? Basically, a tax on goods that come into the U.S. from other countries. If the U.S. puts a tariff on steel from China, for example, the steel becomes more expensive for American companies to buy. Which they pass off onto the consumer is generally the thing. Yeah. Generally, the ideology behind this administration's tariffs is to push Americans toward American-made products. What's the right word? Like dissuade people from purchasing foreign goods and instead

SPEAKER_01:

opting for America. For companies to make their goods in the U.S. instead of importing them. That's the hope.

SPEAKER_00:

So basically the announcement in early 2025, the Trump administration announced a 10% tariff on all imports and even higher tariffs up to 60% on goods from China and some other countries. This includes things like steel, aluminum, copper, appliances, and even some electronics. Isn't it way more than 60%

SPEAKER_01:

now?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. Isn't it

SPEAKER_01:

like we're at 350%? Yeah,

SPEAKER_00:

so we're recording this on April 17th. We're just going off the news document that we have here, but there's always a chance that, you know, check your local news source and get educated. Obviously, Patrick and I, we're just real estate noobs here. We did consult our real estate pros. So why does this matter for real estate? Real estate, Patrick.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm going to guess because I actually have no idea. It's because things are more expensive and then everything is interconnected. Yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. You're on the right track. I mean, like what I was saying earlier is like, you know, some of the examples, lumber, steel, appliances. Oh. You know, you kind of take those stuff at face value or whatever. It's like made for big companies, commercial oil, whatever. But then you start thinking about it. Real estate. You have to build a house with materials. You got to have lumber. You got to have steel. You got to have appliances. It's all coming together. Yeah, exactly. So interestingly, fun fact, 22% of home construction materials in the US come from China. And the source on that is the National Association of Home Builders. Super professional. Yeah, super professional. That should be the tagline on the logo. We need to update the logo. Super professional. All right. So here's another real world example. You ready? Yeah. If a builder used to pay about$10,000 for imported steel, a 10% tariff means they now pay$11,000. That extra cost gets passed on to the home buyer. So this is a direct source from our professionals. Again, they're saying that these tariffs will impact the steel, which impacts the property, which then impacts the home buyer. It's going to affect how much that you're paying for a new property.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, if the tariffs keep going up on China, right? Because it's not a 10% tariff right now.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, it was base, if I'm not mistaken, it was a base 10% tariff, and then it was specialized per country Yeah, right. this could impact. We're certainly going to be dealing with this more in this administration. Got some other information here on how tariffs affect the real estate market for the residential real estate. We got A, rising construction costs. Tariffs make imported materials more expensive. For example, again, Pat, if lumber prices go up, it costs more to build a house. The National Association of Home Builders says that a 10% increase in material costs can add$15,000 or more to the price of a new home. That makes sense. That's a hefty little tax to put on there for your house if you're going to buy one. This doesn't affect just new homes also. You have to think renovations, repairs, all that stuff also gets pricier. Fewer new homes. So when it costs more to build, some builders slow down or stop projects entirely. This means fewer new homes are built, making it even harder for buyers to find affordable options, right? So a big positive about the housing market is that as new developments come up, there's more opportunities for you to buy. You're not just buying older properties, but now there's going to be, it's more expensive to build, less homes get built, less available options for people that are looking to buy a house. In 2021, a similar tariff on Canadian lumber added about$36,000 to the price of a new home. We could see similar effects now. All this, again, coming from the National Association of Home Builders. So impact on first-time buyers. If you're buying your first home, higher prices, fewer choices make it tougher to get started. So you might need to save longer or settle for a smaller home. I know that we've talked about it. You're interested in eventually one day getting some sort of investment property or buying a property of your own.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm hoping to. sooner rather than later, but

SPEAKER_00:

we'll see. We'll see how long stuff like this takes hold. But then the other side of the coin, commercial real estate. So higher costs for businesses, obviously office buildings, shopping centers, and apartment complexes also use imported materials. So when costs go up, developers may charge higher rents to cover their expenses. So if it costs a million dollars more to build an apartment complex, the owner might raise rents by about$100 per month to each unit to make up the difference. And that's just

SPEAKER_01:

as a It's not normal in other–

SPEAKER_00:

General inflation. Oh, yeah. It's not general inflation. General rising costs of rent. Generally, like the stats probably say that you can expect your rent to increase every single year. It's just a matter of how rapidly and the amount that it does.

