Working Your Island

Years ago I overheard a conversation between two transients.

"What do you do for money, dude?" said the first homeless man.

The second man smiled with pride and said, "I don't need to work, I have a guitar!"

Soon after, I heard a gentleman brag about working his "island." Curious, I asked where he was from and what kind of work he does on the island. The weather-beaten man was well-tanned and looked like the beach bum type. He pointed to the three-foot slab of concrete separating the nearby boulevard, pulled out his cardboard sign and asked for a buck.

A Walk Through Los Angeles

Los Angeles is the “county fair” of diversity, poverty, wealth and individualism. Some sections of Downtown are dirty and dangerous. Other parts are not. I am more interested in the gritty, the impoverished and spiritually hungry sections of LA than the glitz and glass buildings.

I recently took the Goldline into LA and walked all afternoon. Below are a few of the photos I took during my three-hour jaunt.

A homeless man sits fidgeting on a bench with the decaying Pantages Theater behind him. Built in 1919, the LA Pantages was once the city's most prestigious vaudeville houses. It is now a jewelry center.





The street was blocked off for a car show and skateboard exposition.



Three boys proudly displaying their giant zucchini


"Killer Cops" sprayed above a mural of a police officer overlooking the 101 Freeway

Men crowd around a makeshift table used to play Three Cups and a Ball. One by one, men bet $20 that they could tell which cup the ball was under after being shifted a dozen times.