Crusties and Squatters
With the recent beating death of Philadelphia squatter Tim Bradley on the roof of the abandoned Croydon apartment complex at 49th and Locust in West Philly, attention has been trained on the squatting subculture in the city. An article on the front page of the UC Review this week by Robert P. Helms aims to clarify some of the distinctions between kinds of squatters and gives an account of his own experience squatting in the 1990s. It’s a fascinating read:
(I’ve posted the story as images because the UC Review site can be a little cumbersome to navigate, but do check out the paper this week, since there’s also an interview with UCD’s Lewis Wendell about the now-more-or-less-resolved John Fenton affair.)
For more on West Philadelphia squatters, I also recommend the documentary Squatter Days available in four parts on youtube. It features interviews with current and former squatters including some footage shot in the Croydon (known to its inhabitants as “Paradise City”) as well as archival footage of older West Philly squatter haunts.
For further discussion of the circumstances surrounding the death of Tim Bradley, there are some lengthy musings on this MySpace page from people who knew him. So far, the crime remains unsolved.
The Spin » Blog Archive » The lives of others said,
February 29, 2008 @ 1:34 pm
[...] investigation into the murder of a West Philly anarcho-crusty squatter led to a profile of the tribe: Police say the squatters are mostly well educated from upper-middle class families, who choose to [...]