Maple Shade Apartments

The ten years since Maple Shade was built have not been kind to it. Though it was built in the somewhat-rough Brooklyn neighborhood in hopes that the new development would help pull the area out of its economic slump, it was too little, too late. The neighborhood continued its downward spiral in the last ten years, and took the Maple Shade Apartments with it.

Today, the poor-but-hardworking families and individuals that originally made up its community have largely fled for safer places. Drug crime, homelessness, and prostitution define the grit of the Brooklyn neighborhood in 1984, and almost no one lives here out of choice. Still, there are decent folk who live here – some of whom have been here since it opened – trying to eke out a life of safety and comfort despite their surroundings.

History: 1976

Staff

Myrtle Connor Manager • Apt A10 Perpetually exhausted and cynical to the point of apathy, Myrtle doesn't give a shit what happens here. She mostly stays in her apartment, dealing with people who come to her door directly. When she is seen around the property, she is usually clad in bathrobe, hair curlers, ratty slippers, and smoking a cigarette.

Georgey Connor Maintenance & Pool Shark • Apt A09 Myrtle's nephew Georgey technically works for the Maple Shade as its maintenance man. The pay is low (though it does include an apartment), but so are the demands of the job. He always assures residents he's got a list, and that their problems are next on it. Georgey is notoriously critical of "junkies and fags," and seems outwardly judgmental of the "loose women" who live at the Maple Shade...when he's not propositioning them, of course. He makes most of his pocket money by playing pool at the local bars for cash.

Ground Floor

• Management Office: A sizable office set aside for the use of the complex's manager, this office goes largely unoccupied. It shows signs of having been broken into before, but is now secured with multiple sturdy locks.
• Security Office: A much smaller security office is largely abandoned, much like the management office. It has also been broken into and is now locked with heavy-duty locks.
• Play Area & Courtyard: A "green area" that is more dirt and trash than actual grass, the few children of the complex occasionally can be found playing here. At night, however, it is a gathering point of a variety of shifty characters, who use the lack of lighting, open access, and blocked lines of sight to sell drugs.
• Closed Shopfronts: Most of the shops here are run-down and decrepit, despite signs that proclaim them "FOR LEASE". There are iron bars over the windows, and much of the glass has been broken and not replaced, being boarded over with plywood instead. Every so often, the police cruise past, ready to roust out any homeless who have broken into one of these spaces for shelter.

Sal's limo can often be seen in the parking lot

• Fairways Payday Loans & Pawn: With bars on the windows and roll-down security gates over both door outside and windows inside, Fairways is the closest thing to a bank in the local area. They buy all sorts of pawned goods without too many obvious questions, as well as offering positively usurious "payday" loans that prey on those who have no choice but to take the loans between paychecks.
• Bright Gethsemene Church: A small nondenominational, charismatic church that gathers on Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings and evenings, the Bright Gethsemene's stated goal is the redemption of the many sins in this neighborhood. Pastor Lucas Garvey and his wife Jacinda lead services with a small but loyal congregation. On days when there are no services, the Garveys run a soup kitchen for the area's hungry, although these days they can only afford to open it twice a week or so (Tuesdays and Fridays).

First Floor

Floorplans

• Apartment A01: Lonnie Stedman
• Apartment A02: VACANT
• Apartment A03: The Flophouse (Edgar Reese, Oscar Ray)
• Apartment A04: xxx
• Apartment B01: Rex Bagby
• Apartment B02: Charlotte Murray
• Apartment B03: VACANT
• Apartment B04: xxx

