actually, the person who sent me the link used to do parties on the crescents -- that is, the "epping walk" parties circa 1990
he grew up in salford, but had uncles and cousins in hulme -- so by the time he was 15 or so, he spent most of his time in the crescents -- around 86/87 -- and for about 5 years he did nothing but hang out in the crescents, smoke spliff and listen to house music all day, and do the "epping walk" party every two weeks or so
the crescents oddly fulfilled what they were designed to encourage -- community among residents of the crescents -- in the 70s, the crescents were still new and so had working families -- but by 1980 or so, the conditions had become dilapidated, crime soared, and units had become increasingly unrentable -- and so this is how the squatters and the like moved in
that is, the crescents were populated in the 1980s by young working-class mancunians of irish and afro-carribean origin, people aged 15 and up mostly -- and then there was an influx of students and wanderers -- units were traded on the black market or were simply claimed as squats -- some units were delapidated, but others were miracles of interior design as done-over by young artists and the like
the elevated path ways connecting the crescents were over-run withs rats and other vermin, and so were known as "rat runs" -- and people were mugged and robbed left and right b/c police didn't patrol the walkways b/c not technically part of the public streets -- however, if people knew who you were, could tell that you were "cool" or whatever, then you could walk the pathways in relative safety
and most everybody lived as my friend did -- idle and unemployed -- some were artists, some were thugs, some did nothing at all, and all were into house music -- on one end of the crescents the happy mondays might be playing a small party, and at the same time at six or seven other points on the crescents there might also be parties -- it was one massive constant never-ending party -- hundreds of people with their own small soundsystems, drugs in plentiful supply, including e's high on the mdma quotient -- apartment units were transformed into makeshift clubs, walls knocked down, spiral staircases installed b/w different levels, groovy psychedelic murals -- acid house graffiti all along the walkways, etc, etc
the hippie-wanderers who squatted in the crescents were the original rave organizers in the countryside, for the simple reason that knew where all the best open fields were -- and the thugs were the ones who would control the security
but the real party was on the crescents, lasting for a good 5 years, 86/87 to 91/92
and there'll likely never be anything like it for a long-time to come, for at least two reasons
(1) areas close to city centers are now too highly prized by real estate developers and young professionals -- which means that students/wanderers/artists/drop-outs will lack critical mass
(2) the actual architecture of the crescents -- architectural design award winner when first built, then crime-and-rat-infested urban nightmare, then bizarre acid house utopian housing structure
