University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

A study of deviate personalities as found in Main Street of Los Angeles

(USC Thesis Other)

A study of deviate personalities as found in Main Street of Los Angeles

PDF

Download a page range

Download transcript

Copy asset link

Request this asset

Transcript (if available)

Content Â STUDY OF DEVIATE PERSONALITIES
AS POUND IN MAIN STREET OF LOS ANGELES
A Thesis
Presented to
the Faculty of the Graduate School of Social Work
University of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Science in Social Work
by
Merrill Leonard Harrod
May 1939
UMl Number: EP66096
All rights reserved
INFORMATION TO ALL USERS
The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted.
In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript
and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed,
a note will indicate the deletion.
Di&swWtion F^blishing
UMl EP66096
Published by ProQuest LLC (2014). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author.
Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC.
All rights reserved. This work is protected against
unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code
ProQuest LLC.
789 East Eisenhower Parkway
P.O. Box 1346
Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346
6^
2 I 8 1 - A
T h is thesis, w ritte n under the direction of the
candidate's F a c u lty C o m m ittee and a pproved by
a ll its members, has been presented to and ac
cepted by the F a c u lty o f the S chool of S ocial
W o r k in p a r tia l fu lfilm e n t o f the requirem ents
f o r the degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN SOCIAL W ORK
i
Dean
Faculty Committee
irman
(
TABLE OP CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I, THE STUDY AND DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED.......... 1
The study .......... 1
Statement of the study...................... 1
Definitions of terras used . . . .............. 2
Deviate personalities ........................ 2
Ecological study ............ ....... 2
Alcoholic deviates ........ .......... 3
Sexual deviates . . . ........................ 4
II. ' HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF MAIN STREET............ 7
Beginning through Gold Rush d a y s .............. 7
From Gold Rush days to 20th century .......... 8
20th century until after World War .......... 9
Present status .............. 10
Contribution to the study .............. 11
III. ECOLOGICAL STUDY OF MAIN STREET, ITS SURROUNDING
AREAS AND THEIR INFLUENCE...................... 13
Types and functions of business houses ..... 13
Surrounding areas and their influence ...... 23
Contribution to the study................ 30
IV. STUDY OF ALCOHOLIC DEVIATES.......... 31
Court Assistance Project Study ......... 31
Types of alcoholic deviates.................... 32
Effect of alcohol on the human system.......... 53
ill
CHAPTER page
Etiology of alcoholism ................ ••••• 53
Treatment and cure . . ........................ 55
V. STUDY OP SEXUAL DEVIATES .................... 61
Eroticists ••••• ............................ 61
Homosexual deviates ••••••• .............. 65
Heterosexual deviates ...... .............. 74
Treatment and cure.............................. 85
Summary.....1 ................... 88
VI. ETIOLOGY OP MAIN STREET DEGENERACY................ 89
Ecological study...................... 89
California climate .......... 90
Immigration .................. 91
Population....................................... 91
Employment ................ 93
Unemployment..................................... 93
VII, REMARKS AND CONCLUSIONS..................... 95
Alleviation of the problem .................... 95
Questions for future studies .................... 98
The future of the street in the light of the past 99
BIBLIOGRAPHY................................ 101
LIST OP TABLES
TABLE PAGE
I. Types, Numbers and Percentages of Institutions
Pound in Main Street, Los Angeles, 1939 . • . . . 14
II. Types, Numbers, Percentages and Influence of
Institutions Pound in Main Street, Los Angeles,
1939............................................. 16
CHAPTER I
THE STUDY AND DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED
For many years there have existed in Main Street of Los
Angeles certain deviate personalities. Two groups are foremost
among these individuals -- the alcoholic deviates and the sexual
deviates. Because they are a part of Main Street, it has fallen
into disrepute. It is known as the most anti-social street in
the city and is often referred to as ' ‘ ^Skid Row^ because it spon
sors these demoralizing conditions.
I. THE STUDY
Statement of the study. The scope and purpose of the
present study is (1) to present a historical and environmental
background for the existence of the inebriate and sexual deviate
on Main Street ; (2) to make a sociological study of them includ
ing some representative case histories and suggested possible
treatment; (3) to discover some of the causal factors for their
existence and continued deviation; and (4) to indicate possible
solutions of the problem and future outlook for the street.
Importance of the study. A street of ill repute, like a
slum area of a city, is detrimental to the name of a progressive
metropolis and the goodwill its residents attempt to build in
the attitudes of its and other citizens of a nation. A street
which is as world famous as Main for its historical color and the
2.
frequent deviation of its habitues does not present a good pic
ture of the community. That world famous traveler and writer
Richard Halliburton^ said, ^Main Street suggests all that is dull
and repressed in American cities . • • • but it has a kick.® The
study of the alcoholic and sexual deviates therein reveals part
of the problem and presents a basis for future action in allevi
ating the situation. Therefore, not only does this study attempt
to be informative, but it also attempts to look toward the future
of Main Street.
II. DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED
Deviate personalities. Deviate personalities for this
study are those persons who, because of excessive use of alcohol
or acquired or congenital sexual inversion and perversion, di
verge from the standards of behavior which are accepted by so
ciety as normal.
Ecological study of Main Street. Ecology is the study of
human activities as evidenced in their modes of life. Therefore,
an ecological study of Main Street was interpreted as being a
study of the manner of living of alcoholic deviates and sexual
deviates in relation to their environment.
^Richard Halliburton, “Half Mile of History,'® The Readers *
Digest. 31:70, October, 1937. [Or, XXXI (October, 1937), 70.]
3 .
Inebriates. Inebriates for this study were interpreted as
meaning habitual drunkards. Drunkards are those who constantly
use alcohol to excess.
Inebriated felons. The interpretation for inebriated fel
ons for this study was those drunkards who commit felonies while
intoxicated or as a result thereof. A felony is a crime punishable
by death or imprisonment in a state or federal prison.
Inebriated mi a deme anant s . Inebriated misdemeanants for this
study were interpreted as those excessive users of alcohol who com
mit misdemeanors or petty offenses against society. Explained fur
ther they are violators of local, city or county laws or ordinances
and are punishable by incarceration in local jails as compared with
felons who are punishable by incarceration in state or federal
prisons.
Periodic Inebriates. As interpreted for this study periodic
inebriates are those drunkards who occasionally become intoxicated.
In a popular phrase they are described as those who sometimes go on
a “binge® or heavy drinking period and remain temporarily under the
influence of alcohol.
Common inebriates. For this study common inebriates were
interpreted as being those constantly moderate users of alcohol
who are usually half drunk and half sober. They are the type that
is constantly under the influence of liquor but not wholly intoxi
cated. The well-known screen portrayor of this type is W. C. Fields*
4 .
Moderate drinkers. The moderate drinkers are those who
periodically consume alcohol in small amounts. They are inter
preted in this study as those persons who drink occasionally,
yet who do not become fully intoxicated.
Autoeroticistst onanists. Those who practice masturbation
or who effect an orgasm by means of self-abuse are autoeroticists
or onanists.
Homosexuals. For this study homosexuals were interpreted
to be those who are “entirely unsusceptible to the sexual and emo
tional attraction of the opposite sex, but are susceptible to the
2
emotional and sexual attraction of their own sex.®
Types of homosexuals. They were described for interpre
tation in this study in the following classifications:
Cunnilinguists. Males or females who practice mutual
masturbation upon persons of their own sex are cunnilinguists.
This is a heterosexual term as well since it applies to both males
and females.
Eellationist3. irrumationists. These are males or fe
males who have coitus orally with their own sex.
Pederasts. sodomists. Those men who have anal inter
course with boys are known as pederasts or sodomists.
^Anomaly, The Invert (London: Bailliere, Tindall and Cox,
1929), p. 6.
5 .
ürnings. Urnings are incurable male or female homo
sexuals .
Heterosexuals. The heterosexuals are those persons who
have sexual and emotional attraction for members of the opposite
sex. For this study they were interpreted as those deviates who
engage in illicit and promiscuous sexual relations with members
of the opposite sex.
Types of heterosexuals. They were interpreted for this
study as follows:
Cunnilinguist s. Those men and women who practice mu
tual masturbation upon the persons of each other are cunnilin-
guists. These are also interpreted as homosexual men and women
who practice masturbation upon the persons of their own sex.
Natural types. Those men and women who have normal
sexual intercourse in a promiscuous manner are interpreted as
natural types.
Bisexuals. By bisexuals it was interpreted those men
who engage in homosexual practices for relief in the absence of
women with whom they would have had natural relations. Also, bi
sexuals are those boys and young men who acquire homosexual tend
encies and resort to homosexuality and then become heterosexual
when associated with women. Boys who have been victims of urnings
and who have been taught onanism and other homosexual acts usually.
6 .
when grown, marry, have a family and live perfectly happy and
normal lives without resorting to homosexuality#
CHAPTER II
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF MAIN STREET
The history of this colorful street may be divided into
four periods, namely, (1) from its beginning until it became
American and through the Gold Rush days; (2) from the early *60s
until the now century; (3) from 1900 until after the World War;
and (4) its present status*
Main Street proper as herein discussed means that section
situated between Sunset Boulevard on the north and Sixth Street
on the south*
First Period* Beginning through Gold Rush days* Since
the founding of the City of Our Lady of the Angels by the Spanish
in 1781, Calle Principal (Main Street, as it is called today) has
been a historical, colorful avenue, unusual and unlike any other
street in the world* It was around this avenue that Los Angeles
went through its embryonic growth* At the Plaza, in the north
section of the street, was the establishment of the first commu
nity* This settlement of Spaniards, Mexicans and Indians lived
in squat adobe houses located around the Plaza Square. The first
Catholic Church was built here bringing spiritual blessings to
the little settlement* It remains to this day a landmark long
revered and respected as the mother church of the city, rich with
tradition and legend among its kind.
8 .
The commuait y continued to grow and those residing around
the park became the principal merchants* It was to them that the
great Spanish grant landowners — the families of the Picos, Fig
ueroas, Carillos, Sepulvedas, Rodriques and others — came to
trade and to join in the national holidays and religious socials,
fiestas and celebrations. Marriages and deaths brought them to
gether for mutual fellowship and consolation. A few white Ameri
cans came and settled to later marry into the Spanish families and
so become a part of them.
This peaceful, gay community was not to remain as such for
long, however. With the declaration of war against Mexico, the
city soon fell into the hands of its American conqueror Commodore
Stockton in 1846. The commodore was soon joined by General Fre
mont both of whom made their headquarters in adobe buildings bor
dering the Plaza.
Then followed the Gold Rush days. Many of the residents
of the city left their homes and business houses to seek gold.
After a few years most of them returned empty handed to settle
down to the quiet life which ensued. With them came others from
the gold fields — mostly American and alien whites and Chinese.
Some of them were good and some were hard, rough, sly and dishon
est. It was the latter group which on a small scale sowed the
seeds of riotus living along Main Street in this period.
Second Period. Gold Rush days to the 20th century. Main
Street changed much in this era yet it also remained the principal
9 .
thoroughfare* The squat one-story adobe houses were replaced by
wooden frame two and three-story buildings* The railroad was
united for transcontinental service. The first opera house was
built * The first bank was established and others followed. Other
businesses were established such as saddle and harness works, tin
and goldsmith shops, clothing and grocery stores, amusement houses
and many other concerns needed in a growing community. The first
horse pulled car operated along Main Street and out to Boyle
Heights, which was the fashionable residential district of Los
Angeles during that period* Other lines were established to Elys-
ian and Griffith parks. Water was piped into the city and sur
rounding agricultural areas. In this manner the city grew and its
outlying districts were developed.
The Spanish, Chinese and Mexican population continued to
conduct their celebrations upon the street and in the Plaza* The
white population joined them and together they made the avenue a
respected, well-thought-of thriving street except for a few places
where saloons and gambling establishments continued to cater to
those who patronized them.