SPEAKER_01:

So this would make it more– this would increase the acceleration of the natural

SPEAKER_00:

income. Yep. And you have to imagine that this kind of thing probably will impact more like apartment complexes or buildings rather than like the mom and pop sort of like apartment places or like houses and stuff like that. But it's going to impact basically– anyone there. If the landlord is not making as much money due to tariffs, the tenant will be paying more to occupy the space. Investment slowdown. So some investors may wait to start new projects because they're unsure how the tariffs will affect their profits, which can slow down the growth of new business and jobs in your area. So again, it's just kind of like an trepidation about what's going to happen. There's a lot of uncertainty in the air. We've even gone back and forth between the two or three of us about what the actual numbers are with the tariffs. There's a lot of... don't know out there. So people are just waiting, playing the waiting game, wait and see what happens. How about luxury real estate? We talked about Koh Samui on the last episode, or at least one of the last episodes about the White Lotus Resorts. We're talking about luxury real estate. So luxury real estate actually might benefit, some people are saying. When the stock market is shaky, wealthy people often look for safer places to put their money. Real estate, especially luxury homes, can seem like a safe bet. In past years, luxury home sales have actually gone up during some times of economic uncertainty. as investors look for stable assets. That's realtor.com. Fascinating, though. That's so not my financial bracket. That's not going to affect me. Well, times are tough. I'm going to go buy a mansion. I don't really have that disposable income. A$5 million home in Miami might attract more buyers from overseas or from Wall Street, even as the rest of the market slows down. Okay. You want to hear some expert insights and predictions?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, I'd love to hear what the professionals have to say. All

SPEAKER_00:

right. We've got a couple here. So these are some pros you might recognize if you're into real estate. These are all new names for me and Patrick, but maybe some of you out there might recognize these folks. Redfin chief economic economist.

SPEAKER_01:

Daryl Fairweather. Speak for yourself on you don't.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, you know who Daryl Fairweather is? No, I have no idea. You had me there for a second. Daryl Fairweather. That's a tough one to say 10 times fast. Quote, tariffs increase the cost of constructing a new home, pushing home prices up. End quote. Great quote, Daryl. That was

SPEAKER_02:

good.

SPEAKER_00:

Didn't we say that like five minutes ago word for word? They could quote us. Yeah, right. Quote the Rentish podcast. National Association of Home Builders. Even a small increase in material costs can add thousands to the price of a new home, making it harder for buyers to afford. And that was, again, the National Association of Home Builders. Man, lots of good quotes here. But what to watch and advice for listeners. So we reached out to our professionals, again, the people that are helping give us great information so that we can give you guys fun, entertaining I feel like that's nothing new, right? I was going

SPEAKER_01:

to

SPEAKER_00:

say, seems very status quo. Yeah. You just have to heighten the, I guess, the urgency factor maybe a little bit on both sides of the spectrum. It's like whether you're buying maybe even be more, you know, urgent on your buying. If you're selling, maybe even be a little bit more decisive with your price. I'll say that. For renters, if building slows down, there could be fewer rental options and higher rents in the future. So start searching early and be prepared to act fast. One of my favorite quotes a friend of mine always told me when I was struggling to find an apartment once when I was in Cincinnati was, the best time to look is when you already have a place. So yeah, just be vigilant out there. And then for investors, watch for changes in both the stock and real estate markets. Luxury properties might perform better than average homes. And just a general tip, stay informed. The real estate market is changing quickly and being up to date can help you make better decisions.

SPEAKER_01:

By the time you listen to this, it might be too late.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, by the time you listen to this, things could have drastically changed. Not to say that there's like a doom and gloom out there or whatever, but it's like you just keep vigilant, keep looking at the latest news and make educated decisions. Go out, consult professionals. ask for advice like look for good resources out there yeah Patrick and I are having a fun time obviously talking to you guys about all this stuff but you need to be aware of how this could impact you sorry you're good Patrick just as I'm talking about like making smart decisions and Patrick just rotated the whole podcast but yeah I think that's a good note to end on do you think we adequately educated and informed our readers

SPEAKER_01:

yeah I would I would say so I mean I felt educated as somebody who this is the first time seeing the article okay like it makes sense i didn't think about these things in terms of real estate though because i'm thinking like a home it's like oh the homes aren't affected it's we're in america all these homes are american but like you know that's not that's the materials come from elsewhere that's a great quote too

SPEAKER_00:

that should be the quote when i was going through the patrick these homes are american they should be american All right. Well, I think we need to change gears and go to one of my favorite segments, Proptology. And this one is hosted by everyone's favorite guy, Patrick, who's going to talk for a little bit because Zach's been talking for a lot.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, hold on. I can't find this article either. Today on Proptology. What? What'd you say? I said you segued me.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

What'd you think I said?

