Skid Row, Los Angeles
San Julian Street south of 5th, part of the Skid Row area
San Julian Street south of 5th, part of the Skid Row area
Skid Row, Los Angeles is located in Downtown Los Angeles Skid Row, Los Angeles
Location within Downtown Los Angeles
Coordinates: 34.044232°N 118.243886°W
Country United States
State California
County County of Los Angeles
City Los Angeles
Government
• City Council Jose Huizar
• State Assembly John Pérez (D)
• State Senate Gilbert Cedillo (D)
• U.S. House Jimmy Gomez (D)
Area
• Total 1.12 km2 (0.431 sq mi)
Population (2000)
• Total 17,740
• Density 1,587/km2 (4,111/sq mi)
ZIP Code 90013
Area code(s) 213
Skid Row is an area of Downtown Los Angeles. As of the 2000 census, the population of the district was 17,740.[citation needed] Skid Row was defined in a decision in Jones v. City of Los Angeles as the area east of Main Street, south of Third Street, west of Alameda Street, and north of Seventh Street.[1] Skid Row contains one of the largest stable populations (between 5,000 and 8,000) of homeless people in the United States.
Etymology
The term "skid row" or "skid road", referring to an area of a city where people live who are "on the skids", derives from a logging term. Loggers would transport their logs to a nearby river by sliding them down roads made from greased skids. Loggers who had accompanied the load to the bottom of the road would wait there for transportation back up the hill to the logging camp. By extension, the term began to be used for places where people with no money and nothing to do gathered, becoming the generic term for a depressed street in a city
970s through present
In the 1970s, two Catholic Workers, Catherine Morris, a former nun, and her husband Jeff Dietrich founded the "Hippie Kitchen" in the back of a van. Forty years later, in April 2014, aged 80 and 68, they remained active in their work feeding Skid Row residents.[10]
1987 crackdowns
In February 1987, LAPD chief Daryl Gates, backed by then-mayor Tom Bradley, announced plans for another crackdown on the homeless on Skid Row.[11] Police and firefighters conducted a number of sweeps through the area but the plan was abandoned due to opposition by advocates for the homeless.[11]
When Gates announced in May that the crackdown would resume, Los Angeles City Attorney James K. Hahn responded that he would not prosecute people arrested in the planned sweeps.[12] Hahn stated that he was "not going to prosecute individuals for not having a place to stay. I simply will not prosecute people for being poor, underprivileged and unable to find a place to sleep until I'm convinced that a viable alternative to sleeping on the streets exists."[12] Gates, still backed by Bradley, responded: "As the elected city attorney of Los Angeles, Mr. Hahn has a responsibility to file prosecutable cases which are presented to him by the Los Angeles Police Department."[11]
A few days later, then-Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky introduced a proposal that the city stop enforcing its anti-camping laws on Skid Row until adequate housing could be found for all its residents.[13] The council rejected Yaroslavsky's proposal, but after hearing testimony from Assistant Police Chief David Dotson describing the LAPD's intended crackdown methodology, the council passed a motion asking Gates not to enforce the anti-camping laws until adequate housing could be found for the area's residents.[13]
Patient dumping
In September 2005, hospitals and law enforcement agencies were discovered to be "dumping" homeless people on Skid Row. Then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ordered an investigation and William Bratton, LAPD chief at the time, claimed that the department was not targeting homeless people specifically, but only people who violate city ordinances.[14] The Los Angeles City Attorney investigated more than 50 of about 150 reported cases of dumping.[15] By early 2007, the city attorney had filed charges against only one hospital, Kaiser Permanente. Because there were no laws specifically covering the hospital's actions, it was charged, in an untested strategy, with false imprisonment. In response to the lack of legal recourse available to fight patient dumping, California state senator Gil Cedillo sponsored legislation against it in February 2007.[16]
2006 lawsuit
In 2002, newly appointed LAPD chief William Bratton announced a plan to clean up Skid Row by, among other things, aggressively enforcing an old anti-camping ordinance.[17] Robert Lee Purrie, for instance, was cited twice for violating the ordinance in December 2002 and January 2003 and his possessions: "blankets, clothes, cooking utensils, a hygiene kit," and so on, were confiscated by the police.[17]
The Midnight Mission on Skid Row
In April 2006, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of the ACLU in its suit against the city of Los Angeles, filed on behalf of Purrie and five other homeless people, finding that the city was in violation of the 8th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and sections of the California Constitution guaranteeing due process and equal protection and prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment.[17] The court stated that "the LAPD cannot arrest people for sitting, lying, or sleeping on public sidewalks in Skid Row." The court said that the anti-camping ordinance is "one of the most restrictive municipal laws regulating public spaces in the United States."[17]
