True Films 3.0 - Kevin Kelly

Dark Days
The urban legend about cities of homeless living underground in the
neglected corridors of New York City’s subways was partly true. For
about a decade in the 80s, a colony of extremely resourceful hobos built
shelters in an underground section of Penn-Central railroad beneath New
York. They rigged up stolen electricity and a few even had cold running
water; many worked outside as can collectors or street vendors and rifled
garbage for uneaten restaurant food. This film documents their routines,
their squabbles with each other, and their fight with the city to keep their
plywood homes – filled with TVs, beds, and mini-kitchens. It’s a fight they
lost. Homelessness, like everything else in life, is not uniform. These
folks were exceptionally resourceful and ambitious, and the story follows
them up as they leave their eccentric handmade homes to acquire subsidized
housing.
By Marc Singer
2000, 88 min.
Available from Amazon
Rent from Netflix
As if it were a backyard, the
space outside of the plywood
huts is strung with clothesline
and drying laundry. Inside, it’s a
makeshift version of American
life, with family photos, TVs, and
friends. Tito (left) is wakened by
friends and urged to get up. Not
every home is the same. This one
is a tepee of junk.
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