I'm in a game on Roll20, and someone came up with the idea of having a "hub area" in Redmond to set of shop and interact with NPCs.

To help flesh this out, does anyone have any ideas for Barrens locations and the people who inhabit them?

So far, I've got these:

The Noodle Bar: Little more than a kitchen with a counter to eat at and (stolen) picnic tables off to the side, with a cheap overhang made with sheet metal. This place is maintained by an elderly Ork who is half Chinese, a quarter Vietnamese and a quarter Japanese and named Chin. Chin makes noodles. These range from Asian staples like Pho or Ramen to more conventional fare like spaghetti or Mac and Cheese. The Noodle Bar is one of Redmond's finer establishments, in the sense the food isn't full of toxins and the pisswater on tap won't blind you, and a few dishes would even be considered acceptable in nicer districts. Chin speaks Mandarin primarily, though he is conversant in English, Or'zet and Spanish. Chin accepts two currencies: nuyen and favors. As a result, he has some street muscle on call for security. Overall, think of the noodle place Deckard goes to in Blade Runner.

The Rat Meet: While flea markets went out of style for the richer (read: not Barrens dwelling) segments of society, they're a Redmond staple. Meeting weekly on Tuesdays, the Rat Meet is a collection of card tables strewn with merchandise from old articles of clothing to discarded vintage electronics (that work about 10% of the time) to cut rate street drugs to homemade baubles to used firearms. Security is provided by a small time fixer named G-Rex, in exchange for a flat fee of 15¥ per table, or 30¥ for tables that sell guns or drugs.

Raul's: Just another bodega in the barrens, Raul's sells a little bit of everything, including a few less-than-legal items the owner, Raul, keeps in the back. Security is a cheap shotgun by the register. Rumor has it there's a safehouse hidden under the store, but given the existence of said rumor if there was a safehouse, it's likely been moved.

A couple that I have used in one way or another

Cecilia’s Shrine. Cecilia is an elderly human, on-and-off BTL addict, former wage-slave, and local priestess. Priestess of what is not always entirely clear, her ‘shrine’ (set up where a bushes have colonized a burnt and collapsed building) seems mostly based on Shinto, but at times touches on shamanism, druidism, and other nature oriented cults. Although Cecilia may not be all there, most people -- even many hardened gangers -- find her open spirituality sincere and moving. As a result her shrine, and an area of about half a block around it, are mostly a truce zone in the back and forth gang fights for territory. Perhaps this is in part because the shrine does not have the usual negative background count that most of the sprawl has, so it is a popular spot the few petty magic talents that live this deep in the sprawl.

Beyond offering blessings and rambling guidance on how to live one’s life, Cecilia usually is happy to instruct children. Exactly what she teaches them can change by the day – or by what she’s chip she has been running lately – but typically includes some mix of reading, writing, spoken Japanese, respect for nature, genetics, etiquette, the works of Lewis Carol and the Bronte sisters, dance, and arithmetic. It is nobody’s definition of a well-structured or complete education, but it is still the best that is available to many sprawl kids, and various benefactors occasionally provide small gifts (some pencils and paper, a tarp to provide a dry spot for classes, some food so that students and teacher aren’t distracted by hunger), or help with teaching.

The Rack. Located in what was once a large fashion outlet store (the original sign is still outside, with ‘Off’ covered up with peeling duct tape), it essentially provides torture as public entertainment. Patrons pay a small fee to get in (nuyen always accepted, food or goods usually accepted), which allows them to roam around and see who is suffering how. Tortures vary between outright medieval (there is usually someone cooped up in the spike lined cage near the entry) to more modern (Saturday nights generally include use of a shock wand on someone tied under a cold shower), to the very latest such as pain BTLs or well restrained ghouls being starved to madness and nearly to death.

The Rack is run by ‘The Baron’ (he originally tried using the handle The Baron of Blood, but only the first two words stuck), who is every bit as unbalanced as you might expect. He’ll pay for victims when necessary, but he also gets hired to work over people who betrayed their gang leaders, ex-spouses, runners who fell on the wrong side of a Johnson, and the like.

Needless to say the background count in The Rack is elevated compared to even the usual miserableness of the barrens.

i've had an idea for a poke on the old "hole in the wall" shadowrunner bar.
Called it "Hole in the Ground" and made it a one room bar with an oval shape.
No dark corners for you to emo lurk in. no all shuffeling for seats with their back to the wall.
In the center of the room is a big circular hole. You can't actually see through it, some heavy illusion magic is covering it.
You order your food/drink at the bar or from a waiter and the order gets levitated up from below through the hole in the floor.
And if you made a fuss about stuff, a puntgun would be levitated up and aimed into your general direction.
(For those not that much into firearms, a Puntgun is an Assault Cannon sized Shotgun. They were used decades ago to shoot down entire flock of waterfowl)