08:06:08 PM 10/16/07

Room #12

Saturday night: Zona Norte: Coahuilla Alley

I headed on out on another mission down to Tijuana for the day with plans to hit the Zona Norte later that night. Afterall it was a Saturday ... and I knew there'd be some action as I'd be heading right into the thick of it ...

After a day of shooting in the city and the tourist zone ... night fell, I had dinner and then went to this one particular part of "The Alley" where I had met many of my contacts before. This particular area has a hotel located just above the alley on the second floor of this one building. From here ... there is a VERY good view of all the action. As a matter of fact ... since this night ... I have seen other movies find this same spot and get the same shot I did ...

Anyway ... I went to this particular hotel and as fate would have it ... I got lucky as usual and got the best room in the whole place ... ROOM #12!! Now again ... cameras are seriously frowned upon in the Zona Norte so if you're going to bring a camera to Mexico ... DO NOT USE IT IN THE ZONA NORTE OR YOU WILL HAVE SERIOUS TROUBLE! (just read on) ...

Now ... in Room #12, it's a good place to hang out with a safe view of the action and chill. How did I find Room #12? Well ... I did my homework ... and it's not too hard to figure out ... It's a pretty small area. My intent on this particular night was only to get some artsy empty hotel room shots ... But the view out the window was just too tempting. I mean I was seeing major fist fights, cops tackling guys and all ... Total Zoo on this night! The Zona Norte was "En Fuego!" ...

Again, I was only going for distance shots ... prominent landmarks etc ... and after shooting the interior of the hotel room and a couple of geographical exterior shots ... I decided to walk out onto the balcony and take a look down the alley from above. I cannot begin to tell you how surreal it feels to walk out onto this particular balcony. You're so exposed wide out in the open that you almost feel like you're walking "the plank." ... In reality however you're more like a sitting duck! And evidently that's exactly what I ended up becoming ...

I was standing on the balcony with my camera down at my side just checking out all the action from a safe distance. I was way out on the "plank" but how often does anybody ever really look up?? I mean there was plenty going on to keep everyone distracted below, and I could tell at the time that indeed, nobody was looking up! I was in a similar location to where I had shot an interview with another street hustler months previously only on a different second floor balcony down the same street. (This particular shot you can actually see in the final video). So anyway ... ASKING FOR IT AGAIN ... I impulsively held up my camera real quickly and thought I'd just get another OVERALL alley shot for the heck of it. Why not? I mean I was there ... didn't want to have to ever come back to Room 12 again really ... and it was cool before with the street hustler I interviewed so I figured I'd just take a quick shot and have another angle on the alley in case I ever needed it ...

For the millionth time ... cameras really are FORBIDDEN in the Zona Norte. So there I was standing on the "plank" taking a quick shot ... and someone from the street below must have looked up and gone to the police! It wasn't but a few minutes and I was back inside the room ... and about 2 minutes later I hear a loud knock at the door and a bunch a men outside the room. There was no peep hole on the door of course but before I could say "Quien busques" "Who are you looking for?" ... I hear the Mexican authorities saying "Abri la puerta!" which translated means "Open the door!" ... At this point ... I knew exactly what was up ...

I quickly collected my things and opened the door. And as soon as I turned the handle ... BAM! ... 8 Mexican police officers came storming into the room ... some with assault rifles. Scared as I was, I just relaxed and cooperated. What else are you going to do?? And I was the only one in the room ... and I had no weapons or drugs. Besides ... I think they were expecting to find a lot more than just one guy with nothing on him but a couple cheap cameras ...

So anyway ... upon searching me, the room and everything ... they didn't put me in cuffs ... but a couple officers did nicely grab me by my shoulders and arms and escorted me out of the hotel and right out into the middle of The Alley which was quite a show to say the least! As a matter of fact ... I think I ended up being the "star of the show" that night. Anyway ... with all eight officers surrounding me ... they marched me right down the middle of street and into the Zona Norte police substation located at the very north end of The Alley ...

