re: Have you ever lived in an absolute shithole apartment / house?

I lived in a FEMA trailer for about a year. Sucked big time.

The Fountainbleau or whatever in Tigerland. People’s ceilings were falling down.

Luckily just for a month

I lived off state street, in tigerland, and on a President street

Ask me anything


I also lived at the blox but we called it the brox because Asians would always rev their Tokyo drift cars in the parking lot at night

First apartment. Dirt cheap. I’d set my alarm an hour and a half early, spend a half hour getting the hot water heater to light, then sleep for an hour before taking a shower.

Air never really worked.

After the second and third murder of the year, and someone torched the “clubhouse”, I walked on my lease and dared them to come after me. (Arkansas law is notoriously pro landlord, so they could have tried).

Never heard from them.

ETA: the bathroom sink was in the corner of the bedroom because it wouldn’t fit in the bathroom.

Does Kirby Smith count? First 2 apts after college were pretty bad.

Got married in 1986. OUr first place was a duplex in the shitty part of town. $175/month


Thats really all you need to know

In lake Charles in 90s and was nicest place there and still total shithold

From the mid-90s to early 2000s I lived in a 3-bedroom apartment under a 100-year old house in Midcity. I paid $350/month the whole time.

The original house was on brick pillars, and the apartments underneath were added, probably in the 1940s with the pillars covered by the walls. While I was living there I noticed the mortar was dissolving to sand, and I’d see it coming out under the baseboards.

The drains went out through the backyard for some reason, and after I washed dishes I could see foam from the dish soap in one spot in the back yard. And occasionally when I had to plunge the sink I’d get dead leaves.

There was no insulation in the walls. One of the den walls was the north side of the house, and when NOLA got a cold north wind it went straight into the den.

The whole place ran on a single 20 amp fuse. I learned which things I could have on at the same time.

The landlord was retired, had inherited the house from his parents, and only spent money on maintenance when it was absolutely necessary. I briefly considered making an offer on the place and trying to restore it, so I asked his maintenance guy (who I saw twice in 7 1/2 years) what he thought about the house. He said the steps on the front and the cisterns on the back corners were masonry and could stay, but run a bulldozer through everything else.

That house has changed owners at least a couple times since, and somebody sunk a whole lot of money into it. It’s a palace now. Last sale price was $1.6 million. I have no idea what they did about the mortar in the support columns.

132 E. State St. from 1997 - 1999. The building right next to the first Raising Cane’s location. Rent was $230 a month. Me and a roommate split the cost so only $115 out of pocket.

Could roll out of bed and be to class in 5 minutes. Chimes street bars were actually an option for night life. So some benefits.

Place should have been condemned. Kept a baseball bat by the bed to slam against the walls to get the rats to scatter. If not you would hear them all night.

Todd Graves lived in a smaller efficiency connected to the back of the place as he worked to get the first location up and running. The wall between us was crumbling due to the roof leaking. The original Cane (yellow lab) could access the roof of the building from a stairwell in the back of the place. He would go up there to shite.

People watching as the bars closed was always fun. The line coming out of Circle K would be 50 deep. The mix of drunk frat types and gutter punks from the squats off Vaccaro St made for an interesting cross section of society.

Good memories all in all.

Had to live in a nasty crack den apartment on the westbank right after Katrina till I got my fema trailer and rebuilt. I was in my early 20s. It was on the corner of Stumpf and Whitney. Complete shithole. Wouldn’t even use the stove my whole time there. ??