QotD: An Unforgettable Home

What's the most memorable building you've lived in?
Submitted by Shelly.

I lived in the Odd Fellows Hall, on Market Street in Ballard (Seattle) for almost three years, rent free, in a weird basement apartment. It wasn't just a place to live, it was my job. I was the caretaker. Now, having free rent (no bills, not even phone) and a small salary in the 90's in Seattle was sort of awesome, but not as awesome as having costumes in the basement, or something that looked like a real-life skeleton, in a coffin!

I would mop the floor and clean the bathrooms and keep the schedule and open the doors for groups with names like the Loyal Order of the Golden North and the Daughters of Pocohontas. Because the other Odd Fellows Hall was in Capitol Hill, the gayer part of the city, somehow we got a few alternative groups there such as Girth and Mirth (chubbies and chubby chasers) and the Northwest Bears. All these people were, to a fault, nice and interesting and totally different from me.

The apartment was a railroad apartment where only the kitchen on the end has windows that faced the outside. Two more rooms had windows that faced a narrow hallway and one room had just a door with a mysterious ice cream type window and no other windows at all. I moved in their with my then-husband and moved out on my own a few years later. I don't think he ever loved the place as much as I did. Once he moved out, I slept on the couch for a while, and later moved the bed into the living room where it was like perpetual twilight.

Since I was the caretaker, I could also rent the place for free, and so we, and then later I, would have big parties almost monthly. Called the Rent is Theft series, the big feature was the open mike night we'd call Odd Stock. People could do whatever they wanted on stage as long as it was seven minutes or less. The last time I heard from my ex he was emailing me to say that he's still in Seattle and was having another open mike night and I was invited to come if I was in the area.

Now I live in a town with about 15 times as many people as would come to my biggest parties then. A big party here is getting a few couples together for a BBQ. I still put the job on my resume if I'm looking at doing something involving scheduling or maintenance or living in a hidden hobbit hole in the middle of the big city for free free free. Now I live in a creaky Victorian house in my small town, for free, and wonder if things have changed much after all.