Description

I began photographing on Skid Row in Los Angeles in 1972 in an effort to understand why my alcoholic grandfather kept going there, and then again after returning from Boston in 1974. It was then that I had the opportunity to work on a documentary film that Charles Pavlich was making about two residents of the Chapman Hotel on the corner of 5th and Wall Street. One of them was Leonard Graham, a chain smoker and heavy drinker, who did great imitations of country music star Hank Williams. During filming, I met and photographed many of the other hotel residents, including Torchy and her neighbors. One was sad-eyed Mona, the hotel housekeeper. Another was Bastillo, who shared a room with his disabled wife and dog. Ray also shared a room with his dog. Skid Row was a magnet back then for alcoholics who live on Social Security in cheap hotels like the Chapman. By 1984 many of America’s poor were homeless and living on the street or in vacant lots, like Jesse was doing when I met him. Now in the 2020s, the center of Skid Row, at 5th & Wall Street, reflects an epidemic of homelessness like never seen before.

Sample Photos