5TH & WALL STREET, LOS ANGELES 1972-1984
Photographs by Michael Hyatt
I began photographing on Skid Row in Los Angeles in 1972 in an effort to understand why my alcoholic grandfather kept going there, and then again after returning from Boston in 1974. It was then that I had the opportunity to work on a documentary film that Charles Pavlich was making about two residents of the Chapman Hotel on the corner of 5th and Wall Street. One of them was Leonard Graham, a chain smoker and heavy drinker, who did great imitations of country music star Hank Williams. During filming I meet and photograph many of the other hotel residents, including Torchy and her neighbors. One was sad-eyed Mona, the hotel housekeeper. Another was Bastillo, who shared a room with his disabled wife and dog. Ray also shared a room with his dog. Skid Row was a magnet back then for alcoholics who live on Social Security in cheap hotels like the Chapman. By 1984 many of America’s poor were homeless and living on the street or in vacant lots, like Jessie was doing when I met him. Now in the 2020s the center of Skid Row, at 5th & Wall Street, reflects an epidemic of homelessness like never seen before.
SAMPLE PHOTOS

Bastillo's Room - Chapman Hotel 5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1979

Leonard Graham - Chapman Hotel 5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1975
Mona - Chapman Hotel 5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1979
National Needs 5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1976
Café, Mission, Bar, Blood Bank 5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1972
Delux Hotel & Paddy Wagon 5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1979
Looking Sharp 5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1976
Torchy - Chapman Hotel 5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1979
Ray & Tippy - Chapman Hotel 5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1979
Barbara & Dino - Chapman Hotel 5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1979
Bluesman 5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1979
The Neighborhood 5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1974
Tavern Decoration 5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1974
Chapman Hotel Lobby 5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1979
Larry's Room - Chapman Hotel 5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1979
Jessie's Home 5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1984
Demolition on the NW Corner of 5th & Wall Street Los Angeles 1975
Disappearing Railroad Blues 5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1977
View of the Rosslyn 5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1976
City Hall from 5th & Wall Street Los Angeles 1975
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