There is a soiled mattress that leans against a back wall in the damp basement. Bleeding black spray paint reads, "Punk is dead." This is the Needle House.

"This is like the place out of Peter Pan ," founder Joe Suta explains as he points to the half pipe skateboarding ramp that is now his living room. "This is where the troubled kids go, Never-Never Land ." Just before finding the space that's become the Needle House, Joe had been evicted from an apartment in Bridgeport . He sighs, "I packed everything I owned and tied it to the top of my truck. I put it in reverse and moved down the street." At the time it was a rundown loft, proclaimed home by a group of drug addicts. With the help of some friends, who would eventually move into the makeshift bedrooms, the skateboard ramp was built and the Needle House was born. "After I moved in and put all this shit up, this kid who apparently used to live here, who was out of town, came back. He walked right into my house. He looked at the place, noticed a few changes, looked at me and said, ‘Where are all my friends?' There are five kids that live in the house now. There is always a cast of rotating sixth members- whoever claims the couch for the night.

Located on the corner of S. Union and 33 rd Street , the Needle House is one of the oldest buildings in the Bridgeport area. "It was an old Chicago Cop hangout- a bar," Joe informs me. According to the landlord, Billy Idol once played here on a tour. But this is a new chapter in the history of 3259 S. Union St . The Needle House is now nationally known in the underground hardcore and punk rock community. "We try to do about two or three shows a week. Sometimes even more," Ryan Fojo says. "We do shows for a lot of local bands, a lot from the Pilsen scene. We do shows for a lot of touring bands." Every show has four to five bands. No show is over six dollars. We just want kids to have fun. It's all word of mouth. Out of state bands know they can play here. We try to show them a good time. If we have food we cook for them . We let them crash here. We take them on tours of the city, show them cemeteries and stuff. This is how I want to be treated when I'm out of town."

Besides the weekly shows put on at the Needle House, there is also the skate ramp on the first floor. "In the winter we'll get fifteen to twenty kids at any given moment skating here," Ryan says. Another roommate Evan walks in. "Yeah, the skating is great," he says, "Especially when you're trying to sleep. I love lying in bed listening to the sound of skateboards." Though the shows that go on here are for everyone, the skating is not. "That's the last thing we need," according to Ryan, "To have some kid we don't even know coming over, breaking his arm and having a Pilsen mom calling us and yelling . The ramp is for friends. The house is for everyone."

Besides the shows and the skating, Joe Suta plays in the band, Raise the Red Lantern . When shows aren't going on, there's usually a band practicing down stairs. "Raise the Red Lantern goes on tour this summer,” he says. “With so many kids that have played here from out of state, it's been really easy to book shows for us."

Buried between all the goings-on involved with the Needle House, respect always will be a staple. " Kids know not to hang out in front of the house ," Ryan says. "It's taken a while for the neighborhood to warm up to us, but they have. We have barbeques all the time out back." Joe adds, "We've never had a problem. We run this place and treat it just like any other venue. Ninety-five percent of the kids that come here respect the place. If we have a problem, we take it to the pull up bar. Whoever has the most, wins. End of story."

The rare synthesis of different sects of kids in a diverse community provides the neighborhood with a pocket of space in which artists, musicians, and skateboarders can interact and collaborate. The Needle House was formed for the kids, by the kids. "I really do love this place," Joe smiles in front of the half pipe, crowded with kids clapping as Ryan attempts trick after trick. I ask a guy passing me on my way out, "What do you think of the Needle House?" "Everything and anything goes,” he says. “It's the shit." He slaps Joe in a street skater sort of way, "Is it cool if I bring by some friends tomorrow?" Joe replies, "Anytime."  

 

E-mail Joe Suta for information on shows karma1201@aol.com
Check out the Needle House band www.raisetheredlantern.com