SPEAKER_00:

Nothing. It's just I've never heard anyone say you segwayed

SPEAKER_01:

me. I got segwayed by Zach.

SPEAKER_00:

I got segwayed.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. Today on Proptology, we are talking about the Empire State Building. Ever heard of this building, Zach?

SPEAKER_00:

I have, a few times, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Pretty prominent. Did you read the article?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I certainly did.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm an educated man. I'm a professional. We're a professional podcast.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so Empire State Building, I would say, is one of the most iconic buildings in the world. Certainly one of the most iconic skyscrapers. Maybe the most iconic building in America? Wow.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, so that's a great thought. I think that maybe one of these days that would be a great segment for us to do would be like power ranking the most iconic buildings in America or something so like because we still have a lot of other buildings to talk about on Propetology but it's like you got to think like American buildings man there's so many iconic ones out there it's like do you consider like Golden Gate Bridge the Brooklyn Bridge just buildings themselves

SPEAKER_01:

I feel like a building where it's like okay it has to have a door okay

SPEAKER_00:

that's my definition of a building must have a door alright we'll We'll circle back to that down the road. I think that's a fun idea. Did

SPEAKER_01:

you know it was in New York City?

SPEAKER_00:

I did know it was in New York City. Sorry, I was confused over here. No, you're good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Known for its art deco design, breathtaking views, and starring role in countless movies. I think also just its prominence is like a very early– it's been established almost 100 years at this point. How tall do you think it is? I don't know if you were looking at the article.

SPEAKER_00:

See, this is the problem. You always ask me these questions right as I get to that point in the article. I don't have a guess. Tell me. What is it?

SPEAKER_01:

Illuminate me. 1,454 feet tall. Wow.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's including the antenna. Yeah. Which I think is a funny stat.

SPEAKER_01:

I wonder how tall just the antenna is. I guess I probably could have looked

SPEAKER_00:

that up. I could probably look that

SPEAKER_01:

up. Also, I want to be inclusive here. Hold on. Give me one second. So for our European listeners or anybody else that's not from the U.S., that's 443.1792 meters.

SPEAKER_00:

We're measuring things in meters on this podcast now? Or you're just doing this to be inclusive? I'm being inclusive. Got it. Okay, cool. So yeah, that's fine. That's fine. I was like, if we're starting to do the metric system, I got to change gears. Well,

SPEAKER_01:

as we learned, not all the materials on the Empire State Building would come from America. So other countries are going to be involved. Tariffs could impact the Empire

SPEAKER_00:

State

SPEAKER_01:

Building. 400, I forget what the stat was. But weren't you looking up something?

SPEAKER_00:

I can't find good stats on the antenna. I'm sorry, buddy. I tried. Google was not giving me any good results for just the antenna. Nobody knows. We're going to have to climb up there and measure it ourselves. It's like you got one of those tape measures that's Tell me a little bit about the history of the building, man.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So the idea for the Empire State Building came during a skyscraper race in the late 1920s. Business tycoons were obsessed with outbuilding each other. And after the Chrysler Building took the crown as the tallest building in 1930, the Empire State Team said, hold my blueprint.

SPEAKER_00:

Who came up with that one? That's a great editorial. Yeah, that's a great editorial. Hold my blueprint. I love that. I love that.

SPEAKER_01:

Go ahead. And then just to, the antenna is actually 204 feet. No way. It's that tall? Wow. Okay. Wow. Okay. How many meters does that say? That's 62 meters. Oh, you were on it.

SPEAKER_00:

So it's all these like business tycoons are just, they're literally just playing, what is it? Sim City. They're basically me playing Sim City when I was like 10 years old. It's like, get it tall, make it big. I want the biggest building I can build.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So it started in 1930 after the Chrysler building completed in just 410 days. Wow. So a little over a year, according to my math, which utilized over 3,400 workers, many of whom were Mohawk iron workers known for their fearlessness at heights.

