Treasure Hive in Taipei

A few of my October Taipei pictures were taken at Treasure Hill, which began as a squatter village in the 1950s and over the years has become a strange hybrid of poor elderly-community and artists' commune. (It is threatened with demolition about once a month, but is still kicking at the moment.) We were there for the bluegrass-heavy Daniel Pearl Day of Music organized by my friend Sean (who also runs the Urban Nomad Film Festival, more on that later), and we ran into Patrick's friend Mina, an artist who was in the midst of renovating an old, decrepid structure into a cafe. (That's P squatting on the then-dangerously-rickety second-floor in the above photo.)

"Patrick, you have discovered my secret!" she shouted, laughing, when we stumbled across the space-- apparently she had been keeping it under wraps for some time. But it's a secret no longer--today I got a message from Pat that Mina's "Treasure Hive" is open for business, and even has a blog. A Taipei Times article provides more information, and makes me want to check out the Hive as soon as possible...