There was this door in the basement of Roots & Culture. A wide door at about three feet, made of steel with a really intense lock- a thick deadbolt with a keyhole. When I moved in, I never received a key for this door.
The basement houses several art studios that I rent to my friends and it also serves as a hangout spot of sorts. What lie behind the mysterious door had provided plenty of postulating amongst the gang. The basement sits directly over the Blue Line, so my personal theory was that the door could have been some sort of remote access point to the subway below. But why no signage or contact if the access belonged to the city? Personally, I had stopped wrapping my brain around the door some time ago. There was something about it that had a “Lost” quality to it- an ominous portal into a past world filled with esoteric secrets and perhaps a mystical energy vortex that had its own consciousness. Its like the door was willing me to forget about it.
Carmen has always been a more observant kind of guy than myself, and his studio has a clear view of the ominous doorway. I’m not sure how long he had been planning to bust through the door, but clearly he had intentions.
We were in the midst of an epic party weekend- there were spirited gatherings three nights in a row at the house. On night two at about 2 am Carmen led a group of partiers down to the door. Everyone was quite amped up about the prospective discovery. Evident by the bashed-at state of the hinges and handle it was clear that Carmen had already begun his hell-bent mission to break through to the other side. A final blow to the door handle granted us access.
First a waft of cool, stale air damp with mildew. And a light switch. It was a room- my subway theory was disproved. It was partially finished in the style of the rest of the basement with unpainted drywall and an elevated plywood floor. The wall between the room and the rest of the basement had been reinforced with cement. There were several wire racks and a desk in the room, on which we found two boxes. The first contained unopened shrink- wrapped packages of currency bands listing increments from $50 to $10,000. Clearly, some business had been intended for this vault. The second box contained an odder product, hundreds of packaged Saran brand “Quick Covers”, those plastic wrappers with an elastic band that are nearly indistinguishable from shower caps. We searched the drawers of the desk and found a binder containing lists of addresses with a letterhead implicating the business that had previously occupied the space, Sunrise Financial. In the bottom drawer we found, perhaps the most thrilling discovery- an unopened money counter.
The small crowd that had followed us down to open the vault was ecstatic with intrigue and theories about the purpose of the room were tossed about wildly. Embezzlement, money laundering, drug dealing, counterfeiting, we ran through all the possible sinister deeds. The possibility of finding further treasures was engrossing and I, as the proprietor of the space and therefore rightful beneficiary of any further discoveries, was first to take a hammer to the drywall. Trashing drywall is always a good time and we definitely had at it. But alas, no findings of a secret stash spot. This was to be our anti-climactic Geraldo Rivera’s “Al Capone’s Vaults” moment. Obviously there had been big plans for the room, but the fact that all the gear was still packaged and unopened pointed to the fact that whatever was intended didn’t quite get off the ground. In the end, we had some fun with the money counter and the whole experience definitely impressed our friends. Perhaps the biggest reward was new real estate in the basement, albeit now a heap of trashed drywall.
The room sat in disarray for three months. The now potential of the room and the nagging responsibility of fixing it up held my attention better than a mysterious door. There were suggestions to build out an extra bedroom. But the new room seemed somewhat toxic with years of mold accumulation. More storage- boring. “Dude- grow room” came up more than a few times, but there was too much at stake for me as a property owner and director of the nonprofit organization housed in the space to even consider cultivating weed down there. Maybe there was potential to stage some sort of legal horticultural project though. Mike Wolf, who is headquartered in the basement, started a project to compost our organic waste materials and he already had a grow lamp set up with some sprouting things of some sort, so expanding these operations seemed to be a logical step.
The entirety of the space- the gallery, apartment, and basement- completely lacks access to green areas, and factoring in the drab lifelessness of the Chicago winter, we are stuck inside. The grow room idea was tweaked into something productive- we could grow simple, fast growing things to eat like lettuces and herbs. Also mushrooms, which seem appropriate for the cavern-like space, growing quickly with little light. The introduction of oxygen producing plants would also improve environmental quality for both the festering vault room, and also the entirety of an area where we work and some of us live. The four of us share interests in meditation and spiritual cultivation, so we agreed that the space could also function as a sort of sanctuary. Ryan Fenchel, a resident studio dweller, who is somewhat of a master carpenter has designs for furniture which we will build for housing planters and for seating areas.
The Grow Room will function as an indoor garden, providing simple food and improved living conditions for the whole of the space, while providing a tranquil respite from the harshness of the urban lifestyle. The drywall has finally been repaired, floor plans have been drafted, and seeds have been planted.
The “Root Cellar” collective, as we basement dwellers have coined ourselves, is in the process of building out the space and tending to the seedlings. This project is meant to be shared- opening the door to those who seek a moment of contemplation and submersion into a biologically energized environment. We hope to open the project to the public in early March. Visitation is limited to one person at a time and participants will be asked to make reservations for half hour or hour time allotments. The schedule will be posted here closer to the opening of the project.
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