How's Olympia?

[storyofrachel]

I was thinking that with the infamously left-wing college there I could do pretty well, as in, a lot of commie students willing to help out a transgender homeless girl. And with the college and the place generally being out of the way of the kind of bums I don't want knowing about my gender identity, I could advertise it when I fly like I do here in the Castro ("hungry girl in the body of a hungry boy"), and generally be myself.

So yeah. Is Olympia a good destination? I searched and read the stuff about FNB and the food bank. Is the spanging any good? Any bullshit local ordinances? Anyplace I should check out there?

 

[Dameon]

Olympia is a small city that's generally pretty bummed out. Not much money to be made there, not a whole lot to do.

 

[Shwhiskey Gumimaci]

Olympia is not where I'd suggest. Its rampant with the worst of the homeless population in that area. Its the state capital and not considered a "small town" as far as Washington is concerned. Ive never seen so many teenage drug addicts in my life. Thats where i was conceived and have family. Last time i was there I was lucky to stay at a punk house called the bath hause. Theres no money out there, honestly. The best place to spange out there is a truck stop just south of town.

 

[Matt Derrick]

i lived in olympia for almost a year, i can back up what everyone is saying above. one good point tho is that it has a killer food bank so even if you're passing through it's worth checking out. you can camp out in the woods near evergreen, but it's kinda far out and you'd have to take a bus into town each day; also you have to be careful in those woods and be low key cause the evergreen campus police know people sleep out there some times and will give you a ticket at minimum.

 

[Goldenvoid]

A great place to be stupid and fucked in the head.

 

[Keystone Ice Kid]

 

[Keystone Ice Kid]

and Matt derrick is a fag mall cop. out !

 

[iamwhatiam]

Fuck Olympia! Best thing about that town are the roads that leave out of it. There is a gay bar on 4th ave, but I couldn't believe how many younger homeless people there were openly smoking meth on that street when I was there last. Most nights, I was just trying to find a chill place to sit and play guitar and kept having tweakers come up to me and blither a mile a minute in my ear about reptilians and aliens n shit and never leave. no thanks

 

[Matt Derrick]

Fuck Olympia! Best thing about that town are the roads that leave out of it. There is a gay bar on 4th ave, but I couldn't believe how many younger homeless people there were openly smoking meth on that street when I was there last. Most nights, I was just trying to find a chill place to sit and play guitar and kept having tweakers come up to me and blither a mile a minute in my ear about reptilians and aliens n shit and never leave. no thanks

damn, i guess it's been a while since i've hung out in olympia (almost ten years, geez im old) sounds like it's really gone down the toilet.

and Matt derrick is a fag mall cop. out !

ha, not sure what i did to deserve that, but calling people 'fags' makes you sound like you're twelve.

 

[dubh]

I just left Olympia, if you avoid the downtown it's pretty cool. But it's not that hip anymore, condos are going up and gentrified robots are moving in. I lived in the forest by the Evergreen College for several years and smoked lotsa bud. It was nice if you like being left alone, but like everywhere Meth is taking over all known homeless/traveller scenes. Like it's a plan or something.

 

[dubh]

forgot about spanging and busking, i busked there usually got 10 bucks a night, but that was a couple years ago. Truck stop outside Tumwater was a good place to get rides south and spange, got alot of stuff there waiting for rides. Busk on 4th Ave downtown near Jake's, the previously mentioned 'Gay' bar, or where straight people go to dance to gay disco music, that's about the gay scene there.

 

[benton]

It's worth checking out if you are in the area. The capitol area is lovely. I'm not a huge fan otherwise.

 

[autumn]

ha, not sure what i did to deserve that, but calling people 'fags' makes you sound like you're twelve.

its the same thing it always is...