Third Period. 20th bentury through the World War. With
the dawn of the new century Main Street began to lose ground as
the Calle Principal of the city. Although her wooden buildings
housed the principal business houses, other concerns came into the
city and constructed new magnificent steel and stone buildings
along Spring, Broadway and Hill streets which afforded larger and
10*
and finer accomodations. Consequently, the banks and other bus
iness houses moved to these better quarters leaving Main Street
with small business and amusement places* The long-established
Spanish, Chinese and Mexican festivals and celebrations continued
to flourish, however, and Main Street gradually became the center
for those amusements and gay affairs*
Until prohibition during the World War the street was over
run with inebriates and other delinquents coming to the city. It
became the popular street for people of all races, creeds and col
ors to congregate as it offered the type of amusement they desired*
With Italians coming from the Lincoln Heights area, Negroes from
South Central Avenue, Russians from across the river bed, Japanese
from First and San Pedro, Chinese and Philipinos living next to the
street, Mexicans from everywhere, English speaking whites from sur
rounding areas, and many people of other races mingling together,
it became one of the most cosmopolitan streets in the world* Thus
it grew, but it was not to become so famous for its present status
until after prohibition was repealed.
Fourth Period. Present status. Prohibition quieted the
noisy, pleasure seekers as the saloons gave way to the motion pic
ture theaters, penny arcades, and burlesque houses. Liquor was
available but it did not become the chief source of diversion. The
burlesque houses and motion picture shows became the most popular
places. Cheap restaurants, barber shops, second-hand clothing and
11.
jewelry stores, “iiock® shops, money loan agencies, pool and dance
halls became the leading business establishments. When legalized
liquor began to flow again. Main Street acquired its true title of
“Skid Row® because of its habitues. Bums, hoboes, tramps, transi
ents, aged pensioners, inebriates, dope fiends and peddlers, sexual
deviates, prostitutes, bar-maids, hashers, bouncers, thieves, sol
icitors for women, as well as other disrespectful types of people
were found among its cosmopolitan population.
Main Street to a greater extent than 1 have seen elsewhere
is a man* s street. In the display windows the chief wares of
fered are things no other street would dare allow — tonics
that are 10 per cent testimonial and 90 per cent alcohol,
quack cures, erotic instruments and gadgets of a dozen kinds.
Respectable Los Angelenos turn up their noses when you men
tion Main Street.*^
Contribution to the study. Thus, from a little Spanish and
Indian community grew a great city and its Calle Principal changed
from a peaceful, festive avenue to one frequented by alcoholic and
sexual deviates because it presented the cheapest and easiest means
of securing alcoholic and sexual satisfaction.
It is not implied by this study that Main Street is utterly
an iniquitous street as there are respectable citizens of the com
munity who frequently visit it for its gay life and different types
of amusements. There is no comparison between this and Spring Street
with its financial institutions. Nor is there a similarity with
^Richard Halliburton, “Half Mile of History,® The Readers *
Digest, 31:73, October, 1937. [Or, XXXI (October, 1937T, 73.1
12.
Broadway and its department stores, fine theaters, cocktail bars
and eating establishments. Even Hill Street has.no burlesque
shows, cheap beer and gay entertainment or places where the poor
may secure a meal, liquor, motion picture and bed at all hours of
the day or night for a nominal price.
This has been the social history of Main Street and not all
who patronize its establishments are evilly inclined but more likely
to be seekers of amusement of an unusual nature which can be found
only on this street which is noted for its gay and happy-go-lucky
life. The subjects of this study have found it and continue to
make it the “Skid Row® of Los Angeles.
CHAPTER III
ECOLOGICAL STUDY OP MAIN STREET,
ITS SURROUNDING AREAS AND THEIR INFLUENCE
No street has been wholly the product of its own inhabi
tants. Not all inebriates and sexual deviates found in Main
Street reside there. Most of them have come from surrounding
areas to associate with those already living there. The histor
ical background of Main Street as presented gave the reason why
it has fallen into disrepute as being that it became so through
changes in the nature of its institutions. This ecological study
indicates the environmental influence which Main Street and its
surrounding areas had in the downfall of the street and the part
taken in this downfall by the two types of deviates studied. The
question of why the deviate personalities are dominant there is
answered in this study.
Types and functions of business houses on Main Street. In
the historical study many business establishments were mentioned.
Table I lists the total number and kinds of institutions found in
the street proper. Of the total number of business houses 44 per
cent represent the types which are of a demoralizing nature. These
are shown in Table II. These businesses are the liquor stores and
dispensaries, the dance halls, cheap eating establishments, flop
houses or cheap hotels, quack medicine stores, penny arcades, all-
night motion picture theaters, burlesque houses, and pool halls.
TABLE I
TYPES, NUMBERS AND PERCENTAGES OP INSTITUTIONS
POUND IN MAIN STREET, LOS ANGELES
1939
Types No.
Per
cent
Types No.
Auction Houses
Japanese....
Jewish.....
2
2
5
3
13
1.0
4.2
Auto Parks........... .
Banks........... .....
Barber Shops .
15(zf............. 2
2 0( z(............. 2
25^.......... 7
35^ (American)... 1
(Philipino).. 1
Beer Dispensaries....... 35 11.4
1.3 Empty Stores.......... 2
Gypsy Fortune Telling.. 2
20
1.6 Hotels. .......
American...... 7
J apanese....... 8
Mexican...... 5
Medicine “Quack® Stores 3
Missions.............. 3
Office Buildings....... 4
Goodwill Industries
Kerchoff
Beer Parlors. .... 24 Isaac W. Heilman
American.. 16
San Fernando
Greek.... 1
Japanese.. 5 Parks (Plaza).........
Mexican... 2
Liquor Stores.... 11
Penny Arcades..........
French.... 2
Jewish.•.. 6
Picture Shows..........
Mexican.., 3
5ft........... . 3
Churches..
Catholic
Dance Halls
Eating Houses.........
Restaurants...... 22
American.. 6
French....
Greek.....
Japanese..
Mexican...
Cafeterias...... 3
Dairy Lunch..... 1
Doughnut Shop.... 1
Hot Dog Stands... 14
3
42
0.6
1.0
15ft.
Burlesque.....
Mexican... 1
American.. 1
7
2
2
1
1
7
8
Per
cent
0.6
0.6
6.7
1.0
1.0
1.3
0.3
2.0
4.6
3.6
13.7 Pool Halls............ 11
American 6
Philipino....... 2
Mexican......... 3
Recreation Halls...... 3
Boxing Arena.... 1
L.A. Municipal., 1
Mexican (Priv.). 1
Shooting Galleries 3 1.0.
1.0
T ABLE 1 (c ont inued)
TYPES, NUMBERS AND PERCENTAGES OP INSTITUTIONS
POUND IN MAIN STREET, LOS ANGELES
1939
Types No.
Per
cent
Types
Shoe Shine Stands 10
Greek........... 1
Mexican...... 5
Negro........... 4
Stores................ 117
Bakery.......... 2
Book, Magazine... 5
Cigar ...... 3
Department...... 8
Drug............ 3
Five and. Ten 3
Furniture....... 1
Glass Fitting.... 2
No.
3.3 Grocery...... 13
Hardware..... 9
Harness...... 1
Key.......... 1
Leather Goods...... 3
38.2 Loan .............. 8
Passport..... 3
Photo.............. 3
Radio........ 2
2nd Hand Clothing.... 20
2nd Hand Jewelry..... 9
Seed. ....... 2
sign............... 1
Shoe and Repair...... 22
Stamp and Coin. 1
Per
cent
Totals 306 100
TABLE II
TYPES, NUMBERS, PERCENTAGES AND INFLUENCE OF INSTITUTIONS
POUND IN MAIN STREJET, LOS ANGELES
1939
Contributing Influence Demoralizing Influence
Per Per
Types No.
cent
Types No.
cent
Auction Houses........ 1.3 Beer Dispensaries 11.4
Auto Parks........... 1.6 Dance Halls..... . 1.0
Banks ........ . 3 1.0 Eating Houses.... ...... 42 13.7
Barber Shops. ........ . . 13 4.2
Ho-hftl a____________ . . -__pn
6.7
Churches.......... 0.6 Medicine “Quack® Stores 3 1.0
Empty Stores.......... 0.6 Penny Arcades.... 2.0
Gypsy Fortune Telling. .. 2 0.6 Picture Shows.... 4.6
Office Buildings..... 1.3 Pool Halls....... 3.6
Missions............. 1.0
Parks............... . 0.3
Recreation Halls..... 1.0
Shooting Galleries.... 1.0
Shoe Shine Stands.... 3.3
Stores................ 38.2
Totals 172 56.0 Totals 134 44.0
1 7 .
The assertion that these houses of business are of a degrad
ing influence is made because Cl) they cater to any bum, tramp, ho
bo or unkempt person who can pay for their services; (.2) they do
not improve by trying to elevate their status to include the better
class of patrons; (3) they are mostly unclean about their premises,
especially vhere food is sold; (4) they operate to attract customers
who are desirous of non-ethical entertainment or satisfaction of
their baser natures. Since no business would exist without a de
mand for its commodities, the stores have their justification for
operating as they do. If the buyers demanded a better presentation
of commodities, the merchants would be forced to provide it.
The other establishments, shown in Table II, which are of a
good influence — the auction houses, auto parks, banks, barber
shops, cafeterias, dairy lunches, gypsy fortune telling, office
buildings, shooting galleries, show shine stands and stores — are
helpful to the community in that they offer more respectable serv
ices. They make Main Street a more legitimate place for business.
The remaining establishments present a more ethical, recreational
and spiritual program which tends to add a more legitimate atmos
phere to the picture. The churches are Catholic. One of them is
the Plaza church which has been mentioned in the historical study.
The other offers the same spiritual services to its people. Many
of its members come from all parts of the city and all walks of
life to worship there. They are reluctant to go to another church
1 8 .
because they originally began their worship in it when its surround
ings were more conventional. These followers do not mingle with the
crowd on Main Street, and it is interesting to note that in a dis
trict such as Second and Main Streets there are no beggars at the
doors of the church.
The missions operate to alleviate human suffering by pre
senting a program of free meals, beds and emotionally charged
spiritual philosophy. Many bums, inebriates and down-and-out men
and some women have found these small spiritual places a Godsend
in providing them with a hot meal and a place to spend the night.
They have sent them away with a new-found happiness and a deter
mination to seek and to live better lives.
The recreation centers present a program for recreational
and physical development. Two of them are private gymnasiums where
boxers and wrestlers train for amateur or professional contests.
The other is a Los Angeles Municipal Playground Gymnasium where
young men and boys gather to play games and to engage in organized
recreational activities. Its membership is composed of boys from
the immediate neighborhood and young men from the surrounding com
munity.
Their proximity to each other. It is needless to say that
when 44 per cent of the business establishments within an area of
one-half mile are conducive to delinquency it produces the most
natural place for the production and propagation of deviated per
sonalities. An area so compact with all types of businesses which
1 9 .
thrive because they attract the class of people which is desirous
of having their baser natures pleased, must be of an altogether un
worthy one. Pool halls next door to liquor stores, dance halls
over beer parlors, all-night five-cent motion picture shows near
penny arcades, flop houses over odorous hash houses and a shooting
gallery across the street from stores, an auction house, barber
shops, a Christian mission and shoe shine stand, present one small
glimpse of what a part of Main Street appears to its visitor. These
are concentrated between Second and Fifth Streets.
The other better business establishments, which also are
intermingled with the demoralizing type, are mostly found between
Sunset and Second Street and below Fifth Street. They are situated
in the areas which are more respectable. The Sunset to Second
Street area is almost entirely Mexican in appearance and trade.
Mexican theaters, eating houses, stores and other establishments,
including the Goodwill Industries store and the City Hall, are
found there. Below Fifth Street is found an almost entirely Eng
lish speaking white population, and business houses of a more usual
nature including the Famous Army and Navy Store and Germain* s Seed
Store.
The effect of demoralizing institutions on deviates. It is
not implied by this study that this concentration of stores of a
demoralizing influence is the cause for delinquency, but it is be
lieved that their concentration makes it easier for deviated per
sonalities to congregate and further their gregarious self-degradation.
20.
The writer has seen many drunks sleeping in the hallways of closed
stores at night and upon two different daytime occasions has seen
officers placing in their cars inebriates who had fallen or who lay
in the gutter in this area. The author has seen twice as many ar
rests in this area as in all other areas combined.
