Expedition to the fallen outpost “Shizor.”

Last year an urban camper dude and a dog lived in the shaded grove on the island pictured here in the background. He decorated the area with painted rocks (polkadots and solids), a riverside potted plant with rug, “found sculptures” (brightly colored plastic frogs, etc) in the flowing water, two deck chairs in the middle of the river beneath the bamboo-like canes from which were strung counterfeit dollar bills, and flew a pirate’s flag from his semi-fortress. He was forcibly evicted last November in a woefully misguided multi-agency City operation. Still, remnants of the beauty he’d brought to the River remain…

(photos Jay Babcock, 28 April 02007)