I used to live in a 7000 sq. ft loft space her in Chicago with 6 other people (make that 7 if you include my daughter who was almost 2 years old at the time) The rent was $2200 per month…I paid just a little over $400 a month!!! My bedroom was bigger than the 3 bedroom apartment I live in now! It had a big 10 ft metal sliding door separating it from the main part of the loft. It used to be a paint factory. My room is where volatile/flamible stuff was stored. My friend Doc who lived in my room before me grew “Kind Bud”. We used about 2000 sq. ft of the loft for our Art Gallery. We had great Art Openings with live bands and/or Dj’s. (The guy who lived there before me built a huge stage) We had rope swings hanging from the ceiling…floor to ceiling windows facing East! And my roomate Jessica (aka the Wicked Pixie) had sooooo many plants everywhere! And we had a 100 gallon Koy Pond!

Good times were had…3 of us were very productive, always creating…building walls, making art, getting ready for the next show. But the other 3 were total losers who just liked to hang out and say “I’m an Artist” did nothing except sleep all day, party all night…and would even break out into destructive episodes and ruin the work we did during the wee hours of the morning. That’s why we called Jessica the Wicked Pixie…she loved plants and flowers…and she would do these “installations” in the middle of the night when she was drunk…smashed a big hole into the new freshly painted drywall me, my Dad, and my roomate Tamara Bell had just finished…then she put a bunch of branches, vines, plants, and misc tiny dolls and other found objects she collected all sticking/growing out of the hole in the wall. Then she took dark green paint and painted all around her rebel fairie creation and signed it “THE WICKED PIXIE” She remember nothing the next morning…little brat!

I need not mention that the builing has since then been sold and converted into Condos…and the neighborhood is now crawling with Yuppies and their designer doggies, SUV’s and their In vitro babies…5 Star Retaurants and Starbuck’s…TRAGIC!

At the end of the day…I will not give up my Utopian dreams…and be condemned to live in this shoebox I currently call home! I hope you don’t either!

Love ya sister!
xo Lavona

but fuck, the skylights in that loft!!! living there now would be impossible, not just because of the price but because it would have been remodeled to have granite countertops and bamboo floors and generally be robbed of its charm and roughness in the name of luxury.

also, i have never seen that movie, i should watch it!