November 5, 2013

Two years ago, residents of Goldengate Street in Detroit MI were scratching their heads as people with strange names like Coconut and Mars started moving into the street’s abandoned homes, decorating them in wild colors and planting vegetable gardens in empty lots.
It was a culture clash from the beginning. Establishing a utopian community in a rough area proved harder than expected.
There’s about a dozen or so of them now, along with waves of couch surfers who pass through. They live in houses with no electricity or water or heat. They warm themselves with wood-burning stoves and wash themselves outside with buckets of water on warmer days. Their toilets are outhouses.…