It feels like I’ve lived in a lot of different places. And I’ve had a fairly stable life, compared to Toney (for instance) who was raised by a crazy person who insisted on bouncing from apartment to house to apartment throughout her early life. I don’t think she could even begin to make a list like the one I’m about to make. Here’s my quick breakdown:
Upstairs garage apartment on 15th Street in Dunbar: My earliest memory is from that place. The apartment was on the back of the lot behind a house, literally above the garage. There was a little girl who lived in the house on the front of the lot and we were drawing on the sidewalk with chalk or somesuch. And the girl’s mother freaked out, yelled at us to stop, and began pouring pans of water on our artwork as if we’d just defaced The Last Supper. I ran this memory past my mother several years ago and she confirmed there was a woman who lived in that house, who had a daughter that was a little older than me. And the mother was reportedly “a nut,” so it all added up. “How do you remember that?!” she asked. Apparently I was very, very young. I can’t remember the age, but maybe three?
The house at 307 21st Street in Dunbar: This is the first place my parents actually owned. It was small but well-maintained and comfortable. I had friends in that neighborhood, and we had a blast there. When we were about to move to a roomier house a few blocks away, I simply couldn’t believe it. It was impossible to contemplate living anywhere other than that 21st Street house. I launched a desperate sulk ‘n’ whine campaign that did not work, and we left there while I was in 5th Grade.
The house at 400 17th Street in Dunbar: I had an attitude about it, and it didn’t help that it was kind of a shithole when we moved in. But my folks whipped it into shape in short order, and I was surprised and mildly disappointed to realize I loved it. I now consider it the house I grew up in. We moved there when I was 11, and I lived there until I fled the state at the age of 22. My mother’s parents, my beloved grandparents, lived directly across the street (at 401 17th) which was great. And I had no problem making new friends in the new neighborhood, several of whom I’m still in regular contact with today.
Sedgefield Gardens apartment in Greensboro, NC: I lived in three different units there. The first was with a roommate named Gary (now deceased), the second was a one-bedroom by myself, and the third was with my brother. So, three individual apartments in four years, all within the same apartment complex. They weren’t great, but not horrible either. Good neighborhood… close to my job at Peaches Records.
Upstairs-front apartment on Bonaventure Avenue in Atlanta: I moved there with the woman I was dating at the time, sight unseen. We literally rented it over the phone from Greensboro. It was OK, but filthy. We had to work hard to make it livable, but we eventually got there. The neighborhood was sketchy at best, and my car was repeatedly broken into. One time somebody stole a whole basket of my laundry off the back seat. Why?! I still find it baffling. The apartment was tiny: basically two rooms, a bathroom, and a weird hallway (it’s hard to explain). My girlfriend and I eventually broke up, and I lived there for the last year or so alone. During that time several members of the band Arrested Development lived across the hall. They were cool. Imagine my surprise when their first album sold 6 million copies and won a shitload of Grammys. Crazy.
Little Five Points apartment: Toney and I rented this place about six months into our relationship, possibly four months. It felt unwisely quick, I do remember that much. It was located in the heart of the hipster bohemian neighborhood known as Little Five Points, literally a few feet away from restaurants, bars, concert venues, record stores, and wacked-out shops. It was fairly sketchy at night, and very loud. We had homeless people sleeping against our front door for warmth and sometimes found folks passed out on our back porch. One time there was a guy out there wearing nothing but a pair of tighty-whities, and he had no idea how he got there. It was wild, and somewhat dangerous. Every apartment but ours was broken into, and it was only a matter of time before we joined that fraternity. I think we were there for a little less than two years, and rarely slept through the entire night because of all the hollering and glass breaking outside.
Our first house, in Lithonia, Georgia: We bought this from a couple going through a divorce. They were young, and hadn’t been married long. They had the house built, so it was almost new when we got it. Better than new, the real estate agent told us. It was a nice house, and we had no responsibilities at that time in our lives. Except, of course, the mortgage we’d just taken on. But I think we only paid $94,000 for the place, so the monthly payments weren’t large. Toney still says it’s the nicest house we’ve ever had. I don’t know about that, but it was a great place, and it was a great time in our lives. Pleasant memories.
