Not a nobody

Story and Photos by Giles Clasen

One look at Nailhead, and it is clear he has a story to tell.

Photo: Giles Clasen

His nose has a notch missing brought on by injury. “It’s interesting because no one ever asked me about it before,” Nailhead said.

He speculated that no one asks because the wound makes him look intimidating.

The injury was retribution for a disagreement he had with a group of homeless individuals he’d encountered. The group had set up camp in a park and put up a chain as a barrier to keep others out. Nudged by his friend, Nailhead approached the group and told them to remove the chain for safety reasons. According to Nailhead, he delivered the message in a way that violated a community code and was punished for it.

“I got hit with a skateboard, something we call ‘truck fucked,’” he said. “When you get hit with a skateboard, both the wheels land in your eyes, and the truck busts your nose up. It’s a pretty substantial blow. It is to serve somebody a punishment in my culture.”

The homeless community lives by a certain code that has to be learned, Nailhead said. Violating the code and the community’s trust can lead to violence as retribution.

“The hit sheared off seven teeth and fractured my sinus cavity,” Nailhead said. “The most painful part was shearing my teeth off because the roots stay in your gum.”

He now keeps mostly to himself while moving in and out of different communities living on the streets. According to Nailhead, he is known as someone you don’t mess with, but also someone who can be trusted to share what he has.

Nailhead maintains a small camp in an alley where he has lived for nearly four years. Occasionally, he is forced to move by the police, but he always returns after a few days.

The camp consists of a heavy wool blanket draped over a small gap in the foundation and fencing of an apartment building. Inside the lean-to, the floor is covered with more blankets, a few supplies, and a sleeping bag.

“I think my camp isn’t as threatening and is better to my [housed] neighbors because I don’t have a tent,” Nailhead said. “There are no stakes in the ground. The stakes mean a lot. If you drive a stake into the ground it is symbolically like you’re putting down roots, something permanent.”

Nailhead keeps the alley clean and picks up any nails or glass to protect tires. He believes this simple act helps him maintain a good relationship with his housed neighbors.

“The best relationship is when they don’t think about me until they take the trash out and see me. And they don’t think about me again until they take the trash out again.” Nailhead said.

Nailhead considers weather to be the greatest threat to him. The recent cold has been difficult for him to navigate.

“The only way to legit stay alive out here is to burn a fire,” Nailhead said.

Not just any fire will do, though. As Nailhead explained, it has to be a slow-burning fire that creates a lot of heat and little smoke. He has developed his own way of creating fuel for his fires. Dry cardboard is Nailhead’s fuel of choice. He tears it into strips and then soaks each strip in a mixture of wax and Sterno fuel. If he can’t get Sterno heaters, he relies on lighter fluid. Nailhead always keeps his fires inside some type of fireproof container and off the street.

When it becomes dangerously cold, Nailhead goes to the Aurora Day Resource Center. He travels from downtown Denver to Aurora because he feels the ADRC treats people kindly.

“[The ADRC] is there only to provide you with a place to be warm and alive. They’re not trying to push anything on you,” Nailhead said.

Nailhead first became homeless after leaving his life on the East Coast, where he had developed a drug and alcohol addiction. He said if he didn’t leave his old life, he would die of alcohol poisoning or a cocaine overdose. He figured if he gave up his job as an electrician he wouldn’t be able to afford the drugs and alcohol that threatened his life. He wasn’t sure why he chose Denver, but he believes his poverty and homelessness saved his life.

So far, his strategy is working. He drinks very little today, compared to when he was a working electrician, and he no longer uses hard drugs like crack cocaine. He mostly uses alcohol or drugs to endure the hardships of living on the street, but he no longer feels he needs drugs or alcohol in the same way.

Getting off the streets hasn’t been easy. Nailhead isn’t sure if he is ready to start trying to get an apartment or other more permanent housing. He knows eventually, the time will come when his body can’t endure the changing weather and other threats.

Nailhead has been arrested a handful of times for being in various parks after hours and for sitting or lying down in the public right of way near the 16th Street Mall. These arrests may make it harder for him to find housing when he is ready. He knows people may not understand why he continues to live on the street, and he said it is hard to explain.

“I’m a nobody,” Nailhead said. “But out here I’m kind of not a nobody. I am kind of respected. You can’t find that everywhere.”