R.I.P. Hellarity

The end of an era has occurred right across the street from Finca 57. For the last nearly fifteen years the house at 836 57th Street had been occupied by a group of squatters practicing a form of communal living in what was known as Hellarity. For the last seven years they had been in a court battle with the owner who had purchased it a foreclosure auction in 2004. That battle apparently ended a couple weeks ago and they had one last hurrah with live music until midnight and then somebody with an acoustic guitar and singing at the top of his lungs until dawn. At least that's what I could hear.

I have mixed feelings about their demise. On one hand it was an eclectic part of a diverse neighborhood. On the other hand they seemed to have an open door policy for whomever wanted to show up, some of whom didn't have respect for the neighborhood or the neighbors. Midweek amplified punk/metal music wasn't out of the ordinary. Visitors often lived out of their cars on the street, left garbage in the gutters, and one group even urinated on the sidewalk in front of my house. While I was able to discuss these issues with the regulars, it gets tiresome to keep having to deal with it. Needless to say, it's been pretty peaceful around here since they've been gone.

Pretty much immediately workers started to empty the place. They tore off the front stairs and chain locked the gates. They've filled this dumpster in front at least three times with trash, furniture, debris, and who knows what else. I'm not sure what the plans are but I've seen inside a couple times and it seems like you'd have to demolish the whole thing and start over. Then again, having seen my share of decrepit houses redone completely, you can strip one to the bones and start from decent foundation and framing. I'll be curious to see what they do.