I’ve been talking about setting up an LA hackerspace for years. Literally, after spending time at metalab in Vienna, C-Base in Berlin, C4 in Köln I returned to the US all excited about the idea. I talked with a lot of people and e-mails were exchanged, but not much else actually happened. Since then I’ve hung out at NYC Resistor in NYC, HacDC in DC and Noisebridge in SF and I’ve decided that in order for this to actually happen in LA I just need to start making it happen, so that’s what I’m doing. And I figured that in order to breathe life into this it needed a real name, so I’m calling it. Introducing Crash Space.
I picked the name Crash Space for a few reasons. Film fans will know there is a great movie about LA called Crash. Also, anyone who tries anything new expects to crash countless times before being successful in their attempts. Computer people are all too familiar with crashes. Sometimes I hope some of us will be so engrossed with what we are working on it will be too late to go home so we’ll just crash there. I wanted those feelings to be strong here, we expect things not to work and to break and to go wrong, hopefully a lot, and every once and a while something really cool will come from all the tinkering. I’m calling it a space because that is as open ended as it gets – anything can happen in a space.
If you’d like to help out, get involved, contribute resources of any kind please join the mailing list.
I also have some early notes about what I want this place to encompass on my wiki, and before too long I will be moving things over to a proper domain – crashspace.org
More soon. I promise. Stay tuned.
I admit I don’t exactly know what a hackerspace is, but I’m interested in hearing more.
All the descriptions in the world can’t really explain what a hackerspace is, but once you walk inside one it all just makes sense. Here’s a few pics I took at Noisebridge last week:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seanbonner/sets/72157622402277529/
You should hook up with the local LA2600 folks. They’re building a space as well..
FYI there is already a Hacker Space in LA:
“the space is called TOW and located at 1450 E. 6th st. 90021 phone: 323.319.2332″
And one in Orange County:
http://shop.23b.org/
noid – that’s my point, i know lots of people who have been saying they are going to build a space but haven’t seen any go beyond that so I figured I’d at least try to take the step.
Dave – OC is not LA. I’ve heard about some space downtown, but it isn’t online, and no one outside of LA (that I know) has ever heard of it, so it’s likely that their idea of a space is different than mine which is perfectly fine. There are 14 million people in LA, seems like there is plenty of room for many spaces.
/me is now applying for jobs in LA.
OOSC, are you thinking Crash Space will be closer to Santa Monica, or The Smell?
I’m with Shane. Not sure exactly what to expect, but definitely interested in learning more.
kick ass man. We have Gangplank here in Arizona and I love it. I wish it wasn’t so far away from my home, I might visit more often. Good luck and building yours.
This is a great idea. One vote for the west side, as a site. I would pay dues and generally help out to get something like this started.
Be the guy to pull the trigger and you’ll have a bunch of folks that will undoubtedly step up to help.
Cool. I’m a bit out of the area (eastern ventura) but interested in hacker spaces, fab labs, etc. Have you checked out the Machine Project?
Just joined the google group. While I do work in a typical office most days of the week, I’d love to have another place to occasionally call home. Interested to see how this shakes out & can probably be counted on for some help along the way.
We need a viable Los Angeles hackerspace ASAP. Please let me know how I can help. -t