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Man Caves

By Kymberly Taylor

A“Man Cave” is not a muddy, dark recess in the woods inhabited by Neanderthals anymore. It is the playful term coined for a private space in the home designed by a man where he can tinker undisturbed on projects and hang out with his buddies.

Early incarnations of the man cave were dens, shop rooms, basements, sheds, boathouses, and garages. Now, many men are upgrading their “caves” and, in the process, attracting national attention (at least in some realms) for their  extraordinary focus on comfort and attention to detail. Some women don’t like man caves and view them as dens of iniquity filled with empty beer cans and last night’s socks. However, some take a lighter view and believe they are a man’s attempt to reconnect with their individuality in a house overrun by women and kids. Who can blame them? Women already know that men cannot survive without them and are glad to have their “husband’s mess” in one distinct location.


There are just five prerequisites for a cave: a recliner, a well-stocked refrigerator,
a television, a hobby (for putzing around), and comfortable seating for friends. There is the unspoken rule that women are not allowed. However, research reveals that in Annapolis and on the Eastern Shore, women are indeed welcome. In fact, Tony Patane built a bar just for his wife, Denise, and her girlfriends in his two-story man cave, located at the end of a long drive behind his home. The first floor is a garage, equipped with car lift, sand-blasting cabinet, and rare antique and contemporary race cars, one with an engine signed by NASCAR legend Richard Petty. On the top floor there are poker and pool tables, and a lowlit octagon shaped bar he designed just for his wife. “She wanted to feel like she was drinking in a bar in Annapolis, so I designed and built the room to look like a ship's prow,” he says. To exude the aura of a fine, custom-built yacht, he lined the walls with Brazilian cherry and will soon inset portholes. He added a ship’s wheel to the granite bar. Horizontal lighting lines the walls, much like a ship’s interior lights.

“I love caves, they are places where you can sit down with a person and look around you and experience who they really are,” says Eastern Shore resident Matt Reeser.

Riggin, whose family has run an independent grocery store in Crisfield for three generations, took over his entire attic, converting it into a man cave instead of spare bedrooms. Often he retreats there to recover from daily life’s many pressures. His cave is still “a work in progress,” he says. Forget brown paneling and your typical  masculine” maroons. Riggin is out for more. In fact, when shopping, he bypassed drab veneer wall coverings and stopped in front of paneling sporting deer, duck, and pheasant. “When I saw the pattern, I said ‘Wow, this is it, I’ve got to have that.’” He customized his paneling by overlaying a giant cutout of the helmet of his favorite NFL team. He illuminates his low-lit cave with, among other things, neon signs, including one advertising Landshark Lager that he got from a buddy who works in the beverage distributing business. Another sign he is proud of is one for Bud Light Lime, rarely found in residential settings.

He bought his pool table 35 years ago, when he was a teenager, in 1974. He often sits at a swank café table in between rounds of pool and drinks coffee from a giant mug, set next to a tackle box bequeathed to him by his daughter, that, by the way, is next to a small fleet of chairs, used when he had season tickets to watch the team whose logo is on mug and tackle box. They recall fourteen- hour road trips to each and every Washington Redskins’ home game. “Everything in here has a story for me,” he says.


Left: There is a story behind every item in this cave, designed by Matt Riggin, who lives in Crisfield. Right: This Key West-style bar is Teddy Johnson's own private "Margaritaville."

Riggin and Patane like seeing other guys’ caves and note that no two are the same. “They’re all different. And they can be anywhere—in a garage, a special part of a room . . . I’ve even seen guys set up those large storage boxes you can have delivered to your home,” says Riggin. Often he surfs online to see what everyone else is up to. Patane notes that his friends have “caves” and that each one is distinct in its own way. “One guy is outfitted for woodworking, another friend has a hovercraft in his 20,000 square foot cave, with lots of big toys.”

Jon Randolph, who also calls himself a “dweller,” is up to nothing but the pursuit of comfort. His windowless, rectangular cave, which is his home’s basement, is painted matte black. In most cases this could lead to a decor disaster, but instead the walls’ flat planes are accentuated by a tray ceiling inset with lights that fill the room with sepia shadows. The restfulness of this glow is not diminished by too many objects competing for attention. Walls are lined with just a few choice photographs hung right at eye level, gallery style. Furnishings are minimal but luxurious. The room’s focal point is a giant flat screen, flanked by speaker towers that can be attached to guitar and keyboards for jamming and experimenting. Two full-size plush recliners are divided neatly by a coffee table. There Randolph chills out with his son, who, sprawled on a matching chair, appears to be in training to one day have his own “cave.” In fact, many man caves contain miniature seating for the next generation who, in this chummy atmosphere, with non-alcoholic drink in hand, seem to be biding their time, waiting for the Grand Poohbah to one day cede power.

Another completely different cave is that of Teddy Johnson. He transformed his English basement—a basement that is only partly under-ground—into an homage to a Key West watering hole. To recall the shifting shades of the Florida Keys he painted walls the pale blue of shallow waters. The floor is tiled with turquoise, reflecting deeper seas. A bar composed of “block” glass recalls turbulent, sunlit waves washing upon the shores of Johnson’s own private Margaritaville.

Some caves are spaces carved out of existing rooms. These include the man space of Benjamin Crone, an executive who lives in Pasadena and Tony Mohan, an attorney who resides on the Eastern Shore. Mohan’s cave is decked out with recliner, side table, flat-screen television, and a fish tank.

“Everyone knows this is Daddy’s cave,” says Theresa Crone, whose husband also has a fish tank in his cave. Here, he raises cichlids and any fish the giant cichlids will not devour. “He watches the flat screen for awhile, he watches the fish for awhile, and it all lowers his blood pressure. He hears the sound of water falling
and it helps him relax.” She notes that sons Stanley, Matthew, and Ben do not yet have their own caves but they do have their own aquariums, which seem to be taking over the house. Ben and Matthew each have a fish tank and young Stanley has a turtle tank. Asked if she feels overwhelmed with all these expressions of
individuality, she says “My whole life is Man Land, I have three boys and a husband—even the dog is a boy.”

Territory may be what it is all about. After all, let’s face it: most family-centered homes reflect a combination of design styles; it is rarely just “a man’s world.” In fact, gender theorists believe man caves are attempts by men to reassert their identity in a world where the roles of the sexes are blurred, neutralized, or equalized. Some wonder if anything dangerous lurks behind closed doors.
They ask the question: Are caves healthy places for men to hang out or a manifestation of a reactionary effort to turn back the clock on women’s rights?

What's Up? prefers to shield its readers from current, fractious debates of this nature, so we will not explore this one here. However, the question does call to mind the slogan on the site, decorated with a cartoon caveman named Chugg, that calls itself “the Official Man Cave Site: Taking Back the World, One Man Cave at a Time.”

Kymberly Taylor, home editor for What’s Up? Publishing, is experiencing
cave envy after researching this article.

Tags: Home Makeover Man Cave Masculine Room Matt Riggin Bar

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