The beer parlors are always filled regardless of whether
the proprietors are American, Japanese, Greek or Mexican. Negroes,
whites, Mexicans, Japanese and Philipinos drink and mix together,
usually in peace and without too much race prejudice. Liquor to
most of them stimulates fellowship and they form little groups to
drink together* The price of the liquor, which is usually one-
half the cost charged by other places in the city, keeps them buy
ing more until they remain talking in loud thick-tongued voices or
sleep with their heads on the counters. The better parlors have
floor shows with a few vaudeville acts and entertainment from a
singer, assorted musicians, or the radio. The entertainers are
usually paid with meals and donations from the audience.
The motion picture shows offer the best opportunity for the
drinking man to drink as much as he desires and sleep it off. If
he does not create too much disturbance during his drinking or
sleeping, he can remain until five o’clock in the morning. Then
the show closes until eight-thirty when it reopens to run contin
uously until five-thirty the next morning.
The greatest opportunity for expression is given the sexual
deviate in the theaters. The author has seen no less than two score
21.
of these perverts operate. They molest and secure victims mostly
among young men and boys. It was revealed to the author by a Los
Angeles County Probation officer that young transient mixed couples
have been arrested for having sexual intercourse on the floor near
the front seats of the theaters. This is a rare occurrence, however.
The homosexual practices usually are cunnilinguistic in na
ture. The author has overheard a middle-aged man offer a young
man fifty cents if he would go to the older man’s room for the pur
pose of consumâting an act of fellatio with him. This offer was
accepted by the younger man.
Cheap hotels, penny arcades, cheap eating houses, quack med
icine stores and pool halls are included in the list of demoraliz
ing establishments because they represent an assortment of cheap
attractions to the inebriate and sex delinquent. To sleep and eat
cheaply enables them to use their extra money in securing the sex
ual or alcoholic gratification they desire.
The two burlesque houses attract all types of men and women.
The degree of drunkness prevailing in other theaters is not found
in these. The age group may make a difference. More young men be
tween the ages of sixteen and twenty-eight patronize them. Neither
drinking nor homosexuality are common. They enjoy the suggestive,
lewd acts of the comedians and when the young women perform their
^strip tease®^ acts, the audience is usually very quietly watching
^®Strip tease® meaning gradual undressing, revealing the
nude body, arousing sexual passion in the men in the audience.
22.
the performance with intense eagerness and expectancy. One Christ
mas Eve a young man was heard to shout in the middle of one of
these performances, w%nt that for Christinas I® This broke the
spell of quietness and nearly all of the young men began to yell
lewd remarks. It ceased immediately with the presentation of an
other act. No drinking or sexual deviance was observed in these
places; however, sexual excitement was found everywhere.
Likewise, the dance halls do not exhibit the overt acts of
drinking or homosexuality which the beer parlors or motion picture
theaters reveal. This is probably true because the proprietors do
not allow the patrons to drink or to come drunk. Philipinos and
sailors patronize these halls almost to the exclusion of other men.
The hostesses are white and Mexican girls earning two and one-half
cents a dance. The customers pay five cents. The sailors and
Philipinos in patronizing these dance halls have one thing in com
mon -- they do not have the regular companionship of women and so
resort to this means of expression for that association even though
it lasts for only an evening.
The sexual deviation which occurs there is in the handling
of the girls. They are pressed closely to the bodies of the men
until the pelvic regions of the dancers are tightly together. This
is expected of the girls and by complying they are able to earn
more money.
This association has resulted in marriages between white
girls and Philipinos. Some Philipinos are able to support wives
by working as chauffeurs, valets and hotel or apartment workers.
23.
and. because most of them are so stylish, in appearance, some of the
dance hall girls marry them. Â mixing of the races is thus affected.
Surrounding areas and their influence. Main Street cannot
be isolated from its surrounding community. It is a part of it
though different in its activity. Prom Hill Street to the river
bed is found a gradual decline or change in the style and mode of
living and in the types and races of people and their businesses.
Three major areas, not including Main Street itself, can be de
tected immediately. These are (1) the business district. Hill
Street to Main Street ; (2) East Fifth Street, Main to Central Av
enue; and (3) the warehouse area, Los Angeles Street to Alameda
Street. A brief study of each will be presented as well as their
contribution to Main Street and the deviated personalities there.
The avenue of Hill from First to Sixth Streets of the three
great business streets is most like Main Street. It has its cheap
beer parlors and an all-night motion picture show where inebriates
and sexual deviates secure their sources of satisfaction without
having to pay much for them. The three blocks between First and
Fourth Streets are most like Main Street in that the alcoholic de
viates congregate on the corners and in beer parlors for mutual as
sociation. These chronic alcoholics come from the apartment house
district located in the Bunker Hill section situated between Fig
ueroa, Broadway, Temple and First Street and another similar dis
trict adjacent to it situated over the Second and Third Street tun
nels. Many of them find their way to Main Street where the drinking
84.
is more pronounced.
An all-night motion picture house in this vicinity harbors
less inebriates and sexual deviators, but some are found there
nevertheless. More women and girls patronize this theater than
any in Main Street, but they are annoyed more often, A young wo
man can hardly be seated in this theater until some sexually minded
man sits beside her and begins to annoy her by pressing his leg or
hand against her. Young women have been seen to move to different
seats several times before being left alone and that only when they
were able to secure a seat next to the aisle. Some women have
been seen to walk out of the theater or call the manager only to
have their annoyers disappear into a darker or more densely seated
part of the house.
Another part of Hill Street where deviation of conduct oc
curs is in Pershing Square. This is located between Fifth and
Sixth Streets bordering Hill. Drunkenness is rarely found here,
but it is noted for its gathering of homosexual men. It is a
"hangout® for them and their victims. Many of these men live in
nearby hotels. They come to the park to engage young male prosti
tutes who make a living from offering their bodies for sale. Often
young men who are despondent, out of work and destitute are engaged
in a conversation by homosexual men and are invited to spend the
night in their rooms. In this respect sexual de viators found on
Main Street similarly operate.
25.
S
A young man, age thirty, whose case will be discussed in
another part of this study, was induced to spend the night with a
man who claimed he merely wanted to befriend him. He went to the
man’s room and after having a few drinks of whiskey was persuaded
into allowing an act of fellatio upon his body. During the night
he was subjected to three acts of sodomy. He did not object except
at first because he claimed that he had no other place to stay.
He did not realize that he could have spent the night in one of
the free mission dormitories found in the Main Street area.
Talking with many of the old men who come to the park, it
was learned by the author that there are several young male prosti
tutes who frequent the park. They will allow an act of fellatio or
sodomy for one dollar. It is claimed that many of them make good
money. Sodomy is the most frequent act because as an average a man
cannot accomplish an act of fellatio more than once in twenty-four
hours. Customarily, a night is spent with a homosexual person who
in return for drinks, food, and two or three dollars will allow
both fellatio and sodomy performed. Information v/as not obtained
as to whether the male prostitutes reversed the process by mutual
ly performing the acts upon their clientel’s bodies.
Several of these male prostitutes were pointed out to the
author. They were slender, smooth skinned, pink cheeked young men
whose actions were effeminate. They wore men’s clothing which was
neatly pressed and tailored, bright ties and flowers pinned to
2
Case number three. Chapter V.
26.
the shirt or coat on the left lapel. They were referred to as
“queers® or “punks® and their patrons as “fruits.® Some of these
same “queers® or “fruits® were seen on Main Street by the author
together with some of the alcoholic degenerates. A definite tie-
up is thus made between the two streets in the association of
these deviates in both streets.
Broadway is the most respected street socially of downtown
Iios Angeles. Here are found the better theaters, business houses,
cocktail bars and eating establishments which cater to the better
class of people. Their prices would be prohibitive to the average
working man found in Main Street. No inebriates are seen in this
avenue. A few instances of sexual deviation have been observed,
however. Instances of onanism and heterosexuality have been ob
served. A young man at a theater sat next to the aisle in a row
of seats and masturbated. On the inside of the same row, with no
other exit, sat a young woman who was perplexed as to what to do
because the theater was dark and very few patrons were there. She
finally sat half way through the next showing of the picture before
having the courage to walk past the man. In another theater a homo
sexual young man about twenty-five years of age was trying to cause
other men to have an act of cunnilinguism with him. These cases
are not common on Broadway, however.
Spring Street is regarded as the Wall Street of Los Angeles
with its financial institutions. Very few amusement places are
found. There are a few beer parlors, cocktail bars, eating places
and theaters, but these are not patronized to any extent by deviates.
27.
East Fifth Street to Central Avenue is the true slum area
of the city. Compared with Main Street, it is much worse in char
acter. Despite the fact that Main Street is debauched with ineb
riates and sexual perverts it has historical color, gayety and
amusements unduplicated anywhere on the Pacific Coast in so small
an area. East Fifth Street on the other hand may be termed “Dead
End Row® as compared with “Skid Row® Main Street, because it has
one of the lowest classes of humanity to be found. Here are the
cheapest eating places, called “hash houses® or ®Jap joints® be
cause they are operated by Japanese, where meals can be secured
for ten cents; hair cuts are given for fifteen and twenty cents;
and second-hand clothing may be bought for a very nominal price.
Beer parlors sponsor semi-nude women entertainers, cowboy songsters,
and women “bar-flies® to drink with the patrons. The latter receive
a commission from the number of drinks sold.
The flop houses found on Main Street are luxurious compared
with those found on East Fifth Street. One pays from twenty-five
to forty cents per night on Main Street. This represents a differ
ence of from five to fifteen cents per night between them. The ones
on Fifth Street offer a bed only; one must pay extra for a shower.
The bed is a single one with wornout springs and sagging mattress.
The sheets and blankets are required by law to be clean. An indi
vidual locker about two feet square is provided for one’s belong
ings. One must pay the amount required regardless of the time he
goes to bed. He may leave any time up to eleven-thirty in the
2 8 .
morning. The differences in the Main Street flop houses are in
the number of beds in the dormitory (about eighteen in Main Street
and twenty-five in East Fifth Street), and larger individual lock
ers with shower baths included for the same price.
At Fifth and Town Avenue are found the “slave markets® or
private employment agencies offering jobs for sale at set prices.
A steady job for a skilled laborer may be purchased for ten dol
lars or higher. It is computed on the basis of eight per cent of
the wage average for the month. TJnskilled laborers pay the same
rate for their jobs if they are steady. If the job is for a short
time, a flat rate of from fifty cents for a day job to two dollars
for a job of a week is charged. Some employers hire their employees
through these agencies as they receive a percentage of the charge
made the laborer. These conditions have been revealed as positive
facts by those who have secured jobs through these agencies.
The effect of this street on Main is very pronounced, espec
ially at Fifth and Main Streets where many of its habitues gather
to talk, chew tobacco and expectorate in the street and on the side
walk. They attend the many five and ten-cent motion picture shows
in the immediate vicinity.
The appearance of East Fifth Street is very striking with its
many “hock® and second-hand clothing shops. Clothes, shoes, suit
cases and hardware are prominently displayed in front of them while
in their windows can be seen cheap jewelry, books, magazines, and
more clothes, hardware and the like. The streets are always dirty
29.
with, pieces of rotten fruit, cuds of tobacco, vomit, papers,
sacks, expectoration and in some cases men so intoxicated that
they can no longer stand or walk. The inebriated men do not stay
long in the gutter as they are almost immediately picked up and
taken to jail.
The homosexual deviate exists in this street but his oper
ations are not so noticeable. Whereas at Pershing Square in the
Hill Street area male prostitutes and their clients bargain to
gether almost openly, and most of the sexual deviation occurs in
motion picture shows on Main Street, it occurs in hotels very pri
vately in East Fifth Street. The reason is that there are more
houses of prostitution to be found. The author was approached
twice by Negro male solicitors for women. These are called “jig
pimps® by the men in the street. It was learned that in many of
the hotels men who had purchased a room by themselves have been mo
lested all night long by women knocking at their doors and asking
if the occupant of the room desired a woman for the night at the
nominal price of three dollars. Women who walk along the street
without hats are considered to be prostitutes. They are rarely
accosted, however, and only by men who are partially or fully in
toxicated. Thus, East Fifth Street has a direct influence on Main
Street in that its habitues are similar in nature and often fre
quent it. This area contributes more to the delinquency found in
Main Street than the downtown or warehouse districts combined.
