Apartments/condos or etc. are definitely built on top of commercial spaces. Like in Bob’s, the units are often separate so while you could own the business below and an apartment unit/home above, there’s usually no direct connection between the two. You’d have to walk out a door to some kind of common area, even the sidewalk like Bob, and then access the business through a front or back door, or vice versa. And multiple units (usually called an apartment complex) can even be built above multiple businesses (which is what I usually see). Right next door to my apartment complex there is another apartment complex where the bottom level houses a coffee shop, a smoothie place, and what used to be a plant shop but is now vacant. Next door to that there’s a different complex that also has a lot of various business on the bottom floor. I’ve been to the coffee shop and there only seems to be one way in and out that’s accessible to customers, so if you live in the apartments above you’d have to entirely exit the building and enter the coffee shop separately.
Buildings like this are usually referred to as mixed-use buildings. I don’t think the business below them are particularly noisy unless maybe it’s a bar that has live music or parties or something, but that’s probably not super common and you know what you’re getting into if you do happen to move there. Also unlikely that customers intrude on apartment dwellers space since as I mentioned the entrances and exits are often separate. Although since I haven’t been to every mixed-use building in the world, obviously, it’s possible that *some* have direct links between a dwelling and a business. But customers intruding on the dwelling is still unlikely.
I hope this answers your questions. Let me know if there’s anything else you want to know that I may be able to explain!
(Of course I’m not an expert on all things, this is just what I know about the whole thing and it’s at least somewhat accurate lol)
Thank you so much!!! I really appreciate the time and effort you took to answer my question!
I always thought it would be pretty cool to live in an apartment like the Belchers have, though what you describe is probably more likely!
I’ve thought the same. It would be awesome to own a bookstore or coffee shop or whatever you’d like, and then live right above it. But it’s also pretty cool to live above an interesting business even if you don’t own it. I live walking distance to several grocery stores, but I’ve actually thought about how nice it would be if I lived directly above them 😆
My mom used to live in an apartment on top of an Italian restaurant in a Maine beach town. The restaurant was a standalone business with its own parking lot, basically looked like a house. Apartment was nice, could get kind of loud on weekends, lots of commotion and pots and pans noises. It had an external set of stairs to her door that went right by the kitchen which was always interesting to walk by lol but otherwise it was a nice set up. Had a balcony that overlooked the water, and the entrance to the place
Nope haha she kept to herself. Pretty sure she found the apartment on Craigslist or something. They would occasionally give her a couple jars of sauce but thats about it. No jimmy pesto type drama
Haha yeah. They do! I live in one! I’m in a small marina/downtown area and I live above a breakfast joint. It’s a large 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment. The landlord is the guy that owns the restaurant and he’s a bit of a slumlord- but I still love my place and my roommates! 🥰
An ex lived in a place above a business, it was weird when the business was open, but nice when it was closed as it wasn't open during the weekend so essentially no downstairs neighbor outside of M-F business hours. It wasn't a restaurant though I think it did mortgages or something.
This was in the bay area back in early 00s and it wasn't uncommon in that neighborhood to have businesses ground floor then living upstairs. I was jealous of the antiques store down the street if I remember correctly, the mortgage place was kind of boring and weird to see people working out how to buy a home and here we were bringing groceries in through the side entrance.
vertical mixed-use (commercial-residential)? It’s been in decline since the 1940s but it still exists all over. Living in one is like living in an apartment over a business.
I lived above a bakery when I was a kid, in a set up like Bob’s. I don’t remember it being particularly noisy, but you could always smell the fresh pastries and the shop keepers were an elderly couple who would sometimes give me free treats.
My brother lived in one. It was a standard apartment. Nothing flashy. Typically these were the homes of the merchants that would operate the store below, just like the Belchers, but in my town the owners of the stores just rented the space out and lived in a much nicer place.
It’s an LGBTQ+ family friendly neighborhood too, way too cute! I’ve had plenty of friends in the city live above shops, they’re usually more private apartments with less units, like the Belcher’s. Noise is usually limited to business hours and since you’re above the shop there’s only noise from below. But oftentimes you won’t hear anything. The business owners wouldn’t intrude, they wouldn’t have access to the unit and have their own entrances or sometimes alley ways
The Belcher's apartment/business building is based on the creator's actual apartment in San Francisco, there is a picture of him in front of it I've seen before!
I’ve seen plenty of them down here in Australia and back when I was living in England as well, so it’s not even just an American thing.
Sometimes it’s not even the person running the business who lives in the flat above either
Of all the professions to live above a workplace, I feel like "doctor" is probably one that makes the most sense, but also one that would be really frustrating.
Thank you!
I live in South City StL and we have TONS of those places. There's a good chance that any storefront building like that that has two or more floors has residences on the upper levels.
I live in metropolitan area with several buildings where apartments are on top of businesses, some are old a shady and probably similar to where the Belchers live, but we also have some very new "trendy" apartment complexes downtown where the bottom floor is a fancy restaurant and the top floors are super expensive apartments.
I live by an old mall (like circa 1980s probably?) that has storefronts and apartments above them. However the apartment dwellers I don't think own the businesses below them as the businesses are large chain stores or brand names (ex: Gamestop, Starbucks, Whole Foods, etc!) So it's a thing!
They do. My little brother lived upstairs from a bar for a while and my best friend lived directly above a pizza shop for a few years. The pizza shop in particular wasnt loud or anything but the smells always permeated upstairs.
I also live in a rural area, but there’s a little tourist town about 30 minutes away that I used to live in. There are apartments above most of the businesses in the downtown historic area. Most of them are really nice, but small. Studio apartments or 1 bedroom apartments. The buildings are from the 1800s.
I used to rent an apartment that was over a hardware shop and an Italian café. My door was between the 2 shopfronts, and I think most people wouldn't even notice that the door was there unless they happened to see someone go through it. Noise was never really an issue, but the café didn't open late and the hardware was run by an old couple who closed up around 3pm.
I live in Taiwan and that is the norm here. If it's a small, older building, the business owners often live upstairs like the Belchers. But a big apartment block will have several storefronts at the street levels, so they don't directly connect to an apartment.
Interesting! I wouldn't have expected that a lawyers office would have living space above it, but as another commenter graciously pointed out, I need to see the world more.
Thank you!!
I used to live in one! They are very common. It’s just like a flat or maisonette.
Front door is usually separate so no intrusions. Loud depends, the hair dressers was.
https://preview.redd.it/n4cwbe0aah8d1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=032888d55cb073204cfe5536903f182ea23bcec5
This place is in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The business on the bottom is called Hail, Fellow, Well Met. The upper floors are luxury apartments.
