Urban Survival 101: Pimp My Hand Truck

As a "housing impaired" filmmaker and street vendor of my DVDs, I needed a way to keep my electronics with me at all times and I also needed an extremely portable display that I could disappear with as quickly as possible. After considering the nylon "tool bucket" multi-pocket liners and the bigger setups on wheeled garbage cans by janitors, I decided to rig up a hand truck to be as useful as possible not only as a conveyance, but also a rolling toolbelt and kiosk.

http:///www.freewebs.com/transitionsvideo
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/news/street_flix/Content?oid=399030
http://www.myspace.com/johnnyallenshaw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73VKI2zn70s
http://ourmedia.org/user/128078
http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c193/johnnyallenshaw/
http://indieflix.com/FilmDetail.aspx?tid=12847&name=Another%20Big%20Fat%20Homeless%20Berkeley%20Movie
http://indieflix.com/FilmDetail.aspx?tid=7831&name=My%20Big%20Fat%20Homeless%20Berkeley%20Movie
http://www.roguecinema.com/article-931--0-0.html
http://www.moviepatron.com/moviereviews/m/mbfhbm.html
http://www.amazon.com/Big-Fat-Homeless-Berkeley-Movie/dp/B001201S76/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1213021490&sr=8-7
http://www.amazon.com/Another-Big-Homeless-Berkeley-Movie/dp/B0012JHWTK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&

Comments

[onemoroni1]

Some living is all about "do what you gotta do" and don't worry about all the rest to get to the next step. One man's pimped hand truck of achievement is another man's passing curiosity. Just a couple of quick thoughts that come to mind. Thanks for sharing your life.

[joel383]

Wow, i just read the write-up on http://www.eastbayexpress.com/news/street_flix/Content?oid=399030. Thats some powerful stuff... but I think there comes a point where you have to separate what you view as the wrongs or "truths" of society and your actions, ie: living indoors etc.

[johnnyallenshaw]

Thanks for your comment. You're right, things change and only time can reveal that. It's been almost 4 years since my East Bay Express cover story and it had exactly the effect I wanted --- credibilty. Now I'm a partner in a gem shop, off the streets and "normal". I have Instructables in the can, too, but I'm going to rock the place even harder than last time along with the release of "Last of the Big Fat Homeless Berkeley Movies" with a cameo by Tommy Lee from Motley Crue.

[Patrik]

That is one impressive hand cart! I'd love to see some more pictures...

[dentsinger]

I've lived in storage units and whatnot before and it ain't fun. I've often thought about the homeless problem, especially every time I see someone pushing a grocery cart piled with their life in it. Shelter and mobility come to mind first, so I've considered different designs of some kind of covered trike with storage of belongings, and possibly magnetic induction to recharge a small power source. Several other ideas went into the mix, but yeah...cool hand truck!