If you want to talk about real hope and change, check out the growing decentralized network of anti-profit community spaces around the world. Just since we printed the 2009 organizer, we’ve heard about a whole bunch of new spaces. Each of these spaces is the culmination of community, engagement, and a vision of a different way for people to relate to each other — pursuing cooperation and mutual aid, not just profit. Let us know if you have suggestions of other spaces and check-out updates to our radical contact list on-line at slingshot.tao.ca.
SubRosa Infoshop – Santa Cruz, CA
Folks have opened an all-volunteer, collectively operated community space for art and radical projects next to the bike church in Santa Cruz. It features a lending library, zine and book shop, cafe with cheap coffee, art gallery, gardens and performance space. They transformed their parking lot into a garden courtyard with seating. The space hosts monthly art shows, Free Skool classes and a weekly Open Mic on Thursdays at 8pm. Open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. M-F and 10 – 8 Sat/Sun. 703 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz, CA 95060 831-426-5242, subrosaproject.org
Treasure City Thrift – Austin, TX
They are a volunteer/collectively run extra-cheap, anti-capitalist thrift store, infoshop, free store and reuse center. They direct money to a long and exciting list of grassroots organizations. They also host a community bike shop and various experiments in alternative economics. Open Mon- Sat, 11 – 6. Visit them at 1720 E 12th St. Austin, TX 78702 (512)524-2820 www.treasurecitythrift.org
The Real School (A.K.A. Dragon Valley) – Houston, TX
A school run by a collective of anarchists and other de-schoolers. 1525 East 32nd 1/2 St, Houston Texas 77022 832-767-0404 www.therealschoolhouston.org
Blast-O-Mat – Denver, CO
They are a collective show space, art gallery, and record store that hosts sliding scale shows and other events. Check them out at 2935 W 7th Ave Denver, CO 80204 (831)-331-1272
Biko Co-op – Isla Vista, CA
An activist house with some free literature. 6612 Sueno Road, Isla Vista, CA 93117 858-722-8768
Lichen Spiritual Archives – Chicago, IL
They have a lending library, zine distro and archive, wireless internet and radical community space for hosting meetings and workshops. They currently have weekly meals Sunday and Monday and free food pick up at other times. They have Spanish as a second language, a study group and meetings on radical mental health and police accountability. Open Fri- Sun 11-7, Mon 6-10 and Tues 11 – 7. 1921 S Blue Island, Chicago (mailing address PO BOX 08378, Chicago, IL, 60608.) pilsenradicalspace@riseup.net
George Street Co-op – New Brunswick, NJ
They are a vegetarian natural food co-op with a small free literature section. They saw the cover art on the 2009 organizer and thought it was funny because they have a carrot on the front of their store and are across the street from a library, just like the food coop in the drawing. Open 10-8 Mon-Fri, 8-7 Sat and 10-6 Sun. 89 Morris Street New Brunswick, NJ 08901 732.247.8280
Mississippi Market – St. Paul, MN
A food co-op with two locations that you can check out: 1810 Randolph Ave. Saint Paul, MN 55105 651-690-0507 and 622 Selby Ave. Saint Paul, MN 55104
Peace Action and Education Center of Eastern Iowa – Iowa City, IA
They have meeting, office and event space for peace groups. 26 E. Market Street, Iowa City, IA 52245 319 354-1925 peaceiowa.org
Birdhouse Collective – Buffalo, NY
A house that hosts shows and do-it-yourself activities. No regular hours. 92 Bird St. Buffalo, NY 14202 716-884-2797
ReBelle – Lexington, KY
A boutique store with some eco products, etc. 371 S. Limestone St. Lexington, KY 40508 859-389-9750 www.ReBelleGirls.com
Gulf of Maine Books – Brunswick, Maine
They are a 30 year old independent alternative bookstore. 134 Maine Street, Brunswick, Maine 04011
Casa T.I.A.O. – Valparaiso, Chile
Which stands for Trabajadores Independientes de Artes y Oficios (Independent Art and Trade Workers). It is a casa okupa (occupied house) i.e. squat with a rehearsal/training space for various classes: trapeze, acrobatics, capoeira, African dance, screenprinting, wood-block printing, etc. 30 people live there and they host performances: circus, punk, traditional theatre, hip-hop, etc. Visit at Yungay 1772, Valparaiso, Chile, tiaocasa.blogspot.com
