On July 24th there was an open house held at 65 Amps. It was a pretty big hit with the over 60 folks who attended. Many folks asked if an open house could be put on once a month. This is already in the works.
Man does not live by music alone. The group that attended the 65 Amps open house are a diverse group. Many of us share other interests. That got me thinking.
Continuing with the concept of a hot summer in more ways than just temperature I started thinking of putting a slant on things from the viewpoint that you can teach dogs new tricks, even old dogs like me. How about getting groups of folks together for other things during the summer? Sure, we will do the 65 Amps open house thing again ... more than once, but maybe we can do a bit more? 65 Amps open house started the ball rolling so I thought it would be a cool concept to continue - offer the chance to experience new things this summer to other folks.
Experience life. This would be exposing yourself to something that is not a part of most folks everyday life if you have a roof over your head.
Some of you have expressed an interest in coming along with me on my rounds on skid row in the evenings. Some of you have already come along and said was nothing like what you expected. This outing will be held during the day which will give you an experience that will be more comfortable for most folks than a late evening experience. (Side note - there is always an outstanding offer for folks to come along on my night rounds).
This event will be held on August 21 2010 at 10:00am
We will meet in North Hollywood at the Metro Red Line Station at 10:00am. Parking is free. An all day pass is $6.00 but you can also opt to spend $1.50 per one way ticket. We would all ride together in the same way I travel more than half of the nights every week. For many of you this would be a new experience in itself ... public transportation.
North Hollywood
Lankershim Bl/Chandler Bl, North Hollywood 91601
Free On-site Parking – 803 Spaces
We would get off at the Pershing Square Metro station. We would all walk down 5th street, my general route. I would act as your guide. I was a tour guide at one point in Amsterdam in 1970 and in 1966 I was a guide of another kind... but I digress. I know the area we would walk pretty well and there are some great buildings to see and some interesting history.
Pershing Square view of the Biltmore Hotel, U.S. Bank Building and Gas Company Building
We would walk down 5th street into the heart of Skid Row. For his 1980 album Heartattack and Vine, Tom Waits wrote 'On The Nickel' about a section of Fifth street, which in his own words "all the winos affectionately refer to as The Nickel."
Depending on how folks felt, once we got to Wall Street we would have one of two options once we saw the Los Angeles Mission. We could walk down Wall Street and see some of the SRO Hotels that line one side of the street across from the Central Police Station garage. Continue on Wall to 6th Street and then walk down 6th past San Julian Street, past The Midnight Mission and then turn on San Pedro Street to arrive at Union Rescue Mission. Second option would be to walk past the Los Angeles Mission on 5th and then walk down San Julian Street to the back side of Union Rescue Mission. San Julian Street is described as the most dangerous and violent street in the United States by many sources including the LAPD Central Division folks. If you saw the movie "The Soloist", much of it was filmed on this street and the LAMP center is also on this street. We would walk 5th to San Julian, San Julian to 6th, 6th to San Pedro and then go into the front entrance of Union Rescue Mission.
A 2010 documentary titled Lost Angels, by director Thomas Napper, highlights the stories and struggles of individuals on Skid Row. Napper was inspired to bring awareness of mental illness and homelessness on Skid Row the after working on The Soloist. Many of the movie scenes were filmed in the location shown in the above photo.
Above - a row of SRO hotels on Wall Street. These buildings are not what many would expect. They are well maintained and well run places. There are other hotels in various areas that would be a good reason to prefer to sleep on the street in some cases. The group of SRO hotels on Wall Street between 5th and 6th are an exception.
Union Rescue Mission will have a staff member to take us on a tour of the facility at Noon to continue the experience of the day. Hopefully we can tour bottom to top of the facility. The view from the roof is spectacular if you look outward. Do not look downward. Actually, if you want the total experience, look outward at the millions and millions of dollars that make up the skyline only blocks away. So close that we would have walked from there. Then look down and see ground zero.
After our URM tour is over we would walk along San Pedro Street to Little Tokyo and eat at some great spot. From there we would board the gold line for a one stop ride to Union Station, board the red line and head back to North Hollywood.
I can almost guarantee it will be a day you will not forget. I can also guarantee that everybody will learn things they did know before, regardless of their age. I am also somewhat sure that your emotions will get a bit of a workout that they do not get everyday that will run from shock to sadness to compassion to anger to concern for others to concern for yourself to ..... and you will get some nice exercise.
Taste great food - Grand Central Market or back on the red line to Union Station to the gold line to East Los Angeles for King Taco? Or hang in Downtown and hit Phillipe's. Or, if folks want to do something else there are a lot of great places. I know killer Chinese, Vietnamese, Italian.
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