To the man cave

By Kate M. Jackson, Globe Correspondent | February 4, 2007

After graduating from Bentley College in 1996, Larry Cannalonga moved to "Man Town." Reluctant to give up the college lifestyle, he and 11 buddies rented out a 12-bedroom house in Waltham -- a former nursing home -- and moved in together. For more than two years, they lived out the habits of the indigenous New England male: hanging out, watching the Red Sox and Patriots, drinking beer, and eating take-out every night.

"We all pitched in for a pool table, a big-screen TV and a jukebox," Cannalonga recalled of life in the "508," as they called it , after the house's street address. "It was a great time in our lives."

Like his buddies, Cannalonga moved on, and out. Now 32, he is married with two children and lives in North Reading. But he recently found himself missing the spirit of his old crash pad; it was time, he knew, for a man cave.

Dingy basements, chilly garages, a beat-up den, or even an oversized mud room, the "man cave" is a designated area in a home for all things mannish -- or, boyish, depending on your view. Mythologized in beer commercials broadcast during weekend football games, the man cave is a place where guys are free to smoke cigars, fart, yell at the TV, or indulge in other guy-like activities .

from the Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/realestate/articles/2007/02/04/to_the_man_cave/?p1=emai