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Ask HN: Advice for Starting a Hacker Space?

35 points pkdpic | 2 comments | 06 Jul 25 00:53 UTC | HN request time: 0.632s | source

Was very inspired by a hacker space on a trip to Seattle. In Sacramento CA where we used to have an amazing enormous space "Hacker Lab". We still have one but it's more crafts oriented which is fine but trying to think about a more computer-oriented one for kids specifically. Thinking about overhauling our garage to be a space for my kid's / kid's friend's little nascent computer club and feeling it out from there. Just wondering if people have any wisdom / advice.
1. robotguy ◴[07 Jul 25 17:55 UTC] No.44492959[source]▶
I'm from Sac also. In ~2012 (just a bit before Hacker Lab) I remember some of the people from Parallax Inc in Rocklin getting together to start a hacker space (Dweeb Den[1]). I went to 4 or 5 meetings with attendance of around 20-40 people and I was really impressed with the community-oriented spirit that was forming. We had plans to get a booth at the state fair, distribute puzzles and cards[2] to attract attention, and were working on getting a 501c3. Just about that time, we heard about Hacker Lab getting started, and it was better funded and further along, so we pivoted to supporting Hacker Lab. It turns out Hacker Lab was SIGNIFICANTLY more entrepreneur-focused (which is fine, just not what I was looking for). I ended up disappointed that Dweeb Den got dropped and we lost that nerd/maker/artist community feel. I'd love to see something like that come back around. Unfortunately, my Charisma score is low enough that I'd have to be behind-the-scenes assistance in starting anything of the sort.

[1]Dweeb Den entry on Hackerspaces.org: https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/DweebDen

[2]Here's a png of the card I found: https://imgur.com/a/dweeb-den-card-S027r5I

replies(1): >>44495103 #
2. pkdpic ◴[07 Jul 25 22:02 UTC] No.44495103[source]▶
Oh man I'm swamped till the end of September but we should grab coffee somehow if ur still in Sac... Although it's possible we've already crossed paths.