Your first squat

[drun_ken]

hey arrow you talkin about clay 1 and clay 2? up the street from O.I.?

the first squat i cracked and stayed in was back when i was 11-12 yrs old...i had put my foot thru our glass coffee table and instead of gettin beat down by daddy fer it i left....it was just an abaoned house in my neighborhood...i stayed there fer like three days before a kid around the corner told his cop father i was there...my favorite was the holocaust in athens GA.....

 

[Rash L]

I first left home at 16 because my boyfriend at the time had been kicked out of all his relative's houses and I was getting REALLY sick of watching my wonderful mother letting herself be walked all over and abused... so we left. We ended up going to a Krakus show in San Diego and sleeping in some bushes instead of going home. When my mom called in the morning my boy smashed my cellphone with his cane, yelling something about how it was my electronic leash and I didn't need that shit from a woman who didn't even have enough respect for herself to get out of a bad relationship.. and that's how it all started for me.

My first real squat was in Hollywood though, a couple months later -- before that it was all alleyways, rooftops, and bushes. My BF and I (the same one I originally left home with) had been staying with strangers and crackheads in their hotel rooms and sleeping in alleyways (we went into the TAV and promptly decided we weren't staying there with the junkies, ghosts, and rats the size of cats -- and THAT SMELL! so unique...); we decided to catch some food at The Way In drop-in shelter. They had hot water and we ended up making some pretty hallucinogenic tea that night and pretty much going out of our minds. Some older squatters who had come to pick up meals for their house saw us (and I guess talked to us for awhile -- I don't remember ANY details of that night though), and I guess they felt sorry for us. They took us back to the house near Melrose and Vine and we promptly fell asleep. When we woke up we had NO fucking clue where we were or how we had gotten there, and we could have really gotten fucked up that night if we would have run into bad people... I will never forget Angel's kindness and generosity, and I have tried to keep contact and remain friends with him throughout the years. The squat collectively decided we could stay there, since most of them were leaving for a festival in canada in a few weeks anyways... and it became the "Penis Squat" (don't ask). We stayed there all summer, it had a MOUNTAIN of beer cans that reached the ceiling, AC for about a month before it died, and one electrical socket that worked, with a 13" b&w TV we would watch The Simpsons on and one light. By the time the place got raided we had at least 13 heads sleeping there (RIP Shaggy), most in the living room . As we all lined up against the fence on Melrose Blvd at 9am in our underwear and weird hair, in handcuffs, Ethan Embry (Empire Records, Freaky Links, etc) recorded the whole thing on his lil camcorder and I spit at him while he laughed at the trespassing homeless kids who were being hauled off to jail.

I wonder if he still has that footage?

 

[drun_ken]

My first real squat was in Hollywood though, a couple months later -- before that it was all alleyways, rooftops, and bushes. My BF and I (the same one I originally left home with) had been staying with strangers and crackheads in their hotel rooms and sleeping in alleyways (we went into the TAV and promptly decided we weren't staying there with the junkies, ghosts, and rats the size of cats -- and THAT SMELL! so unique...); we decided to catch some food at The Way In drop-in shelter. They had hot water and we ended up making some pretty hallucinogenic tea that night and pretty much going out of our minds. Some older squatters who had come to pick up meals for their house saw us (and I guess talked to us for awhile -- I don't remember ANY details of that night though), and I guess they felt sorry for us. They took us back to the house near Melrose and Vine and we promptly fell asleep. When we woke up we had NO fucking clue where we were or how we had gotten there, and we could have really gotten fucked up that night if we would have run into bad people... I will never forget Angel's kindness and generosity, and I have tried to keep contact and remain friends with him throughout the years. The squat collectively decided we could stay there, since most of them were leaving for a festival in canada in a few weeks anyways... and it became the "Penis Squat" (don't ask). We stayed there all summer, it had a MOUNTAIN of beer cans that reached the ceiling, AC for about a month before it died, and one electrical socket that worked, with a 13" b&w TV we would watch The Simpsons on and one light. By the time the place got raided we had at least 13 heads sleeping there (RIP Shaggy), most in the living room . As we all lined up against the fence on Melrose Blvd at 9am in our underwear and weird hair, in handcuffs, Ethan Embry (Empire Records, Freaky Links, etc) recorded the whole thing on his lil camcorder and I spit at him while he laughed at the trespassing homeless kids who were being hauled off to jail.