SPEAKER_00:

You ever seen those photos of like the workers like on the... It's

SPEAKER_01:

insane.

SPEAKER_00:

No.

SPEAKER_01:

I could

SPEAKER_00:

never, ever do that. Nope. Like they're just

SPEAKER_01:

sitting on like eating lunch. That's

SPEAKER_00:

the famous photo is like all the guys with like their toolbox lunches or whatever. I'm like looking at that. I'm like, yeah, I have terrible... balance on like one sneeze. Game over. Game over.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, the building opened up in May 1st, 1931 when President Herbert Hoover at the time pressed a button from Washington, D.C. to turn on the lights. What? Which actually isn't true. It was not actually a button that Herbert Hoover pressed. It was just a show. Symbolic. Someone in New York City. Symbolic. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

He hit the button. They turned on the lights, but everyone was like, oh, Herbert Hoover clicked the button and turned on the Empire State Building.

SPEAKER_01:

Really? It was There's just some nameless, faceless guy in New York City that we don't know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I'd love to hear his story. I

SPEAKER_01:

would, too.

SPEAKER_00:

I

SPEAKER_02:

turned on

SPEAKER_00:

the

SPEAKER_01:

lights. It's the real man who turned on the lights. So it opened up in 1931. I don't know if you're much of a history buff, Zach, but the Great Depression was in full swing during that opening. So, yeah, this is funny. Are you ready for this, Zach?

SPEAKER_00:

I'm ready for

SPEAKER_01:

it. It's a good joke. This is funny. So, no, the Great Depression is not funny. Not a funny thing. No. No. No. But as a result of the Great Depression, office buildings didn't really fill up for years because there just weren't the jobs for it. And so the nickname, this is the funny part, was the Empty State Building.

SPEAKER_00:

Ha ha. Ha ha ha ha. Yeah. That's a good one. It was a lot of buildup for that. Should we talk about the building itself? I mean, like, just the aesthetic. I mean, like, here's the thing, though. When you say the words Empire State Building, does anybody not have the immediate just image in their head from years of watching television and movies. It's got to be like... The most

SPEAKER_01:

iconic building in the US, one might say.

SPEAKER_00:

I heard a smart man say that once. Yeah, I did too. 20 minutes ago. Like a majority of... So many movies. I would love to know the trivia fact for how many movies in America take place in New York City. Because it's got to be like an overwhelming majority of them. So many, yeah. But it's like that building is like if you shoot a movie in New York City, one of your shots is that building. And it's like...

SPEAKER_01:

Interestingly enough, so it opened up in 1931. So King Kong the King Kong movie the original yeah 1933 have you seen it yeah I love it I love the like the claymation

SPEAKER_00:

gorilla

SPEAKER_01:

effect

SPEAKER_00:

yeah I really like Jack Black in the movie I think it's really like an understanding I'm

SPEAKER_01:

talking about the original one dude the one from 1933 got him I got him

SPEAKER_00:

keep going keep going just trying to shake off the madness

SPEAKER_01:

anyways yeah so that movie premiered two years later so that movie is really what popularized the building to the mainstream

SPEAKER_00:

I didn't know that

SPEAKER_01:

yeah yeah yeah King Kong in case you haven't seen the movie climbs the Empire State Building I guess you don't have to even have seen the movie to

SPEAKER_00:

know that that scene that is like memed and pop culturized to death like

SPEAKER_01:

yeah

SPEAKER_00:

the Simpsons did anything it's like that's one of those like iconic things that you can see but the building itself I mean like tall Art Deco is another great descriptor it's one of my favorite art style like building styles is like that Art Deco like those sharp edges, very defined, very kind of got that like postmodern kind of look. It's beautiful.

