About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

39 UCLA L. Rev. 325 (1991-1992)
Afterword - A Logic like Hell's: Being Homeless in Los Angeles

handle is hein.journals/uclalr39 and id is 339 raw text is: AFrERWORD-A LOGIC LIKE HELL'S: BEING HOMELESS IN LOS ANGELES Mike Davis* A mile north of Los Angeles City Hall, under the shadow of the Elysian Hills, the meandering Arroyo Seco joins the Los Ange- les River. Two hundred, twenty-two years ago the conquistadors of Alta California, the Portola expedition, rested here, enjoying the hospitality of the Indian village of Yang-na. For the past one hun- dred years, this site more or less continuously has been occupied by the vagabond and the unemployed. The California regiment of Coxey's Army camped here during the great Depression of 1893-94. In the early twentieth century, it was the site of a famous hobo colony; in the 1930s, it became one of L.A.'s several Hoovervilles. Although the sheltering willow and sycamore trees are gone, and both the Arroyo and the River have been turned into concrete storm sewers, their confluence is still an important focus for the contemporary homeless. Nearby are L.A.'s major thrift stores, Ely- sian Park, and the Taylor and Bullring Yards of the Southern Pa- cific Railroad. The embankments of the Arroyo bear vivid witness to a recent succession of mojados locos-literally, crazy wet- backs-who have inscribed their names and ironic slogans. But the ecology of homelessness has changed radically. Here, where generations of harvest tramps, hobos, and Okies had found an urban oasis-a residual space grudgingly conceded for their self- organization as a social stratum-survival has become immeasura- bly more difficult and furtive. In these kinder, gentler times, the homeless have lost their traditional right-established in the eras of McKinley and Hoover-to camp openly on the banks of the Los * The author is a writer living in Los Angles. The material in this essay is devel- oped in greater detail in the author's book, CITY OF QUARTZ-EXCAVATING THE Fu- TURE IN Los ANGELES (1990).

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most