"...while I lay dreaming"
1.
Paradise City apartments, as appropriately named by punk squatters and addicts, sits rotting over West Philadelphia. For a time this eyesore became a nationally known squat house for punks, junkies, rail-riders, and whomever needed a roof. It's size and half-running electricity allowed for numerous people to set up homes inside with ghetto-rigged power without being crammed near others. It's peak hit in 2007, becoming a nuisance to the neighborhood around it given the rooftop parties, fights, trash, noise, etc. The combination of a highly publicized rooftop murder and a punk-fest riot the year before put the city and Philly PD on edge about the punk scene and put a stop to the bastion of malt-liquor fueled mayhem.
2.
The turn of the century building now see's little squatting, although it isn't fully gone. Most of the building reeks of human excrement, trash, and dead animals. Graffiti and discarded bottles and food containers litter the halls. The top 4 or so floors are a total wreck, and the north wing of the lower floors has seen some nasty water damage (All the unit bathrooms floor by floor are on top of each other, I guess one of the water pipes was still running but got removed by scrappers, letting water gush down).
3.
Myself and Mekr met up early on a humid ass sunday morning and proceeded to head in after a very groggy trainride. The heat and humidity allowed the buildings odors to ferment, I guess exploring former squat houses in the summer might not be the best idea.
4.
5.
The first floor lobby, being the only spot in the building left with much charm, was surprisingly clean (compared to the rest, atleast) with little graffiti. Complete with marble walls, decorative woodwork, massive (now smashed) mirrors, and even a painting still hung inside a wall-frame, made the lobby and it's decently clean office chairs a good place for a little break.
6.
Floor by floor, many of the units had there windows pulled out from behind the boarding and usually neatly stacked in the rooms.
7.
There used to be a lot more interesting graffiti in here, there's still a good bit but I don't know where all of it went. I'm guessing that was one of the first steps in the about-to-happen rehab of the building.
8.
Radiator covers sit empty in a lot of rooms, the radiators themselves being removed by scrappers.
9.
We didn't run into anyone living there, although around the 6th floor I walked passed one shut door and could hear a man and a woman talking and laughing in there. One other room down on a lower floor seemed freshly lived in, and still smelled of B.O., but a note written on the door said something along the lines of "Dear residence, we saw all your old food trash and thought you had been gone a long time. Sorry if we fucked up any of your shit. Good luck with your medical bill".
10.
The fitting climax of any building in Philly, the roof. it was about 1030 am at this point, and the overcast sky and decent breeze where a welcome refreshment from the hot humid interior. Chilled up there for maybe an hour or more, it was so nice.
The persons who owned the building during the squat house days lost it due to unpaid back taxes, and it went up for sheriffs sale. It was purchased by a known slumlord conman sex offender, whom not only owes back taxes, but has a rap-sheet a mile long for scamming renters and property owners out of money (even stealing a home out from under the owners, but that's a whole nother long story). Needless to say, local residences dug up the dirt and saw through the guy's total BS plan for the building. Its suspected he was making the over-zealous plan just to acquire investment money that he was going to grab and ditch on the building. It got purchased again by a well-known area developer, whom has a good track record for several other successful rehabs across the city. Work begins in only 2-4 months time, with some light prep work already done. It will once again be used as apartments.
I can't wait to see how it looks after being rebuilt. It will be weird given the places history and how jacked up it is inside.
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