The warehouse district. Main Street to Alameda Street, has
its influence on Main Street in that it harbors many of the habitues
30.
of the street. It has cheap rooming houses where many of them
live and small business houses where some of them earn a living.
In this area are found many of the push cart ice cream establish
ments, the headquarters of the Cooperative Delivery Service,
printing shops, second-hand restaurant equipment stores, storage
warehouses and other businesses. These are located here because
it is a low rent area in the process of deterioration. The owners
are not compelled to maintain their buildings in good repair.
They are, therefore, among the poorest buildings of the city. The
owners do not sell them because the taxes are low. Until larger
concerns buy the property upon which these buildings are situated,
tear them down and build better and finer ones, this area will re
main an “eyesore® to the city.
Contribution to the study. Â study of the location of a
street in a city is not complete without a study of its immediate
neighborhood, as from its surrounding area comes the population
which molds and makes of it the type it is destined to become.
The kinds of business it maintains are sponsored by its customers.
It supplies the demands of its people. Consequently, Main Street
exists as an avenue of ill repute because it is profitable for the
establishments to offer the amusements which please its habitues.
On the other hand, its deviates find mutual satisfaction in congre
gating together on this street because of its natural setting for
them. Thus, we find them and the reason for their existence on
Main Street.
CHAPTER IV
STUDY OP ALCOHOLIC DEVIATES
Considerable information has been written concerning the
conduct of those deviates who are alcoholic* This chapter shall
endeavor to present a socio-scientific case study of the alcohol
ic deviate found in Main Street* This section shall portray in
what proportion of arrests made he is found in the street, indi
vidual case records of representative types, the effect alcohol
has on his system, why he drinks, and the cure and treatment of
alcoholism. The alcoholic deviate*s relation to the Municipal
Court and the Probation Department as a means of checking his de
linquency, proposed legislation for the case of chronic inebriates,
and a general summary will conclude the chapter.
Court Assistance Project Study. The extent of debauchery
in Main Street is given in a study made in 1937 by the Court Rela
tionship Committee under the direction of Don R. Sanson^ of that
committee and sponsored by the Council of Social Agencies for the
purpose of making a survey of social problems presented in Munici
pal Court where approximately 73,000 persons per year are charged
with misdemeanors other than traffic offenses. A total of 2,180
defendants were referred for study, sixteen of whom were women.
Don R. Sanson, “Court Assistance Project Study,® unpub
lished report of a study. Council of Social Agencies, Los Angeles
Community Welfare Federation, 1937«
32.
Of th.© total number, 1,609 cases were for drunkenness, which rep
resents 73.8 per cent of the total. Almost without exception the
report shows that the studies of inebriates were made of single,
unattached men coming from the vicinity of Main Street; that in
the same district are large numbers of such men; that there are
no provisions for wholesome leisure time activities; that drunken
ness is a result of enforced idleness; that they are the clients
of some social agency; that the problem of venereal disease is
acute amongst them; and that they should be spread out into out
lying districts where new interests and activities may be found.
Broken down into an average-type analysis, this study fur
ther reveals that this alcoholic deviate is over thirty-five, a
single man, lives in a flop house, has no trade, didn’t pass the
eighth grade in school, has not worked in over a year, is unattached,
has lost his relationship with relatives, has been arrested several
times for misdemeanors, and is a recipient of some type of relief.
Thus, in general, this survey reveals the extent of alcoholism in
the street and a picture of the average alcoholic deviate, which af
fords a comparative picture upon which to base the remaining part
of this chapter.
Types of alcoholic deviates. The alcoholic psychoses as dé
fi
scribed by Rosanoff are as follows:
^Aaron J. Rosanoff, Manual of Psychiatry (New York: John
Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1927), pp. 7, 659, 218, 228, 223-224, 688.
33.
Acute hallucinosis, a psychosis, usually of alcoholic
origin, characterized by hallucinations, for the most part
in the form of voices, lucidity and orientation remaining
intact. Delusions, fear and reactions of flight or defense
develop secondary to the hallucinations.
Alcoholic dementia, a state of alcoholism which produces
dementia praecox which is a constitutional mental disorder
usually occurring in early adult life, running a chronic
course and resulting in a special type of mental deteriora
tion characterized by indifference and incoherence and rela
tively slight involvement of memory.
Chronic delusional states, between acute hallucinosis and
alcoholic delusional states there is no sharp line of demar
cation .... the delusions are mostly of persecution . . to
place upon others the blame for the conditions resulting from
his intemperance . • . and delusions of jealousy, based . . on
misinterpretations of most trivial occurrences.
Delirium tremens are accentuated symptoms of chronic alco
holism and consist of psychic symptoms: disorder of conscious
ness, hallucinatory delirium and motor excitement .....
physical symptoms: tremor of the body and speech. Fever is
a constant symptom.
Polyneuritic psychosis (Korsakoff’s disease), a mental dis
order, most commonly arising in chronic alcoholism, character
ized mentally by a peculiar impairment of memory (impairment
of conversation) and physically by multiple neuritis.
%
These same symptoms and diseases are described by Transeau,
Pollock,^ and Emerson^ in their books and articles and offer a
3
Emma L. Benedict Transeau, Effects of Alcoholic Drinks
(Boston: Scientific Temperance Federation, 1931), Chapters XlI
and XIII.
^Horatio M. Pollock, “The Prevalence of Mental Disease
Due to Alcoholism,® Alcohol and Man, Dr. Haven Emerson, editor
(New York: The Macmillan Company, 1932), Chapter XIV.
^Haven Emerson, Alcohol, Its Effects on Man (New York:
D. Appleton-Century Company, Inc., 1934), Chapter XXV.
34.
basis for the presentation of a few case records drawn from the
files of the Los Angeles County Probation Department in order to
illustrate the types of inebriate found in the street and the
social effects of their existence there.
For the purpose of this study, the types are designated in
general as inebriates and broken down into sub-classifications il
lustrated as inebriated felons, misdemeanants, periodic, common
and moderate types in order to give the exact classification to
the case records presented.
Sometimes there is very little difference between the in
ebriated felon and the inebriated misdemeanant. In cases of Cal
ifornia drunk drivers it is not the degree of drunkenness of the
driver which is the distinguishing factor, but whether he caused
personal injury to someone. Section 501 of the Vehicle Code reads,
“Any person who, while under the influence of intoxicating liquor,
drives a motor vehicle and when so driving does any act forbidden
by law or neglects any duty imposed by law in the driving of such
vehicle, which act or neglect proximately causes bodily injury to
any person, is guilty of a felony ..... .“^
While Section 502 of the Vehicle Code reads, “It is unlaw
ful for any person who is under the influence of intoxicating
7
liquor to drive a vehicle upon any highway.®
^The Vehicle Code. State of California (Sacramento: Cali
fornia State Printing Office, 1937), p. 100.
Ibid.. p. 100.
35.
Thus there is a thin line drawn between the felon and the
misdemeanant who is intoxicated at the time of his arrest. Essen
tially, then, every person who indulges in alcoholic beverages and
who drives an automobile is a potential felon.
The case record of a Main Street deviate who falls into
this classification illustrates the acute hallucinosis psychosis
type also. He is a naturalized white, middle-aged French immi
grant living by himself in a hotel room. He was educated to the
equivalent of the eighth grade in the old country. His father was
a well-to-do merchant in the trade of selling supplies to a European
railroad. He came by himself to the United States and California
in 1906, settling in San Francisco where he became a bartender and
acquired the drink habit. In 1911 he came to Los Angeles where, .
because he had learned the car construction business from his
father, he went to work for the Southern Pacific Railroad as a
steel car builder. He married in 1912 and became naturalized in
1915 in Los Angeles. In 1922 he left the employ of the railroad
to go into business for himself as the proprietor of a restaurant.
It was during this period that in 1930 he was arrested for viola
tion of the California Wright Act Possession law, given a twenty-
five dollar fine, and placed on probation for six months. Also
during this year his wife divorced him on grounds of mental cruelty
to her and the children claiming that because of his excessive
drinking he was jealous and constantly suspicious of them and their
activities in which he had no part. The children remained with his
36.
wife and he continued to support them. In 1938 he lost his bus
iness and since that time has worked as a bartender in several
different beer parlors on Main Street. He lives in the area be
cause of his employment there.
His arrest was caused by drinking wine, driving his old
car and becoming involved in an accident in which a woman was in
jured. He was originally arrested for reckless driving and filed
upon for violation of Section 501 of the Vehicle Code. This was
reduced to drunk driving and being drunk in a public place, both
misdemeanors (the latter charge a violation of the Los Angeles
Municipal Code number 41.27a) because the district attorney’s of
fice ruled that the injury to the woman was not of such severity
as to warrant holding him on a felony charge. The defendant was
allowed to apply for probation which was granted on the following
conditions: (1) that he be placed in the custody of the probation
officer for a period of one year; (2) he was to pay restitution to
the victim for damages to the car and doctor bills; (3) his opera
tor’s license was to be surrendered to the probation officer to be
sent to the Motor Vehicle Department; (4) he was to drive no motor
vehicle for a period of six months; (5) a 180-day jail sentence was
suspended providing he succeeded on probation. This sentence was
pronounced because at the time he was the sole support of his former
wife and one of the children.
The diagnosis of his case was that he is a habitual drunkard
and potential inebriated felon of a mild delusional type. The
37.
prognosis of his case was that if his drinking of alcoholic bever
ages and driving an automobile were not curbed he would harm the
lives of innocent people and his own. A treatment plan was drawn
which included mostly the faithful adiierence to the court’s orders
and his total abstinence from the indulgence of liquor during pro
bation. In this manner, together with a monthly check-up of his
activities when he reports, an attempt to cure him is being ef
fected by the probation officer. Additional influence was afforded
in his continuing to attend the Catholic Church for spiritual aid
in conquering the habit.
The inebriated misdemeanants are those who violate local
laws while under the influence of alcohol, and as such are the
majority of those subjected to incarceration in the local jails.
A case record of this type which also illustrates the delirium
tremen psychotic is that of a Spanish-American War pensioner who
is a habitue of Main Street and lives in a flop house in the ware
house district adjacent to Main Street. He lives here because he
is unattached and likes the company of others like himself who
also maintain a residence there. He is a 60 year old Texas born
white man who never married. Going to school until he was fifteen
he left after completing the fourth grade and went to work as a
mailman until 1898 when he joined the United States Army. He
served until 1911 in the Philippine Islands as a cavalryman when
he received an honorable discharge. He then went to work as a
bridge carpenter for a railroad in Texas, Oklahoma and Arizona
3 8 .
until 1919 when going back to Texas he went into the roofing bus
iness with a brother at San Antonio where he remained until 1928.
Since that time he has received a pension of fifty dollars from
the government because of old age and a condition of dysentery
suffered from his service in the Philippines. He has been a
heavy drinker since his discharge from the army.
Since his arrival in Los Angeles in September of 1938 he
has been arrested for being drunk three times. The first was on
October 16 from which he served ten days. The second arrest was
on October 31 from which he served thirteen days on a sentence of
fifteen days. About a week later he was arrested again for being
drunk. On this occasion the Judge allowed him to apply for proba
tion. The probation officer who visited him observed that he was
trembling all over, his speech was unsteady and his memory vague.
He was evidently suffering from delirium tremens of a mild nature.
He was very thin and his skin color was a pale white. His eyes
were dull and glassey. His attitude was submissive and passive
giving the officer the impression that he was resigned to his fate
regardless of the outcome.
The story of why he became intoxicated seemed plausible
and usual for one in his social status. He claimed that he had
been associating with some friends in Pershing Square when he
suddenly felt as if he were catching a cold. Deciding to go home
he stopped enroute at a beer parlor where he drank about one and
one-half pints of wine. He arrived at his room and instead of
39.
staying there went to the street and purchased one-half pint of
whiskey which he drank. He was again on his way home when some
officers in a radio car placed him under arrest for being intoxi
cated. He claimed that he was not drunk and was fully capable
of caring for himself but the officers thought otherwise. He
did not resist arrest but tried to continue going home. The of
ficers forced him into the car and took him to jail. The next day
he was allowed to apply for probation which was later granted on
the following conditions: (l) he was placed in the custody of the
probation officer for a period of one year; (2) he was to cease
drinking alcohol for medicinal purposes and stay out of liquor
establishments and beer parlors.
