thunderbolts

The Fort (Fort Goof)

I lived in a fort for almost 5 years ..well at least it was called "The Fort"
there were two incarnations, the first was originally an above store one bedroom apartment which had been gutted, most of the walls replaced by steel cage and a hole cut into the ceiling with a small staircase hung by chains about 2 feet off the ground for access to the attic, which could loosely be called a lounge room, there were a couple of lofts here and there bordered with steel cage and mesh., the whole place was covered, I mean covered in graffiti, even most of the ceiling, all secured by a 5 inch thick steel door at the top of fire escape strairs leading into a back alley.
there were usually anywhere from 4-8 punks living there at any given time, 3-5 dogs, it was a rehersal space for the bands, mainly Bunchofuckingoofs, around which most of the scene revolved, it was also a boozecan of sorts, meaning there was always beer for sale at a buck a can (no bottles cause of the dogs). there was always some kind of chaos happening but at the same time there was a loose code of conduct. we were constantly at war with nazi skinheads and to some degree, the mainstream. internal fights also happened from time to time and were usually settled one on one and not interupted unless a weapon was drawn or someone was obviously finished. you were expected to pull your weight, help with rent, bills and contrubute in some way, be it art, music, building, scavenging for building supplies ect.
drugs like heroine and coke were generally frowned upon because most of us had already had to deal with addiction, deaths by overdose, or been ripped off by "friends" who needed a fix ..aside from that anything else was kosher.. we were regarded by some as a gang, though we didn't use crime as a means of income, and by others as vigilanties, mainly because we didn't like drug dealers (or the cops who they attracted) being in our neighborhood, which was Kensington market in Toronto: roughly a 6 block cluster of shops, restauraunts, used clothing stores etc... the best way I can describe it is like a tiny multicultural town/ community, in the center if China Town, which is central to the downtown core.
we had a good rapport with most of the shopkeepers and a healthy respect for our surroundings, not to say that things never got out of hand, but if, (for example) you got into a fight and trashed someone's fruit stand, you had better show up the next day with some tools and fix it. though most of the core people were heavily into the punk/hardcore scene of the time (early 80s - early 90's) the place was a magnet for all types of 'interesting' folks, including, but not limited to some of the older first generation hippies who still lived in the area, artists, performance artists, just plain crazy (but none the less cool) people, some of the younger family members of shopkeepers who have been there since the beggining of time and on and on. bands from out of town often crashed there, and punks from all over the world would seek out The Fort as a place of refuge when they were in the city. our direct neighbor was a somewhat politically active (if I remember right) regae musician, and a really nice guy, oftentimes if things were quiet on our side you would hear them jamming clearly through the walls. there was an abundance of drama, comedy and insanity at any
given moment and enough stories to fill a book (hint! to Steve if you ever read this, fucker) not to mention hordes of crazy rumors surrounding the whole scene. ..and that's just a quick summary of the FIRST Fort coming from someone who stumbled into that scene sometime around the middle of its mad existance. even then I used to listen intently to the stories of what had gone before, as for after ...I'll save that for another enrty.