In 2020, a group of local longtime punks saw a rising rate of suicide in Lane County, especially among youth and within alternative subcultures. In an effort to help, they formed the nonprofit Radical Alternative Development.
According to BriJit Jenkins, R.A.D. co-founder, the goal of the project is to build community, foster creativity and create safe spaces for alternative youth and adults to live freely without fear of persecution for being who they are. Now, the volunteer-run nonprofit is achieving something none of them thought possible: Their very own building and community space.
“Eugene’s always struggled to have a good all-ages venue,” Colin Hicks, R.A.D. treasurer says. “There’s the WOW Hall and McDonald Theatre and there’s plenty of places to go if you want bar shows, but all ages venues have jumped from one place to another. We want to create something more permanent that’s really more ingrained in the community.”
Before the dream of getting their own building became a reality, the punks of R.A.D. hosted events and concerts at a number of different spots around town — none of which they owned — at coffee shops, house shows, skate parks, wine bars, basements and more. For a frequent attendee like me, the shows definitely kicked ass, and the hosts were awesome, but there were always two central things looming over the heads of R.A.D’s board of directors: money and rules.
Each venue had its own specific rule set, size restrictions and cost deductions that prevented R.A.D’s board of directors from having enough creative freedom to branch out and explore other possibilities like harm-reduction, DIY activities, community education and more. For a time, R.A.D. says the group felt stuck. Moving between venues, constantly dealing with drama and having to fork over money that could otherwise be put back into the community — R.A.D. wanted something greater.
In January, a breakthrough happened. On a cold day, inside Slice Pizzeria and Bar in the Whiteaker, the board of directors met to discuss the year’s upcoming events. That’s when Jenkins told the group she found someone who was interested in sharing a building with the nonprofit.
Nikolai Serban had a longtime dream of opening an open-late, queer coffee shop and lounge. With the help of his partner of 15 years, he purchased an old office building across the street from the WOW Hall, now called 805 Lincoln. Serban says this 9,333-square-foot office building was originally a printing company and hair salon.
Walking into the building for the first time, Serban realized it was way too big for just a coffee shop and lounge, so he started looking for people who “shared that ideal of building something that wasn’t just another way of extracting something from Eugene, and instead was something that is giving to Eugene.”
It’s that mindset that led him to R.A.D. “I had actually been going to shows put on by R.A.D. for a few years, and I always loved that they attracted queer and horror punk bands, which I’m a really huge fan of,” Serban says.
So, a few weeks before the R.A.D. board of directors met at Slice Pizzeria, Jenkins received a phone call telling her that she should speak with Serban. She did, and instantly she “felt a sense of connection and love.” Both parties wanted the same thing: A place where they could provide a service to the community without breaking moral boundaries, like working with large, capitalist corporations.
“We could feel that it was genuine because we have had opportunities to get into other spots before, and we have rejected a lot of opportunities that would force us to bend our morals,” Jenkins says. “We didn’t have to do that with Nikolai because he believes in the same stuff as us.”
That “stuff” both parties believe in goes beyond just wanting good things for the local community. It’s a deep seated personal and political belief that everyone should live a life of liberation, community and freedom.
As an organization, R.A.D. is unapologetically anarchist, and so is Serban. Anarchy is the far-left political philosophy that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate oppression, authority and hierarchy. “Flattening hierarchy is exactly the verbiage that we were trying to do here,” Serban says.
Serban says while he had to form a limited liability company called 805 Lincoln Property Management LLC to pay off the building, that is just a temporary stepping stone towards the greater goal of forming a trust that is “created collaboratively by the people who are here and directly benefiting, working and creating value here.”
“It’s going to be completely DIY funded by people in our community, for people in our community,” Jenkins says. “We’re going to have like 30 different organizations of people donate like 100 bucks a month, which is not a lot for some places who make a lot of money and collectively, we’ll all pay for the space.”
With a partnership secured and a shared philosophy in mind, the team got to work brainstorming what will become Eugene’s first all-ages, punk-focused alternative community space alongside an open-late queer-focused coffee shop and lounge. “This is just such a perfect building and the amount of space fits what we wanted to do,” says Christopher Estrada, R.A.D. secretary.
“Everyone calls it a venue, and yes it is that, but it’s also going to be a lot more than that,” says Callie Van Barrick, a R.A.D. board member. “I’ve seen a bunch of kids that are putting together craft nights, and they’re like ‘Come sew your patches on your vest.’ This could be a space for something like that.”
“The same kid that came to their first punk show, the next day, could come to make a T-shirt at a DIY spot and then, about six months later, there might be a space here where they can record their first demo,” says Hunter Nelms, another R.A.D. board member.
Daniel Jenkins, a R.A.D. co-founder says he can’t believe that R.A.D. pulled off making its dreams come true. “We’ve arrived and we have this space for the community,” he says.
To transform the office building into an aesthetically pleasing community space with purpose-built rooms takes a lot of work, but that’s nothing R.A.D. is scared of. “I got the blueprints out and everybody else was like, ‘OK, this wall’s here, we can knock this wall down, this should happen here, is this enough room,’” Nelms says.
“I think we all walked in and most of us weren’t really sure what we were looking at,” Van Barrick says. “It was like walking in a maze.”
Quickly, the team got to work, contracting with local down-to-earth construction crews to open up the office space to something that resembles a community meeting center rather than a gray, bleak corporate hellscape. The transformation was drastic, gone were the cubicles of the past and left behind was a canvas for R.A.D. and Serban to build upon. Walking through the space, I could see the potential, not just for shows, but also for harm reduction, art and more.
On R.A.D’s side of the building, glass doors open to a small lobby area that includes an office space that BriJit Jenkins says the team will reserve for volunteers working with R.A.D. to coordinate upcoming concerts, plan mutual aid fundraisers or even just send emails. Walking past the lobby you encounter a large room where R.A.D. plans to build a stage to host shows and community events.
“When the venue is not having shows, we can do whatever we want,” BriJit Jenkins says, adding that while R.A.D. won’t provide billable therapy or counseling at the building, the nonprofit will have the ability to host and facilitate free peer support groups and workshops.
Behind the stage area is a greenroom with bathrooms attached where bands can prepare for a show. Next to the green room, R.A.D. plans to build a recording studio where local bands can record music. BriJit Jenkins says the team has already contacted local artists to help paint murals and graffiti on the walls to give it a uniquely Eugene punk aesthetic.
The nonprofit is making progress fast. R.A.D. is working with the fire department to get the place up to code and get renovations underway as often as possible. There’s still work to be done, but each day R.A.D. gets closer to officially opening the building.
On Dec. 12, R.A.D. will host its annual fundraiser at Blairally Vintage Arcade to raise money for work on the building and future projects. The fundraiser will feature Portland hardcore punk band Dry Socket, among others.
“In five years, we’re still gonna be doing something that is close to our values,” Estrada says, “social work, alcohol counseling and being a positive support for people that need help.”
To find more information on R.A.D. visit RadEugene.org or on Instagram @Rad.Eugene.Oregon. To stay updated on 805 Lincoln, visit 805Lincoln.com or on Instagram @805Lincoln.