Gutter punk

{{short description|Punk subculture}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2014}} thumb|A group of gutter punks in New Orleans, Louisiana, in December 2019 A '''gutter punk''' is a homeless or transient individual who displays a variety of specific lifestyle traits and characteristics that often, but not always, are associated with the punk subculture.<ref name="Goetz"/> Attributes may include unkempt dreadlocks, nose rings, Mohawk hairstyles, and tattooed faces.<ref name=LATimes/> Gutter punks are sometimes referred to as "crusties", "crust punks", "traveler kids", "traveling punks", "punk hobos”, or simply "travelers", among other terms. Some self-identified gutter punks may distinguish themselves from "crust punks" and "travellers", and vice versa; however, there is considerable overlap between the groups, and the terms are often used interchangeably.<ref name="NYDN"/><ref name="Bentley"/><ref name="cb3">{{cite news|last1=Anderson|first1=Lincoln|title=Travelers trash C.B. 3 member's 'crusty proposal'|url=http://thevillager.com/2013/04/04/travelers-trash-c-b-3-members-crusty-proposal/|accessdate=13 July 2017|work=The Villager Newspaper|date=April 4, 2013}}</ref><ref name="hauser2"/>

==Nomenclature== In addition to the term "gutter punk", members of the gutter punk subculture may also be described as "crusties", "crusty punks", "crust kids", “crusty kids”, or "crust punks".<ref name="Bentley"/><ref name="philweekly"/><ref name="leblanc"/><ref name="vicelamb">{{cite web|last1=Lamb|first1=Gordon|title=Welcome to Oogleville|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/welcome-to-oogleville/|website=Vice.com|access-date=13 July 2017}}</ref>

Other terms used to describe gutter punks include "travelers",<ref name="leblanc">{{cite book|last1=Leblanc|first1=Lauraine|title=Pretty in Punk: Girls' Gender Resistance in a Boys' Subculture|date=1999|publisher=Rutgers University Press|url=https://archive.org/details/prettyinpunkgirl0000lebl|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/prettyinpunkgirl0000lebl/page/61 61]|quote=gutter punk travelers.}}</ref><ref name="vicelamb"/><ref name="DNAC"/><ref name="minnesota"/> “anarcho-punks"<ref name="philweekly"/> (however, this term may also be used to describe any punk in general who identifies with anarchism, not just gutter punks, while some gutter punks may in fact not be ideologically or politically subscribed to anarchist philosophy); "traveling punks" or "traveler punks";<ref name="vicelamb"/><ref name="minnesota">{{cite journal|last1=Ross Heffernan|first1=Thomas|title=Documenting the Oral Narratives of Transient Punks|journal=Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato|date=2011|url=http://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1113&context=etds}}</ref><ref name="marlow">{{cite news|last1=Marlow|first1=Chad|title=A crusty proposal: Crack down on 'voluntary homeless'|url=http://thevillager.com/2013/03/28/a-crusty-proposal-crack-down-on-voluntary-homeless/|accessdate=13 July 2017|work=The Villager Newspaper|date=March 28, 2013}}</ref> "traveling kids", "traveler kids", or "travel kids";<ref name="Bentley"/><ref name="vicelamb"/><ref name="pacstand">{{cite news|last1=O'Hanlon|first1=Ryan|title=Homeless on Purpose|url=https://psmag.com/social-justice/crusties-gutter-punks-travelers-whatever-dont-call-homeless-89243|accessdate=13 July 2017|work=Pacific Standard Magazine|date=September 18, 2014}}</ref><ref name="houstonpress">{{cite news|last1=Sendejas |first1=Jesse Jr.|title=Top 10 Bands for Oogles, Gutterpunks and 'Travel Kids'|url=http://www.houstonpress.com/music/top-10-bands-for-oogles-gutterpunks-and-travel-kids-6775420|work=Houston Press|accessdate=13 July 2017}}</ref> "punk hobos", "hobo-punks" / "hobo punks", or simply "modern-day hobos";<ref name="philweekly">{{cite news|last1=Barned-Smith|first1=St. John|title=Crust Gets in Your Eyes|url=http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/news/crust-gets-in-your-eyes/article_9f3739da-8255-5499-977a-3d7ac55c3ee5.html|work=Philadelphia Weekly}}</ref><ref name="wallace"/> "transient punks",<ref name="minnesota"/> "punk nomads",<ref name="punknomads"/> "road kids",<ref name="DNAC"/> "gutter pirates",<ref name="wallace">{{cite news|last1=Wallace|first1=Daniel|title=Hobo punks said to have wandered from their roots|url=http://thevillager.com/villager_127/hobopunksaidtohave.html|accessdate=13 July 2017|work=The Villager Newspaper|date=October 5–11, 2005}}</ref> "street punks",<ref name="leblanc"/> "dirty kids",<ref name="pacstand"/><ref name="pennlive">{{cite news|last1=Luciew|first1=John|title=Central Pa.'s 'Dirty Kids'|url=http://www.pennlive.com/projects/2015/dirty-kids/|accessdate=13 July 2017|work=PennLive|date=September 29, 2015}}</ref><ref name="aljazeera">{{cite news|last1=Gaynor|first1=Tim|title=New-school riders follow in tracks of the American hobo|url=http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/8/24/new-school-ridersamericanhobo.html|accessdate=13 July 2017|issue=August 24, 2014|work=Al Jazeera America}}</ref> "train hoppers" or "railriders" (in reference to the common gutter punk practice of freighthopping);<ref name="hauser2">{{cite news|last1=Hauser|first1=Alisa|title=Please Don't Feed The Gutter Punks, Alderman Says As 'Travelers' Return|url=https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170713/wicker-park/chris-north-land-tavern-attack-fight-outside|accessdate=13 July 2017|work=DNA Info Chicago|date=May 17, 2016|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170713164809/https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170713/wicker-park/chris-north-land-tavern-attack-fight-outside|archivedate=July 13, 2017|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="philweekly"/><ref name="vicelamb"/><ref name="punknomads">{{cite web|last1=Hampton|first1=Justin|title=Punk Nomads|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/punk-nomads/|website=Vice|access-date=13 July 2017}}</ref><ref name="aljazeera"/> {{lang|fr|"punk à chiens"}} (in Francophone regions, {{literal translation|dog punk}}); {{lang|it|"punkabbestia"}} (in Italy, {{literal translation|beast punk}}); and "oogles".<ref name="Bentley"/><ref name="vicelamb"/> Certain terms used to describe the subculture may not be used by gutter punks themselves, or may in fact refer to related or similar but somewhat different subcultures. "Oogle", while sometimes used to describe gutter punks in general, is often used by gutter punks themselves to describe members of the subculture whom they perceive as "poseurs" or inauthentic.<ref name="Bentley"/><ref name="houstonpress"/>