The diagnosis of this case was that the defendant was an
alcoholic deviate suffering from a state of delirium tremens. His
condition was so pronounced that he was becoming subject to acute
alcoholism. The prognosis was that continued excessive indulgence
in the vicious habit would result in an acute condition of delir-
Q
ium tremens which results finally, according to Rosanoff, in
“death .... from exhaustion, an epileptiform attack or from
some complication (pneumonia).®
The defendant was interviewed in order that a plan of
treatment could be made for him. He stated that he had a friend
^Aaron J. Rosanoff, Manual of Psychiatry (New York: John
Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1927), p. 224.
40.
who owned a combination pool hall and beer parlor on Main Street.
This friend would help him to succeed on probation. The officer
interviewed this “friend® who stated he would be willing to do so
if the defendant ’ s government check would be turned over to him.
This offer was not accepted. Â brother of the defendant was lo
cated in Fresno, California, who would take care of him. There
fore, he was given permission to go to Fresno and report his prog
ress each month by mail. This settled two problems for him and the
probation officer. It took him out of the bad environment of Main
Street and placed him in good hands where he could become rehabili
tated if he really desired it. Thus, a possible cure was afforded
him.
Periodic inebriates are those alcoholic deviates who drink
excessively at times. The following case record deals with this
type of person and also illustrates a condition of acute hallucin
osis resulting in the subject’s arrest. Thomason^ writes, “some
one said of the drinker that the ’tighter’ he gets, the ’looser’
he becomes; that is to say, the more intoxicated he is, the more
uncontrolled his actions and general behavior.
“This is exactly what happens to a person when he takes
several drinks — he loses his self control and sense of respon
sibility.®
9
George Thomason, Science Speaks (Mountain View, California;
Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1938), p. 25.
41.
The subject of the ease record to follow illustrates the
type of periodic inebriate who drinks because of unemployment
and economic insecurity — social reasons* It concerns an Amer
ican born Mexican, age twenty-five, who lives with his mother
and one sister and three brothers in an apartment* He has never
married. Born and raised in Arizona, he came to Los Angeles with
his family at the age of six. He went through the eighth grade,
then quit school and went to work at the age of sixteen. Prior
to quit ing school he was brought into the Juvenile Court for tru
ancy, and placed in the custody of his parents and under the super
vision of a probation officer for one year. Soon after he secured
a job as a delivery boy for a package delivery service in the Main
Street area and was apparently doing well when he was arrested for
grandtheft automobile. This time the Juvenile Court v/as not so
lenient. He was committed to the Preston School of Industry at
lone, California, where he remained for fourteen months and was
paroled.
Coming back to Los Angeles he worked for various delivery
services then joined the Civilian Conservation Corps for three
months. During this time he v/as having a hard time to adjust him
self. He began to drink and has drunk periodically in excessive
amounts to the present time. In 1935 he secured a position in a
bed spring factory which gave him a sense of security and he set
tled down to a routine life. He was arrested, however, a year later
when he became intoxicated and served ten days in jail. Being laid
42.
off with some other workmen in 1938 he went back to working as
a delivery boy again. Later he secured another steady position
which paid a better salary as a shipping clerk in a sales concern
near his home. But this employment did not give him the amount
of money necessary to buy the things he desired.
One night while feeling discouraged he went to a Main Street
beer parlor where he proceeded to become intoxicated. He claims
he was there alone not knowing any of the other patrons. Another
person who was intoxicated began fighting with other customers
and breaking glasses and furniture. Officers arrived and had to
subdue the other drunken person during which time the subject
thought they were coming after him and were going to beat him up.
He still believes that one of them said, “Come on, you drunken bum,
or do we have to make you come tool®
He jumped out of his seat and began to fight with one of
the officers during which time the officer’s glasses were knocked
off but not broken. Finally subdued and handcuffed, he was placed
in the radio car where he suddenly made his escape by opening the
door, jumping to the street and disappearing in the crowd. He re
members nothing of what happened afterward — not even how he man
aged to remove the handcuffs nor where they are. He only remembers
waking the next morning behind a billboard where he had evidently
spent the night.
Later, after a few days, he gave himself up, not knowing
that the police did not know who he was although they were looking
43.
for him. He was placed under arrest immediately for battery and
upon appearing in court the next day was allowed to apply for
probation.
The investigation of the probation officer disclosed that
he had acted like a mad man at the time of his arrest. The police
man whom he struck stated that he thought the defendant had been
smoking marijuana. He gave all the symptoms of it such as being
fiendishly savage and completely mad in behavior. “Ordinarily,®
the officer added, “a person of such slight build as the defend
ant would not attack a police officer half again as large as he.®
The policeman may not have realized that his prisoner was suffer
ing from an acute attack of hallucinosis while under the influence
of alcohol, which is very similar to the third stage of marijuana
addiction as described by Thomason.The defendant later emphati
cally stated that he had never smoked marijuana.
He was granted probation after being in jail for about two
weeks awaiting the probation hearing. The conditions were that (l)
he was placed in custody of probation officer for supervision for
one year; (2) he was to pay restitution of nine dollars through the
probation officer for the lost handcuffs; (3) a sentence of thirty
days was to be served if he did not succeed on probation; (4)
drinking alcoholic beverages and frequenting questionable places
of resort was to constitute a violation of probation.
The diagnosis of his case was that he had gone to the beer
^^George Thomason, Science Speaks (Mountain View, California:
Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1938), p. 13.
44.
parlor in a dejected state of mind seeking relief through becoming
intoxicated and had suffered an attack of acute hallucinosis which
caused his altercation with the law. The prognosis was that he
was in danger of becoming a chronic alcoholic which would result
in placing in jeopardy the peace and well being of other people
and subjecting himself to a state of coma which often results in
paralysis or death according to Bogen.^^
Treatment was designed to keep him working and possibly
secure a job that would pay him enough to buy the clothes and
other things he desired as he seemed more peaceful and contented
during the time he was working at a full time job. He was re
ferred to the State Employment Service at 12th and Grand Avenue
for possible placement. That agency has a turn over of four thou
sand job placements per month. His present employer was interviewed
and promised to keep him employed as long as he was an efficient
employee. He was told the dangerous effects of alcohol and admon
ished to join a young men’s club or athletic group and go to the
Catholic Church of his family’s religion that he might overcome
his habit of drink and acquire the aesthetic and religious inspir
ation he needed. Thus, he might become cured.
Common inebriates have been those who drink constantly but
do not as a rule become fully intoxicated. They are sometimes
12
subjected to alcoholic dementia according to Bogen who states
^mil Bogen, "The Human Toxology of Alcohol,® Alcohol and
Man, Dr. Haven Emerson, editor (New York: The Macmillan Company,
1§32), Chapter VI, p. 137.
, p. 134.
45.
in lils paragraph, on ^The Stage of Stimulation* the following:
“Another characteristic feature^ evidently resulting from the de
pression of the higher functions, is the loss of the power to con
trol moods • . • • • some persons become , . quiet, depressed and
sleepy without any evidence of the usual excitement.*
1 ^
On the other hand, Hyman'^'^ states, “The habitual use of al
cohol in moderate amounts by the normal human adult appears to be
without permanent organic effect deleterious in character.*
The following case history is of a man who, because of con
tinued drinking and failure to observe the laws of health, devel
oped the symptoms of alcoholic dementia to the extent of losing
“the power to control moods* and became depressed. He may not be
termed a “normal human adult* as considered by Hyman because of
his poor health. He is a man of sixty, born in Illinois and raised
on a farm. He went to a country school where he completed the sixth
grade. Leaving school at the age of thirteen he worked for his
father until the age of eighteen. He then married and began work
ing a farm of his own. In 1918 their only child, a daughter, was
born. Continuing on his farm until 1919, he sold out and came to
Los Angeles, bought income property and has now retired. Until
recently he was a cement contractor doing small jobs such as the
laying of sidewalks and driveways. Then with the scarcity of work
and his poor health because of alcoholism, he has remained unem
ployed up to the present time.
^^Harold Thomas Hyman, “Alcohol Used Experimentally in Healthy
Persons as Basis for Therapeutic Use,* Alcohol and Man, Dr. Haven Em
erson, editor (Hew York: The Macmillan Company, 1932), Chapter III,
p. 77.
46.
His custom was to go to Main Street frequently and “drink
with the boys,* as he explained it. His arrest came about when he
became involved in an automobile accident while driving home after
one of his .visits to a beer parlor. Hot much damage was done to
his or the victim* s car and he immediately made restitution. Of
ficers were called to the scene and found that he had been drink
ing. He was taken to jail and booked for drunk driving. When he
appeared before the judge he was allowed to apply for probation
as he had no prior record.
The probation officer interviewed him at which time he gave
all evidence of suffering from alcoholic dementia as he wept like
a child during the conversation and promised faithfully never to
drink again if he were granted probation. The officer promised
to do what he could. He then began to laugh hysterically, disturb
ing the entire office where the interview was taking place. After
a time he regained his composure and the interview was completed.
A conversation with his wife resulted in the disclosure that it
was his custom to go to the beer parlors in his own vicinity and
on Main Street after he received his monthly check and to spend al
most all of it in buying liquor for himself and others. He would
stay in a stuporous condition of alcoholism for weeks at a time un
til the wife became thoroughly disgusted with him and went to her
daughter* s house to live. Before prohibition he went to town each
month and became intoxicated. Bringing home bottles of liquor, his
drinking would continue until he became ill. Then he would quit
until the next month.
47.
When prohibition became a national law he became violently
ill from bootleg liquor and quit drinking* In the meantime they
sold their farm and moved to Los Angeles where the income property
was bought and they retired. With the repeal of prohibition and
the lack of employment or occupational interests, he began to
drink again* The wife immediately caused a property settlement
to be made so that she would be assured of an income the rest of
her life and threatened to separate from him. He stopped his
drinking for a time but then began again and has continued to do
so to the present time. The wife feels that alcohol has caused
him to suffer mentally and emotionally as has been described.
A few days after this interview the probation officer re
ceived a telephone call from the wife stating that this man was
drunk again. This occurred before he was to have his probation
hearing. The officer went to his home and found him under the
influence of alcohol. He wept and went through a series of emo
tional disturbances, blaming everyone but himself for his condi
tion. He went so far as to blame President Roosevelt for having
repealed prohibition. Most of all he blamed his wife for leaving
him alone on Sundays and going to the Trinity Baptist Church where
she remained all day long disregarding his feelings in the matter.
Finally, he stated very emphatically that he would no longer drink
and promised to have himself arrested if he did so.
The court was informed of his latest escapade. It granted
probation, however, with the following conditions: Cl) he was
48.
placed in the custody of the probation officer for one year; (2)
a sentence of 180 days was suspended providing he succeeded on
probation; (3) his operator’s license was to be surrendered to
the Municipal Court clerk to be sent to the Motor Vehicle Depart
ment; (4) he was to drive no motor vehicle for a period of six
months; (5) he was to stop drinking and stay out of beer parlors
and liquor stores.
The diagnosis of the case was that the defendant was a
habitual drinker of intoxicating beverages and as such was con
stantly under the influence of alcohol. He was found to be suf
fering from alcoholic dementia, which with his heart ailment was
endangering his life. The prognosis was that if he continued to
drink he would eventually become a permanent victim of alcoholic
dementia resulting in dementia praecox which would shorten his
life .
Treatment was planned to enable him to seek new interests.
He was advised to go to Exposition Park where he could play horse
shoes, chess, checkers, and cards with other men of his own age.
Securing work such as distributing circulars, cutting lawns,
cleaning back years, etc., was advised in order to build up his
health as well as affording him an additional income with which
to engage in more wholesome recreational pursuits with his wife,
such as over-night trips, good wholesome musical productions,
movies, and the legitimate theater. He was admonished to go to
church where he might secure those inspirational helps that would
49.
enable him to overcome his habit and to effect a cure.
There is very little difference between the common inebri
ate and the moderate drinker. Alcohol effects different people
in different ways. It is not necessarily the amount of alcohol
taken or at what times, but the fact that it is taken that ac
counts for alcoholism and its resulting ills.