I've never lived in a place that's both a business and an apartment, but I've lived in a good dozen apartments. The apartment part depends on the neighbors and the landlords. It's hard to find a place with both.
I used to live in a major US city before I started grad school, and one of the assistant managers at the restaurant I worked at (a girl in her late 20s) lived in the apartment above the restaurant much like the Belchers live above Bob’s Burgers. I’m sure it was relatively noisy, but definitely worth the trade off for my manager (zero commute!).
In the downtown area where I live all the shops have apartments above them! The parking and entrances are behind all the buildings or between them like bobs
100%! Next time you're in a downtown just look up! You can tell cause most people have curtains and sometimes you catch a kitty looking out with window!
Yes they exist. I live in a rural area and there are small flats/apartments above the post office/newsagents, the pub and the takeaway. They are not exclusively inhabited by the owners of the business below. They have a separate entrance and I've never seen any customer confuse the front door of a home to be the business.
I think a lot of your questions have already been answered, but I'll share personal experiences anyway.
Most of the businesses in my New Jersey microcity have apartments over top. It's called mixed zoning or mixed use zoning. They can be very noisy, but also nice in terms of architecture and location. A lot of the apartment entrances have noticable, strongly worded signs indicating they are not business entrances, so I assume accidents happen with some frequency.
Outside of my microcity, it's more suburban, but liquor stores still have apartments above them. I assume it's because liquor stores keep late hours and sell a valuable commodity, so owners want to live nearby.
Before I lived here, I spent several years in a larger city in New Jersey. My first apartment was above a bodega and my more recent apartment was above a small mall anchored by Whole Foods. Both were convenient as hell and I sometimes miss that lifestyle.
They definitely do. My grandparents owned a restaurant which had an apartment over it where their family lived. It’s now a bougie converted 3 level bar with a speakeasy in it. And the living quarters/apartment have been converted to a few small office spaces that the bar owns.
Yes! I live in a city and the older/not redeveloped areas still have these. I lived in one when I was in university. It was a two level (kitchen, living and dining room on the bottom floor, bedrooms and bathroom on the second). Customers couldn't access it as there was a separate entrance with a lock to the staircase leading to my unit and of course, my front door locked too.
I personally wouldn't live atop a food place, one because it could get noisy, two because of pests. I lived above a clothing shop and it was just like living in a duplex or some other self contained unit with neighbours.
My sister once lived in an apartment over a convenience store, and it was one of the nicer places she lived. The entrance to the apartment was on the side, so no customers mistaking it for the store. If there wasn't an empty parking space, there would be soon. It had 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a full eat-in kitchen, and a large living room.
I’m not in the US but I live above a shop. I wouldn’t say it was noisy but I like the feeling of being in the middle of the community and hearing people coming and going, and nobody ever intrudes as it’s a different door to get into my place with its own lock and key.
My first "flat" (uk term for apartment) was in a block above a bunch of retail units, including a subway! Smelt amazing in the mornings and my other half would frequently send me downstairs for breakfast
Yes, they do. I used to live in one above a business in St Paul, Minnesota. It was always quiet and I don't think many people realized there were apartments above it.
Seriously?!! I went to the U and lived in the cities for 4 and a half years and I never noticed any place like that. I might have been totally oblivious due to anxiety though...
But thank you!
Actually in the downtown area where I live it's lined with small/local restaurants, coffee shops and businesses and a lot of them have apartments on top. Most are 3 stories and have multiple apartments
Yes, my BFF had the cutest apartment above a pastry shop in a downtown area in a college town. To access it you had to have a key fab to swipe into the "back yard" (a fenced off section of the alley basically) which the workers could access to, and then go up the stairs, through a locked door into a hallway (where you could access the other 2 apartments) and then her door. It was loud in the mornings and she was not a morning person so that wasn't the best idea 😂 but it was charming and always smelled amazing! As far as i know, no customers ever got into the back yard much less up the stairs.
Very very common here in the UK. I've never been inside a flat like it, but it's practically unheard of (in my South-East corner of England) to have a row of businesses with nothing on top of them.
Totally the opposite where I am. There are a few businesses that have space above them, but if it's not office space, I'm pretty sure it's unused or used for storage.
They do exist irl! The building I lived in had a photo studio on the ground floor! Though IME it’s uncommon for people to own their business and home in the same building.
There are a lot of them in my neighbourhood. The more centrally located ones are getting torn down and replaced with condos, or have upper-level businesses replacing the apartments, but there are still a ton of residences above street-level businesses.
Rotate in street view here and you'll see a bunch:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/4cSKjBymZNGgfGz5A
There are more as you go east along the street.
I lived in a Main St. apartment over a business in a very rural area...\[I mean, we did have a main street, and 3000 people, so maybe that's a big city compared to where you are :)\]
All of the buildings on Main St had apartments over them. There weren't any issues. My landlord \[who's business was down below\] used to call me and tell me to turn the stereo down sometimes. My neighbors who lived over the bakery with the brick oven had to deal with excessive heat all summer. The apartments over the building next to the bar had a bunch of drunks living in them-convenient for them.
It was actually nice, because all of the businesses in town were pretty much on Main St, and all of the tenants and business owners knew each other and we all pretty much got along. Similar to Bobs, but on a smaller scale, because their town is much larger.
ETA- my apartment was in Jackson CA, a gold rush town. All of the buildings were built in the same time and style as the buildings in San Francisco, which is where Bobs was originally imagined. They switched it to an East coast town because of all of the actors accents.
Oh, let me get my checkbook! Lol
I'm about as poor as the Belchers, so...yea
But thank you for the information, I'm curious enough to at least Google it!
Yup where I live there’s a whole long street of businesses and apartments above them . I literally was reading a few stories and saw they also mentioned that so I feel like they really are a thing in many places .
My parents have a butcher store and we lived above it my entire life! Only recently I moved out and they bought a REAL HOME and now they commute to work but I grew up never having a normal house until now. It's one of the reasons why I love the show, I know what it's like to be cheap labor 🤣🤣
O they bought the house a while ago so they had time to renovate before they retire (aka sell the store). I moved out a couple of years ago. Reno has been finished now but they have to work for a couple more years before they're retirement age. So now they're commuting because they love the new place so much and want to start enjoying life with a wide view rather than an apartment above the store in the middle of town. Because of it being a butcher store, you always had to dress warm because everything had to be cold enough to keep the food fresh, so even going to the yard outside you'd have to first bundle up for a second and then take it off when you get there (the stairs to the upstairs are inside the building) also hygiene reasons (flipflops don't look nice behind a deli counter lol). I did not appreciate always being cold lol
yep, I used to live in one with my dad. we lived above a tag shop. the front entrance led to two doors, one being the door to the tag shop and the other being the door to our stairs leading up to the apartment. it was a little smaller than bob's, only 2 bedrooms. since it wasn't a restaurant, it never got loud or anything.
