By Kimaya Singh
With Chapman students renting out houses all over Orange, naming houses has become an increasingly popular trend. This semester, when students got the keys to their new house, the first question wasn’t how much electricity bills were or how to deal with roommate conflicts. Instead, it was the discussion over what to name the house. Listed below are ten houses with names and the reasons to why the names were chosen.
Cantina
“Our previous house was called ‘The Playground’ because it had a mini playground in the backyard. When my roommates and I moved into this house, we saw the palm trees in front of the house and it reminded us of a Mexican beach so we decided on Cantina.” – Katie Norton, senior communication studies major.
Stark Industries
“This might sound a little arrogant but it’s because everything in the house- the appliances, furniture, bar, and piano- is too fancy for a college house. The kitchen in general also seems kind of futuristic so when one of our friends’ suggested ‘Stark Industries,’ we thought it would be a good fit.” – Chu Wen, senior psychology major.
Fort Knox
“It’s more of a secret that ties into the heritage of our establishment on the Sycamore street so I really cannot disclose more information at this moment.” – Eric Ward, junior creative producing major.
The Courthouse
“Well, it’s right by the law school so it made sense. Also we have a running joke and like to think that all who enter come in innocent but will most likely leave guilty.” – Matt Marlin, sophomore strategic and corporate communications major.
The Cove
“The house is tropical themed which is why we have Hawaiian shirts on the wall. It’s also pretty small and cozy so the name seemed fitting.” – Kea Perkins, junior strategic and corporate communications major.
The Haystack
“My two roommates and I were on a ‘roomie date’ last year and were talking about the freshman roommate horror stories you always hear. While we were saying how lucky we were for becoming best friends, one of them said that we found each-other like needles in a haystack. We all stopped eating and just let that sink in because it was so great. So now we call each-other needles and our apartment ‘The Haystack’ this year.” – Rachel Saquing, sophomore health sciences major.
YOLF House
“Unfortunately it’s a secret. Only those who live here are allowed to know. But I will say that YOLF is a way of life.” – Pablo Cueto, junior spanish and strategic and corporate communications major.
Side-note: YOLF in an acronym for ‘You Only Live Forever.’
The Lighthouse
“We actually had a very difficult time naming the house. Originally, we were going to name it ‘The Pier’ for the pool in the backyard but we decided that sounds too basic. So then I kept throwing out names like The Capitol, The Metro, The Drive Thru, The Catastrophe etc. In the end though, we chose ‘The Lighthouse’ because we’re the only house in our neighborhood that has a light that shines out to the houses close by.” – Ryan Rodriguez, sophomore business and public relations and advertising major.
The Playboy Mansion
“We changed the name of our house now but it used to initially be called ‘The Playboy Mansion’ because there were three girls and just one guy. But then we had another guy move in, so we don’t call it that anymore unfortunately.” – Danielle Ito, sophomore public relations and advertising major.
Margaritaville
“Margaritaville, the song by Jimmy Buffet, is the unofficial song for Chapman’s Gamma Phi Beta chapter. Since we’re all Gamma Phis, it just kind of made sense.” – Krista Goldsmith, sophomore public relations and advertising major.
