The other Castle Green.

In 2008 in Castle Green proper, OUR Castle Green, the people renting the bridge (One can only rent the bridge not own it. I don't want to own it, it doesn't have a bathroom, but Leif wants to own it to run his model trains.) hung a giant "Elect Obama" banner out their window, making it appear as if the whole Castle were for Obama. No one objected.

But there is another Castle Green, arguably the "Bizarro" Castle Green. All the occupants are poor and it was one of Newt Gingrich's stops on his campaign trail.

The Green Hotel Apartments are attached to us perpendicularly, we face Raymond Avenue, they face Green Street. They were part of Colonel Green's grand hotel complex, but they aren't part of present day Castle Green. Any part of the buildings that touch is sealed off now. We even have separate entrances. Ours is guarded by a door man, their's by nothing.

Castle Green (99. S. Raymond Ave.) is owner or owner's renter occupied. Green Hotel (50 E. Green St.) is owned by G&K Management and reserved under Section 202 of HUD (Housing and Urban Development) for low income seniors.

We are individual owners, they are sectioned.

Newt Gingrich speaking at Pasadena's TeaPAC's Townhall Series in the Castle Green Hotel

We can see the Green Hotel's turret out both windows. It truly looks like a castle, surrounded by palm trees. I faced our bed so we'd see it when we woke up. We can also see their parking lot. A parking lot is more than we have. Castle Green has about 8 parking spaces, belonging to long time residents. I asked one if we could have his when he died. He said yes, but our building manager told me it doesn't work that way.

They also have some concrete benches with a little bit of surrounding lawn, adjacent to their parking lot. It looks like the tiny bits of grass I saw planted around benches in front of "projects" in New York.

They're allegedly not allowed to use the Castle green, the vast lawn in front of our building. Apparently that's ours and the little bit that's theirs we rent to keep them out. On the other hand, most weekends we can't use our lawn either, because it's reserved for weddings.

Green Hotel turret through our window. My castle dollhouse in the foreground.

I used to hear screams coming from the Green Hotel, semi-coherent arguments late at night. Apparently a crazy elder lover scorned, on a regular basis. It's stopped so she's moved or been silenced, by the petition Father Ignatius asked us to sign. He's the one resident of the Hotel I know, besides the Castle Caterers who flit between buildings and functions. Their ballroom is the one Newt Gingrich spoke in.

Father Ignatius or "Friar Tuck" is an ex-Franciscan monk who lives there but was an elevator operator here for a time. Sometime, in the 70s, he lived in New York and worked at Studio 54.  I don't know when he was a monk but he has a cassock that he sometimes wears, to preach with increased credibility to the homeless in the park. For a time he was friends with our building manager, babysitting her kitty,  but then he was taken over by a different female neighbor. He walks her dog, and I think travels with her. I'm pretty sure she's a lapsed or semi lapsed Catholic, which explains his appeal.

The only other Green Hotel residents I see, are old men playing pool in their lobby. Their lobby is accessible on the far end of our porch and could potentially spill the Green Hotel residents out onto our lawn. But it doesn't.

A Castle Green 3rd floor neighbor has a theory I really like. He thinks that when the low income senior citizens of the Green Hotel die (which I know they do, there's frequently an ambulance pulled up there), they are allowed to cross over.  Cross over not to just the spiritual other side but the earthly other side, our part of the castle. As ghosts they are not stopped by our snobbery.

Green Hotel door, far at the end of our porch.