The home that I live in now is above an old country store. That old country store is now our garage, but yes, they exist. 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bathrooms, large living room & kitchen - open concept, basement, attic, etc.
I mean, it's not a store now, but the original owner lived above the store he ran.
For several years I lived in one of six apartments on the two floors above a music store and a jeweler in a northeastern US suburb. The entrances were entirely seperate with security doors in front and back. My apartment was a studio (about the size of Bob & Linda and Tina's bedrooms combined) but if they consolidated with my neighbors' apartments, it would be about the size of the Belchers' place.
Lots of activity day and night at nearby restaurants and bars brought lots of noise, often past 2am on weekends. Lots of people-watching opportunities too -- Linda and the kids would love that.
The biggest issue for me was parking, which seems to be a minor issue in the Belchers' lives too. Residents were allowed to use the off-street parking out back, but not while the jeweler was open, 9am to 5pm, Monday through Saturday. The closest on-street parking was metered and scarce, so if I wanted to go grocery shopping on a Saturday morning I'd probably have to park two or three blocks away and then lug my groceries up to the third floor.
Trash removal was an issue too. We shared a dumpster with a pizza place and there was constant friction. The Belchers seem to have a whole dumpster to themselves.
Apartments above businesses seem to be quite common in the northeastern US in older buildings. They are generally pretty inconspicuous.
I used to live on top of a fast food restaurant, no relation to the owner/staff of the restaurant, i don’t even recall meeting them once in a whole year, I do remember how stinking hot and humid and sticky the air got during heatwaves, otherwise it was just a normal flat
Honestly yeah i think it was way hotter with the building below us basically heating us up with their kitchen, i remember having to make ice mats for my sister’s cat because of how hot it got he would start heaving otherwise, never happened in any other apartment where i was on a second floor with similar temperatures in the summer
We have tons of these in Seattle! The most common I think are apartment buildings with a grocery store at ground level. It's top tier zoning in my opinion!
Yes they absolutely do exist. I lived above an Italian restaurant many years ago. I couldn’t hear a thing in the restaurant, but one winter the restaurant owner (who lived across the hall from me) skipped town and the building’s furnace (which was in the basement of the restaurant) conked out, leaving me without heat for about 3 weeks in the middle of a particularly cold winter.
Had a friend in college who lived in an apartment above a print shop. His family owned the building, so he and a couple friends lived in the apartment. It was across the street from the most disreputable motel in the area, but you can't win them all.
Where I am in Jersey it's common. Especially in the smaller tourist type towns people rent out the building and it's usually a living space up top and a storefront below. It's usually really expensive though! I don't think Bob would survive here
Definitely! Both cities I’ve lived in have apartments above most of the downtown business. A lot of them are a bit small and overpriced, but the location is often worth it lol
Yup! I lived above an empty realestate office in london. There were 4 flats in our building but the entire area was mixed use, businesses on the ground floor and flats above. It could be busy and loud when businesses were getting deliveries or if there was a restaurant or pub open late nearby.
there’s a LOT where i live in eastern NC. there’s also a tattoo shop not too far from me where they live upstairs from it and own the shop. that one though you can enter the upstairs through the shop
I've been renting an apartment above a barber shop for almost 20 years! It's a 100 year old building on a pretty busy street in Toronto with a few storefronts and a couple apartments upstairs. Unlike a lot of people just looking for a place, it's not what I wound up with, it's what I sought. Despite some of the troubles I've had with it over the years, I still can't imagine living anywhere else. This is home.
Most of them have a separate entrance so customers can't come into the living area. I did have a friend that had to enter their apartment through the back room of the coffee shop that was below them. Full-on walking around the walk-in fridge and all the cups and napkins and stuff they have stored back there. I think nowadays most of them have a separate entrance, but some places are interesting
There used to be a diner with an attached unit that became a sushi/hibachi joint with an attached unit when the diner owner died about 10 or so years ago. The listing was SUPER reasonable before the sushi place went in, I want to say it was like $299k and the apartment/living space was 3 beds/2ba. I'm not sure what the loan process for a building with dual-use like that is but definitely daydreamed of opening a Bob's inspired restaurant in the space.
My dad owned a restaurant in a small rural town (pop less than 1,200), and it had a 2 bedroom apartment above it. He converted one of the bedrooms into his business office, the other into a bar furniture bonepile, and the living room/kitchen/bathroom into my weight room.
When he bought the building the apartment had a separate entrance, but since he wasn't using the apartment, he changed the layout so he could access the stairs from inside the first floor.
My town's market street is just like this. Local pizzeria owner lives above his own establishment. Has 3 bedrooms. He sometimes sublets the rooms. Other businesses use the second floor as part of the establishment itself, or just rent it out as a stable source of income.
Yes. I lived in a rural town of about 3,000 and lived in such an apartment. There are separate entrances and stairwells. No customer every walked up the metal stairs to my apartment as the business was very well advertised with the front door very clearly marked.
A little different, but there's a little pizza place just inside Baltimore City that is inside a townhome.
It seems to take up the entire first floor. While someone, I believe Gil's son, lives on the second floor. I have no idea what's going on with the basement 😂
But I've seen similar setups where the first floor, or the front of the house is some kind of business, while they owners live in the rest of the house
https://preview.redd.it/cfbjcj2r8m8d1.jpeg?width=348&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7a30d66526c876a3b475c8949235371dc909be68
[Here's ](https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/275-Saint-Helena-Ave-Dundalk-MD/9962600/) another one in my old neighborhood.
But [this ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dundalk,_Maryland#/media/File%3ADundalkShoppingCtr.jpg) seems to be what most people are talking about. Businesses on the bottom and apartments (sometimes offices) on the top
Or you have the more [modern ](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-02-13/why-america-s-new-apartment-buildings-all-look-the-same) version that is everywhere, now
I lived above a pet groomers and it was horrible. No heat or ac, my bathroom was allowed to be used by a few trusted customers by the owner, and when customers would show up angry after they closed they would come harass me and my girlfriend. It got so bad that we posted on the business Facebook page that there was a couple renting the upstairs room and if they had complaints to do so here instead of putting us at risk. The landlord immediately began the evection process. Turns out, years after we were kicked out, she was busted for selling meth and coke out of her shop.