Once inside the police substation I preyed they were going to go easy on me and not lock me up ... But no such luck this time. They confiscated everything I had, walked me down this little hallway to where there were a couple 5x5 cells with like 6 guys already in the cell they were putting me in! ... And at this point I was s***ing more like 2 cows! The guys inside the cell as you can imagine did not look too inviting ... There were a couple other guys just passed out on the floor, and I had no idea how I was going to fit inside this cell let alone stand it for more than 5 minutes ... This was my first time behind bars ever! ...

They opened the door to the cell ... I stepped inside ... and they locked me up sober as a judge! There was of course nowhere to sit ... barely any room to move, it was hot, it stunk like you can only imagine ... and there was nothing but a drain in the center of the floor of the cell! First thought ... I hope I don't have to go to the bathroom. Second thought ... I hope NONE of the guys in here have to go to the bathroom! Third thought ... how long can I stand here and stay awake? I knew I was in for a long night ...

Inside the cell was again very surreal ... I was tripping and definitely anxious! Some of the guys in there I knew could just "crack" at any moment ... and I stood out like a sore thumb! But boy did I sure wish I had my camera now! The activity inside the police substation on this particular Saturday night was something straight out of a Hollywood movie. You just couldn't write a better script! I mean they were busy! The cops were literally dragging these degenerate street thugs and drunkards one after the other all bloodied and kicking and screaming into the holding tank. Fortunately for me, it was a great "show" and helped to keep my mind off of the fact that I was locked up behind bars in Mexico ...

About an hour or so passed (one of the longest of my life) and finally one of the cops came back to visit me. He asked me a couple simple questions and said he'd be back. I realized that they were all probably in the other room looking at my cameras and discussing what they were going to do with me. And the waiting was getting agonizing at this point and I was just preying I would somehow be back in the United States tonight ... But I had my doubts ...

Another hour or so later and the same cop came back and said the Chief there wanted to talk to me ... Can somebody say Kaopektate please?? Never-the-less, I was extremely relieved to get the hell out of that cell ... and I followed the cop into an office where the Chief was sitting at his desk with my backpack and all my stuff spread out all over his desk ... The scene reminded me of one of my favorite movies Midnight Express ... and my mind was just racing again. But I quickly realized that nothing like THAT was going to happen ... But still ... I knew I was in "DEEP TROUBLE!" ...

He looked at me and asked me who I was and what I was doing there. I told him that I was a tourist and was there for the day taking some shots of the city. He picked up my camera and began to rewind the tape. I preyed again that he would rewind far enough just to see all the city stuff I had shot earlier ... and not see the Zona Norte stuff on there even though I had not really shot anything major ...

Unfortunately, no luck this time. He stopped the camera rather quickly and that was it ... He saw everything! I cannot begin to tell you how uncomfortable it felt to sit there while the Chief and a couple other cops were reviewing my tape and mumbling to each other. I made sure my shorts were still dry as he began to explain to me that they DO NOT permit cameras in the Zona Norte for many reasons ... one of which is that they don't like to have themselves filmed! Which is perfectly understandable. I pushed my luck a bit at this point and asked why they don't post signs on the street anywhere that say "No Cameras" or anything and if it was ok to have my tape back but to no avail ... He confiscated all my tapes.  Were my cameras next?? I was glad I only brought cheap ones because I pretty much figured they had the right to take them ...

Fortunately however, once again my prayers were answered ... He let me keep my cameras and told me I was free to go! Whew! I was so relieved and couldn't believe I was actually going home again! I was however very upset with myself for how STOOPID I was for walking "the plank" and doing this to myself! I had just spent an entire day filming throughout the city ... I hadn't planned on taking this Alley shot nor did I need it ... and it was seriously one of the better days I had shooting down there where I was really "on" ... and I lost priceless footage!

What a total waste it felt like after approximately a 15 hour day of shooting, and all that I went through. But then again I was very lucky ... I had all my equipment and all my possessions ... and not a scratch on me! And HOME sounded really good ...

Room #12 ... I'll never forget it...