Chapter 36 (cont.)

 

Angela P, UD '02 lived in the house from 2000 to 2002…

 

Our sophomore year, me and my roomie from Harrington B walked up and down Cleveland and knocked on doors asking if the people were planning on living there next year. We knew Cleveland was a fun street and not far from the bars or campus. We stumbled across 65 East Cleveland and a guy living there let us in, he wasn’t sure who was living there next year, and told us we could walk around and check the place out. We walked into one bedroom and there were stacks of flyers, “ANNUAL CLEVELAND FEST” scattered all over the room. We wanted the house right away. It was so big and the backyard was huge! We got the landlord’s name and kept harassing her until we finally signed the lease.

 

We really had no idea who lived there in the years previously. But our senior year on Homecoming we heard a knock at the door as we were getting ready to go out…of course we yelled “COME IN!” So these two random guys walk in, they must have been 30 or so, which was ancient to us. They walked right in and said they used to live there. I don’t know when. They said they played lacrosse and started walking around the house.

 

They said that the living room use to be one large room (the first floor front bedroom was never closed-off) and they use to have so many people in the living room for parties, that they broke a support beam in the floor because of the weight. One guy went up to the attic and stuck his head out the front window and said he was the one who put the lacrosse sticker there. Kinda cool. It was weird thinking someone else had partied in our house and knowing it was a group of guys, but it was cool all the same. I wonder if the lacrosse sticker stayed there after we left. (Digger’s Note: I’d heard the sticker was removed around the same time as the green-striped awnings, but actually, think it stayed on the house until the day they demolished it!)

 

The first floor bathroom toilet use to always break so we use to have to flush it with salad tongs! We would leave the tank lid off and stick the tongs in and pull the lever up and your arm would get soaking wet.

 

We had the landlords add a breaker for electricity, the whole house was on one fuse, so if someone dried their hair and someone was making toast, all the power would go off.

 

The train was ridiculous. If you were on the phone or in conversation you had to put the person on hold and wait for it to go by. It was right in the backyard. We use to cut through the graveyard off Choate and follow it home sometimes…dangerous though…some sketchy people out there at night.

 

East Cleveland was so fun. Walking distance to most friends’ houses, walking distance to the bars. We had parties all the time -- big and small, and such a mix of people. Mostly college students except for the Army Guy who lived a couple blocks down and drove old army trucks around.

 

I don’t think we ever got busted for a party but who knows, I may have blacked out by then. Kidding. We had a Christmas party every year. We sent out invites but it never stuck to that. Then we use to have $5 cup parties in the backyard with bands, Love Syndicate being our favorite. We loved that house.

 

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Danielle C, UD '00 lived in the house from 1999 to 2000…

 

I had no idea it used to be this big historic party house. But it was obvious that college kids had lived there.

 

We had two big parties, a Halloween party, and many smaller gatherings. One summer bash with some bands that played…don't ask, cuz I can't remember which bands. The summer party was awesome because my roommate made a bunch of stars out of cardboard and we hung them from all the trees in the backyard. It looked wonderful. The cops did come to break that party up. I remember trying to speak to the cop…and I was in no shape to be speaking to anyone, no less a cop. But as messed up as I was, slurring and stumbling, I was still the most responsible one to do it at that point in the evening. I also remember Hurricane Floyd. We had to go to Stateline Liquors and got a pony keg and sat on the front porch.