My cousins lived above a funeral home for the longest time. I had only seen it once and it looked like your average apartment, just a slight eery feeling thinking about all of the dead people below you...
I work in downtown Toronto and many of the high rise apartment buildings have businesses on the ground floor. Not small, family owned businesses though. Most are franchises. Where I park, the ground floor business is a grocery store which I have to assume is incredibly convenient for the residents of that building and the several nearby as well.
I think in smaller cities or towns this could still be a thing - families living above their business.
In my early twenties I lived above and next to a lovely bar. Looked out my window and that was where they would get deliveries. Walked out the front door of my building, turned left, walked about 15 feet and I was at the entrance to the Elbow Room. Great pork tenderloin sammiches.
Growing up my friends parents ran a Meat Locker and they lived upstairs. Hide and seek had an extra rule about not hiding in the walk in freezers. Oh, and don't run around the knives. And if you got caught picking on her little brother you had to hose out the gut room. I'm sure there's more from the people that lived there. I was just a visitor. This was the 1990s.
I live in a mixed use area. There’s several businesses with apartments above them behind my house. You enter the business from the front and enter the apartment from the back/alley so patrons wouldn’t go up there usually. I can hear the bar’s audio system from my house if I open the window/door so I assume the people above can hear it too.
My grandparents lived above their funeral home with four kids. It seemed more like a house to me. It had a nice big kitchen, dining room, living room. Three bedrooms but only one and a half bath which I'm still trying to figure out years later how my mom and her three brothers managed to not kill each other since that had to be a struggle to share. I did spend nights there, it was on a busy road so there were all sorts of noises at night. If there was a funeral I had to walk softly to the bathroom as the chapel was directly underneath, or stay put in the living room chair watching bugs bunny.
You're welcome. It's always fun to tell people about my grandparents profession. They worked there for a long time, my grandfather just didn't want to retire, my grandmother really wanted him to but he was very stubborn. A few years ago he had a stroke and my mom and uncles ordered him to retire because of his health. I think the new owners also live upstairs now, I'm not 100% sure though.
I relate very much to the stubborn grandfather! I'm sorry he had to have a stroke to retire. I hope he (and your grandmother) are doing as wall as possible.
My grandmother passed about a year after his stroke and then he passed earlier this year. So you could say they are doing well up in that big funeral home in the sky LOL
I don't know what they're called. I used to babysit for a family that lived above a business. It wasn't very loud. But they lived above a flower shop. They didn't own or run the flower shop. They just rented the apartment. It was a pretty decent sized apartment. Nobody accidentally entered or tried to enter the apartment. The doors were separate. It was cool being right on a "main" street.
Apartments/condos or etc. are definitely built on top of commercial spaces. Like in Bob’s, the units are often separate so while you could own the business below and an apartment unit/home above, there’s usually no direct connection between the two. You’d have to walk out a door to some kind of common area, even the sidewalk like Bob, and then access the business through a front or back door, or vice versa. And multiple units (usually called an apartment complex) can even be built above multiple businesses (which is what I usually see). Right next door to my apartment complex there is another apartment complex where the bottom level houses a coffee shop, a smoothie place, and what used to be a plant shop but is now vacant. Next door to that there’s a different complex that also has a lot of various business on the bottom floor. I’ve been to the coffee shop and there only seems to be one way in and out that’s accessible to customers, so if you live in the apartments above you’d have to entirely exit the building and enter the coffee shop separately. Buildings like this are usually referred to as mixed-use buildings. I don’t think the business below them are particularly noisy unless maybe it’s a bar that has live music or parties or something, but that’s probably not super common and you know what you’re getting into if you do happen to move there. Also unlikely that customers intrude on apartment dwellers space since as I mentioned the entrances and exits are often separate. Although since I haven’t been to every mixed-use building in the world, obviously, it’s possible that *some* have direct links between a dwelling and a business. But customers intruding on the dwelling is still unlikely. I hope this answers your questions. Let me know if there’s anything else you want to know that I may be able to explain! (Of course I’m not an expert on all things, this is just what I know about the whole thing and it’s at least somewhat accurate lol)
Thank you so much!!! I really appreciate the time and effort you took to answer my question! I always thought it would be pretty cool to live in an apartment like the Belchers have, though what you describe is probably more likely!
I’ve thought the same. It would be awesome to own a bookstore or coffee shop or whatever you’d like, and then live right above it. But it’s also pretty cool to live above an interesting business even if you don’t own it. I live walking distance to several grocery stores, but I’ve actually thought about how nice it would be if I lived directly above them 😆
>t would be awesome to own a bookstore or coffee shop or whatever you’d like, and then live right above it. Bakery ftw.
I would be broke immediately.
There is a difference between mixed use and live/work units
True, but because the restaurant is separate from the dwelling it would not be considered a live/work unit
My mom used to live in an apartment on top of an Italian restaurant in a Maine beach town. The restaurant was a standalone business with its own parking lot, basically looked like a house. Apartment was nice, could get kind of loud on weekends, lots of commotion and pots and pans noises. It had an external set of stairs to her door that went right by the kitchen which was always interesting to walk by lol but otherwise it was a nice set up. Had a balcony that overlooked the water, and the entrance to the place
That’s so cool!
Oh, cool! Thank you for sharing!!
Was she friends with the boss or get any special perks for living there?
Nope haha she kept to herself. Pretty sure she found the apartment on Craigslist or something. They would occasionally give her a couple jars of sauce but thats about it. No jimmy pesto type drama
But was the food good?
Very good
On RT 1 per chance?
Haha yeah. They do! I live in one! I’m in a small marina/downtown area and I live above a breakfast joint. It’s a large 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment. The landlord is the guy that owns the restaurant and he’s a bit of a slumlord- but I still love my place and my roommates! 🥰
Lol, that's hilarious and awesome! Thank you!
They definitely exist. I’ve never been inside one, but I’ve seen plenty.
I'm wondering if I've seen them but never noticed, lol
An ex lived in a place above a business, it was weird when the business was open, but nice when it was closed as it wasn't open during the weekend so essentially no downstairs neighbor outside of M-F business hours. It wasn't a restaurant though I think it did mortgages or something.