SPEAKER_01:

Interestingly enough, so I saw the Empire State Building for the first time when I went to New York City, I don't know, three, four years ago. Yeah. I thought that it was like gray. The building's actually tan. Did you know that? It's like, it's more like a beige. Maybe just from like the movies. It's

SPEAKER_00:

always illuminated in the movie. So it's like even the photo that we have on the document, it makes it look like blue, like more like blue or like a white kind of a building but it's like it's just because it's always like kind of illuminated or like they're always capturing it in like a specific kind of light but yeah it's just a because like in King Kong it's a

SPEAKER_01:

black and white movie and I just assumed the whole world was black and white in that you

SPEAKER_00:

know yep yeah so you've been to the Empire State Building I mean I haven't been in it I've seen it I've been up it oh you have yeah I have I did the when I went to New York City when I was 15 16 I rode the elevator to the top of the Empire State Building got to go to the observatory deck oh Was it cool? It was very cool. Yeah. I don't remember a whole lot about it. Obviously, I was like a little bit young to appreciate the history of the building. It was more so just like one of those touristy things that you do when you're in New York. You go to the Empire State Building. But it's cool. It's busy. I mean, if it's anything like I remember what it was like when I was there, it was like packed out line. Like they had to queue you all through the bunch of the lobby. And then you got in this big elevator that you had to like share with a bunch of other people. And I just remember it being a long, long ride to the top of the thing. And then you go out and see the city. But– Yeah. Nice. It's cool.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know. I don't have a ton of interest in doing it just because I know it would be like super crowded. It's very touristy. I've seen it. I've been up big buildings.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm going to look up how much it costs right now.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. Well, while you do that, I got some fun facts for you. It was built at record speed. It was one of the fastest skyscrapers ever built at a pace of four and a half stories per week. Wowzers. Yeah, I was waiting for the wowzers. I got another one for you, Zach. 44

SPEAKER_00:

bucks, by the

SPEAKER_01:

way.$44 for a

SPEAKER_00:

ticket?$44 to get to the top of the Empire State Building.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. See, I would rather just go to another building and just do it for like$0. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00:

Sure.

SPEAKER_01:

I get it. And it was originally designed as a docking station for blimps. Did you know that?

SPEAKER_00:

I did not know that. That's really

SPEAKER_01:

cool. Yeah. That seems like a fake fact, but it is true.

SPEAKER_00:

Imagine parking a blimp on the Empire State Building. Nerve-wracking. Yeah. Oh, my God. Because of the pointy needle. It's like, oh. Uh-oh. Pop. Yeah. Pop. Oh, the humanity.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but this fire at the top was supposed to be a mooring mast for airships. Cool. But after one test landing nearly blew passengers off the roof, they scrapped the

SPEAKER_00:

idea. Oh, my God. Wow. Well, okay. They didn't have the foresight that we had. Glad that they scrapped that idea. Yeah. That's good.

SPEAKER_01:

Another fun fact. I don't know how fun this is. A plane crashed into it, actually. What?

SPEAKER_00:

That was so abrupt. Yeah, not as fun of a fact. It's in the fun fact

SPEAKER_01:

section.

SPEAKER_00:

Don't blame me. Well, how about history fact? Tell me the history fact.

SPEAKER_01:

History fact. A plane crashed into the building in 1945. A B-25 bomber got lost in fog and slammed into the 79th floor. Amazingly, the building held strong and most of the structure remained intact.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow, that is crazy.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. It changes colors all the time. Oh, well, that is topical to what we were talking about.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean, that's like one of those famous things. It's like it changes colors based on what's happening pop culture wise, too. And I think like businesses can like buy out the rights to change the color. Like I think recently they did something for Star Wars. I think they had it illuminated in like red and black lights for like some. Oh, it was when James Earl Jones passed away. When the actor that paid. When

SPEAKER_01:

did he pass away?

SPEAKER_00:

Did I miss this? You missed it. Yeah, James Earl Jones passed away a few months ago, I think. Maybe I

SPEAKER_01:

knew this.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but the voice actor. voice actor for Darth Vader. When he passed away, they illuminated the tower in red and black for Vader's colors. But you'll see that all the time. People take photos out their window in New York City or when they're walking on the streets, like, oh, they have it illuminated for... The team that won the Super Bowl or whatever. They do that stuff all the time. I like the zip code fact. What's the zip code fact? I'm going to read this one while you're looking up things. You're doing your own thing right now. So the Empire State Building has its own zip code with over 1,000 businesses inside. The Empire State Building is so busy, it has its own unique zip code, 10118.

SPEAKER_01:

No way.

SPEAKER_00:

Way. That is

SPEAKER_01:

so interesting. See, that's a fun fact.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Super, super fun.

