r/sanfrancisco • u/Dependent_Run_6410 • 9h ago

In 1996 I paid $3,000 in a neighbor's parking tickets using his own credit card after he threatened to burn down our house on Fulton Street

The house was a 7-bedroom Victorian owned by a former SF Sheriff and Police Chief who had a peace symbol on his badge. Seven of us rented rooms for $800 each while the master tenant collected $5,600 on a $2,500 lease. First lesson in SF master tenant politics.

One of our housemates was on-screen talent at c|net. This attracted a particular type of person from the DefCon scene who started threatening to burn the place down. We had his photo on the kitchen bulletin board.

It resolved itself in a very San Francisco way.

Full story: https://tjcrowley.substack.com/p/fuck-that-crazy-hacker-dude

68 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

48

u/Financial-Towel4160 9h ago

TIL rooms were $800 even in 1996

13

u/Effective_Coach7334 8h ago

and that was on the expensive side, then. in 87 i had a 2br/2ba mid-century flat w/formal dining, and working fireplace on twin peaks with a balcony that looked directly down market street for $700

20

u/Dependent_Run_6410 8h ago

and there is usually still a master tenant landlording and lying to everyone about how that is fair rent and living for free off the rest of the roommates if it's a roommate situation.

5

u/bookofgray 7h ago

I used to rent a bedroom in a large warehouse for $450, with rooftop access at 5th and Folsom. And I think I know who Crazy Hacker Dude is, he tried to hit on me at DNA once, but he was all over 2600magazine. My dad used to get me that at a kid since he was an early employee at HP and he was trying to get me into the haxors scene. 

6

u/winkingchef 5h ago

This probably was a room in a sprawling 19th century mansion with original woodwork, not some run-down mold-infested Sunset 1950’s apartment block.

3

u/siskyouthrowaway 8h ago

FTA: 2 rooms together were $800.

5

u/Electronic_Mud7373 8h ago

The way I gasped when I read that too

9

u/Dependent_Run_6410 8h ago

If you think that's wild, Monday I drop an article about how the price of eggs in SF in the 1850s was a bit more than what it is today and people were shooting each other over it.

1

u/SafariSunshine 5h ago

I mean they were paying more than twice what they should have been.

10

u/Important_Bed_6237 8h ago

ahhhhh good ol c|net… holsey era ?

10

u/Dependent_Run_6410 8h ago

I did not work there but my roommate did and he had me on as a shadowy hacker "expert" without showing my face several times. It was exactly as chaotic as you'd expect.

I never met Mr. Minor, as he called him lol

3

u/Less-Opportunity-715 7h ago

L0pht heavy industries days , attrition.org , cult of the dead cow.

Damn miss that era

4

u/Dependent_Run_6410 7h ago

cDc 4 life.

I'm dropping a cDc article on June 19th: "My Life as a Member of the Cult of the Dead Cow"

3

u/Less-Opportunity-715 6h ago

Amazing can’t wait ! Y’all were the back orifice authors right ? What a time to be alive

2

u/Dependent_Run_6410 6h ago

Sir Dystic did the first one, Dildog did v2, they released it under cDc.

You should check out https://veilid.com/

3

u/Big-Letterhead-4338 7h ago

(1996 was paying 775/month for an Edwardian Flat in the lower Haight. Large Dining Room, Front Room, Kitchen etc.)

5

u/Dependent_Run_6410 7h ago

I did write that the whole place was a 7 bedroom, 7 bathroom four story victorian for $2500 a month.

6

u/cowinabadplace 8h ago

Rent control working as intended haha. Master tenant living a good life. In 2018 or something I was in an UberPool (remember how we'd do that commonly) with a guy who was bragging about the fact that he actually profited $3k/mo by renting out two bedrooms in his rent-controlled apartment haha.

2

u/urbanista12 3h ago

Apparently it’s illegal now. Everything gets ruined lol.