Squatting in active buildings?

[tobepxt]

Ever Squatted in an active building? tell a story and/or give some advice.

me first:
I am currently writing this entry from a comfy chair late at night in a large multi purpose building in tennessee..
In this case I happen to know the situation of the building. They rent out offices and studios to organizations and artists in the area. the rest of the space sits empty. on the ground floor are a few tech classrooms rented out by a college. they have regular hours so i can get in. if im caught i can easily say i was helping with one of the resident artists. i havent been sleeping here, but its been a resource for sure.

I dunno but i feel like this is a situation that wouldn't be that hard to come across anywhere... or something similar. think churches or even office buildings with lots of shared common areas. they have break rooms, and basements and likely unrented portions too.. this place particularly is a super old church building with a lightwell that acts as a small courtyard (and home to buzzy hvac stuff) still a nice private place to read. . it wouldn't work if they have hired security. maybe the more artsy the better. leave the space like you found it and if you get caught walking the halls have a back story. in this building you could even find a corner or a closet or push some furnishings around a little to hide yer self from view.. maybe its just a perfect situation. but ive found a few buildings where similar things might could work..
im really not in the mood for writing, so this post probably SUCKS to read, So I await your stories.

 

[tobepxt]

oh its so nice that the bathrooms usually work when the building isnt totally abandoned!!!

 

[West]

There's an old zine called Evasion by Crimethinc where the lil vegan straight-edge kid claims to have squatted a vacant room in the University of Oregon (Eugene) library on and off for a number of years, unnoticed. :0 I've thought of squatting an obscure parking garage elevator in ATX - the doors still open but the elevator doesn't operate so no one uses it c:

 

[Matt Derrick]

There's an old zine called Evasion by Crimethinc where the lil vegan straight-edge kid claims to have squatted a vacant room in the University of Oregon (Eugene) library on and off for a number of years, unnoticed.

I think that was actually the University of California San Diego (UCSD). I forgot how it happened, but I found myself squatting that same campus for a few weeks with a friend of mine from LA back in early 2001 i think. This is when the guy who wrote evasion was still writing the book version of his zine, and we hung out for a bit each day between his periods of writing (if i remember correctly, we knew each other from the crimthinc message boards, which were the only thing like StP around at the time).

He pointed us to a few good spots around the campus (broom closets and such) that he thought would be good for squatting in (he already had his own spot worked out). We tried staying in one closet that looked really promising, but the door sealed shut so tightly that after an hour or so we were starting to feel like we were getting short on air... so most of the time we just ended up walking around the campus late at night and sleeping in the woods. Lots of good trash picking there though.

 

[Kim Chee]

Under buildings is the best if you can find it.

 

[Deleted member 125]

i slept in a warehouse in nola one weekend thinking it was abandoned...turns out it was just the weekend. woke up on monday to people working around me, it was pretty awkward packing up my stuff with people driving fork lifts around me. alcohol is a hell of a drug. fuck new orleans.

 

[PennyRiver]

There's an old zine called Evasion by Crimethinc where the lil vegan straight-edge kid claims to have squatted a vacant room in the University of Oregon (Eugene) library on and off for a number of years, unnoticed. :0 I've thought of squatting an obscure parking garage elevator in ATX - the doors still open but the elevator doesn't operate so no one uses it c:

Thank you so much for reminding me of Crimethinc; it's been a while...
On topic at hand, the experience you have is variable even when you "know a guy that..." (famous last words before a good spot is blown up.)
My husband and I have done this method in various capacities. It can be mellow or you might jump at every noise. Just depends on your state of mind as well as the environment.

 

[tobepxt]

one trick is to know the situation of the building and not blowing it up. in the space i was talking about they don't even seem to know who rents from them.

 

[Kim Chee]

one trick is to know the situation of the building and not blowing it up.

Takes a lot of self-discipline to not make noise and not be noticed (or just simply look like you belong).

I've been around inhabited spaces for long term and all it takes sometimes is to be seen twice and now somebody wants to go see what you're up to.

 

[Dmac]

I think that @highwayman used to do something like this at hotels with attached convention areas.

 

[Fatboy]

Comunity colleges seem like a good place. Some even have lockers you provide the lock... just make sure you dont leave anything toi long the cut the locks off at the end of each semester.