The Los Angeles Homeless Containment Thread (San Diego, San Fernando: flooding, ranch, rust)

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by expatCA

Nope as I have known some. However eventually they fall apart, if they keep it up.

You are absolutely right about that. I was married to such a person. A functional alcoholic until he wasn't. And the disease took his life at the young age of 61. You can't keep up that sort of lifestyle and expect to live long.

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

"As a physician practicing on L.A.’s skid row, I’ve seen a lot of deaths among homeless people, but this one broke my heart."

My patient was homeless. I knew she was going to die, but my hands were tied:
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-e...505-story.html

Good story CA4Now. Sad but very very good.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

"As a physician practicing on L.A.’s skid row, I’ve seen a lot of deaths among homeless people, but this one broke my heart."

My patient was homeless. I knew she was going to die, but my hands were tied:
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-e...505-story.html

It is sad, but because of such laws and a few judges who have decided they are free to do what they want, no one can really help them.

[Thx-1138]

Originally Posted by HereOnMars

Well, thank you for the kind words. I agree with you that there are a number of members here who offer wonderful solutions and insight into the problems that plague society today. Sometimes you have to wade through a lot of muck to find those little nuggets of wisdom but they are here.

Much of what you describe exists. I know of many businesses in the Sacramento region that have resources for those getting back on their feet. They offer clothing, grooming (both women and men), help with resumes, even some job leads from employers. All free of charge.

Shortly after the recession started and the homeless numbers rose, several businesses began offering free help. Stories began to pop up on the local news and with them, a surge in donations of gently worn clothing for those lucky enough to get an interview for a job. Monetary donations to other businesses, as well. For instance, salons offering hair styling, make-up and the like for both women and men; shaves, haircuts, facials, Etc. Over many months, a good number of those who were displaced found work and eventually a place to live.

As far as I know, these still exist although they don't garner nearly the level of exposure as they did in 2008 but they're still out there.

Your video clip of that classic movies was enjoyable. I remember seeing that movie on the TCM many years ago. That jacket sure did make the rounds.

I'm glad you saw that link, I was trying to get a bit of James Gleason in there and his downtown mission.


I can't decide if Laughton's piece there is my favorite from the movie (or perhaps of all time) or Edward G. Robinson's piece that follows, among his most powerful work.


(I also liked Eddie Anderson's character: "Here's two dollars for the shoes and a dollar for the socks..." )

And yes indeed, I have experienced many different types of homeless "missions," some rather strict and formal, others more "private" you might say, some group or church sets up their own, and some of those can be the best.


I'll never forget one in Nashville, I was taking a "hobo holiday" with my 12-string guitar, playing and singing classic rock and pop on the streets there, and one day a bunch of folks came along and scooped up myself and a friend in a fancy bus and took us to a fantastic feed put on by a bunch of teenage kids.


People generally don't like missions for various reasons, the most common thing you hear concerning them: "Yeah, I tried the mission for one night and said to heck with that..."


Oh, I just love classic movies, HereOnMars, I have built a 4000 disc archive and have read more than 125 Hollywood bios, in fact, that was my favorite topic for reading when I was camping out homeless...


I wanted two things, to become more familiar with 20th century literature (Steinbeck is my favorite) and also to get more schooled on classic Hollywood.


Thx

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by Thx-1138

Oh, I just love classic movies, HereOnMars, I have built a 4000 disc archive and have read more than 125 Hollywood bios, in fact, that was my favorite topic for reading when I was camping out homeless...

I wanted two things, to become more familiar with 20th century literature (Steinbeck is my favorite) and also to get more schooled on classic Hollywood.

Thx

Interesting. A few years ago, during one of my group's meal deliveries, I spoke with a homeless man who was holding a copy of The Grapes Of Wrath in his hand. It was pretty beat up and dirty on the outside but looked like it was a very prized possession as he did not set it down for a moment. A very poignant novel for someone in his situation to be reading.

As an people watcher, I've come to the realization that not all who are homeless are drug-induced zombies. Some quite intelligent, in fact. Many just hoping for a way out. And for those who are, it will come when they continue to persevere, as you did.

Interested in classic Hollywood? Here's an something you might find interesting. https://www.learner.org/resources/series67.html# I've gone off topic a bit but with as many posts as this thread has, I'm sure the moderators won't mind too much.

[Thx-1138]

Originally Posted by HereOnMars

Interesting. A few years ago, during one of my group's meal deliveries, I spoke with a homeless man who was holding a copy of The Grapes Of Wrath in his hand. It was pretty beat up and dirty on the outside but looked like it was a very prized possession as he did not set it down for a moment. A very poignant novel for someone in his situation to be reading.

As an people watcher, I've come to the realization that not all who are homeless are drug-induced zombies. Some quite intelligent, in fact. Many just hoping for a way out. And for those who are, it will come when they continue to persevere, as you did.

