Compiled by Jesse D. Palmer
Building community outside the narrow confines of the internet, consumerism, and alienated labor demands physical space for face-to-face interaction — forest camps, ragged artists warehouses, illegal venues, feminist bookstores and cluttered storefronts bursting with books, free piles, bike tools and Food Not Bombs. The good news is that the underground is thriving post-Covid — the following list of new spaces we’ve heard about and updates to the Radical Contact List in the 2023 Slingshot organizer is the largest we’ve published in years. You wouldn’t know it by paying attention to mainstream media, but we may be living in a golden age of counter culture. All these projects are waiting for you to walk through their door and put your time and heart into something that matters, not the dying empire. Plugging into something bigger than yourself is what makes life worth living and it’s the only path away from isolation and towards connection and love.Please let us know if you hear about spaces we should include. There’s even more info on-line at slingshotcollective.org.
Community Books – Stone Mountain, GA
A new community book store that aims to bring affordable new, used and radical books to a largely Black working class community that currently has no bookstore. They say that Stone Mountain “is at the center of antiracist struggle in the US south.” 978-A Main Street Stone Mountain, GA 30083
Wild Soul River – Williamstown, MA
An abolitionist herbal gathering space and herb / tea / healing store that hosts events. They have three free mutual aid shelves, fentanyl test strips and COVID rapid tests. 248 Cole Ave. Williamstown, MA 01267 413-597-1172 wildsoulriver.com
Source Bookstore – Detroit, MI
Independent bookstore that hosts events. 4240 Cass Ave, #105 Detroit, MI, 48201 313- 832-1155 sourcebooksellers.com
Trident Booksellers and Cafe – Boulder, CO
An independent employee-owned bookstore and cafe with Buddhist roots that hosts events. 940 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302 303-443-3133 tridentcafe.com
Solidarity Fridge – Las Vegas, NV
Community refrigerator, pantry, and garden. 5502 E. Blackthorn Dr. Las Vegas, NV 89142
The Radical Cat – Reno, NV
Feminist bookstore, cat adoption center, and community space that hosts events 1717 S. Wells Ave Reno, NV 89502 775-409-3152 theradicalcat.com
Free Black Women’s Library – Brooklyn, NY
A library featuring 4000 books written by Black women, social art project and interactive installation that hosts events. Open 1pm-5pm Weds/Thurs, 1pm-6pm Sat/Sun. 226 Marcus Garvey Blvd, Brooklyn NY 11221 thefreeblackwomenslibrary.com
P.I.T., The – Brooklyn, NY
A community space, venue and infoshop that sells books and records. P.I.T stands for “property is theft.” 411 South 5th Street Brooklyn, NY 11211 347-763-0333 propertyistheft.org
Hella Positive – Oakland, CA
A clothing store that hosts events. 1606 7th St, Oakland, CA 94607 hellapositive.com
Fallout SF – San Francisco, CA
An underground (literally) radical, collective, punk community art space that hosts events. 50-A Bannam Place San Francisco CA 94133 falloutsf.com
Fluid Cooperative Cafe – San Francisco, CA
A transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming owned cooperative cafe that hosts events. 332 Golden Gate Ave. San Francisco, CA 94102 fluidcoopsf.com
Medicine For Nightmares – San Francisco, CA
A bookstore with radical materials and art gallery that hosts events. 3036 24th St. San Francisco, CA 94110 415-824-1761 medicinefornightmares.com
Wild West Access Fund of Nevada – Reno, NV
A statewide resource for people seeking reproductive health services. Folks can apply for funding if they’re seeking an abortion in Nevada. NOT a radical space you can visit but still lovely. P.O Box 561 Keystone Ave #398 Reno, NV 89503 wildwestfund.org
Black Spark Cultural Centre – Melbourne, Australia
A bookshop, gallery and community hub that presents music. Open Wed-Sun 11am-6pm. 235A St. George’s Road Northcote, VIC, 3070
Catalyst Social Centre – Melbourne, Australia
A new social center operated by a federation of grassroots collectives with a cafe, radical library and garden that present events. 144-146 Sydney Road Coburg, VIC, 3056 catalystcentre.net
Platform C – Seoul, South Korea
A new activist education space. 41 Dongyo-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
The Queery – Brighton, UK
An independent, volunteer-run, queer radical bookshop and sober community space with a vegan pay-as-you-feel café. 46 George St, Brighton BN2 1RJ, UK. Thequeery.co.uk
Nordpol – Dortmund, Germany
A not for profit and self governed bar and event space. Bronzer. 144 Dortmund nrdpl.org
Rizoma Coop – Lisbon, Portugal
A food co-op grocery store that hosts events. R. José Estêvão 4, 1150-192 Lisboa, Portugal rizomacoop.pt
Centro Documentazione Porfido – Torino, Italy
They edit and distribute books, pamphlets and free anti-capitalist texts. They have a library with over 6000 books. “Center for the critique of capitalist society”. They also have audiobooks. Via Luigi Tarino, 12, 10124 Torino, Italy porfidotorino.it
Corrections to the 2023 Slingshot Organizer
• Anarres infoshop has re-opened inside Activespace at 1720 NW Lovejoy St, Unit 236, Mailbox 222, Portland OR 97209. Open 2-6 PM Friday and Sunday.
• Oops we left Flemington DIY off the list – the are at 26 Stangl Road Flemington, NJ 08822 856-431-3692 flemingtondiy.org
• Battery Street Jeans got left off – they are at 115 College Ave. Burlington, VT 05401 802-865-6223.
• Rag & Bones Bicycle Cooperative moved to 2916 North Avenue, Richmond, VA, 23222.
• Dalibom Book in South Korea has lost their space and is online only now.
• Deul Dabang has a new address: 1-131beon-ji Yuri Building 4FDongsung-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul
• Sai Church in South Korea changed its name to Okbaraji Missionary.
• Songjeong Village Cafe in S. Korea closed.