Back in the last century I had just gotten back from a year in Romania and me and my then-husband saw a little ad in the window of the local Odd Fellows Hall in Ballard [in Seattle, NOT the fancy one in Capitol Hill]
caretaker wanted: apply within
We applied and got the job which came with a free apartment underneath the hall [free utilities and phone] and a small salary and the gig was being basically the rental agent for the hall, keeping track of the schedule, opening and closing the place and keeping it clean. Was a fun job, I had it for a few years even after me and my hubs split up.
I moved in there in September of 1996 and moved out for good sometime in 2000. Here's an ancient web page with some photos of the apartment [imagemap broken]
http://jessamyn.com/pals/dad/
finished product
I ... wow.
I've been fascinated with the Odd Fellows (okay, minor-league fascinated) ever since the woefully unkept Odd Fellows Rest cemetery here in New Orleans had a bit of a problem with exposed remains. There was no longer a New Orleans chapter but once it made news then the nearest one (Lafayette? Baton Rouge?) came down and fixed things.
I've been fascinated with the Odd Fellows (okay, minor-league fascinated) ever since the woefully unkept Odd Fellows Rest cemetery here in New Orleans had a bit of a problem with exposed remains. There was no longer a New Orleans chapter but once it made news then the nearest one (Lafayette? Baton Rouge?) came down and fixed things.
Example: http://www.flickr.com/photos...
Yeah in different places the Odd Fellows are more or less ok and in other places, less so. Fraternal orders are really interesting. When I finally moved on they actually got an Odd Fellow to take the job which I think is what they wanted in the first place. Interesting folks.
What I would always say is "Fraternal order but not squirrely like the Masons" although the Masons are significantly less squirrely than they used to be
tell me more about "back when I lived in the Odd Fellows hall"