"Scumfuck" or "scum fuck" may be used, especially among gutter punks, to refer to certain members of the gutter punk subculture who are perceived as selfish, apathetic, violent, aggressive, overly nihilistic, or overly hedonistic. Scumfucks are often labeled as heavy alcohol and drug users with overtly macho tendencies, and they are generally more apolitical than other members of the gutter punk subculture. The notorious punk musician GG Allin was known to use the term to describe himself.<ref name="philweekly"/><ref name="punknomads"/><ref name="ethics">{{cite book|last1=Avery-Natale|first1=Edward Anthony|title=Ethics, Politics, and Anarcho-Punk Identifications: Punk and Anarchy in Philadelphia|date=2016|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=9781498519991|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yrWRCwAAQBAJ&q=scum+fuck&pg=PA87|accessdate=13 July 2017}}</ref>

==Travel == Gutter punks are generally homeless and transient. Many travel by alternative means of transportation such as illegally riding freight trains ("freighthopping") or hitchhiking.<ref name="Goetz"/><ref name="DNAC"/> The number of gutter punks who travel to various U.S. cities is in the thousands, and they often congregate in major U.S. cities.<ref name="DNAC"/> Some may squat in abandoned buildings.<ref name="DNAC" />

==Lifestyle== Gutter punks are sometimes voluntarily unemployed and may acquire income by panhandling, sometimes holding signs (known as "flying a sign") requesting spare change (known as "spange", with the act called "spanging").<ref name="Bentley"/><ref name="DNAC"/> Some gutter punks are drug dealers or refer "custies" ('customers') in exchange for "finder's fee".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/meet-the-crusties-6422293|title=Meet the Crusties|last=Holthouse|first=David|date=1998-02-26|website=Phoenix New Times|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115154352/https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/meet-the-crusties-6422293|archive-date=November 15, 2019|access-date=2019-11-15|quote=Some of them also sell drugs, or connect customers—'custies'—with dope for a finder's fee. As a result, Mill Avenue is now a street where it's safe and easy to score anything you want, especially heroin, if you know the right crusty to make eye contact with.}}</ref> Some earn a meager but honest income as "buskers", playing acoustic instruments such as the guitar, banjo, mandolin and ukulele on the sidewalk for tips. Other gutter punks earn income as temporary or migrant workers.

