Bill

"If you don't mind my asking, how did you lose your leg?"
"Car Crash. Gangrene."

Pablo From Rosemead

In The Park

No Photos Today

This time last night I was in Chinatown. If you're outside of L.A. you might not know that unlike San Francisco and New York, LA's Chinatown is pretty much a dead zone in the evening. I turned up a especially dark street that feeds into Alameda and came across a man lying face down in the middle of the street.

Right or wrong, I briefly considered taking a couple of photos ('cause that's what I do) but if this guy was just drunk and not dead it was only a matter of time until a car comes up over him.

As I asked him "You need help?" I was instantly making eye contact with a fully conscious man nodding his head vigorously. I hauled him up and half-dragged him to the sidewalk. He was a very old Asian man bleeding from either the mouth or nose. He didn't want help, he didn't even want me to make a phone call. Without saying too much more he shuffled off. I followed him for another two or three blocks and then saw him wobble and fall again.

This time he was relatively unhurt but we were still in a dark part of town. Phillippes Restaurant was just a block or two away; that became my goal. Some of my questions he wouldn't answer but he did say his name was Mr. Wong and he needed to take the bus to Alhambra and even told me the name of the assisted living center that he stayed at. A police car drove past and I waved for them to come over but they kept on going. At this point he is just doggedly shuffling down the street which I took to mean "I'll be all right if I can just get to the bus that will take me home."

I'm not sure what to do. Mr. Wong is clear that he doesn't want any medical attention which at this point would mean endless hours at County General - on a Friday night no less. So I just keep on walking with him to the bus stop, hoping the worst had past.

We get to the bus stop. It's surprisingly crowded but the benches are empty. He goes to sit on the bench but again topples over, this time hard and fast. Every available cell phone comes out and, thankfully, a VA nurse steps up as Mr. Wong is bleeding badly from the mouth.

Eventually an ambulance showed and they took Mr. Wong away. Today I called the assisted living center in Alhambra and he indeed was a resident there and they had been contacted by County General where he is still being held.

At this point I'm thinking I should have called 911 when I first found him. On the other hand, if he had walked off while I waited for the ambulance he would have been completely out of eyesight at the point of his second fall.

Acme Warehouse (East L.A.)

Tattooed Hands

Painted Mattress On An Echo Park Dumpster

"Fearless" (In An Empty Showroom)

Smiling Woman (One Hand Missing)

Night in L.A.

Warehouse (East L.A.)

East L.A. - Christmas Eve 2007

December 24, 2007: Jury Duty

Tomorrow, on what was to be the first day of my Christmas vacation, I will be deep in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, south of the 10, as part o f the jury pool for the Superior Court of California. I hope they don't ask me about my opinion of attorneys. Or maybe I hope that's exactly what they ask me.

Afternoon Update: First the Good News: It being Christmas Eve, the number of trials to be heard will be drastically reduced from 20 to 30 to three (3!).

If in the future your presence at 1945 Hill St. is requested, you're probably looking at a short, possibly one day misdemeanor trial. You'll get a brief, not exactly canned speech from a judge about your civic duty, a ten minute video outlining the process (which just about everyone ignores) followed by an open-ended amount of waiting in a room that is not as nice as what you find in an airport but serviceable.

Now the Better News: Without anyone being quizzed by a single attorney, we're dismissed at 12:05.

Bail Bonds

Wilshire

[click to enlarge]

"The only thing that can save the world is the reclaiming of the awareness of the world. That's what poetry does."

- Allen Ginsberg

Woman Ordering Food

Iglesia Nuestra Senora Reina de los Angeles.

Tucked off to the side of Our Lady Queen of Angels church is the above mission adjacent to Olvera Street. Together they seem to form a hub of immigration services, first-of-the-month baptisms, AIDS quilts (when was the last time you saw an AIDS quilt?) and a memorial to neighborhood soldiers who have died on Iraq. Neither the church or the mission are to be confused with the bombastic Our Lady of The Angels cathedral up the road on Temple.

Mural ( Hand, Heart and Eyes)

Statue

Speaks No English Whatsoever...

...but was very grateful for a half dozen Chesterfields.

[click to enlarge]