Houseless

Like most large cities in this declining country of ours, Los Angeles has its share of homeless people. I saw them in Santa Monica when I first moved here. Stacks of tattered clothes and worried expressions juxtaposed against a backdrop of sail boats, palm trees, and volley ball games. I saw them when I worked at Second City on Hollywood Blvd. where the devastation was sharper; angry, dirty faces, shoeless cracked feet walking filthy star covered sidewalks; aggressive desperation, addiction ravaged arms and eyes. I've seen them in Downtown LA while walking from the parking structure to the LA Stage Alliance offices. The population downtown is bit heartier than the ones in Hollywood and Santa Monica. They seem smarter, more self-possessed and crafty. They each have an angle. Vets, musicians, people with signs to explain their personal plight or condition - one girl with a purple wig and scars across her face sat in front of a Coffee Bean with a pet rabbit asking for money to feed it.

I am asked for money nearly everyday. I give when I have it and have easy access to it, which isn't often. There are three or four of them I've become familiar with. A bald lady with no teeth who seems to have a different outfit on every time I see her - a homeless fashion plate with a perpetually stained face. A bearded man with wild blue eyes who sits with his back against a chain link fence and yells wordlessly into the street right before or right after someone passes him. If you dare glance at him as you pass, you'll see what looks like a terrified, hungry, tired bear. Walter, a sweet black man missing a eye and a lot of meat on his bones who is never aggressive and always says "God Bless, you" whether you give him money or not. On colder days nearly all the grates that bring warm air up from the Metro are occupied by lumpy sleeping bags and blankets layered on top of dozing homeless.

Its unwaveringly sad to see so much evidence of the failings of our society - almost unbearable at times. There is a local actor who has started a theatre company for homeless people in Downtown. He's gotten a lot of attention for the homeless population. The shows are reviewed in the LA Times even.

It's far from an answer for how to deal with extreme poverty in urban centers, but casts a bit of hope into dizzyingly dark aspect of city life.