Underground Culture

Some are raging, and some are thought-provoking. There are quotations in Spanish and Latin alongside poems by Lewis Carroll. Striking hand-drawn caricatures and original poetry exist beside mantras like, "Long Live Napster!" and "It is better to die standing than to live on your knees."

Only one thing connects the many inscriptions -- their diversity.

Such is the paradox of the Street Scene Teen Center -- these writings reveal the secret behind its longevity in serving the teens of Chapel Hill.

Robert Humphreys, president of Street Scene's board of directors, said there's no such thing as an average teenager. "Teens are just as diverse as the adult world. We so often generalize and try to lump them all together."

Perhaps the only link that unites all teens is their need for a place of their own.

"I grew up here (in Chapel Hill)," said Street Scene staff member Bobby Drakeford. "I needed a place to come when I was a kid."

In the last 15 years, the Street Scene Teen Center has filled that need for teenagers aged 12 to 18. It is a haven for the young people of Chapel Hill, a population often neglected and even forgotten in a town that revolves around its lauded university.

A number of teen centers have had homes in downtown Chapel Hill since the 1950s, according to Humphreys. While growing up in Chapel Hill, he frequented such a place located under present-day Bruegger's Bagels.

But none of those centers displayed any staying power until the Street Scene Teen Center entered the picture.

In the early 1980s, a group of downtown business owners decided that something needed to be done about the number of teenagers hanging out and loitering on Franklin Street.

"Rather than call the cops on them every time, we tried to identify a space they could call their own in Chapel Hill," Humphreys said. "Lots in the community said, 'It will never work.' But here we are, 17 years later."

After two years of fund raising and renovation, the center opened in March 1985. The center has seen 7,500 teens each year since then.

The walls that encompass Street Scene beneath the post office reflect many years of wear, tear and constant activity. Many are covered with art, including those of the graffiti room, where kids can write or draw whatever is on their mind. The only thing that isn't allowed, staff members stress, is profanity.

"They know we'll just paint right over that," Humphreys said.

Teens come to the center for reasons ranging from playing pool and video games to performing impromptu jam sessions with friends in a sound-proofed music room.

The appeal for most teens, however, is getting to hang out with their friends in a laid-back, accepting atmosphere.

"All my friends come here," said Rae Strother, 15, who recently moved to North Carolina from New York. "Mostly, (the people at Street Scene) are really friendly and really fun."

"I just come down here to hang out with the staff. It's good to know people actually care," said Matt Cialdini, 17. "And none of the staff here can beat me at chess."

In its nearly two decades of existence, Street Scene has had to improve itself frequently to maintain its appeal with a teen population in constant flux. New additions to the center are frequent, most recently including a computer lab with a DSL connection and a scanner.

Street Scene soon hopes to use the lab, provided by the Chapel Hill Service League, to offer online public school courses for those teens in pursuit of a high school diploma. The new lab also assists the expansion of Street Scene's art and music programs through online workshops, evidence that the center keeps in tune with the times.

"We've never tried to appeal to a particular group of kids," Humphreys said. "We try to keep the place from becoming so cliquish. If we fall out of favor with one group, we try to keep mixing it up."

One look at the teens who come to Street Scene testifies to the lack of cliques or stereotypes. Here, classifications like black, white, Latino, punk and alternative are inconsequential. In fact, the word most frequently used to describe Street Scene is "family."

Jammie Taylor, director of Street Scene's after-school program, thought about how she could describe the kids with whom she works each day. She finally settled on three words -- "affectionate, underestimated and intelligent."

Many of the teens at Street Scene share a common bond by struggling against stereotypes conceived by the community regarding their looks and actions.

"We're not all druggies," said Leslie Derian, 16, over a game of pool. "We're not all stupid."

"I'm a darn genius, as a matter of fact," interrupted Carlton Darkleton, 16.

When Street Scene first opened in 1985, the staff focused on its weekend program, which sponsors such activities as performances by local teen bands and DJs, movies, service projects and other activities determined by its Teen Board.

The popularity of Street Scene's weekend concerts gave rise to myths about past performers who have since made it big.

Rumors that Alanis Morissette and the Dave Matthews Band played on the center's stage in their formative years might be tall tales, but the underlying notion remains -- tomorrow's music stars might be playing at Street Scene this weekend.

After almost a decade of offering only weekend programs, the center expanded in 1994 when the Chapel Hill Department of Parks and Recreation teamed with Street Scene to create an after-school program. Open Monday through Friday, this program provides a place for teens to go during the late afternoon and early evening.

But Humphreys stresses that the after-school program isn't a day care for teens with nowhere else to go -- teens can come and go as they please.

"We're not a baby-sitting service -- we're not a space that keeps (teens) under lock and key," Humphreys said. "If parents don't think they can trust their child, they probably ought to not let him come down."

Street Scene is a low-budget operation that depends heavily on grants, individual donations and its popular annual poster sale for fund raising. Since it opened, the center has prospered thanks to generous contributions of time and money from the community and the town of Chapel Hill.

But most people familiar with Street Scene testify that, ultimately, its largest asset is the teens that go there. They have proved themselves to be as thought-provoking, challenging and diverse as the graffiti they leave behind on the walls.

"We're the most un-politically correct bunch of hooligans you'll ever meet," said Jason French, 18.

At Street Scene, they wouldn't have it any other way.

The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.