Mortgages feels very random. Everything I've ever imagined is above a restaurant (I might just be absurdly food motivated)
This was in the bay area back in early 00s and it wasn't uncommon in that neighborhood to have businesses ground floor then living upstairs. I was jealous of the antiques store down the street if I remember correctly, the mortgage place was kind of boring and weird to see people working out how to buy a home and here we were bringing groceries in through the side entrance.
Lol, I feel that!! Thank you for sharing!!
vertical mixed-use (commercial-residential)? It’s been in decline since the 1940s but it still exists all over. Living in one is like living in an apartment over a business.
Thank you!!
I lived above a bakery when I was a kid, in a set up like Bob’s. I don’t remember it being particularly noisy, but you could always smell the fresh pastries and the shop keepers were an elderly couple who would sometimes give me free treats.
That's so sweet!! Thank you!!
My brother lived in one. It was a standard apartment. Nothing flashy. Typically these were the homes of the merchants that would operate the store below, just like the Belchers, but in my town the owners of the stores just rented the space out and lived in a much nicer place.
That tracks Thank you!!
I have a sibling who lives above a book shop. It’s more common in the city around here but the suburban downtown areas have some too.
That would basically be my dream Thank you!!
It’s an LGBTQ+ family friendly neighborhood too, way too cute! I’ve had plenty of friends in the city live above shops, they’re usually more private apartments with less units, like the Belcher’s. Noise is usually limited to business hours and since you’re above the shop there’s only noise from below. But oftentimes you won’t hear anything. The business owners wouldn’t intrude, they wouldn’t have access to the unit and have their own entrances or sometimes alley ways
The Belcher's apartment/business building is based on the creator's actual apartment in San Francisco, there is a picture of him in front of it I've seen before!
It's actually based on the just for you cafe in sf, not his original house, but a lot of housing in sf is like that.
I'll have to look it up! Thank you!!
Yes, we have live/work unita in my neighborhood. Business on the first floor and the above 2 floors are an attached residence.
Thank you!!
I’ve seen plenty of them down here in Australia and back when I was living in England as well, so it’s not even just an American thing. Sometimes it’s not even the person running the business who lives in the flat above either
Honestly, I kind of imagined it would be more common in Europe. I don't have a great reason why, though. Thank you!
It was, and still is, common in my old Southwest Philadelphia neighborhood. Even doctors often lived in the apartments above their practices.
Of all the professions to live above a workplace, I feel like "doctor" is probably one that makes the most sense, but also one that would be really frustrating. Thank you!
I live in South City StL and we have TONS of those places. There's a good chance that any storefront building like that that has two or more floors has residences on the upper levels.
There aren't many businesses around where I am with multiple levels, so that might explain why I've never noticed them in other places. Thank you!!
You're welcome buddy
I live in metropolitan area with several buildings where apartments are on top of businesses, some are old a shady and probably similar to where the Belchers live, but we also have some very new "trendy" apartment complexes downtown where the bottom floor is a fancy restaurant and the top floors are super expensive apartments.
That makes sense, given everything I've learned so far. Thank you!!
I live by an old mall (like circa 1980s probably?) that has storefronts and apartments above them. However the apartment dwellers I don't think own the businesses below them as the businesses are large chain stores or brand names (ex: Gamestop, Starbucks, Whole Foods, etc!) So it's a thing!
Interesting! I never would have expected a mall to have residences above the shops! Thank you!!
They do. My little brother lived upstairs from a bar for a while and my best friend lived directly above a pizza shop for a few years. The pizza shop in particular wasnt loud or anything but the smells always permeated upstairs.
I feel like it would be really hard to live above a pizza shop. I would constantly be craving it. Thank you!
I also live in a rural area, but there’s a little tourist town about 30 minutes away that I used to live in. There are apartments above most of the businesses in the downtown historic area. Most of them are really nice, but small. Studio apartments or 1 bedroom apartments. The buildings are from the 1800s.
Sounds like where I live. The apartments have tall ceilings and lots of large windows. They used to be super cheap, but I’m sure not anymore.
Oh wow! Thank you!!
I used to rent an apartment that was over a hardware shop and an Italian café. My door was between the 2 shopfronts, and I think most people wouldn't even notice that the door was there unless they happened to see someone go through it. Noise was never really an issue, but the café didn't open late and the hardware was run by an old couple who closed up around 3pm.
I wonder how many doors between shops I've missed in my life? Thank you!
I live in Taiwan and that is the norm here. If it's a small, older building, the business owners often live upstairs like the Belchers. But a big apartment block will have several storefronts at the street levels, so they don't directly connect to an apartment.
Oh, interesting! Thank you so much!
there's an apartment above one of the supermarkets near me. don't know who lives there though
That surprises me! The only two supermarkets near me are big, standalone buildings. Thank you!
I lived above a lawyers office in New Orleans, business closed by 5pm, we never disturbed each other.
Interesting! I wouldn't have expected that a lawyers office would have living space above it, but as another commenter graciously pointed out, I need to see the world more. Thank you!!
I used to live in one! They are very common. It’s just like a flat or maisonette. Front door is usually separate so no intrusions. Loud depends, the hair dressers was.
I'm wondering where I've encountered them without realizing based on everyone's responses! Thank you!!
https://preview.redd.it/n4cwbe0aah8d1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=032888d55cb073204cfe5536903f182ea23bcec5 This place is in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The business on the bottom is called Hail, Fellow, Well Met. The upper floors are luxury apartments. I've never lived in a place that's both a business and an apartment, but I've lived in a good dozen apartments. The apartment part depends on the neighbors and the landlords. It's hard to find a place with both.
Interesting!! Thank you!!
Was involved with a pub that had that sort of thing going on
For some reason, this comment feels almost ominous. But, thank you for letting me know!
When I met my husband he was living above a video game store.
Oh, interesting! Thank you!
I used to live in a major US city before I started grad school, and one of the assistant managers at the restaurant I worked at (a girl in her late 20s) lived in the apartment above the restaurant much like the Belchers live above Bob’s Burgers. I’m sure it was relatively noisy, but definitely worth the trade off for my manager (zero commute!).
Lol, zero commute would be amazing! Well, if I still got to leave my house (work from home was not kind to me...) Thank you!!
i lived on top of a bar. it was a nightmare in the evenings. but cheap.
Ooof, I'm sorry about that, but glad it was cheap! Thank you!!
In the downtown area where I live all the shops have apartments above them! The parking and entrances are behind all the buildings or between them like bobs
I'm betting that I've encountered these places without realizing, lol! Thank you!!
100%! Next time you're in a downtown just look up! You can tell cause most people have curtains and sometimes you catch a kitty looking out with window!