An apartment in Santa Clarita, California: When we moved to the west coast we signed a six-month lease to give us time to figure out what we were going to do long-term. It was shockingly expensive, and not all that spectacular. It was fine, but not worth the ridiculous monthly rent. I remember there was no phone jack in the bedroom we used as a computer room, so we ran this long phone cord all the way down the hallway whenever somebody wanted to go online. Then, when we were done, we’d unplug it and roll it back up. Stoopid.
Our house in Santa Clarita: Actually our address was Canyon Country. It’s confusing… they’re interchangeable. Whatever. This place cost way more than the Atlanta house and was much smaller and shabbier. But we did a lot of work to it, and it turned out to be quite nice. We lived on a cul-de-sac and almost all our neighbors were in the entertainment business. There was a guy who was a writer on King of the Hill, a full-time employee of Adam Sandler, a couple of carpenters who built sets for movie studios, and woman who worked as a set decorator. They were all cool people and we had fun there. Everybody had young kids, approximately the same age, and we’d have big block parties, etc. It was great, our living situation. California itself wasn’t great, but our little enclave in the desert was ideal.
Our house here: We’ve been here since 2000, about 20 years. Insane! How did that many years go by? I’d say this one is my favorite house, but Toney disagrees. She’s all-in on the Lithonia, GA place. But I think a lot of that has to do with our carefree lifestyle in those days. It gets romanticized. Anyway, we’d like to make one more move someday. But we’ll see.
So… my grand total — counting the three Sedgefield Gardens apartments — is 11. Is that a lot? Toney would scoff and mock, on account of Sunshine and her relentless kookery, but it feels like a lot to me. What do you have on this one? Tell us about it in the comments.
And I’ll see you guys again soon.
Have a great day!
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12 not counting 5 different college dorm rooms. Not sure what to do with dorm rooms as it has little to do with choice and more like goin’ where they tell ya to.
Sewickley, PA – born, no memories
Batavia, NY – snow…nothing but snow
Raleigh, NC #1 – cheap duplex in what is now a sketchy part of town, but was new then
Raleigh, NC #2 – split-level in same neighborhood as #1 but much nicer area
Raleigh, NC #3; Dorm-room, NCSU – had a crazy pathological liar for a roommate
Greensboro, NC #1 – first apartment; had the same roommate (long story) but right across the street from Peaches where I eventually worked and loved it (Peaches, not the apt)
Greensboro, NC #2 – my first solo apartment in the back of an old house converted to apartments
Greensboro, NC #3 – my first non-crazy college roommate…great friends and good times
Raleigh, NC #4-5 – various crash spaces with a rotating cast of roommates, some apartments, some old houses, plus a brief period back at my parents house
Raleigh, NC #6 – second solo apartment in an attic over an old house, $340/month!
Raleigh, NC #7 – third solo apartment in an old house converted to apartments
Raleigh, NC #8 – first apartment with ex-wife, a 100 year-old duplex in the “historic preservation” neighborhood. no closets and I think 3 electrical outlets for the entire place
Raleigh, NC #9 – first (and only) house purchased in 2000 in downtown, value has tripled according to Zillow
Looks like 12 total. Seems like 11-12 is popular.
5 and 2 of those places were either next door or with The Qweezy Mark. One of the places was 4 blocks away from him (separation anxiety). Then I started liking girls, and have lived in 2 places wif my wife.
I think that’s the shortest and most complete biography I’ve ever read. Most of my wives wouldn’t have put up with the girls, although a plurality, but not a majority, might have dug the Qweezy Mark from four blocks away. Hope you’ll keep us apprised of any additional plot twists.
John
1) Oregon OH standard farmstead built in 1920’s moved before the synapses were fully formed so no direct memories
2) Oregon OH Wilmer farmhouse built in the mid 1800s large and decorative with 3 barns a summer kitchen and a his and hers brick outhouse (not functional). I have a distinct memory of watching the Kennedy funeral procession here 3 separate basements each scarier than the one before. Moved from there right after my 5th birthday.