	Lonnie Stedman Mercy Corps Worker • Apt A01 Lonnie works for Portland's newly headquartered Mercy Corps. He is a big proponent of drug and alcohol recovery in underprivileged communities around the world, and helps proselytize the use of a new treatment called Naloxone to help prevent heroine overdoses. He used to follow different jam bands around the United States, but now that he himself is sober, he has given it a rest, though he still loves The Grateful Dead. Lonnie thinks everyone just needs to settle down and see one another as people worthy of care and empathy. He loves electric model trains, and is very excited about new electric train public transit developments that should be ready later in the decade. He is trying to organize a local neighborhood watch.
	Edgar Reese Towel Boy & Rent Boy • Apt A03 Edgar is a towel boy at Club Portland downtown and a rent boy on the side. Loves to laugh and sing loudly, very quick wit. He shares an apartment with a number of other queer sex workers that is little more than a flophouse with one bedroom kept tidy enough to bring a john back to. He drives a red VW bug named Hester and has a well loved copy of How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive that he always keeps handy to keep her running
	Oscar Ray College Student & Rent Boy • Apt A03 Onkar "Oscar" Ray is studying pre-med at PSU. He doesn't talk much about his past, although it's known that his parents died when he was in high school, and he's struggled to pull his life together ever since. Oscar is the quiet foil to Edgar's boisterousness, and he shares a bedroom with Edgar, although they aren't romantically involved. (The other bedroom is the apartment's "working bedroom.")
	Rex Bagby Record Store Guru • Apt B01 One of the long-term Maple Shade residents, Rex suffered a bad accident one rainy night in 1979 while riding his bike. He doesn't ride any more, but he does still work in a couple of record shops, mostly doing buying and merchandising for them. He is well-known in Portland's music scene, and he occasionally writes reviews of local performances for the papers and magazines locally. His dream is still to one day open his own music store.
	Charlotte Murray Activist • Apt B02 Charlotte came to Oregon about ten years ago, escaping a series of bad relationships. She went to work at the Broadmoor Hotel doing housekeeping, and became involved in the small black community and its activism. Last year, she volunteered for Margaret Carter's state legislature campaign, but when the Broadmoor closed down, she was forced to move to the Maple Shade. Charlotte's church downstairs, Bright Gethsemane, is important to her, and she has taken up the desire to help make her new home a better place - without much success, to date. Charlotte loves going to karaoke nights down at the Nite Hawk, and she absolutely devours romance novels (a secret she doesn't let slip to her church friends, of course). She makes ends meet occasionally cleaning up houses, and has been known to do such tasks gratis for those with physical limits and limited means (such as Winnie, up on the third floor).

Second Floor

Floorplans

• Apartment A05: xxx
• Apartment A06: Joel Lerma
• Apartment A07: Sarina Sparkles
• Apartment A08: xxx
• Apartment B05: Desiree Yale
• Apartment B06: xxx
• Apartment B07: Belle Allman
• Apartment B08: VACANT

	Joel Lerma Pothead Philosopher • Apt A06 Though he works down at the Port Authority, that's not who Joel is, man. A charming pothead who hasn't quite figured out how to get his life together (or if he has, it sounds like way too much work), Joel's apartment usually hosts a collection of his buds couch-surfing or passed out under a table. Joel is usually broke, but everyone always gets paid back, and when payday comes, it's party o'clock for everybody. When high, he tends to expound at length about the problems in the world and with society. Joel is good with kids, and builds the coolest LEGO shit in the complex. He's the sort that is only too happy to babysit someone's kid, but usually only at their place – by no stretch of the imagination is his pothead den even remotely kid-friendly.
	Sarina Sparkles The Exotic Dancer • Apt A07 According to local legend, Portland is the city with the most strip clubs, per capita, in in the United States - and "Sparkle" has taken the stage in them all. The years of hard living are definitely catching up with her, and where once she was welcome at any stage she wanted, she now is just scraping by working day shifts at The Pitiful Princess. To make ends meet she rents her extra room out to girls she dances with, none of whom seem to stick around for more than a month or two - meaning there is a steady stream of boyfriends, stalkers, and abusive ex-boyfriends stalking the halls of Maple Shade.
	Desiree Yale The Divorcee • Apt B05 A long-time resident, Desiree divorced her husband Bruce in 1981, shortly after their son Malcolm graduated high school and moved away to Berkeley to attend university. Though Bruce used to come around, drunk and shouting, banging on her door until the cops came to round him up, it's been a few years since he's come around. Desiree has a couple of part-time jobs to make ends meet and in general seems perfectly content with her newfound peace. She's got some opinions about the decline in the complex, but it's cheap and it's home. Every so often, Malcolm (now 20 years old) comes home to visit her.
	Belle Allman Inspirational Speaker & Spiritual Advisor • Apt B07 Inspirational speaker, spiritual advisor, self-proclaimed self-defense expert, and dog enthusiast, Belle claims that Maple Shade can be transformed by the power of positive thinking. She is one of the few folk at the Maple Shade striving to change life here, and she puts forward a very put-together demeanor to back up that goal. She finds joy in perfumery, cooking, poetry, and other hobbies that engage sensuality. Though she has managed a few paying speaking gigs, Belle makes ends (barely) meet by working at a perfume counter at the mall.

Third Floor

Floorplans

• Apartment A09: Georgey Connor
• Apartment A10: Myrtle Connor (Manager)
• Apartment A11: xxx
• Apartment A12: Jaime Sinclair
• Apartment B09: VACANT
• Apartment B10: xxx
• Apartment B11: Winnifred "Winnie" Suttle
• Apartment B12: VACANT

Jaime Sinclair The Burnout • Apt A12 After a hard youth and early adulthood partying on daddy's dime, the Sinclairs eventually cut her free, tired of the drugs and shady boyfriends. These days, she floats from one drug-dealer boyfriend to the next, working as a stripper and dancer at VIBE when she can convince them to let her.