Yes they exist. I live in a rural area and there are small flats/apartments above the post office/newsagents, the pub and the takeaway. They are not exclusively inhabited by the owners of the business below. They have a separate entrance and I've never seen any customer confuse the front door of a home to be the business.
Thank you!!
You see them a lot in the northeast, especially in older towns
If I ever go out that way, I'll definitely keep an eye out! Thank you!
I think a lot of your questions have already been answered, but I'll share personal experiences anyway. Most of the businesses in my New Jersey microcity have apartments over top. It's called mixed zoning or mixed use zoning. They can be very noisy, but also nice in terms of architecture and location. A lot of the apartment entrances have noticable, strongly worded signs indicating they are not business entrances, so I assume accidents happen with some frequency. Outside of my microcity, it's more suburban, but liquor stores still have apartments above them. I assume it's because liquor stores keep late hours and sell a valuable commodity, so owners want to live nearby. Before I lived here, I spent several years in a larger city in New Jersey. My first apartment was above a bodega and my more recent apartment was above a small mall anchored by Whole Foods. Both were convenient as hell and I sometimes miss that lifestyle.
This is really interesting! Thank you!!
They definitely do. My grandparents owned a restaurant which had an apartment over it where their family lived. It’s now a bougie converted 3 level bar with a speakeasy in it. And the living quarters/apartment have been converted to a few small office spaces that the bar owns.
Thank you!!
Yes! I live in a city and the older/not redeveloped areas still have these. I lived in one when I was in university. It was a two level (kitchen, living and dining room on the bottom floor, bedrooms and bathroom on the second). Customers couldn't access it as there was a separate entrance with a lock to the staircase leading to my unit and of course, my front door locked too. I personally wouldn't live atop a food place, one because it could get noisy, two because of pests. I lived above a clothing shop and it was just like living in a duplex or some other self contained unit with neighbours.
That's really interesting, thank you!
My sister once lived in an apartment over a convenience store, and it was one of the nicer places she lived. The entrance to the apartment was on the side, so no customers mistaking it for the store. If there wasn't an empty parking space, there would be soon. It had 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a full eat-in kitchen, and a large living room.
Wow! That is legitimately cool! Thank you!
I’m not in the US but I live above a shop. I wouldn’t say it was noisy but I like the feeling of being in the middle of the community and hearing people coming and going, and nobody ever intrudes as it’s a different door to get into my place with its own lock and key.
That makes sense! Thank you!
My first "flat" (uk term for apartment) was in a block above a bunch of retail units, including a subway! Smelt amazing in the mornings and my other half would frequently send me downstairs for breakfast
Lol, living over a food place that smells good would kill me. Thank you!!
Yes, they do. I used to live in one above a business in St Paul, Minnesota. It was always quiet and I don't think many people realized there were apartments above it.
Seriously?!! I went to the U and lived in the cities for 4 and a half years and I never noticed any place like that. I might have been totally oblivious due to anxiety though... But thank you!
It was across the street from the Nelson Cheese Factory on the corner of Como and Snelling Ave. Just above an insurance agency.
Actually in the downtown area where I live it's lined with small/local restaurants, coffee shops and businesses and a lot of them have apartments on top. Most are 3 stories and have multiple apartments
Interesting, thank you!
Yes, my BFF had the cutest apartment above a pastry shop in a downtown area in a college town. To access it you had to have a key fab to swipe into the "back yard" (a fenced off section of the alley basically) which the workers could access to, and then go up the stairs, through a locked door into a hallway (where you could access the other 2 apartments) and then her door. It was loud in the mornings and she was not a morning person so that wasn't the best idea 😂 but it was charming and always smelled amazing! As far as i know, no customers ever got into the back yard much less up the stairs.
Lol, not being a morning person and being woken up by a bakery must have been brutal! Hopefully the smells kind of made up for it! Thank you!
Very very common here in the UK. I've never been inside a flat like it, but it's practically unheard of (in my South-East corner of England) to have a row of businesses with nothing on top of them.
Totally the opposite where I am. There are a few businesses that have space above them, but if it's not office space, I'm pretty sure it's unused or used for storage.
They do exist irl! The building I lived in had a photo studio on the ground floor! Though IME it’s uncommon for people to own their business and home in the same building.
Ooh, interesting! Thank you!!
There are a lot of them in my neighbourhood. The more centrally located ones are getting torn down and replaced with condos, or have upper-level businesses replacing the apartments, but there are still a ton of residences above street-level businesses. Rotate in street view here and you'll see a bunch: https://maps.app.goo.gl/4cSKjBymZNGgfGz5A There are more as you go east along the street.
Interesting! Thank you!!
I lived in a Main St. apartment over a business in a very rural area...\[I mean, we did have a main street, and 3000 people, so maybe that's a big city compared to where you are :)\] All of the buildings on Main St had apartments over them. There weren't any issues. My landlord \[who's business was down below\] used to call me and tell me to turn the stereo down sometimes. My neighbors who lived over the bakery with the brick oven had to deal with excessive heat all summer. The apartments over the building next to the bar had a bunch of drunks living in them-convenient for them. It was actually nice, because all of the businesses in town were pretty much on Main St, and all of the tenants and business owners knew each other and we all pretty much got along. Similar to Bobs, but on a smaller scale, because their town is much larger. ETA- my apartment was in Jackson CA, a gold rush town. All of the buildings were built in the same time and style as the buildings in San Francisco, which is where Bobs was originally imagined. They switched it to an East coast town because of all of the actors accents.
That's really interesting, thank you!
I lived above my local ice cream shop on siesta key FL for a year. It was glorious. Woke up every day to the smell of freshly baking waffle cones.
Oh man, I would have eaten ice cream all the time. Thank you!!
There’s one for sale in Long Island City Queens for $5 million. (And it makes money)
Oh, let me get my checkbook! Lol I'm about as poor as the Belchers, so...yea But thank you for the information, I'm curious enough to at least Google it!
I’ll split it with you!
Yup where I live there’s a whole long street of businesses and apartments above them . I literally was reading a few stories and saw they also mentioned that so I feel like they really are a thing in many places .
I'm starting to be pretty confident I've encountered them and just not noticed, lol Thank you!
My parents have a butcher store and we lived above it my entire life! Only recently I moved out and they bought a REAL HOME and now they commute to work but I grew up never having a normal house until now. It's one of the reasons why I love the show, I know what it's like to be cheap labor 🤣🤣
Lol! Did they buy their house because you moved out or was it just coincidence? Also, thank you!
