Residents
current residents:
- Jacob
- JP
- Heather
- Andrew
- Maria
- Ronna
- Don
- Sophie (beagle)
past residents:
- Una
- Dongseon
- Kim
- Elizabeth N
- Angie
- Anna
- Michael P
- Caroline
- Braden
- Frida (kitty)
- Kristina
- Kenda
- Kyra
- Keith
- John
- Max
- Dean
- Jessica
- Jeff
- …
Email us your names! lacasacollectiva@gmail.com
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Hi! I lived in La Casa from June1999-August 2001. During that time, I tried to get the bills in order (security deposit? wha?), retired “William Clark”, the houses’ imaginary (occasionally bill-paying) friend, met my future wife (she lived in the little room), and had a fantastic time. To this day, I cannot cook for less then a crowd.
I just started a Facebook group for folks who have been part of La Casa’s history. Do a search for “La Casa Grande Colectiva Co-Op” and you’ll find it. I’m curious to see how many folks we can find who have great stories to tell… Hopefully, the random “old” La Casans who we’d find crashed on the couch periodically, have a Facebook account (everyone seems to these days) and will join in!
Danke,
-Jsun
Jsun!
Yay! Thanks for giving us a piece of our puzzling history! I hope if you ever come thru Urbana-town again, you’ll stop by & say hi. If you, yr wife, or anyone else you know from “back in th day” would like to do a full post on our blog, that would rock my socks. Th seven of us living here now are very interested in historic La Casa happenings. Share a remembrance or two, if it suits ya!
Bestwishingyou,
Andrew
Hey, I’m Harlan Harris, and I lived there from about February 1997 until August 2001. Overlapped with Jason for much of that time! Letsee, what can I remember. I did a fair amount of gardening during that time. Lots of lettuce. Never got a cucurbit to grow without being eaten by bugs. One project we did was to replace the countertop and the floor in the kitchen. That made a big difference! We also did big cleanouts of the basement and the shed when I was there. I lived in the big room on the 2nd floor, and then on the 3rd floor. I think we had a fair number of house dinners in those days, maybe 2 or 3 a week.
As part of my co-op experiences, I ended up getting involved with COUCH, joining right after it was founded, and then I went on to co-found Brooks and serve on the NP Board.
At one point I had a list of all the housemates at Brooks I lived with. There were a lot! The first week after I moved to NYC, I ran into an ex-housemate at Astor Place (a common meeting spot in the Village). Some names… Pablo Parysow, Bahiyya Philips??, Connie Zybko (and her 7 year old daughter Katie!), Brodie ???, Shannon ???, Megan Nortrup (who I’m still in touch with), Chad Fennel, Jason Sheperis (above) and his now-wife Michelle Casey, Anna Demongeot, Dev Rivers, Vivek Singh, Sarah Rittenhouse, a retired couple whose names I can’t recall, and probably 20 others, if you count summer people…
Really enjoying the photos and the blog!
Hey Harlan!
Wow, these photos really take me back. I’m glad you all put this blog together.
I lived at La Casa with Harlan et al for a couple of years in the late 90’s. A few off-the-cuff things I remember from those times:
Spring basement flooding that left 6 inches up to 2+ feet of water in the basement and long plank boards on blocks to stay over the water.
Vivek actually learned how to cook, and pretty good too as I recall. Hi Viv!
A psychic hotline temp job by a tenant who shall remain nameless.
Lots of parties full of great food and people who loved to cook (I dearly miss those).
Did I mention the parties?
Former hippy tenants showing up and crashing on our couch (passing through town following some band festival circuit where they made and sold magic wands).
Learning Swahili slang from housemates and house friends who studied African politics and language (Hi Nick, Jill, Ed and Jacintha!).
Dinner with passionate people – always a few folks around to explain their research in geometry, politics, linguistics, etc.
Does anyone out there have a photo in the yard from 2002 or earlier, especially photos of where the garden currently was/is. From what I can tell, there used to be a massive tree in the low area of the side yard. The giany Mulberry would also be a marker — it fell down after its roots rotted in 2003.
Thanks for pointing me in the direction of the blog!! I lived in La Casa during summer 2007. It was quite an experience, not one I will soon forget. I’m so glad that there is a vibrant group of people taking full advantage of the great house and huge lot. I’ll try to stop by some time and meet the chickens