"so-called anarchist matt derrick is a pc mall cop cuck, he wont let me use racial/misogynistic/transphobic/whatever slurs"

I was thinking that with the infamously left-wing college there I could do pretty well, as in, a lot of commie students willing to help out a transgender homeless girl. And with the college and the place generally being out of the way of the kind of bums I don't want knowing about my gender identity, I could advertise it when I fly like I do here in the Castro ("hungry girl in the body of a hungry boy"), and generally be myself.

So yeah. Is Olympia a good destination? I searched and read the stuff about FNB and the food bank. Is the spanging any good? Any bullshit local ordinances? Anyplace I should check out there?

I lived in Olympia for half a year. It was an alright place but the radical scene was mostly people in their late teens/very early 20s, a lot of the time when I hung out with them I felt like a fuckin' old man. Just a lot of immaturity to go around.

That being said I saw & met more queer/trans people in olympia than probably the previous 4 years combined everywhere else. you shouldn't have any problems there

 

[Nature Kate]

I live in Olympia now. Like everyone said, you can’t make much busking but there are good resources. The food bank is the best I’ve ever been to. And there’s a pretty alright queer punk scene.

 

[Odin]

I was just trying to find a chill place to sit and play guitar and kept having tweakers come up to me and blither a mile a minute in my ear about reptilians and aliens n shit and never leave. no thanks

x-nay on the meth aye!... but... I like these "rept" aliens you speak of... Yes I will consider your theory! ::

a lot of the time when I hung out with them I felt like a fuckin' old man.

welcome to the club.

personally I think Olympia is worth seeing for the geographical location and just the name... I like the way it sounds.

Never been there though, yet.

 

[dubh]

One thing about Olympia is it's named after it's view of Mt. Olympus up in the National Park. If your into forest squatting that is the place to go. I used to escape Oly by taking the bus to Shelton then to Brinnon, then to Port Townsend, which actually has a cool traveller friendly infoshop downtown, then the bus to Sequim then the bus to Port Angelse, around $10.00 or a nights busking. In Port Angeles there is a forested area you can squat in that is by the Wilderness Center. You will also be close to a food bank and a couple soup kitchens, the Salvation Army serves weekday lunches in PA.

I totally agree the food bank is pretty rad in Olympia, PA's is okay too. The food bank in my hometown gives Oly a run for it's money, but it's a rural farm town so there's lotsa food here. Most people spange in Oly down by the Starbucks on the Westside by the Safeway, signs are being flown all over the westside, you can also score free stuff at the free shack at the Westside Food Coop. I squatted houses in 3 different locations on the Westside too, before forest squatting at the College.

If you can deal with rain, it's really easy to squat in Oly whether in a falling down house or the forest. Or at least it was. The place is changing rapidly though. They built a nice drop-in center downtown recently by the public transit center. There are also alot of pop-up food sharings, and also the local anarchists go around with a bike cart giving stuff out regularly. If your heading to Oly i'd do it soon, it seems like the robot yuppies are movin in quick.

 

[Dameon]

personally I think Olympia is worth seeing for the geographical location and just the name... I like the way it sounds.

Never been there though, yet.

It looks exactly like most of western Washington, except it's bummed out, small, hard to make money in, and got a few capitol-type buildings. There's literally nothing special about it, other than the artesian well in the parking lot downtown and a bunch of young hippie/punk hybrids.

 

[severin]

boys in skirts

 

[madcapcat]

I just moved back here 3 days ago from my hometown of Portland. I fucking love it here. A lot of the critiques could be said about most of Washington and Oregon. Meth is rampant in the PNW. Condos are going up in all major cities in the US. That being said, there's a fuckton of anarchists in Oly, and they're actually doing shit. It's a very very queer and trans friendly place. Also the punk scene here is great, there's shows and benefits going on more often than not. And it's tightknit but not cliquey the way the scene is in Portland. If you do make it out here, hit up EGYHOP if you need to and catch a gig at Le Voyeur. There's also a rad bookstore and printing press called Last Word. 4th Avenue is the hub for sure. The general area is also heavily forested so there's plenty of places to camp, but as others have said it does rain a lot so I recommend coming in the summer.