Transeau^^ in a paragraph entitled “Milk of Old Age* writes,
“British physicians (Horsley, Barlow, Woodhead) say that wine
leads to delay in excreting the wastes of the body, tends gradually
to weaken the circulation and thus frequently causes a lowering of
vitality, even when taken only in small amounts. It tends to pro
duce heart weakness, muscular pains and deterioration of the fine
blood vessels. In old age when the tissues of the body are on the
down grade, alcohol in most cases merely hastens the process of
decay.®
According to the definition of polyneurotic psychosis as
given at the beginning of this chapter, the subject of this case
record was suffering from poor memory and muscular pains which
were caused by inflamation of the nerves — yet the subject is a
moderate drinker.
The subject of this case record is a naturalized white man,
fifty-eight years old, born in England. He came to the United
States at the age of eight years, went to school, which he left
^^mma L. Benedict Transeau, Effects of Alcoholic Drinks
(Boston; Scientific Temperance Federation, 193Ï), ' p. 9.
50.
at the age of fourteen after completing the eighth grade, and
then went to work as an office boy in the Pullman Company of
Chicago. Remaining there until he was twenty-five, he was mar
ried in 1905, the same year that he went to work as a grocery
clerk in Iowa. He remained in this work until 1917 when he moved
to Los Angeles with his wife and their one child, a boy. For the
next fifteen years he worked as an attendant in a filling station
for the Standard Oil Company. He was discharged from the employ
ment of the company because, he claims, he had become too old and
they could secure the services of younger men who were college
graduates to operate the many new stations they were building.
Unable to find steady employment he drifted from one laboring
job to another. He became estranged from his wife when he was no
longer able to support her. Resorting to drinking liquor by this
man resulted in further estrangement and finally a divorce was se
cured by the wife in 1936 on the grounds of mental cruelty. His
drinking, he claims, was excessive only at times. The wife now
lives with their son who has steady employment.
Since the divorce the subject has frequented Main Street be
cause he finds mutual companionship in men of the street who are
more nearly like him. He supports himself by distributing hand
bills and selling oranges with crews of men secured from the unem
ployed of Main and East Fifth Streets. His average income from
this work is seven dollars per week. This enables him to secure
room and board paying two dollars and fifty cents each week to the
51.
landlady, and to drive a 1928 Chevrolet coupe which he owns. In
addition to the cash which he pays he also takes care of his land
lady’s lawn, plumbing, painting and other repairs about the home
in order to pay for his room and board.
All during the interview with this man, he seemed vague in
remembering dates and places. An interview with his son revealed
that his father and mother were divorced because the father was
constantly irritable and mentally upset. There was constant
friction between them because she objected to his drinking and
failure in even trying to secure employment. He stayed at home
week after week and made a nuisance of himself by interfering in
the activities of his wife and son. A loss of status was brou^t
about and a divorce was the only means of making him understand
that his wife wanted tranquility.
His arrest was brou^t about by an accident in which he
was involved after drinking a half-pint of wine. Officers were
called to the scene, found that he had been drinking and took him
to jail where he was booked for drunk driving and being drunk in
a public place. He was allowed to apply for probation as he had
been convicted of only one drunk charge, that being in 1935 when
he received a sentence of twenty dollars or ten days. At that
time he was able to pay the fine with the help of his son and so
was released.
Appearing for his probation sentence, he was granted pro
bation on the following conditions: (l) he was placed in the cus
tody of the probation officer for one year; (2) restitution was
52*
to be paid the victim as soon as possible; (3) his operator’s li
cense was surrendered to the probation officer to be sent the
Motor Vehicle Department; (4) he was to drive no motor vehicle
for a period of six months; (5) drinking alcohol during probation
would constitute a violation; (6) a sentence of thirty days was
suspended providing he succeeded on probation.
The diagnosis of the case was that the defendant had become
dejected over the loss of his steady employment with the Standard
Oil Company and inability to secure other permanent employment.
He resorted to alcohol and inertia which resulted in his wife’s
securing a divorce. Continued use of alcohol affected his mind
and nervous system causing him to suffer from alcoholic polyneur
itis. The prognosis was that continued drinking would cause an
acute and immediate case of polyneuritis which eventually would re
sult in senile dementia or mental deterioration according to
15
Rosanoff•
Treatment was designed for him to adhere to the court’s
orders. It was arranged for him to live with his brother who re
sides in Inglewood. Here he would be away from the influence of
Main Street and would receive good care. He was encouraged to
give up his automobile. Going to church, continuing to work for
the distributing company and acquiring new associates and interests
were encouraged. In this manner it was hoped a cure might be ef
fected.
^^Aaron J. Rosanoff, Manual of Psychiatry (New York: John
Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1937), p. 325.
53.
Effect of alcoholism on the human system. In the fore
going case studies the effect of alcohol on the human system and
the toxic ailments it causes have been partly revealed. There
remains a study of its absorption and effect on the tissues, thus
causing drunkenness and the breakdown in health of body and mind.
Thomason^^ very simply explains the process and physiolog
ical effect. He writes.
Because of its ready absorption into the blood stream, al
cohol is quickly distributed to every part of the organism.
It is so easily diffused that it penetrates rapidly into all
the body tissues. Once in the blood stream, alcohol makes a
complete circuit of the organs of the body every thirty-seven
seconds. So thoroughly does it penetrate the body that exper
iments with animals have shown that it can be recovered from
all the organs and secretions of the body in a few minutes
after administration • . • . alcohol makes its major attack on
the central nervous system -- the brain and spinal cord. This
is particularly true in man .... Alcohol acts as a narcot
ic on all the nerves of the body, upon the sensory nerves, the
motor nerves, and the nerves of coordination .... Because
of its action on the motor nerves alcohol eventually paralyzes
parts of the body. That is the reason the drunk man cannot
walk straight or point straight; and, if he drinks enough, he
is so paralyzed he just lies in a drunken stupor and coma.
That paralysis, or narcotization, may become so complete that
the drinker dies.
Etiology of alcoholism. Some of the sociological etiologies
for alcoholism have been given in the case records already presented,
This paragraph shall deal with the causes on the bases of heredity
17
and social environment. Rosanoff in his paragraph on the etiology
of chronic alcoholism gives several reasons which he has found.
George Thomason, Science Speaks (Mountain View, California:
Pacific Publishing Association, 1938), pp. 21, 23.
Aaron J. Rosanoff, Manual of Psychiatry (New York: John
Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1927), p. 220.
54.
They are divided into two classifications — heredity and social
factors. Of heredity he says that according to Kraepelin the tend
ency to alcoholic excesses is transmitted to descendants. With
that he says no more. Of the social factors he mentions grief.
Some alcoholic deviates are grieved because of financial or person
al losses and worries.
Thomason^^ states that the greatest cause is physiological,
namely, a means of ^escape from reality into phantasy.®
Charles R. Stockard,^® an experimenter with guinea pigs,
writes of the effects of alcohol on heredity, “All of extensive
and carefully conducted experimental studies on the influences
of alcohol on the germ cells and developing embryos of mammals
would seem to indicate that the surviving stock is not decidedly
injured by the treatments. There are indications that the less
resistant germ cells are affected by the treatments but the hardy
more resistant cells seem to escape.®
Charles B, Davenport, after making a study of the work
of MacDonald, an experimenter with white rats; Stockard and Pearl,
experimenters with common rats; Yerkes, experimenter with alcohol
ized rats solving maze problems; and Hanson, Hays, and Agnes Bluhm,
TO .
•^George Thomason, Science Speaks (Mountain View, California:
Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1938), p. 35.
19
Charles R. Stockard, “Effects of Alcohol in Development and
Heredity,® Alcohol and Man, Dr. Haven Emerson, editor (New York:
The Macmillan Company, 1932), Chapter V, p. 119.
20
Charles B. Davenport, Ibid., Chapter VI, p. 124.
55.
all experimenters with rats; writes, "While the foregoing results
apparently are opposed to Stockard’s, the two sets of experiments
are not actually in opposition, as Pearl points out. In guinea
pigs the gametes may be so sensitive that not only are the weakest
inactivated but the stronger germs are injured without being inac
tivated. According to this hypothesis defective, variable young
may be produced and may conceivably transmit the defect.
“There is much evidence that generations of alcoholism in
man has produced gametes relatively resistant to alcohol so that
diminished fertility of alcoholics and defective offspring of al
coholics are, at least, not the common result.®
In conclusion, summarizing the foregoing data, we learn that
the etiology of alcoholism is divided between heredity and social
factors or environment. Between the two there is overwhelming evi
dence that alcohol is not transmitted in the young although certain
tendencies in the weaker offspring may acquire the habit. Its
causes are sociological, namely, grief, escape, acquired habit, or
a combination of them.
Treatment eind cure of alcoholism. There is no known treat
ment or cure for alcoholism Abstinence until there is no more de
sire for it is the only means of cure according to Rosanoff.
However, there are aesthetic factors which will aid one in rehabil-
^^Aaron J. Rosanoff, Manual of Psychiatry {New York: John
Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1927), p. 283.
56.
Itation, namely, a religious conversion, love for a dear one, or
sublimation of the will. In conversion the desire for drink is
taken away spiritually and the convert believes that God will
help him. Loving a dear one is a great factor if that one’s in
spirational aid can be secured and the alcoholic desires enough
to quit. Sublimation of the will is meant a transference of
thought and feeling from alcohol to the beautiful and purposeful
things of life. This, coupled with a great desire to overcome,
will sometimes break the spell* The removal of the alcoholic
from the environment of his debauchery will also greatly enhance
his chances for recovery.
Municipal Court and Los Angeles County Probation Department
As a preface to this paragraph a general description of the appear
ance of inebriates at the time of their arrest is apt. A good ac
count of the intoxicated condition is given by arresting officers
in their arrest reports. This is somewhat as follows: The inebri
ates are slumped over or lying in a hallway or gutter. Their
speech is thick and incoherent; eyes are bloodshot, watery and di
lated; clothing is disarranged and dirty; attitude is usually argu
mentative or in some cases submissive; muscular coordination is
lacking and they slobber at the mouth; some endeavor to make an es
cape from arrest by jerking away or, failing in these attempts, be
gin using profane or abusive language; some are bleeding about the
head from fights or falls. They usually become quiet after being
57.
placed in the radio car and some go into a heavy sleep resembling
somnolence in traumatic disorders as described by Rosanoff.
They are taken to jail where they are booked for being drunk.
Within twelve or twenty-four hours, according to their state of in
toxication, they appear before the Municipal Court judge to enter
a plea of guilty or not guilty. If they are guilty they may apply
for probation, or upon a denial of this application, they receive
their sentence.
When they are allowed to apply for probation, they are re
ferred to the newly formed Municipal Court Division of the Los
Angeles County Probation Department where they are interviewed by
a probation officer and an investigation of their story and offense
is made. A report of this is sent the court when the defendant re
turns for the probation hearing. If he is grahted. probation, it
is upon certain conditions which he must adhere to or become a
violator of probation and be subject to arrest and incarceration
after appearing before the court on a violation charge. His in
structions are given him by the probation officer when he returns
for them and the subsequent supervision arrangements for the period
of probation.
The procedure for the securing of probation for the defend
ant is also described in the case records. Supervision is chiefly
aiding the probationer to succeed on probation. It is conducted on
the usual case work basis characterized by other agencies except
that a command is given the probationer to report each month or he
58.
becomes a violator. Case work is applied in helping him to adjust
his economic, domestic and social affairs so that he may become
truly rehabilitated and on the road to complete adjustment in so
ciety.
In relation to the inebriate, this probation work is plac
ing the solution of the problem of alcoholism as found on Main
Street and elsewhere on a scientific basis. Before the inception
of this division there was a semblance of work of this nature done
but the department organized for it had two drawbacks — (l) it
was operating without a trained case work staff and organization,
and (2) its workers were burdened with several hundred cases, which
reduced its effectiveness to the extent of merely identifying the
applicant with his residence, family, and employment as he claimed
they existed to the court. The court, therefore, was informed of
the defendant’s social status only and upon this basis granted or
denied probation.
Proposed legislation. Two primary objectives of the Court
Assistance Project Study were to establish a division in the Los
Angeles County Probation Department for the social work investi
gation and supervision of Municipal Court cases and accomplish the
establishment of an inebriate colony for the removal of alcoholic
deviates from public places and placing them in an institution for
their treatment and possible cure. The first objective has been
accomplished although its effectiveness in the alleviation of the
problem has not been established because it is so newly organized.