3) Oregon OH moved into my maternal grandmother’s house This is the house I consider my actual “home”. My father rebuilt everything and added a 4 car garage. I lived there from 5 to 20 yrs old.
4) Northwood OH moved here right after wedding was only there 6 months because they did not allow children and we were getting BUSY
5) Toledo OH top side of a duplex right off the highway took about a week to get used to traffic noise. Very nice place but no yard to speak of , and downstairs neighbors had an affinity for blasting The Cars “Whip It” at top volume.
6) Oregon OH The first home we bought.Tiny bedrooms but a nice garage and a full acre of land. With a very low interest rate of 13%.
7) Worthington OH part of a twinplex sort of a holding pen while looking for a house
8) Westerville OH nice little house Would have stayed there but there was a building boom happening and it was actually cheaper to buy a new house so it became just a brief stop while house was being built.
9 Westerville OH the house built to our specs and the place all of the kids consider “home”. Large in every way and really a showplace with all the landscaping I did.
10) Orlando FL another house built to our specs, our pre and post retirement home
Devo did the song “Whip It”.
They did. And they, unlike the Cars, are from Ohio. (Yes, I do like the Cars).
[begin rant]
Whip It was the hit, but they’ve done much better songs than that. Such as Dogs of Democracy, I Need a Chick, their cover of (I can’t get no) Satisfaction, Gates of Steel, Beautiful World, Planet Earth, Jerkin’ Back and Forth… Damn, the list goes on and on.
[end rant]
7
Similar to Toney, I had crazy parents that moved a lot. I lived in my childhood home for ten years, then things didn’t settle down until my most recent move four years ago. I have lived in 19 different places; ranging from three months to ten years. I now live in Portland, Oregon and have been here for five years; and moved in with my now-wife four years ago. We’re planning on buying a place within the next year, aren’t quite sure if we are going to stay in Oregon forever, but enough to build equity. I love the stability of staying in one place; I will never be “mobile” again.
I have had my mail delivered to a total of 24 addresses: 10 in FL, 1 in CA, 5 in NC, 1 in NYC, 1 in GA, 2 in MD, 1 in MO, 1 in WA, and 2 in Utah. I’ve lived in a total of 24 addresses in 11 cities during my nearly 55 years on this planet.
15. I only want to move once more when we downsize. Downsize to *where* is the dilemma.
17 spread over three countries and four states.
1. Basement in Cabin Creek, until age 5
2.17th Street in the resort city of Dunbar
3. Basement across from Rax Roast Beef in the metropolis of South Charleston
4. 2nd floor apartment, still in South Charleston
5. Month layover for free in another apt. In SC
6. Lived with a friends mother in Sarasota upper class villa
7. Moved to apt. With first wife and kids..still Sarasota
8. Bought nice house in Sarasota
9. Lost nice house, rented a house
10. Rented another house, still Sarasota
11. Left wife, moved in with girlfriend on Siesta Key Beach
12. Married again, renting a house in Sarasota with new baby on the way.
13. Moved to a new house a block away with wife and baby.
14. Moved to rental in Boone, NC
15. Bought house on mountaintop in Boone. Lived there 4 years.
16. Returned to previous rental in Boone just before moving back to Sarasota, another baby on the way.
17. Rented an older house in Sarasota.
18. Moved to Nokomis, Fl. Nice rental.
19. Split with wife, moved in with girlfriend in luxury apartment in Sarasota.
20. Moved back in with ex wife so my daughter would have a decent parent to depend on.
20 places. Thanks! That was therapeutic to put that in writing or I would have never known how many.
“17th Street in the resort city of Dunbar”
???
You’ve never stayed at the Dunbar Econo Lodge? Their motto is “Close to Charleston,” although it seems like you’d be closer to Charleston if you were IN Charleston. Even the econo-hookers wish they were in Charleston. Um, or so I’m told. . . jtb
I’m a comparative novice at this moving stuff, having hung my hat in only four residences in 64 years, not counting college.
