|
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
| 