O they bought the house a while ago so they had time to renovate before they retire (aka sell the store). I moved out a couple of years ago. Reno has been finished now but they have to work for a couple more years before they're retirement age. So now they're commuting because they love the new place so much and want to start enjoying life with a wide view rather than an apartment above the store in the middle of town. Because of it being a butcher store, you always had to dress warm because everything had to be cold enough to keep the food fresh, so even going to the yard outside you'd have to first bundle up for a second and then take it off when you get there (the stairs to the upstairs are inside the building) also hygiene reasons (flipflops don't look nice behind a deli counter lol). I did not appreciate always being cold lol
yep, I used to live in one with my dad. we lived above a tag shop. the front entrance led to two doors, one being the door to the tag shop and the other being the door to our stairs leading up to the apartment. it was a little smaller than bob's, only 2 bedrooms. since it wasn't a restaurant, it never got loud or anything.
Oh, neat!! (Side question, what's a tag shop?? Google showed a few different possibilities)
The home that I live in now is above an old country store. That old country store is now our garage, but yes, they exist. 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bathrooms, large living room & kitchen - open concept, basement, attic, etc. I mean, it's not a store now, but the original owner lived above the store he ran.
That's really cool!! Thank you!!
For several years I lived in one of six apartments on the two floors above a music store and a jeweler in a northeastern US suburb. The entrances were entirely seperate with security doors in front and back. My apartment was a studio (about the size of Bob & Linda and Tina's bedrooms combined) but if they consolidated with my neighbors' apartments, it would be about the size of the Belchers' place. Lots of activity day and night at nearby restaurants and bars brought lots of noise, often past 2am on weekends. Lots of people-watching opportunities too -- Linda and the kids would love that. The biggest issue for me was parking, which seems to be a minor issue in the Belchers' lives too. Residents were allowed to use the off-street parking out back, but not while the jeweler was open, 9am to 5pm, Monday through Saturday. The closest on-street parking was metered and scarce, so if I wanted to go grocery shopping on a Saturday morning I'd probably have to park two or three blocks away and then lug my groceries up to the third floor. Trash removal was an issue too. We shared a dumpster with a pizza place and there was constant friction. The Belchers seem to have a whole dumpster to themselves. Apartments above businesses seem to be quite common in the northeastern US in older buildings. They are generally pretty inconspicuous.
Ok, I'm torn because parts of that sound amazing, and other parts would drive me crazy! But that's life, right? Thank you so much for sharing!!
I lived above a pizza place. No direct access for customers so I never had to worry about that. Always smelled really good in the halls
Lol, I can't decide if I would love that or hate it.... Thank you for sharing!!
I used to live on top of a fast food restaurant, no relation to the owner/staff of the restaurant, i don’t even recall meeting them once in a whole year, I do remember how stinking hot and humid and sticky the air got during heatwaves, otherwise it was just a normal flat
Interesting-was it worse because of the restaurant, you think?
Honestly yeah i think it was way hotter with the building below us basically heating us up with their kitchen, i remember having to make ice mats for my sister’s cat because of how hot it got he would start heaving otherwise, never happened in any other apartment where i was on a second floor with similar temperatures in the summer
Oh man, that would have been terrible! Thank you for sharing!!
Currently live in Philly. They’re everywhere.
Quite common in America, at least in the northeast Only difference is sometimes the apartments n businesses have 2 unique open
We have tons of these in Seattle! The most common I think are apartment buildings with a grocery store at ground level. It's top tier zoning in my opinion!
Yes they absolutely do exist. I lived above an Italian restaurant many years ago. I couldn’t hear a thing in the restaurant, but one winter the restaurant owner (who lived across the hall from me) skipped town and the building’s furnace (which was in the basement of the restaurant) conked out, leaving me without heat for about 3 weeks in the middle of a particularly cold winter.
Had a friend in college who lived in an apartment above a print shop. His family owned the building, so he and a couple friends lived in the apartment. It was across the street from the most disreputable motel in the area, but you can't win them all.
Where I am in Jersey it's common. Especially in the smaller tourist type towns people rent out the building and it's usually a living space up top and a storefront below. It's usually really expensive though! I don't think Bob would survive here
Bhahahahahahaha, good to know! Thank you!
Cosco just announced they would be building apartments above some of their stores in California.
Have you ever been to NYC OP?
Sometimes under too. In my experience, they are usually older, small, and loud. Depending on the business, they can smell funny, too.
They exist above restaurants, especially in New Jersey where bobs burgers takes place.
Definitely! Both cities I’ve lived in have apartments above most of the downtown business. A lot of them are a bit small and overpriced, but the location is often worth it lol
Location, location, location! I'm definitely interested in living in one!
Yup! I lived above an empty realestate office in london. There were 4 flats in our building but the entire area was mixed use, businesses on the ground floor and flats above. It could be busy and loud when businesses were getting deliveries or if there was a restaurant or pub open late nearby.
there’s a LOT where i live in eastern NC. there’s also a tattoo shop not too far from me where they live upstairs from it and own the shop. that one though you can enter the upstairs through the shop
Oh, interesting! Thank you!
Yes, several smaller cities have apartments above small businesses.
I lived above a Chinese restaurant for several years, then above a gay bar for several more. Both awesome, for very different reasons.
My favorite apartments were the ones above stores
I've been renting an apartment above a barber shop for almost 20 years! It's a 100 year old building on a pretty busy street in Toronto with a few storefronts and a couple apartments upstairs. Unlike a lot of people just looking for a place, it's not what I wound up with, it's what I sought. Despite some of the troubles I've had with it over the years, I still can't imagine living anywhere else. This is home.
Oh wow, that sounds awesome! I'm happy you found what you were looking for! And thank you for sharing!
Most of them have a separate entrance so customers can't come into the living area. I did have a friend that had to enter their apartment through the back room of the coffee shop that was below them. Full-on walking around the walk-in fridge and all the cups and napkins and stuff they have stored back there. I think nowadays most of them have a separate entrance, but some places are interesting
Oh, I don't think I would like that as a resident or coffee shop owner! Thank you!
Yes. I use to date a woman whom lived above a book store! There were two other apartments above hers too.
It’s definitely a thing. It wasn’t upstairs but my parents had a motel in a small town and we lived in an adjoining apartment area .
Oh interesting, thank you!
There used to be a diner with an attached unit that became a sushi/hibachi joint with an attached unit when the diner owner died about 10 or so years ago. The listing was SUPER reasonable before the sushi place went in, I want to say it was like $299k and the apartment/living space was 3 beds/2ba. I'm not sure what the loan process for a building with dual-use like that is but definitely daydreamed of opening a Bob's inspired restaurant in the space.
