The Fortress of Solitude

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We used to live behind a brown door. When Matt and I moved in together, we chose this apartment, another unique living situation. I still have the original Craigslist posting:
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"1 Bedroom Apartment with free parking near Metro Y, PSU, and OHSU; on Barbur Boulevard, with good bus service. Approx 750 to 800 square feet. Includes access to free washer/dryer. $575 per month, including water and garbage. Address: 3700 Barbur Building, 3718 SW Condor, Portland, ORMove in costs: $575.00 first month rent, $200 refundable security deposit, $75.00 nonrefundable cleaning fee, total $850.00. No application fee."
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It was cheap (very,) it was huge, it was close-in, I called. It turned out to be in this building:

which I was very familiar with. It's easy to recognize if you spend any time at all on Barbur Boulivard. I had no idea that there was an apartment in the building, though. It turned out that there were two, built to meet some mixed-use code. Marv and Dave Nepom, the father and son who owned the building, weren't all that into getting an optimal price for their apartments. They just wanted nice people looking for a unique place to live. I swear he said that to me.
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We lived there almost a year and a half, enjoying the views of Mt Hood and Downtown. When they built the tram, it was right down the street from our house. There were only two windows to the apartment and the dryer didn't really like to dry the clothes that well, but there was covered parking, a whole parking lot for when we had a parties, and since no one knew people lived there, it felt very secure. There was traffic noise from Barbur, but I had been living downtown at the top of a small hill that busses and motorcycles loved to race up, so Barbur was much quieter. Sometimes, it felt like we would be there forever, due to the crazy housing market. I will miss the Fortress of Solitude, and I am glad we had such a nice place, for so cheap, with such nice landlords, for so long.