==Cities of congregation== Cities where gutter punks may congregate in Canada and the United States include Halifax, Nova Scotia; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Denver, Colorado; Asheville, North Carolina; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Richmond, Virginia; Berkeley, California; the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco, and the Ocean Beach area of San Diego; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Surbiton, Greater London; New Orleans, Louisiana; Austin, Texas; Lubbock, Texas; Madison, Wisconsin; Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Chicago, Illinois; and the East Village, Manhattan and Williamsburg, Brooklyn in New York City.<ref name=LATimes/><ref name="NYDN"/><ref name="NYM"/><ref name="CSU"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=January 1997 0 |first=Dave Cook |date=1997-01-01 |title=Down on the Drag |url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/down-on-the-drag/ |access-date=2022-12-22 |website=Texas Monthly |language=en}}</ref>

== See also == {{Portal|Society}} {{div col|colwidth=30em}} * Anarcho-punk * Bohemianism * Crusties * Crust punk * Folk punk * Feral (subculture) * Hobo * List of subcultures * New Age travellers * Punk ideologies * Punk subculture * Squatting * Refusal of work * ''The Decline of Western Civilization Part III'' – a documentary film about young homeless punks of Los Angeles in the late 1990s {{div col end}}

==References== {{Reflist|refs=

<ref name="Goetz">{{cite news | url=http://archive.dailycal.org/article.php?id=4030 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141112093954/http://archive.dailycal.org/article.php?id=4030 | archive-date=12 November 2014 | title=Ex Gutter Punk' Tells All | newspaper=The Daily Californian | date=November 21, 2000 | author=Goetz, Peter }}</ref>

<ref name="Bentley">{{cite web | url=http://www.antigravitymagazine.com/2012/09/new-orleans-oogle/ | title=Everyone Hates the Oogles: Exploring the Animosity Towards New Orleans' Panhandling Punks | publisher=Antigravity | date=September 2012 | accessdate=May 5, 2014 | author=Bentley, Jules }}</ref>

<ref name="DNAC">{{cite web |url = http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130521/wicker-park/traveling-gutter-punk-homeless-back-city |title = Traveling 'Gutter Punk' Homeless Back in City |publisher = DNA Info Chicago |date = May 21, 2013 |accessdate = May 5, 2014 |author = Hauser, Alisa |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20140506092201/http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130521/wicker-park/traveling-gutter-punk-homeless-back-city |archivedate = May 6, 2014 |df = mdy-all }}</ref>

<ref name="NYM">{{cite magazine | url=http://nymag.com/guides/summer/2008/48006/ | title=Punk Like Them | magazine=New York | date=June 23, 2008 | accessdate=May 5, 2014 | author=Morris, Alex }}</ref>

<ref name=LATimes>{{cite news |last = Glionna |first = John M. |title = There's not a lot of love in the Haight |url = http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-trw-haight29may29,0,2245563,full.story |accessdate = April 15, 2012 |newspaper = Los Angeles Times |date = 29 May 2007 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20090623064413/http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-trw-haight29may29,0,2245563,full.story |archivedate = June 23, 2009 |df = mdy-all }}</ref>

<ref name="NYDN">{{cite news | url=http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/punks-invade-williamsburg-heroin-addicted-hobos-set-shop-trendy-brooklyn-neighborhood-article-1.429140 | title=Punks invade Williamsburg as heroin-addicted hobos set up shop in trendy Brooklyn neighborhood | newspaper=New York Daily News | date=July 14, 2009 | accessdate=May 5, 2014 |author1=Chapman, Ben |author2=Hays, Elizabeth }}</ref>

<ref name="CSU">[https://books.google.com/books?id=t6LPNwAACAAJ&q=%22Gutter+punk%22 "Are Gutter Punk Youth Satisfied with Homeless Services in Berkeley, California?"] California State University. 128 pages.</ref>

}}

==Further reading== * {{cite book |title=Drift: Illicit Mobility and Uncertain Knowledge |year=2018 |first=Jeff |last=Ferrell |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0520295551}} *[https://books.google.com/books?id=WbuCo7eqvE0C&pg=PA46 ''Tearing Down the Streets: Adventures in Urban Anarchy'']. pp. 46–47. * {{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/21/nyregion/making-it-work-runaway-girl.html?scp=5&sq=gutter%20punk&st=cse | title=Making it Work; Runaway Girl | newspaper=The New York Times | date=September 21, 1997 | accessdate=May 5, 2014 | author=LeDuff, Charlie}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gutter Punk}} Category:Refusal of work Category:Punk Category:Itinerant living Category:Youth culture Category:Counterculture