I wonder if he still has that footage?

i remember that....my dog was on the news as we sat there against that fence....wait you were fukin there....my ex wife was the only one not ta get picked up...that was her first squat...holy fukin shit....and dont tell me shaggy is dead...last i heard he and his shit head husban were still up in portland...were you stayin there when dallas came thru with phoenix?tell angel i said hey and shit if ya talk to him again...ican;t even remember who all was stayin there.....ahhh good fukin times....now ya gotta come get some booze yo....

 

[Rash L]

i remember that....my dog was on the news as we sat there against that fence....wait you were fukin there....my ex wife was the only one not ta get picked up...that was her first squat...holy fukin shit....and dont tell me shaggy is dead...last i heard he and his shit head husban were still up in portland...were you stayin there when dallas came thru with phoenix?tell angel i said hey and shit if ya talk to him again...ican;t even remember who all was stayin there.....ahhh good fukin times....now ya gotta come get some booze yo....

wtf!? YOU WERE THERE!? in that duplex?

After the squat got shut down (just before the DNC) they leveled the place, last time I went back (4 years later) it was still an empty lot.

I was living in the room closest to the front door so we had no chance of escape while the rest of you fuckers ran through the shitty (literally) back "yard"... meaning that the lil mexican girl who got shoved the the backseat of the cop car with me and my boy (we were the 3 minors) gave me scabies.

Shaggy (who had AIDS).. as far as I know he ended up in a AIDS center in LA where they provided his food and shelter. They tested new drugs on him until he got too sick and either just died or OD'd on purpose(depending on the story you hear). He was a really good kid.

I really dont really remember who was all staying there either.. there were SO many kids coming in and out of that place, and most of us were doing dope... but I know China and Faust opened the place and then left for canada with stephanie (who introduced me to my first speedball), there was that Japanese punk kid who spoke no english, the mexican metal kid who spoke no english but had awesome music, Holly and her roaddog Juggs Galore, and the Mexican Johnny Bravo, corina... then Angel and his stupid "Pro skater" GF in one room... and me and Nick in the other. I remember some of the kids had a big black car that they arrived in...

heh, do you remember that game where we would all sit under the light bulb.. and there was that one plastic school chair and we would wait until whoever was sitting there to nod out and fall off so we could all laugh at them? Later talking to my mom she told me a similar game that her and her friends used to play when she was young... I thought that was funny.

I guess angel always had a crush on me, which is why he kept in contact, and when I got back to LA he let me sleep at this weigh station he was working at, night shifts. I kind of turned him down once because he's always been more like a big brother to me, and I havent really heard much from him since, although I hear he's settled and has a Distro somewhere around southern CA. He's probably STILL sending all his extra money to his mom. I miss that clown-haired mofo.

And yes, now I will definitely have to come see you. Damn it.

 

[drun_ken]

uh yeah...i when it got raided my pregnate dog got sent to the pound...shaggy my ex wife and i were travleing together back then....what time frame are you saying he died? he is one of my best friends and i don't want that to be true...but yeah he was staying in the front room with candace...i dont what our hung over asses were doing runnin the way we did thats why we got picked up...my ex wife ran the oppisit way and got away....shaggy used ta talk shit about seeing us on cops for that later....yeah the girls all got put in a cell and the guys got locked down to a bench while they wait fer the minors to be delt with....that would be you...then they took us back lead us in 1 by 1 ta get our gear and gave us a burrito on the way out the squat...we were bitching the entire time that we wre missing all the feedings....then we ran to the starvation army ta watch our selves on the news...shaggy my ex and i ended up stayin with eyeball fer a few months before heading back ta new orleanse....i traveled with shaggy for about 3 yrs me him my ex my dog and one of her pups that my ex kept.....hell i got him a job in portland working in the homeless youth continum....i love that boy...i hope your mistaken....first time i ever did dope was in the squat...drank and puke up some grape jucie....and that was the best grape juice i ever drank...even comin back up....

