By Gabby Hernandez
hernande6@grinnell.edu
Once known as Beach House, 1120 Broad Street seems to have retired from its party era instead becoming a second home to many feline friends. Its first-floor residents are twelve Santa statues, various houseplants, Winona the cat, Linda Peng `22, Maren Cooper `22 and S&B Editor in Chief Eva Hill.
In their kitchen is a fridge completely covered in word magnets building phrases like “organic destruction” and “mind forge.” Directly across from it is a stove with a switch labeled “detonator” and four knobs with heat settings ranging from low to “fusion” or “panic.”
Further in is a dining room warmed by a large photo of a fireplace hanging on the wall. The table is surrounded by chairs of different shapes, sizes and colors.
On one wall there are paintings by an unknown source and a portrait of Sir Thomas More. Across the room rests a pair of antlers beside small plastic figurines from Pixar animated films. Twelve Santa statues sit above the fireplace.
“This is Santa over the years in various countries,” said Cooper. “In Poland 1909 he looks like a sort of shepherd dude.”
During the interview, Winona the cat guards the doorway between the dining and living rooms. Cheng, former S&B features editor, entrusted Winona to the residents of 1120 Broad while she was abroad.
Winona was not the first cat to be under their care; because their lease allows them to have cats, the residents often find themselves cat-sitting for friends who go abroad or need a place to stash their cat while their landlord is visiting.
“We were babysitting a cat that had a tendency to hide under things,” said Hill. “So I was trying to keep him in my room, but he got out one day and we had to turn over all of the couches so that he couldn’t hide under them. Then [Cooper] had to dig him out of a space between the bathroom sink and the wall.”
Connected to the dining room is the bathroom. On the door hangs a sign originally from a dorm bathroom signaling that only one user is allowed in at a time due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The bathroom has two doors and neither of them shut,” said Hill. “And this is where the gigantic cat managed to wedge himself.”
Winona the cat saunters into the living room and settles underneath a die table covered with a puzzle in progress. There are couches along every wall of the room, each a different color and design.
“When we moved in this room was just full of furniture. I furnished my entire bedroom just by taking stuff out of the living room,” said Hill.
Also hanging on a wall was the source of hot debate in the household: a lacquered planetary puzzle. There was a divide between the residents on whether a puzzle should be glued together after completion or admired for a few days before being taken apart.
“But if you did that to every puzzle, then your walls would be covered in them and people would be like, ‘you’re crazy,’” said Cooper.
“What is the problem with a house covered in puzzles?” said Peng.
Peng became a strong advocate for gluing puzzles after meeting someone at flute camp who glued puzzles together after they had finished them.
“It’s been an ongoing debate for several months now. I have stayed out of it because I sort of don’t have an opinion,” said Hill.
