From what I can tell, this guy Ion organized it, built the interior structure and charged rent to to finance his crappy art and lifestyle. I think he envisioned himself as a cult leader, but did not have much of a following.
He is a real POS.
There was an art commune/cult in my college town and they had a venue.
They were a pain to deal with, they wanted their crappy band to open and they ripped bands off.
We never played there.
OK, so he kind of “commune-ified” it.
And he did what, when it burned down he just blasted them?
Apparently Ion is holed up in the downtown Oakland Marriott hotel. Guess he didn’t lose everything,