Right Room

I moved into the community house in East L.A. for the month of May. I'm staying in Dave's room, who is away. Dave's room used to be my room. Before me, it was Gustavo's room. Before Gustavo, it was Manuel's room. 


The only significant change to my old room is the addition of a Bob Marley flag next to a painting of Jesus Christ and Dan Berrigan, which, of course, I believe to be an excellent addition to the wall.

My old bedroom is in the back house, which is a five-bedroom house behind the gingerbread Victorian where most people live, including LACW community members as well as formerly homeless guests. There’s also a two-bedroom apartment above the garage that is used to temporarily put up homeless families and overflow guests, which I have been on occasion.

The apartment’s shower is the best of any on the property, but this opinion is not universally shared.

“The house,” as the Victorian is called, was built in 1889 by a political and business bigwig of Boyle Heights, and it sits on one of the highest hilltops in L.A.

From the third floor balcony, majestic sunsets over downtown L.A. close the day. From the side porch are sweeping views of the snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains in the winter. From my bedroom window in the back house, I wake up to the sun rising over East L.A.

Not a bad set up for a bunch of poor people. The land and houses were bought and donated by a former community member with a knack for making money. That’s how this place functions: People donate, money or time. When the squeaky old blue hippie van finally died, a couple members of what’s called the extended community bought another van. The spiffy new van does not have nearly the amount of left-of-center bumper stickers that the old van boasted, but it’s on its way.

I hope I’m on my way to interviewing Officer Jack Richter about the Catholic Workers’ breakfast line as well as the larger issue of shutting down giveaways in Skid Row. I spoke with him briefly on the phone earlier this week and he expressed doubt that I could be fair presenting the city’s side. I told him I could. Hopefully we can get together soon.

It’s nourishing to be discussing and writing about a relevant issue like how best to deal with poorest people in a place like Los Angeles’ Skid Row, which has been called America’s Jerusalem.

It’s also fun to be doing my first immersion journalism project on the fly like this, writing for writers I respect.

And it’s nice living in this community again.




This is Part 5 of the city's effort to criminalize feeding the homeless in Skid Row. Here's Part 6.