The more time I spend with the people of the area the more questions I ask myself

I have spent the last two days and one night downtown other than coming back to NoHo for a few hours to do a little work in the shop over at 65 Amps.

Some prefer the street to other options. Photo by Myles S. Rose

I have spent time on the street and have spent time in two of the main missions; the Los Angeles Mission and the Union Rescue Mission.  These two places are a half a block from each other.   I have been spending most of my time with those that remain on the streets rather than use the facilities of the missions.  Many feel the rules in the missions are too restrictive.  Many feel the missions are violent and dangerous.  I have been asking a lot of questions to try to learn more in the terms of restrictions and violence.

I can understand one aspect of "the rules".  Many people in this area partake in alcohol.  Many also partake in the use of crack.  Yes, there are rules; no crack use or alcohol comsumption in the missions or shelter areas.  So at this time I have learned that there are rules that some people may not be able to go along with easily.  The violence?  I am still trying to figure that out.  There is a lot of violence on the streets.  Just stand by the garage exit on the San Julian Street side of the Central Police Station and count the cars that turn on their siren upon hitting the street before they even hit then end of the block.  The streets are a dangerous place and I feel that they are more dangerous than inside of the mission or shelter areas.  This is based on my own very limited experience.

Above is Andy Bales the head fellow at the Union Rescue Mission.  This video was done in 2009 and gives a good picture of the current situation.  This video was supplied to me by the URM.

Above - a police car just turned up 6th street but within moments made a U-turn and deployed its siren.  Photo by Myles S. Rose

Police driving by Union Rescue Mission.  A car drives by this mission every few minutes. 

Photo by Myles S. Rose

Photo by Myles S. Rose

One question that keeps drilling itself into my brain is; do I spend my efforts working with one of the large organizations such as one of the missions which do help many people or do I try to work more on my own and do what I am able directly for a few individuals?  I have not answered that question at this time.  I have made friends and there are now people that seem to be happy to see me.  I have fed people and bought folks coffee.  I have developed relationships with vendors at the Central Market for things like bananas, rasins, nuts and oatmeal.  I have learned of a Chinese restaurant that closes at 6pm that has fed a small group of my new friends with food that would have been tossed out in the evening. 

The views in the evening are spectacular.  In the late afternoon Skid Row lies in the shadows of some of the most wealthy corporations in the world.  The contrast is something that is hard to comprehend.  Los Angeles is no different than many other cities in this aspect but Los Angeles does have the highest population of homeless people in the United States.  Over 85,000 people which is more than the population of Santa Barbara.

Photo by Myles S. Rose

There are new buildings, old buildings, buildings with no hope with their life lost and buildings that have been given a new lease on life.  The contrasts numb one's mind.

Vietnam era vets continue to be the highest percentage of homeless.  The sick and mentally ill are a part of the population as well.  The current economic conditions have brought many new homeless residents into the area, people who only weeks before were living in a home which used to be their own.  Once a job is lost and unemployment cannot cover their house mortgage they may end up on the street if they have no other option such as family or friends to offer help.  The look of failure on a parents face is hard to forget.  The look is that of fear as well as failure.  Their children have had their stable world pulled out from under their feet.

Photos by Myles S. Rose

The video directly above is the Los Angeles Mission area

The video above is San Julian Street. The police in the area call this the most dangerous street in all of Los Angeles. On this street you see the Union Rescue Mission. These two missions are less than a few moments walk from each other. The Midnight Mission is another block away and there are smaller missions in the general area as well.

Video segment 1,2,3 by Myles S. Rose.  Video below on Hope Garden by Union Rescue Mission.

Hope Gardens from Union Rescue Mission on Vimeo.

The redline station exit on the 4th street side at Pershing Square

Video from this evening of downtown Los Angeles

Homelessness in Los Angeles County

According to the Institute for the Study of Homelessness and Poverty at the Weingart Center, an estimated 254,000 men, women and children experience homelessness in Los Angeles County during some part of the year and approximately 82,000 people are homeless on any given night. Unaccompanied youth, especially in the Hollywood area, are estimated to make up from 4,800 to 10,000 of these.

