Lawmakers Are Roommates No More.

[elleng]

They had packed up their comforters, antacids and Jimi Hendrix records.

Then Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, pointed to a dusty item he did not recognize. Was it a piece of Asian art, he wondered?

Not exactly. “In Christian families, that would be called a Christmas tree holder,” Representative George Miller, Democrat of California, wryly explained to his Jewish friend.

It was the end of the real “Alpha House,” the crumbling gray-blue rowhouse in the shadow of the Capitol where a group of powerful Democratic lawmakers — including Mr. Miller, Mr. Schumer, Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois and a rotating cast of supporting players — have lived for more than three decades.

Mr. Miller, the owner of the two-story, two-bedroom house, is retiring after 40 years in Congress and is selling the home that inspired the Amazon web series “Alpha House,” as well as countless punch lines about the crash pad’s fraternity-meets-policy seminar vibe.

And so, on a chilly morning last week, the house’s final inhabitants — Mr. Miller, Mr. Durbin and Mr. Schumer — gathered one last time to finish clearing out boxes and say goodbye.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/17/us/after-decades-lawmakers-are-roommates-no-more.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

[MADem]

1. Couldn't ask for a better location. I know right where they lived.

They had a good deal for years, but with the rent going up, they're better off getting a studio or a 1 b/r nearby--especially since they're all a bunch of slobs!

[Brigid]

3. Didn't one of them say that his wife refused to stay there?

[MADem]

4. Well, who could blame her, with guys flopped in the "living room" and the kitchen alcove?

Animal House is bad enough--"middle aged and up" Animal House, with all those prostates vying for the toilet(s), would probably put the kitchen sink in jeopardy on occasion!

Having any sort of digs on the Hill in walking distance was a great convenience, though. I knew a mil affairs aide who rented a tiny 1BR "english basement" for nearly as much as my mortgage right near there, but he didn't have any commuting costs, it did come sparsely furnished, and they didn't mind his mid-sized dog.

Downside? When there's a big-ass blizzard, like there was in the mid-nineties when the city was paralyzed, guess who got to go in and do this and that? The poor bums who lived on the Hill...and their bosses knew it!

[marble falls]

2. Two bedrooms, three Congressmen. Sounds like sitcom to me.