The second objective is underway.
59.
A state senate bill has been drawn up under the leader
ship of Don R. Sanson, supervisor of the Municipal Court section
of the Los Angeles County Probation Department, which proposes
this very thing. It is sponsored in the state assembly by former
Judge Kenny of Los Angeles and now a state assmmblyman. Entitled
“State Inebriate Colony Act* it proposes the following action to
be taken by our state assemblymen: that “the Director of Institu
tions, with the approval of the State Board of Control, is author
ized and directed to provide suitable property or grounds for one
or more institutional units to be used for the isolation and re
habilitation of chronic inebriates, which said units shall be
known as State Inebriate Colonies, and shall be administered as
provided by law.®
It further defines its purpose in Section II as follows:
“In establishing the said colonies it is the purpose of this act
(a) to cure and rehabilitate all cases possible of those who may
hereafter be committed to said colony; (b) to provide study and
vocational training for said inebriates in all cases possible, so
as to render them useful.......... (c) to provide research fa
cilities for the treatment and cure of chronic inebriates."
The act defines a chronic inebriate, provides for his appre
hension, trial and commitment, right to trial, time to make demand,
summoning of jury, time for attendance, stay of commitment on de-
^^State Senate Bill, Number 492, Section I.
60*
mand for jury trial, right of judge to require bond, district attor
ney to appear against alleged inebriate, conduct of trial, vote
necessary to commit, order on verdict of commitment, presentation
of order to superintendent, copy to be sent to department, govern
ment of state inebriate colony, appropriations, payment, penalty
for bringing liquor or drugs, penalty for aiding escape, transfer
to or from state hospital for insane and validity of the act.
This bill is expected to be presented before the state as
sembly this session. Its merit speaks for itself in view of the
foregoing material presented in this chapter.
Summary. In dealing with Main Street alcoholic deviates
this chapter presented: (1) the extent of alcoholism as found in
the street by the survey conducted by the Court Assistance Project
Study; (2) case records of representative inebriates with an anal
ysis of their particular alcoholic ailments; (3) effect of alcohol
on the human system; (4) etiology of alcoholism as being of a soci
ological-environmental nature rather than hereditary; (5) the
treatment and cure of alcohol being impossible without the insti
tutionalization or hospitalization of the inebriate or a strong de
sire on the deviate’s part to overcome his debauchery through aes
thetic methods or power of the will; (6) the relation of the Munic
ipal Court and Los Angeles County Probation Department procedures
in his behalf; and (7) proposed legislation of an inebriate colony
for the deviate*s care and rehabilitation.
CHAPTER V
STUDY OP SEXUAL DEVIATES
In Chapter III a sociological background was presented up
on which this chapter is developed. It revealed the condition of
sexual inversion and perversion which existed in Main Street and
its environs « A discussion of the individual sexual deviate will
be made in this chapter. Those included represent three distinc
tive types — the eroticist, the homosexual, and the heterosexual.
A few case records representing each will be presented. The pur
pose is to present a picture of the individual deviate himself,
with studies of how he lives, what he thinks of his circumstance,
his attitude toward members of the opposite relationship, treatment
and cure. This chapter will present paragraphs on the etiology,
treatment and cure of homosexuality. The dealings of the Munici
pal Court and Los Angeles County Probation Department with sexual
deviates and a summary will conclude the chapter.
Erotic1sts. Onanism or masturbation is usually the first
form of sexual inversion found in the individual. It may start at
any time after the individual reaches the age of three years.
Ejaculation in the male or orgasm in the female would not occur un
til the age of puberty, but the pleasurable sensation often causes
the deviate to continue it into adulthood and after marriage. It
would not necessarily create an urning out of the individual but
it could cause him to lose all aesthetic thoughts and hence seek
62*
and secure the greatest emotional and physical response and self-
gratification he can without a regard for the spiritual unity and
beauty usually accompanied by normal sexual relations* Thouless
writes, “The heterosexual man may satisfy himself from the street
until the habit of fornication has left him only the appetite of
sex, and has more or less completely destroyed his power of re
sponding with the tenderness and devotion which are essential parts
of normal love. The onanist * s sexual life thus becomes unnatural
and often leads to anti-social behavior as shown in the following
case study.
A young married man who admitted attending the burlesque
shows on Main Street for the sexual gratification he could secure
and who was an onanist is an example of this type. He was arrested
for driving around a local high school while masturbating and look
ing at the young girls. A group of boys standing on the running
board of a parked car observed him performing the act. They noti
fied police who placed him under arrest* He pleaded guilty to the
charge and revealed himself to be happily married and the father
of a seven months old baby.
His social record shows that he was born in the Middle West
as the only son of farming parents. He was raised by his parents
who allowed him to have things which he did not need and pampered
him in this way. He became attached to them to the exclusion of
^Robert H. Thouless, “Introduction," The Invert (Anomaly,
the author, London: Bailliere, Tindall and Cox, 192§T, p. x.
63.
others. Not mingling with other children at school because he
was of a sensitive nature and slight build, he developed an in
trovert ive personality. Resorting to masturbation at the age of
ten years he developed the habit and persisted in it. Studying
music almost to the exclusion of any other subject, he became a
skilled musician, being able to perform equally well on all of the
wind instruments. He graduated from high school in Colorado and
entered the University of Denver where he remained for two years
studying in the school of music. Leaving school at the age of
twenty-two he began to work as a musician in various bands in
Colorado* During this time he continued his introvertive prac
tice without having or caring to have intercourse with females.
In 1933 he married. They lived with his parents who heaped things
upon him and his wife, causing him to be less self-reliant. His
wife did not like this relationship with the parents and induced
her husband to take her to Los Angeles where they could live their
own lives.
Arriving in Los Angeles he immediately went to work in an
orchestra and has been able to earn a fair but independent living
for which both are pleased. This has strengthened the marital
relationship, but his wife states that she knew something was
wrong* She could not find out what it was until he was placed
under arrest for indecent exposure. She further added that her
husband seemed at times to act very normal in their sexual rela
tionships but then would seem estranged on other occasions.
6 4 .
They became financially embarrassed in the last year and
did not engage in sexual intercourse as often because they did not
have the money to buy the proper contraceptives. Also, the arri
val of a baby girl necessitated a long period of sexual inactivity
which caused the defendant to resort to onanism, his old practice
which he could not sublimate to the extent of becoming psychically
united with his wife.
On the day of his arrest he claims that he felt the urge
to masturbate or secure some sexual expression as he had not had
satisfaction for some time. He was driving in his car at the time,
so he proceeded to perform the act while driving about the city.
Passing a high school, driving around it twice, he was proceeding
on to a friend’s house when officers stopped him and placed him
under arrest•
This onanist was later examined by a psychiatrist recognized
by the Los Angeles County Medical Association whose report was as
follows: “As a result of this study the following conclusions are
possible, (a) that while (the defendant) is a slender, poorly knit
person, he is physically well .... I find no physical reason for
those acts of which have been labelled anti-social; (b) psychically
speaking, it is possible to trace the probable origin of these ac
tions* He is a musician. He was a bashful child and began to mas
turbate at the age of ten years * His wife and he had considerable
difficulty in adjusting themselves maritally ........ Apparently
the matter of gratifying himself sexually by masturbation has been
6 5 .
carried on so long that the possible moral elements did not enter
strongly into his consciousness."
The result of the case is that the onanist and his wife
understand his problem and together they are working it out for
their gratification and the defendant is continuing his treatment
with the psychiatrist and believes that he can be cured and will
be able to acquire a more spiritual unity in the sexual relation
ship with his wife.
Homosexual deviates. “There is considerable truth in the
dictum: *A man is what his sex is.’ No useful advice can be given
concerning the guidance and control of the sexual life unless this
2
is borne in mind.® Sexual inversion is not a disease any more
than color blindness is a disease. In its true form it is congeni
tal rather than acquired. Its cause as such is not known. Many
theories have been advanced, but none have been proven. In the
constitutional state blame cannot be placed on the individual. It
is not his fault if he were born an urning or incurable homosexual.
Only God understands. He is not degenerate except in the same
sense that a person born with a club foot or some other form of
physical or mental deficiency would be.
However, there are two distinctions to be made in the under
standing of this study. There is the true homosexual type whose
love and passion is for the members of his own sex. There is, also.
^Havelock Ellis, Psychology of Sex (New York: Emerson
Books, Inc., 1938), p. 3.
66.
the degenerated being whose passion exists without psychic re
straint; who would have coitus or any form of sexual inversion
for the mere self-gratification of it. The urning or first type
declares that his love belongs to heaven. The latter type does
not care where his passion belongs. This paper shall deal with
both.
Usually in urnings there are two sub-groups — the active
and the passive. The active homosexual is the agressor or the
“male,* and the passive homosexual is the submissive or “female®
type. The latter secures as much pleasure in his role as the
former. This is illustrated by Rosanoff in his chapter "Sexual
Psychopathies® where he writes, "The desire to play the passive
part seems to be determined by an unusually high erogenous value
possessed by the oral and anal regions. .... sexual excitation
of these regions seems, by a sort of psychic reflex, to produce
erection and ejaculation; in some cases masturbation has to be
simultaneously indulged in; and in exceptional cases a diffuse,
mainly psychic orgasm is produced affording complete gratification
g
without erection and ejaculation.®
It is estimated by some authorities that from three to five
per cent of all males are inverts of one kind or another. Anomaly
estimates it at five.^ Among women there is no definite estimate
2
Aaron J. Rosanoff, Manual of Psychiatry (New York: John
Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1927), p. 201.
^Anomaly, The Invert (London: Bailliere, Tindall and Cox,
1929), p. 14.
6 7 .
But a surmise of many authorities is that among single females it
is slightly higher.
The case of homosexual cunnilinguism wherein mutual mas
turbation or fellatio is accomplished, prevalent in Main Street
as has already been illustrated in Chapter III, is the subject
of another type of onanism. Ellis says, "One writes, ’In bed with
my friend I feel as he feels, and he feels as I feel. The result
5
is masturbation, and nothing more or the desire for more’.®
One whose inclinations are the same is a French-German, born
in America, who frequents Main Street. He was interviewed and re
vealed the following story of his sex life. As a boy he lived on
a farm with his parents and three other brothers. One of the older
boys taught him how to masturbate and it was his custom to do this
once or twice each day. Once he conceived the idea of masturbating
a dog and did so. He became fond of performing this act on other
animals as well. He claimed that he once took hold of the repro
ductive organ of a horse but because of the nervousness of the ani
mal he was unable to be successful in the act. As he grew older he
practiced mutual masturbation with his older brother. When this
brother married they stopped the practice. At about eighteen years
of age he left the farm to come to Los Angeles to work on the South
ern Pacific Railroad. Going to Main Street and attending a motion
5
Havelock Ellis, Sexual Inversion (vol. II, Studies in the
Psychology of Sex, 7 vol. ; New York: F. A. Davis Company, 1925),
p. 283.
68.
picture show, he met another urning who engaged him in an act of
onanism in the theater. Later they often met each other and prac
ticed the act in their rooms.
This man never married because he claimed that he had no
desire for normal coitus with a woman. He feels, however, that
he is not an urning but secures his greatest gratification in
having another person masturbate him or in his accomplishing the
act on them. Each Saturday night or Sunday he will pay the way
of a boy into a motion picture show, where they sit together. The
subject of this case record then proceeds to masturbate the boy,
securing the semen in his handkerchief when the ejaculation occurs.
This he uses later in his own onanism. It thus has become a fet
ich to him.
Asked if he would desire to be cured, the subject stated
that he felt that his habit was so pronounced that a cure could
not be accomplished. He persisted in it and would continue until
he no longer had a desire for the act, probably when old age would
have robbed him of any sexual aspirations. This man has never
been arrested for his delinquency as he has been quite careful not
to be detected. This is expressed in a statement by Ellis who re
marked, "It is true that the invert seldom places himself in the
hands of a physician. He usually has no wish to be different from
what he is, and as his intelligence is usually up to the average
level, ........ he is careful to avoid discovery and seldom
69.
6
attracts the attention of the police."
Sodomy is the most natural of sexual relations between
males. It simulates normal heterosexual acts more closely than
any other form of perversion. The victim is sometimes unwilling
but allows the practice because of financial distress.