Although homeless people may be found throughout the county, the largest percentages are in South Los Angeles and Metro Los Angeles. Most are from the Los Angeles area and stay in or near the communities from which they came. About 14 to 18 percent of homeless adults in Los Angeles County are not U.S. citizens compared with 29% of adults overall. A high percentage - as high as 20 percent - are veterans. African Americans make up approximately half of the Los Angeles County homeless population - disproportionately high compared to the percentage of African Americans in the county overall (about 9 percent).

Other Facts About the Homeless Population in Los Angeles:

The average age is 40 - women tend to be younger.

33% to 50% are female. Men make up about 75% of the single population.

About 42% to 77% do not receive public benefits to which they are entitled.

20% to 43% are in families, typically headed by a single mother.

An estimated 20% are physically disabled.

41% of adults were employed within last year.
(This may indicate that many people are newer to the ranks of the homeless as many had lost their jobs in the last year)
About 25% are mentally ill.

As children, 27% lived in foster care or group homes; 25% were physically or sexually abused

33%-66% of single individuals have substance abuse issues.

48% graduated from high school; 32% had a bachelor degree or higher (as compared to 45% and 25% for the population overall respectively).

This video was done over two years ago

This video was done in September 2007. This was prior to the major part of the downturn in the economy. As bad as things were back in 2007 they have become much worse now at the end of 2009.

America's Forgotten

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Originally uploaded by myles111us

These folks do what they can but the job they face gets more difficult every day.

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Originally uploaded by myles111us

This video was taken on December 9th 2009. The quality is very poor as it was taken via my cellphone. I use the video capability of the phone mostly for audio aspects. A cellphone is a bit less intrusive than a camera which is larger and more obvious. I found this humerous as did the local residents who were kept away from their hotels while shooting was in progress.

My first blog entry on the homeless and economy in Los Angeles

I have been taking photographs since I was just a child.  I felt I needed to try to understand what was going on there or perhaps I felt that was going on there should not be forgotten. Maybe I am feeling the same about what is going on with people who have lost everything and invisible to most of the world.

Only a few blocks from the heart of Skid Row there are luxury lofts for sale with hardcore sales people who are busy doing their best to sell these places in the current economy. I don’t know how many of them are worried,  if they cannot sell these condos and lofts which is their current job they may be the future residents of this part of the city without a home.

Los Angeles is no different from countless cities in the country when it comes to the current economy and how this impacts people.  Los Angeles does have something of a unique place as the city with the highest number of homeless residents of any city in the USA. 

The Vietnam era vet is still in the group that holds the highest percentage of homeless but the percentage is dropping as people from all walks of life enter the ranks of the homeless.

I started spending time in the Skid Row of Los Angeles in December of 2009. I do not know where I will go with all this. I have always had a desire to try to discover why things happen, trying to find the hidden story, standing up for the rights of others (tossed out of military school for that one and there are a number of other examples), and trying to help some of the people that were in the same place at the same time in the sixties in a land far far away.

Monday night is not the same for a lot of folks. My question here was, how many of these people have no home to go home to?




I have some photos on flickr as well as some videos.  The photos and videos on December 9th were taken via cell phone (and not a good one at that). The videos are somewhat useless so I tend to use them more for the audio aspect of the video. There were some shots that just killed me because I did not have one of my better cameras but in this area you don't want to carry an expensive camera that will draw attention.

A few of the dark night videos were taken the night before on 12/8. I was using the video function on my cell phone to record audio as facebook does not support mobile / remote uploads of audio files. The order of these photos and videos is somewhat random but I did try to group the night videos from 12/8 and put them ahead of the 12/9 material.

One interesting part of the day was a large film crew which shut down access to some of the SRO Hotels. We learned they were filming a Stay-Free Maxi Pad commercial in the heart of skid row on the street where the police station has an entrance. Of all the places they could have chosen to film? The residents told the film crew that this was skid row and the film crew said nobody would know that in the competed commercial. Something of a disagreement started and I was able to video/audio the last part but missed the more heated action. I suggested to the film crew that they change the script ... have a stabbing where somebody runs into the police station and asks a female officer for a maxi-pad to subdue the bleeding while waiting for paramedics to arrive. Both sides ... film crew and local residents found my commentary humorous.  There is also a poor quality video taken with my cell phone which is posted in another blog entry on this blog site.