Winnifred "Winnie" Suttle The Shut-In • Apt B11 After having a minor stroke in 1982, Winnie doesn't get out as much as she used to. She has a difficult time with her mobility most days, but on her better days she pulls a chair up on the balcony to breathe the air and reminisce about days when she used to garden down in the green space below. She sometimes speaks wistfully of her daughter Vanessa and her family, but holds no grudge for not having seen her in years ("People just get busy these days, don't they?")

Fourth Floor

Floorplans

• Apartment A13: Marv Feldman
• Apartment A14: The Rutherfords (Evelyn, Isaiah, Lena)
• Apartment A15: xxx
• Apartment A16: xxx
• Apartment B13: Unoccupied (Water Damage)
• Apartment B14: Unoccupied (Water Damage)
• Apartment B15: VACANT
• Apartment B16: Ben Pardo

	Marvin "Marv" Feldman Costumer & Amateur Sleuth • Apt A13 Marv is a retired costumer for the Portland Opera, but was put out to pasture in the 70s and has struggled to make ends meet ever since - mostly doing work for the girls at Darcelles. He is completely obsessed with mystery shows like Columbo and Hart to Hart - and especially the new Angela Lansbury vehicle Murder, She Wrote. He fancies himself an amateur sleuth and is always watching the comings and goings at Maple Shade just waiting for a big mystery (but so far mostly salacious gossip)
	Evelyn Rutherford Gospel Singer • Apt A14 In recent days, Evelyn has come into a little bit of the spotlight as a gospel singer. She has done a small Washington-Oregon tour of churches in recent years, leading praise and worship. Though none of the venues could really afford to pay much, it's allowed her to stop doing mending and cleaning to make ends meet.
	Isaiah Rutherford Activist & Freelance Writer • Apt A14 Still involved in community activism, Isaiah writes think pieces and cultural spotlights for a number of Black publications in the U.S. Most of his time and resources are poured into local political efforts. Isaiah met Charlotte Murray through similar endeavors. Last year, Isaiah married Lena, who lives with him and Evelyn now.
	Lena Rutherford Activist • Apt A14 Enchanted by Isaiah's political awareness and fiery words (written and spoken), Lena and Isaiah married last year. Lena helps with several political endeavors, volunteering her time when she isn't tending to her domestic situation. She somewhat resents the assumption that housekeeping and cooking will fall to her because of Isaiah and Evelyn's involvement in their various projects, but she's content to help keep things together for now.
	Ben Pardo Unemployed • Apt B16 Ben thought he'd found happiness, with Carol. And then, the weird shit happened. His fear and pain as a result of those things drove a wedge between him and Carol, and when she left for Chicago, he was devastated. He lost his job and hasn't quite managed to find regular work ever since – his old job in sales was so high profile that his dramatic emotional collapse is common knowledge, and no one in his field wants to take a chance of it happening again if they hire him. So he's made rough ends meet with savings (now exhausted), credit cards, and the unemployment line since then.

Fifth Floor

Floorplans

• Apartment A17: VACANT
• Apartment A18: xxx
• Apartment A19: De la Fuente Family (Sal, Tina, Marisol, Diana, Mama Rosalinda)
• Apartment B17: Unoccupied (Water Damage)
• Apartment B18: Andy Koval
• Apartment B19: Annette Weaver & Her Weird Ass Commune

Salvador "Sal" Ignacio de la Fuente Driver • Apt A19 Sal owns his own business, which is to say he owns a low rent limosine and is able to rent his driving services out enough to keep the lights on. He lives with his mother Rosalina, two sisters Marisol and Diana, and his girlfriend Tina - none of whom get along. They fight loudly and endlessly anytime he is not around to diffuse the situation. Sal is a good catholic boy, and despite their means, the whole family dresses to the nines to attend services every Sunday, and Mama Rosalinda then comes home and makes a big dinner that anyone in the complex is welcome to attend - provided they are willing to listen to helpful advice about their lifestyle choices from Sal and Mama Rosalinda.

Andy Koval Construction Worker • Apt B18 Andy works at a local construction company. He's down on his luck and rebuilding his life in Portland after his life fell apart in Minnesota – he's known to have been an accountant at one point, and to have been married. Now he spends his off time inviting other residents over for coffee and telling tall tales about his past.