((PKG)) SLAB CITY ((Russian Service))
((Banner: An Alternative Home))
((Reporter/Camera: Genia Dulot))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((MAP: Slab City, California))
((LOCATOR: Slab City, California))
((BANNER: Called “the last free place in America,” anyone can live here free of charge))
((BANNER: There is no available electric grid, running water, or sewage system))
((NATS))
((BANNER: “Babylon” is slang for the state, or the system))
((IRA, SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
We are all in Slab City, in part, because we don’t like Babylon for some reason or another. We’re also all here, to an extent, because Babylon doesn’t like us.
((NATS))
((IRA, SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
This opens up, so that way we can keep puppies out of the living room. That’s what we call this area. Normally, there is these blankets up here to provide shade, and it makes a really comfy spot. It’s just, it’s been a little windy, and so it knocked them all over the place, and I’m a bit short, by myself, to put it back up.
((RODNEY "SPIDER", SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
I came here from Rhode Island. I was working, just like everybody else. I had a job, full time job. I fixed houses, I plowed the streets of Rhode Island. I worked on diesel trucks, you know. And I got tired of putting money in everybody else’s pocket. And it seemed like every time I put money in their pocket, they never put money in my pocket, you know. You get a paycheck, and that’s about it, you know. No pat on the back, no nothing, you know, and I got sick of that.
((NATS))
Don’t mind the mess. The wind last night was crazy, but this is only part of the solar power here. Those panels up there on the roof go inside that box, and then down to the batteries, and allows us to use the juice. I’m making this whole, this whole area here’s going to be enclosed, and there’s going to be a solar roof on the top of it.
((SHANNON, SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
In the city, you have to pay electricity. You'll pay hundreds of dollars a month for electricity.
((Reporter: 100))
((SHANNON, SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
Yeah, you know, hundreds, you never know, how much you're going to pay. Here, you pay 100 dollars for a solar panel, and it’ll last you years, and some batteries, and that’ll last you years, and there's your power. And a generator, that will last you, just pay for gas, and it would last you for a long time.
((Reporter: How much normally you spend for gas, in a month?))
((SHANNON, SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
For a month maybe 200 dollars.
((NATS))
((SHANNON, SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
The most bill you pay - gas and propane. Gasoline and propane.
((Reporter: How much is propane now?))
((SHANNON, SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
Propane? We can go 40 dollars for the month, and we can cook on that all month, and run the hot water heater.
((IRA, SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
Different people have different means of getting food and money. There are lots of businesses throughout the slabs. There are solar panel (and) water delivery businesses. A lot of the things that you don’t necessarily need money to get access to resources here. There are lots of things that are considered currency. You can trade a lot. Beer, weed, shiny rocks, building materials, paint, crafting materials. Anything that someone can use is tradable. There are few things that are sacred in Slab City, but one of them is boundaries. Whether it’s literal, or figurative, right? Or metaphorical, right? We have literal boundaries, as in walls, as in borders, people build around camps. In the filming that you’ve done, or maybe at East Jesus maybe you may have seen, like, the tire borders around a camp, or things like that. So, those are all ways that people say, ‘Do not cross without asking,’ right? That is also true on an interpersonal level. Slabbers don’t like being filmed without being asked. Consent is the rule here.
((NATS))
Now, you asked, and that was beautiful, that’s the way to handle it. You know, it just shows that you respect us, and respect our community, when you have the consideration to sit there and ask, ‘Hey, is this cool?’ You know, and it’s simple things like that.
((RODNEY "SPIDER", SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
Here, you come here, you get pampered, you get babied. Give you a place to stay. You're going to need, you’re hungry? I'll feed you. You don't need money. You know, not everybody has money, and I know that. But if I see something like that, I'll help if I can. But this here is a little getaway, for like people like you, who are tired of the whole same thing, every single day. You know, come out, whoa, these people are living weird, you know, but they’re making it, they’re making it work. We’ll let everybody know that you don’t have to live in the society that you do. You can do things on your own. It’s a little harder, but it makes you feel, it makes me feel better. I smile every day. I’ve got a smile on my face every single day.
((Reporter: So what would prevent Slab City (from) turning into the Babylon?))
((RODNEY "SPIDER", SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
Me. Read my lips. I'll take every board down, every screen down, everything down, if Babylon moves here. And I'll move away. I'll find another place, and do the same thing, all over again.''
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