Kulturhuset Underjorden/SPATT – Gothenburg, Sweden
A social center that hosts shows, do-it-yourself activities and an infoshop. (Mail: Box 30, 40120 Gothenburg, Sweden.) www.spatt.info
CSA La Torre – Rome Italy
A squatted radical community center. Visit at: via Bertero 13 Roma, Italy, www.inventati.org/latorre/
Katipo Books – Christchurch/Otautahi, New Zealand
They are a worker coop publishing group with a bookstore. 15 Winchfield Street, Aranui, Christchurch, New Zealand 8061 www.katipo.net.nz (mailing: PO Box 377, Christchurch Mail Centre Christchurch 8140)
India Däck Bookcafe – Lund, Sweden
A coffee shop/book exchange. Stora Algatan 3, 224 51 Lund, Sweden www.indiadack.net, idc@indiadack.net
Smålands Nation – Lund, Sweden
A student community center. Kastanjegatan 7, 223 59 Lund, Sweden, 046-12 06 80, www.smalands.org
Brian MacKenzie Center closes after 9 years
We are saddened to learn of the demise of the BMC infoshop. Keeping a volunteer collective together over a span of years requires constantly renewing the core group with new members. This is a challenge every similar project faces — we still have a lot to learn about solving this problem as a typically youthful scene. They are seeking donations to help them pay off debts. Check out: www.dcinfoshop.org. Until a planned radical library project gets going, Ryan suggests visiting some of these spots if you’re in DC:
• The People’s Media Center – an Independent media lab and event space for workshops, punk shows and all sorts of radical activist stuff. 4132 Georgia Ave NW, Washington DC, 20011 www.dcspeakout.com
• Sankofa books and cafe – a radical and black liberation book and video store with a coffee shop and cafe attached. 2714 Georgia Avenue NW Washington, DC 202-234-4755
• Emergence – a community center that does a lot of theater type stuff, dance classes, herbal and other health workshops, arts and film screenings. Less of a drop-in space and more of a specific event space. 733 Euclid St. NW Washington, DC 20001 (202) 462-2285
Mistakes in the 2009 organizer
• The Fargo-Moorhead Community Bicycle Workshop in Fargo, ND recent moved. Their new address is 1418 1st Ave N #1 Fargo, ND 58102, 701-478-4021, info@fmbikeworkshop.org
• The OKC Infoshop is at 29 (not 33) NE 27th St. in Oklahoma City, OK 73105.
• The In Our Hearts Infoshop in Brooklyn NY is now called the 123 Space. Same address.
• Spartacus Books in Vancouver, BC, Canada is on the ground floor, not the second floor. The street address listed is otherwise correct.
• It looks like we mis-spelled the name of the city in the Philippines in which Sadee’s Kitchen is located — it is Davao, not “Davae” as printed in the organizer.
Rest In Peace
• Broad Vocabulary, a long-standing feminist bookstore in Milwaukee, WI, closed at the end of 2008. They say that perhaps a co-op will re-open the store at a new location.
• We heard that Crow’s Place in Brooklyn, NY no longer exists.
• Someone told us the GLBT Center in Mishawaka, IN no longer exists.
• It looks like Feed Your Head books in Salem, MA is gone.
• We heard that the Pitchpipe Infoshop in Tacoma, WA closed.
• We got a letter saying that Southmore House in Houston no longer exists.
• Someone tried to visit the Tallahassee Infoshop at 825 Railroad — it wasn’t at that address anymore. Not sure if it moved or expired.
• We got packages returned from the following places — if you know whether they moved or died, let us know:
* Sweet Bee Infoshop at 513 E. St. Des Moines, IA 50309
* Rocktown Infoshop 85 E. Elizabeth St. Harrisonburg, VA 22802
* Sin Reading Room 918 Ward St. Nashville, TN 37207
* Rosetta News Collective 212 W. Freeman Carbondale, IL 62901
Bike Collective Network
For an impressive listing of community bike shops that encourage a do-it-yourself relationship with your bike on a non-profit, low-cost, sometimes volunteer-run, basis, check out www.bikecollectives.org. Many have classes, space where you can work on your bike, and recycled parts. At the moment, Slingshot has been listing some of these spaces in our organizer and our radical contact list when they ask us to or when that is the only alternative group that has a physical space in a particular town. Let us know if you think we should include the entire list in our contact list.