Long Island, NY for my first 22 years.
Brooklyn Heights, NY for 6 years.
Park Slope, Brooklyn for 2 years.
NJ for the past 35 years.
Now I’m too lazy to move, so I’ll probably die here and remain undiscovered for years.
My grand total is fourteen if I don’t count various short-term dorm rooms during college summers, but it does include a few preschool weeks when my parents lived with a relative after their first house sold before they could move in to the new house. I had three dorm rooms in four “school years” and three different places during “summers.”
13 total – 9 houses, 2 town houses, 2 apartments. The list of locations and reasons for each move would make a short novel…..
A total of 19, from birth until now. Like QM, I’m not counting dorm rooms. I am counting group houses in college.
Brooklyn 3 (Park Slope, Carroll Gardens)
Upstate NY 10 (Capital District)
Western Mass. 1
DC area 5
On making up the list, I realized that I’ve lived on some ordinary streets that have “exciting” names: Fifth Avenue, Broadway, Park Avenue. I also see that Troy NY looks a lot better today on Street View than it did in person when I lived there 40+ years ago.
1. I lived with my Mom at her employer’s home. She was one of the help for these people. I don’t remember much.
2. Some apartment on a 2nd floor in Los Angeles.
3. A cottage house off the 10 Fwy in Los Angeles. An exit from the freeway was directly across the street.
4. An apartment. All of this is before the age of 5
5. A house in Elysian Valley between the 5 Fwy and the LA River (11 years)
6. A tract house in Fountain Valley, CA. It was five miles from Huntington Beach. Nice. (12 years)
7. My first apartment in Westminster, CA (2 years)
8. I bought a condo in Garden Grove, CA. I loved this place . . it was just the right size and on the second floor. (11 years)
9. I’m now married and have a son. We moved out of state and rented an apartment for a couple of months in Carson City, NV ( 6 months)
10. We bought a manufactured home on an acre of land in Dayton, NV. Absolutely love this place.(10 years)
11. Another move out of state. We rented for 3 years, 2 different apartments.
12. We bought a townhome in Salem, OR. (going on 2 years)
So, 14 different places and 3 states. We hope to retire somewhere, so maybe one more move.
1. I lived in Beckley, WV with my parents for my first 18 years
2. Moved into a house in Prosperity, WV
3. Back to a small house in Beckley, WV
4. USAF barracks in Texas
5. USAF barracks in Mississippi
6. USAF barracks in Colorado
7. Apartment in Colorado
8. Townhouse in Colorado
9. House in Colorado
10. House in Poca, WV
11. House in Cross Lanes, WV
12. Current home in Cross Lanes, WV for the last 23 years.
So, twelve total and 11 in the last 40 years.
12, not including various stints of homelessness, summer tour, and/or couch surfing.
only 7 for me. WV (first 21), OH (4 months?) , MI (I think 8 months) and 4 places in WA (31 years)
Sometimes I live in the country
Sometimes I live in town
Sometimes I gets a great notion
To jump in the river and drown
johnthebasket w/Gussie L. Davis, Huddie Ledbetter, John Lomax, The Weavers
20 years in Dunbar already? Makes me ponder how long I’ve been following along on your drunken fish tales. =-) I don’t even remember where you where located when I first stumbled in-not that I remember where I was either. Not a bad thing, can’t say there is any other blog I’ve been following along that long.
I’ve lived in 7 houses. All in/around the same city Been in my current location 25 years.
1st house, all through elementary and start of high school.
2nd house during the remainder of high school.
3,4,5 during college.
6th end of college and the start of the working world.
7th current.
Never resided in an actual apartment building, guess enough exposure to my cousins apartments he’s called home made me appreciate a lawn and no adjoining walls even more.
Wow, I feel like quite the novice here. I’ve lived in a total of three places in my 50 years. The house I grew up in in King of Prussia PA, the first house with my wife about two miles away and our current (and probably last) home three miles from there.
