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Michael Hyatt's Photography
Fifth & Wall Street 1972-1984 portfolio
5TH & WALL STREET, LOS ANGELES 1972-1984
Photographs by Michael Hyatt
DESCRIPTION & SAMPLE PHOTOS

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

 

Leonard Graham, Hotel Chapman (5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles, 1975)
Leonard Graham - Chapman Hotel
5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1975

 

Mona - Hotel Chapman (5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles, 1979)
Mona - Chapman Hotel
5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1979

 

National Needs (5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1972)
National Needs
5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1976

 

Café, Mission, Bar, Blood Bank (5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1972)
Café, Mission, Bar, Blood Bank
5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1972

 

Delux Hotel & Paddy Wagon (5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1979)
Delux Hotel & Paddy Wagon
5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1979

 

Looking Sharp (5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles, 1976)
Looking Sharp
5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1976

 

Torchy – Chapman Hotel (5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles, 1979)
Torchy - Chapman Hotel
5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1979

 

Ray & Tippy – 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)
Barbara & Dino - Chapman Hotel
5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1979

 

Bluesman (5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles, 1979)
Bluesman
5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1979

 

The Neighborhood (5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles, 1974)
The Neighborhood
5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1974

 

Tavern Decoration (5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles, 1974)
Tavern Decoration
5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1974

 

Chapman Hotel Lobby (5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles, 1979)
Chapman Hotel Lobby
5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1979

 

Larry's Room Chapman Hotel (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)
Jessie's Home
5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1984

 

Demolition on the NW Corner of 5th & Wall Street 1975
Demolition on the NW Corner of 5th & Wall Street
Los Angeles 1975

 

Disappearing Railroad Blues 1977
Disappearing Railroad Blues
5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1977

 

View of the Rosslyn (5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles, 1977)
View of the Rosslyn
5th & Wall Street, Los Angeles 1976

 

City Hall from 5th & Wall Street
City Hall from 5th & Wall Street
Los Angeles 1975

 

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