The ACLU sought a compromise in which the LAPD would be barred from arresting homeless people or confiscating their possession on Skid Row between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. The compromise plan, which was accepted by the city of Los Angeles, permits sleeping on the sidewalk except "within 10 feet of any business or residential entrance" and only between these hours.[18]
Downtown development business interests and the Central City East Association (CCEA) came out against the compromise. On September 20, 2006, Los Angeles City Council voted to reject the compromise.[19] On October 3, 2006, police arrested Skid Row's transients for sleeping on the streets for the first time in months.[20] On October 10, 2006, under pressure from the ACLU, the city tacitly agreed to the compromise by declining to appeal the court's decision.[18]
Demographics
As of the census[21] of 2000, there were 17,740 people and 2,410 households residing in the neighborhood. The population density was 4,111/mi². The 2017 racial makeup of the neighborhood was 12% White, 62% African American, 1% Native American, 1% Asian, 21% Hispanic or Latino, 0.3% Native Hawaiian / Other Pacific Islander, and 2% from other races. [22] [23][not in citation given]
In the neighborhood the population was spread out with 9.8% under the age of 18, 54.7% from 18 to 34, 39.9% from 35 to 64, and 4.6% who were 65 years of age or older.[24][not in citation given]
The per capita income for the neighborhood was $14,210. About 41.8% of the population were below the poverty line.[25][not in citation given]
Government and infrastructure
The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) serves the neighborhood with Station No. 3 in the Business District and Station No. 9 in Skid Row. Station No. 9 operates one engine, one truck, two ALS rescue ambulances, and one BLS rescue ambulance. It currently is the busiest firehouse in Los Angeles.[26] Fire engines and ambulances serving the neighborhood have historically had "Skid Row" emblazoned on their sides.[27] On June 1, 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported that fire officials planned to change the legend on the vehicles to read "Central City East". Many residents supported the change, but it was opposed by firefighters and some residents who take pride in the sense that they live in a tough area.[27]
The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services operates the Central Health Center in Downtown Los Angeles, serving Skid Row.[28]
Services for homeless people in Los Angeles are centralized in Skid Row.[29] Examples include the Volunteers of America, the Union Rescue Mission, The Jonah Project, Downtown Mental Health (a branch of the Department of Mental Health), LAMP, Downtown Women's Center, The Weingart Foundation, Los Angeles Mission, Fred Jordan Mission, The Society of St. Vincent de Paul's Cardinal Manning Center,[30] and Midnight Mission. In 2007, Union Rescue Mission opened Hope Gardens, a facility outside of Skid Row which is exclusively for women and children.[31]
Landmarks
The Skid Row City Limits Mural
Cathedral of Saint Vibiana[32]
Star Apartments, a residential housing complex opened in October 2012, built specifically for the needs of the homeless.[33]
Indian Alley is the unofficial name given to a stretch of alley, in reference to the significance the area held for indigent American Indians from the 1970s to the 1990s.[34] Indian Alley comprises a block of Werdin Place, running south from Winston Street to East 5th Street. It is bounded to the west by Main Street and to the east by Los Angeles Street.[34]
The Skid Row City Limits Mural is an 18-by-50-foot mural displayed at San Julian Street. It features a map demarcating Skid Row's officially recognized boundaries alongside an official-looking sign, replete with city seal, reading "Skid Row City Limit, Population: Too Many." This is the initial installation of a mural project that will eventually cover the whole wall on the San Julian block north of 6th Street. Installed in compliance with the city's mural ordinance, the project was organized by Skid Row activist General Jeff Page with local street art crew Winston Death Squad, and carried out with the labor of Skid Row citizens. Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar's office has hailed the mural, saying, "It's community pride on the one hand, it's cleverly done and it creates conversation and debate, which often great public art does." [35][36]
In popular culture
A man sleeps in a shopping cart on Skid Row, 2012.
The site has appeared as a location in several movies, including The Sting, and television shows such as Starsky & Hutch, Baretta, and Quincy ME.[37][38][39][40] The 1960 comedy horror film The Little Shop of Horrors. However, the location of the 1982 musical (and its 1986 film adaptation) was moved to New York City, though still contains a song called Skid Row.
Skid Row was also used as a location for filming the music video for the Michael Jackson song "Beat It".[41]
The heavy metal band Skid Row was named after this area.
American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey mentions the area in her 2012 song Cola, in the lyric "I wear my diamonds on Skid Row."
Electronic artist James Ferraro's album Skid Row is conceptualized around the area.
Notable residents
Johnnie Ray – singer, songwriter, and pianist[42]
Danny Harris – Olympic hurdler and silver medalist.[43]
George Takei and family – Japanese-American actor, director, author, and activist.[44]
Transportation
The community is served primarily by 10 Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus lines:[45]