Interested in classic Hollywood? Here's an something you might find interesting. https://www.learner.org/resources/series67.html# I've gone off topic a bit but with as many posts as this thread has, I'm sure the moderators won't mind too much.

I started really concentrating on classic movies back in the Bob Dorian days of AMC, then, after they went "commercial" I moved to TCM, until they went commercial and started playing movies like "Pretty In Pink" etc as their definition of "classic" is skewed out to "whatever."


That's one of the things I missed so much being outside: my classic movies, they didn't really have "devices" like they do nowadays.


Two things that can help the individual homeless a lot these days: mobile devices for those long nights in a tent, (I read by candle light) and also Google Earth, so one can "pre-scout" a town and see if it is suitable.


Some towns aren't good enough for the homeless.


I have been studying the talkies for decades now, but for the last five years or so I have been trying to become more proficient with the Silent Era, check out this series of docs, one of the last that could be made with people who were actually there!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS37kyfnGy4


(I have seen it so many times I even get a little choked up when the beginning theme music plays, it is like an old friend!)


I have that series, also TCM's "Moguls and Movie Stars" series, I have both of those and much more on disc.


The first Hollywood bio I read was "The Ragman's Son" by Kirk Douglas, and so many of the great stars struggled as a "starving artist," I got great inspiration as a homeless person reading some of these Horatio Alger stories. (I like the "transitions," the rags to riches and fame, then often the decline into relative or real poverty and obscurity, that can be very interesting too.)


One of my favorite stories is of the silent star, Louise Brooks...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLjovB5b374





"Who is that girl with the black helmet haircut?"


There is a story about how she was a chorus girl back in the 20s, and asked her current "boyfriend" for a mink coat... they were going out to the Stork Club or something.


So he brings her a halter-length coat, not a full mink.


They get to the club and the first thing she does is take the coat and twirl it over her head and says "Anyone who wants this can have it!" and throws it out on the dance floor.





The same woman, after being blacklisted lived about as close to squalor as a person would want to veer, oh, there are great lessons for the Homeless in the Hollywood story, the two go hand in hand.


So yes, it has been a lifelong love affair with classic film.


Thx

[Mike Town]

Most not all but most homeless are homeless because of drugs and alcohol abuse, Kind of hard to feel sorry for them.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by Mike Town

Most not all but most homeless are homeless because of drugs and alcohol abuse, Kind of hard to feel sorry for them.

Originally Posted by Mike Town

Most not all but most homeless are homeless because of drugs and alcohol abuse, Kind of hard to feel sorry for them.

You’re repeating yourself, Mike. Two identical posts two days apart. Neither of them true.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by Finper

The economy is not "whack" it's California that's whack. Why don't those people in cars and rvs go to Kansas or Tucson where the rent is 600.00 a month? People that lack the brain power to get out of that situation and improve their lives get no chilli from me.

It will impact the rest of the US unless rent increases slow down and wages go up, it hit Nevada around 3 years ago, homelessness in Arizona increased by 10% last year, Texas has over 25,000 homeless including nearly 2,000 homeless families. My sister in law lives in rural Missouri, her husband is a minister and they have two families living in RV's in their church parking lot. She said she's never seen anything like it, in the winter homeless people are sneaking into sheds and barns to get out of the cold

Your animosity toward the homeless does nothing to fix the problem. If for the sake of argument we assume that every homeless person is on the street through some character flaw or lack of ambition, how does that get them off the street? They are still there, aren't they? All of Finper's finger wagging doesn't get one homeless person off the street, but you know what would? Jobs that pay enough to allow people to pay rent and still have money left for food and gas to to get to work.

[Finper]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

It will impact the rest of the US unless rent increases slow down and wages go up, it hit Nevada around 3 years ago, homelessness in Arizona increased by 10% last year, Texas has over 25,000 homeless including nearly 2,000 homeless families. My sister in law lives in rural Missouri, her husband is a minister and they have two families living in RV's in their church parking lot. She said she's never seen anything like it, in the winter homeless people are sneaking into sheds and barns to get out of the cold

Your animosity toward the homeless does nothing to fix the problem. If for the sake of argument we assume that every homeless person is on the street through some character flaw or lack of ambition, how does that get them off the street? They are still there, aren't they? All of Finper's finger wagging doesn't get one homeless person off the street, but you know what would? Jobs that pay enough to allow people to pay rent and still have money left for food and gas to to get to work.

Oo 2 RVs in a church parking lot!! It's end of days in Missouri Texas has 25000 homeless California has 130,000 Cali is whack and the bleeding heart liberals are destroying it. We would need to raise our min wage to at least 20.00 a hour to get people in apts here and that's not happening. I do wag my finger but I also donate our unneeded shop supplies to Delancy St a school that teaches homeless a trade. I don't enable people to stay living in cars that don't have the brains to leave by giving them chilli.....Which isn't good to give people living in small spaces anyway.