I was conceived and born in Commack, Long Island, NY but as I was leaving my womb with a view, my father was moving the rest of the family to Shrub Oak , NY. So I technically did live in Commack for about a week then Shrub Oak for the next three years. Then the move to what I felt was the greatest place on the planet. Mount Vernon, N.Y. That was the greatest house i ever experienced it was like a mansion. Which made it expensive. So, as one of 6 kids getting ready to enter high school my dad couldn’t afford to send us to private schools and there was no way he was sending his girls to mount Vernon high school so we moved to katonah, NY. Worst fucking years of my life. I stayed until I could get a place of my own… rented condo in Danbury, CT. That was fine and dandy for 2 years but then I hit a rough patch and had to return to the God forsaken katonah house. It was,actually a nice house and I had plenty of good times but it wasn’t home to me..then came the apartment in a house overlooking a reservoir in brewster, NY. Nice place and then met Beloved so I moved to Carmel ,N.Y. where I now reside plus our place in Charlestown, RI. That’s where I plan to close my eyes permanently.
madz, just curious after reading your comments for all these years. . . What in the world was wrong with the public schools in Mount Vernon? In the Puget Sound region, the 1% send their kids to private schools, and a few Catholics still do, but the public schools are pretty well funded and have a tradition of getting students into pretty good colleges. I went to a crappy college because I was a fuckoff, but of the five other guys I went on my graduation trip with, one went to Harvard, one to George Washington U, 1 to Dartmouth, one to Stanford and one to the University of Oregon. They all graduated and got post-grad degrees, so I assume they were pretty well prepared. Not prying, just curious.
John
1. Magnolia NJ – 4 yrs
2. Haddon Heights, NJ – ~20 yrs, on and off moving in and out with my parents, as needed.
3. Molunkus, Maine – 5 months (Hunting!)
4. Kingfield, Maine – 5 months (Skiing!)
5. Aura, NJ – 9 months working on a farm
6. New Brunswick, NJ – Back to grad school 1 yr
7. East Brunswick, NJ – still in school 1.5 yrs
8. East Windsor, NJ – 5 yrs newlyweds
9. Durham, NC – 30 years
10. Well, soon to be the 10th place – moving to Kure Beach, NC this summer!
seems a bit below average for this group… I found an article (https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-many-times-the-average-person-moves/) that says 11.4 times is the average!
1. 1960-61 Belfast Northern Ireland, grandparents house
2. 1961-62 Belfast, other grandparents house
3. 1962-63 Hospital Gate Lodge, Newtownards, Northern Ireland
4. 1963-64 Springfield MA hospital campus house #1
5. 1965-66 Springfield MA hospital campus house #2
6. 1966-68 Knollwood St Springfield MA
7. 1968-74, 1979-81 Longhill St Springfield MA
8. 1974-79 Boarding School Edinburgh Scotland
9. 1981-82 Chestnut Towers Apts Dearborn & Chestnut St Chicago
10. 1982 Devon & Western Chicago
11. 1982-83 New Chinatown (Argyle & Broadway) Chicago
12. 1984-86 Niles, IL
13. 1987-88 Maryland & Ellis (Hyde Park) Chicago
14. 1988-90 Catalina Ave Pasadena CA
15. 1990-91 Franklin Woods Apts Chapel Hill NC
16. 1991-97 Woodcroft, Durham, NC
17. 1997-2000, 2003-2011, 2014 Chapel Hill near NC Botanical Gardens
18. 2000-2003 Brookside Dr Chapel Hill NC
19. 2012-2013 Arlington VA
20. 2015-present Perrysburg OH
Wow. This list was a lot longer than I thought it would be.
Not too many, actually.
5 in CA
2 in AZ
I make now apologies, I love Caifornia. It was a great place to grow up in during the 80s. That said, we just bought our first house ever in AZ and I love it so much I’ll never leave until they pry my rotting corpse from the tile floor. Tucson, AZ is the best.
10 different residences in 4 states.
2 apartments and 8 houses.