SPEAKER_01:

That's great. Wait, but what about, like, do other buildings that are equally as busy have their own zip codes? I

SPEAKER_00:

don't know. The only two things, and this is, like, such a Midwest reference. Shout out. We're in Cincinnati, Ohio, recording this podcast. The only things that I know of that have their own unique zip codes is the Empire State Building and the Ohio State University. Because I'm pretty sure they also have their own zip code. Wow. Okay. I did not know

SPEAKER_01:

that.

SPEAKER_00:

What about the tallest building in the world fact? Did we already kind of read through that one?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. well actually the until I guess we didn't read that one but yeah for 40 years until the World Trade Center took over also in New York City so the speed climbing challenge yeah I don't know what that means but apparently every year athletes compete in the Empire State Building run up where they race up all 1,576 stairs to the top that sounds horrible no thank you the record is just under 10 minutes I cannot fathom that that's crazy

SPEAKER_00:

I hate the stair master at the gym I know that it's good for you I try and do it but god it's awful I think that maybe if you would have gotten the Red Robin Unlimited Burger Pass, you would have had to do those 1,576 stairs after the end of Burger Month to wear off all those calories.

SPEAKER_01:

10 minutes just doesn't... I feel like there's definitely some elevator cheating there. They took an elevator from floors 14 to 25.

SPEAKER_00:

They're doing that thing that obnoxious high schools kids did where they skip steps. Remember that? They're going up the stairs and instead of going one stair at a time, you reach your leg up to go up. I do that.

SPEAKER_01:

I skip steps. You skip steps? It's a more efficient way to get to the top of the staircase. I guess

SPEAKER_00:

I just like following the rules.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm an anarchist. What do we got? We got a trivia fact? All right, last one. You can see five states from the top of the Empire State Building. Did you

SPEAKER_00:

know that? I did not know that. All the states that border New York.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah,

SPEAKER_00:

very cool.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Very cool. It's like the four corners. Have you ever been to the four corners? I have.

SPEAKER_01:

I've never been. It's literally not

SPEAKER_00:

that cool. Yeah, it's just a sign. I got one more question for you before we wrap this up. Okay. Because obviously we talked about about king kong movies it's like too hard to name because if you search empire state building movies it's like you're just going to get an unlimited google search right when when i say besides king kong so exclude that when i say empire state building in a movie what's the first one that comes to your mind so besides king kong

SPEAKER_01:

yeah i'm thinking an affair to remember with cary grant it's like from the 50s they're on the like pivotal scene is on the empire state building cool i think it's that building at least but yeah

SPEAKER_00:

never seen

SPEAKER_01:

it i think it's that that movie too an affair to remember Let me just double check.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, that's one of the ones that pops up.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

An affair to remember.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I mean, it's basically like the movie's good. That scene, though, it's like an iconic scene where they meet up at the Empire State Building at the end.

SPEAKER_00:

Independence Day. I'm going to go with one that the cool kids will know. Independence Day. You got the ships coming down on the spire or whatever, you know. Welcome to Earth. Patrick doesn't like fun movies for fun. I'm

SPEAKER_01:

not an Independence Day fan.

SPEAKER_00:

It's not a great movie, but it's a fun movie.

SPEAKER_01:

I love alien invasion movies, and that, in my opinion, is one of the lesser ones of the popular ones.

SPEAKER_00:

What did you say to me about The White Lotus? You're like, you're just a hater of everything. Yeah, you

SPEAKER_01:

hate things that bring people joy.

SPEAKER_00:

So I could say the same thing about you not liking Independence Day. Yeah, I guess you could. I don't really

SPEAKER_01:

have an argument against that.

SPEAKER_00:

Hello, boys. I'm back. Great movie. All right. Well, that's all that we've got time for today, Patrick. Thank you for leading the Propetology segment. Again, Empire State Building, go check it out. And if you visited it before, if you have any fun stories about the Empire State Building, or if you want to write in with your favorite movie that has it in it, feel free to email questions at therentishpod.com. Yeah, I've been Zach. That's been Patrick. Follow us online. Follow us anywhere that you can get your podcast or give us a rating, a five-star review or a comment. We would really appreciate it. Email us. We'd be happy to talk to you. Happy to hear your feedback. Patrick, it's been a great show. You had fun today?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. Correct. Correct. Me too. So fun. And it was fun and to bring it full circle, fun and educational. And educational.

SPEAKER_00:

Learning

SPEAKER_01:

can be fun, kids. Yes. The more you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Alright, thanks everyone.