Lincoln Homes

17th and H St. (1983-1984)

2920 Q St. (1984-1988)

18th and F (1988-1990)

These are the three places I called home in Lincoln.

The first, was a fourth floor (upper right) furnished one-bedroom apartment in the Shurtleff Arms.  I think rent was $200/month.  In addition to the bed in the bedroom the living room had a murphy bed.  The building looks a lot better cared for now than when I lived there.

Fun facts: 

• It was 107 F (42 C) the day my father and I moved me into the fourth floor walk-up. 
• In all the excitement of moving to Nebraska I didn't think to ask about laundry.  For months I walked to a laundromat on the other side of the capitol until one cold day I saw a neighbor carrying laundry downstairs dressed only in shorts and a t-shirt.
• Once, while exhausted, I absent-mindedly only went up to the third floor, where I unlocked the door and took a step into the apartment below mine.  It was only when I heard a conversation in Chinese that I realized that I was in the wrong apartment.  That got me to wondering if one key opened all the apartments.

It is hidden by the tree on the right but the building was a block from the state capitol.  I often would cut through the parking lot -the state senator's parking lot- to get to 16th Street.  Two blocks away is the governor's mansion.  Bob Kerrey and Debra Winger were practically my neighbors!  Across H Street is the Kennard House -the oldest house in Lincoln.

The following year four of us graduate students shared the house on Q Street.  A house that will live in infamy after we held a housewarming party for ourselves and showed our guests the one 2x4 in the basement that was holding up the entire first floor.  I'm surprised it is still standing.

Jack and I had bedrooms on the second floor while Susan and Mary had theirs on the first.  Rent was $100/month each until January.  That's when we were joined by JW for half a year.  If I remember correctly, he and Jeff were kicked out of their apartment because it was to be demolished.

The Q Street house was on the edge of what was a bad neighborhood for Lincoln.  I didn't know it at the time but a kid named Joba Heath (later Chamberlain) lived just a few blocks away on Y Street.

That arrangement ran its course after a few years and I decamped back toward the capitol.  This time to the corner 18th and F Streets.  This was by far the nicest, and most expensive ($225/month!) place of the three.  I had half the first floor to myself.  Cherry wood cabinets in the kitchen and hallway.  It was quiet and there is a very nice little park at the end of the block.

The only thing I didn't like was the lack of a shower.  I was a bath-only person for a couple of years.  At least the tub was large.  The black-and-white hexagonal tiles on the bathroom floor were a bit much as well.  Especially on those nights when I came home after having a drink or two.

Following 18th Street I moved a few hundred miles east.  I hope this doesn't mean I have to make a visit to Saginaw to complete the former home series.

Comments

[Jeff]

Q st--that's where you served cat food for hors-devours!

[Joe]

The cat food was Jack's idea! Our prediction of who would eat it was accurate.

[Paul]

Do you have any more photos of the Shurtleff Arms interior? Nebraska writer Mari Sandoz lived there at one time.

[Joe]

Paul, unfortunately I don't have any other photos. I had no idea Mari Sandoz lived there!

[Kendal]

I had two friends in the Shurtleff Arms and lived there briefly myself! My Murphy bed was gone, sadly. I totally loved the bathrooms. Pink tile with black and white accents, in perfect condition. And yet the hallway smelled of old milk and moths would get caught between security doors, the sinks "burped", and in the summer I had to choose between TV/computer use or the weak window AC. Having said that, I love the building - it just needed some climate-proofing and upgrades to the plumbing.