I’ve been bootstrapping a hackerspace in the U-District since mid 2023, and we're in full swing now! I'll recount the story of how we got here, both pre-inauguration and the process of getting the space running for public & semi-public use. I'll also talk about hacker culture within Seattle, in places I’ve lived in the past (my first hackerspace was HacDC), throughout the world, and how that reflects on to how we're managing the space and where we want to go.