 

[Feral]

My first squat was a three story apartment building on Governor Nichols St. in New Orleans. It has since been torn down, and all that jazz, but was a hella cool squat. That place got raided too many times (too close to the other houses I think) but we almost always got away because we could hide in the walls of the building and make it to the outside alley that was filled with trash, this was if they didnt have the dogs with them. Anyways it was a nice place, and i miss it.

 

[Winter]

Feral....I used to squat there too! Wow...that was a long time ago lol. My story isn't that much different from anyone else's. Bad home life...ran away at 16...hooked up with some Rainbow kids who took me to NOLA...then befriended some punks who showed me the ropes. Been wandering off and on ever since then. Been thinkin about goin back to NOLA to see whats up there since Katrina. Evidently there are plenty of place to squat there now...

 

[Mouse]

oh, I forgot the "Why/when" part.... lol

I left home shortly after high school. durning high school I had been with a guy, my first love *gag* for almost 4 years. We were engaged and I was getting ready to head to Pitt for college and get alll that typical shit in motion. Then I found out he'd cheated on me, so it was obviously over. Well, you would think it was over. I moved on, didn't go to Pitt for college (only chose that place becuas HE wanted to live there so I decided to not go there when we broke up) and I met a new guy a few months later and moved to the outskirts of baltimore with him for a few months. During this time my ex kept harrasing me, sendign threatening emails to my new boyfriend, all that fun stuff. Eventually my and the baltimore guy parted ways and I moved back home. I got a job at McDonalds workign 50 hours a week and started to save some money. After a few months of that, and still being an emtional train wreck from all the drama and harrasment, and the fact that I've always HATED my tiny home town and had a crazy family, I decided I needed to find a new way to live. I wanted to go to Cali and do some sort of "starting over" deal, so I started trying to find ways to maek this happen. I drained my bank account and started driving.... made ti to cali 2 weeks later. I had no plan as to what to do and I really had no clue what I was doing, so I just winged it and hoped for the best. About a year later I ended up back in PA trying to find another escape, and I left again. came back, left again, came back, left again. now, after gaining the experience from my somewhat short stints at travel I finally have a hold on what I actually WANT to do so I'm back in the PA area again working towards that goal.

 

[Komjaunimas]

Well in Lithuania its impossible to squat due to the laws, but there were 3-4 squats that made concerts and etc... but they were closed down in the times when i began living "street life". So the first squat was an abandoned 2 story cottage almost outside of the city, it had electricity and running water, there were few guys living but mostly it was a drinking place in winter for punks, metalheads etc.. it lasted about half a year untill one 14yearold ran from home and somehow police tracked her down and found out our squat... we got evicted eventually. So we needed new drinking place, so me and 2 friends were walking in the old town of Vilnius (in those times 75% of old town was abandoned ) we climbed huge fence and proceeded to make our way to one of the abandoned buildings, in the second floor we foun 2 sofas a table and few stools, and some magazines with dates on them 10years ago, so we lived in there till winter because it got too cold, in spring we came back to check it out, re-wire the electricity grid etc, but the house was renovated... so now there are officialy no squats in the country..

 

[Ahab]

I'm just preparing for my next "Get away", I've ran away a couple of times now and I'm 15! One more year and I plan to get out of it legit . For now I just hang out at a crackhouse in walking distance of my trailer. It's pretty rad seeing as it's a friendly smoked up environment lol...

 

[paddymelt]

when i was two my parents threw me in the sewer to die but i was saved by a family of albino aligators who, along with the sewer rats and wild packs of dogs, raised me, taught me open my own squat anywhere, and showed me how to hop trains. I remember that ol white gator saying "Paddy, you can lead a crusty kid to water, but you can't make him stop stinking" ... I often sit up late at night and wonder what he meant by that...

