Skid Row

Skid Rows are a natural element of a city. They are generally places for lower class, transient single men, possibly disenfranchised. The areas generally were not as strongly policed. This definition of a skid row makes it appear as if it is entirely harmless, which in many cities may be the case. It also appears to be a place where people live possibly when they are first starting out, beginning new jobs, and it is temporary because they plan on settling down in the near future, in a nicer community. All of this could very well be true in many places.

On Los Angeles’s San Julian Street, this is anything but the case. An article by Steve Lopez for an October 2005 issue of the LA Times chronicles the homeless of LA’s skid row (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez16oct16,1,2845629.column?page=1). The people he writes of are far worse off than “disenfranchised.” They are heroin addicts, crack heads, and prostitutes. The area may not be strongly policed, but paramedics are constantly there, rushing these homeless to the hospital.

I suggest reading this article for a view on how some homeless people are living. Hopefully things have gotten better since 2005, yet it is likely that the plight of the homeless has not improved in any city, just effectively hidden from view of the masses.