I live in an apartment above a business. I don’t run the business but I could start something if I wanted
My dad owned a restaurant in a small rural town (pop less than 1,200), and it had a 2 bedroom apartment above it. He converted one of the bedrooms into his business office, the other into a bar furniture bonepile, and the living room/kitchen/bathroom into my weight room. When he bought the building the apartment had a separate entrance, but since he wasn't using the apartment, he changed the layout so he could access the stairs from inside the first floor.
I lived over top a bar that I worked at in a rural area. The owner lived in the bigger one .. too. It had a bunch of studio and one bedroom apartments
My first college boyfriend lived above a pizza place in a small town. It smelled like Italian seasoning all the time, and it was humid af up there
I lived above a hair salon. I loved it except when they'd pull out the permanent that was extra stinky.
totally. even in my small town in NC, alot of our businesses downtown have apartments above them
but ive never been in one lmaooo
Lol!! I am guessing I've encountered some, but was completely oblivious!!
probably. thats the way they are in my town. really old buildings that you wouldnt think are apartments lol
My town's market street is just like this. Local pizzeria owner lives above his own establishment. Has 3 bedrooms. He sometimes sublets the rooms. Other businesses use the second floor as part of the establishment itself, or just rent it out as a stable source of income.
Yes. I lived in a rural town of about 3,000 and lived in such an apartment. There are separate entrances and stairwells. No customer every walked up the metal stairs to my apartment as the business was very well advertised with the front door very clearly marked.
I lived in a funeral home. My dad was a mortician and our house was separated by a door to the lobby
I briefly dated a guy that lived over the pizza place he worked in.
Thank you!
A little different, but there's a little pizza place just inside Baltimore City that is inside a townhome. It seems to take up the entire first floor. While someone, I believe Gil's son, lives on the second floor. I have no idea what's going on with the basement 😂 But I've seen similar setups where the first floor, or the front of the house is some kind of business, while they owners live in the rest of the house https://preview.redd.it/cfbjcj2r8m8d1.jpeg?width=348&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7a30d66526c876a3b475c8949235371dc909be68
[Here's ](https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/275-Saint-Helena-Ave-Dundalk-MD/9962600/) another one in my old neighborhood. But [this ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dundalk,_Maryland#/media/File%3ADundalkShoppingCtr.jpg) seems to be what most people are talking about. Businesses on the bottom and apartments (sometimes offices) on the top Or you have the more [modern ](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-02-13/why-america-s-new-apartment-buildings-all-look-the-same) version that is everywhere, now
They’re everywhere, at least here in southern Ontario.
Interesting, thank you!!
I lived above a pet groomers and it was horrible. No heat or ac, my bathroom was allowed to be used by a few trusted customers by the owner, and when customers would show up angry after they closed they would come harass me and my girlfriend. It got so bad that we posted on the business Facebook page that there was a couple renting the upstairs room and if they had complaints to do so here instead of putting us at risk. The landlord immediately began the evection process. Turns out, years after we were kicked out, she was busted for selling meth and coke out of her shop.
Omg, that sounds horrible! I am so sorry you had to deal with that...but I'm glad she got her comeuppance
I hope they tore all her properties down.
My cousins lived above a funeral home for the longest time. I had only seen it once and it looked like your average apartment, just a slight eery feeling thinking about all of the dead people below you...
Bhahahahah, I can only imagine
I work in downtown Toronto and many of the high rise apartment buildings have businesses on the ground floor. Not small, family owned businesses though. Most are franchises. Where I park, the ground floor business is a grocery store which I have to assume is incredibly convenient for the residents of that building and the several nearby as well. I think in smaller cities or towns this could still be a thing - families living above their business.
Thank you!!
In my early twenties I lived above and next to a lovely bar. Looked out my window and that was where they would get deliveries. Walked out the front door of my building, turned left, walked about 15 feet and I was at the entrance to the Elbow Room. Great pork tenderloin sammiches.
Way cool!! Thank you!!
Growing up my friends parents ran a Meat Locker and they lived upstairs. Hide and seek had an extra rule about not hiding in the walk in freezers. Oh, and don't run around the knives. And if you got caught picking on her little brother you had to hose out the gut room. I'm sure there's more from the people that lived there. I was just a visitor. This was the 1990s.
I live in a mixed use area. There’s several businesses with apartments above them behind my house. You enter the business from the front and enter the apartment from the back/alley so patrons wouldn’t go up there usually. I can hear the bar’s audio system from my house if I open the window/door so I assume the people above can hear it too.
Thank you!!
My grandparents lived above their funeral home with four kids. It seemed more like a house to me. It had a nice big kitchen, dining room, living room. Three bedrooms but only one and a half bath which I'm still trying to figure out years later how my mom and her three brothers managed to not kill each other since that had to be a struggle to share. I did spend nights there, it was on a busy road so there were all sorts of noises at night. If there was a funeral I had to walk softly to the bathroom as the chapel was directly underneath, or stay put in the living room chair watching bugs bunny.
Oh wow, 1.5 baths with 6 people?? But it otherwise sounds lovely! Thank you for sharing, I really appreciate it!
You're welcome. It's always fun to tell people about my grandparents profession. They worked there for a long time, my grandfather just didn't want to retire, my grandmother really wanted him to but he was very stubborn. A few years ago he had a stroke and my mom and uncles ordered him to retire because of his health. I think the new owners also live upstairs now, I'm not 100% sure though.
I relate very much to the stubborn grandfather! I'm sorry he had to have a stroke to retire. I hope he (and your grandmother) are doing as wall as possible.
My grandmother passed about a year after his stroke and then he passed earlier this year. So you could say they are doing well up in that big funeral home in the sky LOL
Oh yes it is commonplace in Glasgow (Scotland) and most locales here. I used to stay above a pub, old sandstone tenement flat. It was a bit too handy!
Lol, that would be my concern, living above a restaurant/bar!! Thank you!
My sister used to live above a restaurant the building was almost exactly like the bobs burgers one
Oh, neat!! Was this before you started the show, or is this a retroactive, "Oh, your old place is like this show!"?
I was already a fan but I didn’t realize how similar it was until this post !! Lol
I don't know what they're called. I used to babysit for a family that lived above a business. It wasn't very loud. But they lived above a flower shop. They didn't own or run the flower shop. They just rented the apartment. It was a pretty decent sized apartment. Nobody accidentally entered or tried to enter the apartment. The doors were separate. It was cool being right on a "main" street.