Lepakko or Lepakkoluola was a

self-managed social centre A self-managed social center, also known as an autonomous social center, is a self-organized community center in which Anti-authoritarianism, anti-authoritarians put on voluntary activities. These autonomous spaces, often in multi-purpose venue ...

and a music venue in

Ruoholahti Ruoholahti (; ; both meaning "Grass Bay") is a quarter in Helsinki, part of the Länsisatama Subdivisions of Helsinki#Neighbourhoods, neighbourhood and Kampinmalmi Subdivisions of Helsinki#Districts, district. It is located in the southwestern ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, Finland, functioning from 1979 to 1999.

History

The building was a paint company warehouse located at Porkkalankatu 1 in the

district of

, which had been built in 1940. It then became derelict and the

City Council of Helsinki The City Council of Helsinki ( , ) is the main decision-making organ in the local politics of Helsinki, Finland. The City Council deals with issues such as city planning, schools, health care, and public transport. The 85-seat Council's members ...

opened a hostel for alcoholics on 5 December 1967, in response to public outcry when several homeless alcoholics had frozen to death in the cold of winter. It hosted up to one thousand people and was called Liekkihotelli, or the Flame Hotel.

Occupation

Lepakko ( Finnish for bat) was

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...

in 1979 and used as a music venue, also providing practice rooms for bands, theatre rehearsal space and a dance school. In addition, a motorcycle gang had a workshop. It took its name from the logo of the paint company which still was stencilled on the walls; it had been a butterfly, but the young people saw it more as a bat. It was the first public squat in Finland and its lifetime was extended by negotiating with the city council. It was then leased for a small fee by the Elmu association. The centre became a thriving

during the 1980s and 1990s.

Legacy

Lepakko was evicted and demolished in 1999. It had been a foundational venue for Finnish punk music and hosted Radio City, a commercial radio station.

History

Occupation

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading