In May of 2002, four men with a little bit of beer money and a lot of big dreams gathered their belongings and set up shop in the three-bedroom beauty that the Culligan man Mike Noland had been keeping a secret, while he toiled countless nights to make the place inhabitable. Now, just over 5 years later, Culligan Manor will be back on the market as of July 1. It is, quite simply, the end of an era. One that will never be forgotten, neither by its tenants nor by anyone who ever partied there. As part of Culligan Appreciation Week, I will be doing a three-part farewell to the "Pound-For-Pound Greatest Apartment In Town."
May 2002-May 2003: St. Aubyn, Fundy, Russell and I move in, paying just $440 a month. Since Russell and I share a room, we're paying a whopping $85 a month. Not too shabby. These early days are the heyday of the Manor. For a bunch of 19 year-olds, an apartment whose only neighbors are an abandoned business on the right, and a dirty-old-man bar, Charlie Brown's, on the left, is a sanctuary for avoiding cops. The parties and rooftop drinking in the summer are spectacular, and when school rolls around in the fall, Culligan quickly establishes itself as one of the best spots in Grand Forks. Keggers on the weekend net us literally hundreds in profits. However, as winter turns to spring, it is apparent that sharing a room is not an activity I wish to pursue anymore, and Russell is out.
May 2003-August 2005: The Manor undergoes no roommate changes. St. Aubyn, Fundy and I turn 21, and the siren call of the bars lure us away from parties, except in summer, where we find a greater appreciation for rooftop drinking in the evenings. We briefly make Charlie Brown's, or Chucky B's as we called it, the place to be on Friday nights, to the point that the owner of the Down Under (the previous Friday night place to be) was asking college kids what the hell was going on.
August 2005: St. Aubyn moves out, and a little piece of me goes with him. We had been together since the dorms freshman year, and even though the Shoebox Room is in good hands with Nate Noland moving in (his dad offered him the place first while it was still being remodeled, he turned it down, and regretted it for the next 3 years) it isn't quite the same, especially since St. Aubyn becomes a highway cop.
August 2005-July 2006: Noles and I are in our final year of Accounting at UND, and school is kicking our ass. However, it is during this stretch when Horp entrenches himself as the Guy On The Couch, and soon Jon-Jon and Big D are frequenting the place every night. With anywhere from 3-6 guys over at any hour of the day, ball-busting reaches new heights during this era. Arguments lead to rules, which leads to the legendary charter (which will be made available to the public on this very blog!) and best of all, one of my longtime dreams of dual TVs is fulfilled. Stadium seating, however, does not occur, much to my disappointment.
July 2006-December 2006: A time of turmoil for the Manor. Noles gets a big kids' job in Fergus Falls, and Horp graduates from Guy On The Couch to actual roommate. However, just two days later, he gets a job in Phoenix and is gone (but not before he pees the couch and keeps it a secret until he is no longer in the Central Time Zone.) A co-worker of mine, Travis, moves in (much to the chagrine of Jon-Jon, who felt unfairly passed over.) New furniture abounds. Culligan has undergone a makeover.
December 2006-Present Day: Travis gets a job in Minneapolis, and the revolving door Shoebox Room continues its cycle. Jon-Jon's complaining from the previous summer results in the roommate application, made solely to appease myself and Fundy. My only regret is that we didn't come up with it sooner. In March I announce my upcoming move to Kansas, and the dominoes begin to fall. Finally, in May, it's official: Culligan will not be home to anyone in our friend group. It had crappy outlets; it was an icebox in the winter; it was an oven in the summer, but it was the place I lived for the best years in my life. It will be sorely missed.