 

[BrittanyTheBananarchist]

umm well for me i was staying in a town and i didnt have no couch to surf, so i knew of a house tht wasnt bein used pretty close by. um. i had to hop a really tall gate and also i wasnt able to stay in the house part but like it was a porch tht was all covered and shit. there was a bunch of oil barrels there and also u cant touch the windows AT ALL or the alarm would go off. so i slept on the inside porch thingy for a good few days. it was a good spot i think. but basically i just go into placs most ppl wouldnt, then again i dont bring a huge group with me so tht might be another factor.
and for me its kinda just if i dont have a squat i sleep on trains. or wherevere . anyways i feel rude when i stay at houses and ppl get mad u stay there too long. i mean i dont have a story as to why i started doin it i kinda just did.

 

[BigRockCandyMountain]

Cant say I ever lived like a "normal" person. lol

I ran away from home a lot starting at 12 years old. I never knew my real father since he ran out before I was born. I only ever knew my stepfather who was always a huge dick to me because I wasnt his blood, he'd told me this many times to my face. The older I got the more of a dick he was to me and I was abused pretty heavily physically and at around 12 I couldnt take it anymore. One day, he decided to knock me around a bit and I snapped. Despite him being twice my size at the time, I threw him into the side of the garage and packed a bag of my stuff and left.Prior I mostly just avoided him by staying out all day and I hardly ever went to school. I'd setup temporary camps in an old riverbed off the beaten path. The river bed was made up of long huge flat slabs of stone which made it easy to stay on as it was quite level. Someone would have had to hike quite a ways down the river bed to find me and even then I had setup camp under an old train trestle and brush,small shrubs grew up from cracks and crevices in the stone on the side they'd have to approach from.

The river barely trickled along anymore and was more like a small creek then but it still had plenty of fish, crawfish, and turtles in it.Rabbits often ran down along the river as well. I used my outdoors skills to keep me decently fed and what I couldnt supply on my own I'd sneak in to the house to take when everyone was gone on an errand. Often this was just a day camp and after my stepdad would go to sleep I'd sneak back in, catch some sleep, get up before he did, and head back out. I'd bathe in the larger portions of the river mostly.

This time though, I wanted something more permanent. I didnt want to have to go back to the house. I ended up finding out that a local church owned a house across town in a fairly empty area and they only used it for some youth program a few weeks a year.They paid the utilities on it year round. I decided to check it out and it turned out they left the doors entirely unlocked. Not too uncommon in those parts at the time since crime was fairly low and the old timers hardly ever locked up anything because they didnt have to. Hell even after the area turned to hell, my grandparents never locked their doors or car til the day they died.

I walked in and checked the place out. It had full facilities, running water, shower, stove, a fridge but no furniture except for about a dozen bean bag chairs. The fridge was stocked with food as well as the cupboard and it was overall a nice place. I stayed there alone for a few months and hit up the soup kitchen during the day as well as food programs when I could manage as far as food went, I was afraid if they checked the place out they'd notice if I used too much stuff. I also kept my use of utilities to a minimum to avoid running a much larger bill and being found there that way.

During the day Id stay away and tried to leave it the way I found it as much as I could and at night Id go and sleep in there.Of course if weather was bad Id just stay in. It was pretty cozy. After a few months I headed back home hoping things would be different, they promised it would be. Of course it wasnt, I ended up spending a lot of time running away and heading back and each time I went further before I went back.Eventually I just started traveling and kept on going and never looked back.

 

[Kalalau]

in an old mining shaft above county market in Breckenridge CO. I just turned 16 and the house burned down.. I stayed up there for a few days before a friend of mine invited me into his house... next squat I was 21 in Hawaii.. and been on the move since.

 

[creativitysucks]

I disagree - while you most certainly ought to be kicking him, there's no reason to listen to him while you do so. Just hum yourself a tune!

 

[creativitysucks]

I spent a lot of time in tents and tarp structures until I learned how to make myself a crude cabin out of pallet wood. It worked well enough for a season. Once I started travelling I just paid close attention to houses as I walk by them. There are some tell-tale signs of a good potential squat - graffiti on the walls, trash in the yard, overgrown grass, etc.. The first abandoned house I stayed at was with a group of train kids in Atlanta, nine deep in a two bedroom house. Apart from the kindly crackheads and abundant body lice, we had a great time. I stayed there for about two weeks the hopped out to Gainesville - there I found a four apartment building, only one of which was being squatted and another in disrepair, the other two were in great condition.