Then again, dirty hippies leave behind a “foul smell” pretty much everywhere they go.

SANTA CRUZ — The 20 or 30 people who had been occupying a former bank building at 75 River St. fled the building Saturday night.

Santa Cruz police spokesman Zach Friend said the building was empty when police arrived at 9:30 p.m.

“It looks like they have left the building,” Friend said.

Friend said Chief Kevin Vogel and Deputy Chief Steve Clark as well as other officers are inspecting the building and securing it for the property owner.

The departure came hours before police planned to remove the occupiers from the building they took over Wednesday night.

Saturday afternoon the occupiers told police they would leave the building by 3 p.m. Sunday, a time line police said was not acceptable.

Saturday night, Clark said “We had a serious plan” to go inside and remove what police believed were about 30 people inside.

“They were going to be out of there by 3 p.m. (Sunday) one way or the other,” Clark said.

Clark and Vogel said there is substantial damage inside the building as well as a foul smell, though they are unsure what that is. Power was cut to the building Friday about 6 p.m. Police plan to go back into the building on Sunday to determine the full extent of damage.