This is illustrated in the case recorded in Chapter III of
this study wherein the young, homeless man in Pershing Square was
Induced to go to the room of an urning to spend the night and was
obliged to have an act of fellatio and two acts of sodomy committed
on his body. It is suspected that this “victim* was a willing
subject and had the same deviate experiences with his roommate
because he later went back to his benefactor to live and to work
in the same hotel* In this respect he became a passive homosexual.
After he was arrested for the theft of sixty-four dollars from his
fellow-urning he went to live in a Main Street flop house where he
existed without employment or relief for several months. It is
not known how he managed to do this except by offering himself in
prostitution. It was probably revolting to him but he felt forced
to accept it. Later it was revealed by the man whom he claimed was
an urning and who had seduced him, that the victim in reality was
the aggressor in the matter. Both were engaged mutually in the
deviation.
g
Havelock Ellis, Psychology of Sex (New York: Emerson
Books, Inc., 1938), p. 220.
70.
Mot long ago a sixteen year old boy who had hitch-hiked to
Los Angeles with another boy from Birmingham, Alabama, was placed
in Juvenile Hall Clinic because it was found that he was delinquent.
He had been hit by an automobile while selling newspapers in a
safety-zone and was taken to the General Hospital with a broken
leg, cuts and bruises. From there he was taken to the clinic when
it was found that he was without proper guardianship and was in
danger of leading a lewd, immoral life. He was living in a hotel
room near Fifth and Main Streets with his boy friend and a homosex
ual adult who practiced pederasty on him. He thus became a passive
pederast. The newspapers he sold helped him to buy his meals and
to attend the amusements he desired in Main Street.
His story was that his boy friend and he lived with their
parents. As school was out for the summer and they had money
saved for the trip, he was able to get his mother’s consent to
allow him to come to Los Angeles. Enroute they met a traveling
paint salesman who gave them a job helping him sell the paint pro
ducts in return for free transportation. This was in Texas. The
salesman was an urning of many types. The boys objected to his
advances at night when they slept in his car, but “gave in^ to him
so that they could reach Los Angeles. After their arrival he took
them to a hotel on East Fifth Street where a room was secured and
after two nights with them suddenly disappeared.
The boys had some money which kept them until one of them
(the subject of the case record) secured the newspaper job. His
friend became acquainted with another man who told the boys they
71.
could live with him in his room* He represented himself at first
merely as a friend* As our subject was not making much money they
decided to accept * The first night they learned that this “friend**
was homosexually inclined. Both objected to his advances but fi
nally allowed, the forms of degeneracy performed on their bodies.
The situation terminated with the accident.
The boy stated that he never had experiences of this nature
prior to this situation and he felt that perversion of the normal
functions of sex life was disgusting. He is sure he is not homo-
sexually inclined and although never having had sexual intercourse,
he likes to have girl friends and acquaintances and does not desire
this type of relationship with men or other boys. His parents were
informed and he was sent home to them by train after his leg had
healed enough for him to travel safely.
Recently in Lincoln Park of Los Angeles the members of the
vice squad of the police department made several arrests of men
who were practicing fellationism or “apposition of the mouth to the
7
male genital organs.*" This is also called irrumation as described
8
by Rosanoff. The nature of this deviation in sexual behavior is
regarded by Ellis to be a perversion “when it replaces the desire
7
Havelock Ellis, Psychology of Sex (New York: Emerson
Books, Inc., 1938), p. 368.
p
Aaron J. Rosanoff, Manual of Psychiatry (New York: John
Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1927), p. 678.
72.
for coitus.He further modifies himself to conclude that “tak
ing sexual relationships in the widest sense, but still on the
physical side, it is important always to bear in mind that what
ever gives satisfaction and relief to both parties is good and
right, and in the best sense normal, providing no injury is ef
fected.
The arrests made in the park were accomplished when the
fellationists utilized a hole in the wooden partition of two end
lavatories. Officers watched the proceedings and then placed both
deviates under arrest when evidence was sufficient. The violators
were booked for violation of Section 311, Penal Code, which is the
charge for lewd conduct. It was not the act they were committing
but the fact that it was done in a public place that caused their
arrest. One of those arrested, a middle-aged man who had his
place of business on Main Street in every sense who seemed to
show no signs of degeneracy by his appearance verified Ellis*
statement that very few homosexuals show signs of degeneracy. The
historical background of his life is one of great interest. He
graduated from an eastern university with a Master of Arts degree
in accounting, and was married in 1913. He joined the Canadian
Army in 1914 and went overseas to be transferred to the Canadian
Royal Air Force where he served until the end of the war. Return
ing to the United States he secured work as an accountant in Cleve-
^Ellis, 0£. cit., p. 48.
^°Ibld.. p. 349,
73.
land, and later in Chicago and St. Louis until 1929 when he was
arrested for forgery and sentenced to Leavenworth Penitentiary
for one year. When released he came to Los Angeles where he went
to work as an accountant for various relief agencies existing then
and those springing up after Roosevelt became president. He re
mained in that capacity and advanced to a high ranking as account
ant in several of the agencies.
His story was that he was not in the lavatory for the act
with which he was charged and never in his life had engaged in
such an act. However, the co-defendant claimed that the fellatio
was actually in progress when the officers placed them under ar
rest. A psychiatric examination revealed that the defendant was
normal physically, mentally and morally. The psychiatrist, a
competent recognized medical doctor and psychoanalyst, wrote in
conclusion, “I was unable to elicit indications of a homosexual
component in his sexual history. On the contrary, he is very
definitely heterosexual. His wife verifies this fact also. The
examination is therefore negative for homosexuality, and his life’s
record as I was able to obtain it from him is clear and free from
depravity, sexual perversion or excessive venery.“
The degree of his fellation activity is not known but he
may be termed an active irrumationist because of this arrest.
Also, the fact that he had his office near the center of that ac
tivity in Los Angeles and his record showed five years in active
service overseas and one year in the penitentiary would indicate
74.
that the man must have had experiences of that nature since army
people and convicts are known for homosexuality. This is sub-
11
stantiated by Rosanoff.
Another man who may be termed a true irrumationist lives in
a cheap hotel on Main Street. He is a young man of thirty-two who
is the passive type in that he plays the part of the woman in the
practice. Declaring that he desires the act performed on him, the
subject of this case record is a dishwasher and bus boy by trade.
He claims that he was initiated in the practice when in visiting
a house of prostitution in Cleveland, Ohio, one of the women of
fered to help him secure belief by the fellatio method, which
would be done for one dollar less than regular sexual intercourse.
This was done and he claims he secures more satisfaction in that
way than any other. For several years he worked in the Burbank
Theater, one of the burlesque houses in Main Street, where he be
came intimately acquainted with the chorus girls. They liked his
company but there was no sexual attraction between them. Seeing
them in the nude aroused no passion in him, but when he was in the
company of a fellationist his passion became aroused and they en
gaged in the act.
Heterosexual deviates. The most natural sexual relationship
exists between married men and women. God has created man for wo
man and woman for man. Why some human beings are entirely homo sex-
11
Aaron J. Rosanoff, Manual of Psychiatry (New York: John
Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1927), p. 203.
75.
ual is not known. The heterosexual deviate who frequents Main
Street is a personality of a lovf order for the following reason --
anyone seeking sexual intercourse with some of the women who fre
quent the street must be so desperately in need of them that he
has lost all reason. The specimens of womanhood found in the
beer parlors and cafes are pitiful and altogether revolting to
anyone with any self-respect or desire for a clean body free of
venereal diseases. They are neither beautiful nor charming in
movement or conversation. Their posture is poor and their minds
sluggish. Their manner of dress is slovenly. They resemble the
common workman and except for their dress, excessive makeup and
bobbed hair would easily pass for men. However, men do patronize
them and secure a morbid gratification thereby.
A middle-aged man very boldly asked a taxi-cab driver to
take him to a house of prostitution. This occurred at the corner
of Fifth and Main Streets. Within four minutes the cab driver was
back at his stand awaiting another customer.
A Negro boy, never married, eighteen years of age, was ar
rested recently for violating Section 41.07 of the Los Angeles
Municipal Code which is the “resorting law.” He was observed by
detectives to go into a certain house in the vicinity of Main
Street with another Negro man. The detectives watched what took
place through a side window. Their report was that this boy went
into a separate room where a white girl was lying on a bed. When
he came into the room she told him to take his clothes off, which
76.
he did. She then took off her slip,#iieh was all she was wearing,
and they proceeded to have sexual intercourse. The officers then
raided the house and caught the Negro boy with the white girl.
The second Negro escaped over the back fence.
The boy’s story was that this friend of his (whose name and
address he claimed he did not know) took him to the brothel and
persuaded him to ask for a woman. It was against his wishes, but
he did so. This was the first time such a thing had ever occurred
in his life, and although he admitted having sexual intercourse
with girl acquaintances from time to time, he claimed he would
never resort to a prostitute again.
There were many things in his nature which seemed to belie
his disposition as being that of a heterosexual deviate. He was
“sporty** in appearance, talked in a smart, ready manner with a
flashy white-toothed smile, delighted in conversation about women,
and had much sexual appeal. A very common phrase used in reference
to his kind and which very aptly describes him is, “he is a woman
chaser
This boy was granted probation for one year, fined twenty
dollars, and ordered to stay out of questionable places of resort.
The boy was referred to a well-known recreation center for colored
boys where he would receive benefits from belonging to a young
men*s athletic and social club. He has become interested in church
activities and at present is progressing quite well.
The case of an adulterer is that of another young Negro who
77.
was arrested for failing to report to the City Health Clinic for
venereal treatment. Originally appearing about six months ago,
he suddenly stopped and when he made another appearance about one
month later, was not only suffering from an acute condition of
syphilis, but from gonorrhea also. The doctor who filed the com
plaint which caused his arrest stated that this defendant could
not have contracted the condition of gonorrhea without having had
sexual intercourse. The patient’s story was that he had been ill
for part of the month and as his wife had separated from him he
had resorted to another woman acquaintance with the present result.
Declaring that it was not his custom to seek relief from some
other method besides sexual intercourse, he felt compelled to se
cure a woman. No other form satisfied him.
Upon his promise to continue receiving treatment at the
clinic regularly, as prescribed by the doctors, he was granted
probation for two years. An attempt was made to have him attend
church regularly and become interested in a young married men’s
class. He was referred to a Christian recreation center where he
could secure physical and social benefits. No attempt was made
for a reconciliation with his wife as it was quite obvious why
they separated.
Thus, it may be seen that in the promiscuous single men and
adulterous type of deviates they are over-active sexually. They
have a physical demand for natural sexual intercourse without re
gard for race or color. Monogamy does not suit them, and it prob-
7 8 .
ably can be understood that they would never become happy in re
maining with one woman even though to do otherwise meant being
plagued with a dreaded venereal disease.
The cunnilingus or cunnilinctus act (as designated by
Ellis) is also “the apposition of the mouth to the female or-
12
gan.“ “Cunnilinctus and fellatio cannot be regarded as unnat
ural for they have their prototypic forms among animals, and they
are found among various savage races. As forms of contractation
and aids to tumescence they are thus natural and are sometimes
regarded by both sexes as quintessential forms of sexual pleasure
........ They become deviations, however, and thus liable to be
termed ’perversions’ when they replace the desire for coitus.
This term is also applied to the same types of function in homo
sexuality.
The case which is drawn for study is that of a young mar
ried man #10 became morbid in his desire for this form of sexual
release. He demanded it of his wife although he had normal mari
tal relationships with her. Going to a public park he wrote ob
scene remarks on the benches and in the lavatory stalls. Notes
addressed to males or females offering to have fellatio or cunni
linctus acts with them were placed in a conspicuous place. These
resulted in his arrest after a policewoman posed as a victim and
he made lewd remarks to her.
IP
Havelock Ellis, The Psychology of Sex (New York: Emer
son Books, Inc., 1938), p. 367.
13
Ibid., p. 48.
7 9 .
His story was that he did not know what possessed him but
one day he met a young woman who consented to allow him to do it
to her as she was afraid of becoming pregnant if sexual intercourse
took place. Since that occasion he has had acts of cunnilinctus
with his wife and two other women. That seemed to be the only
form which would satisfy him. Looking back on it while in jail
made the idea revolting to him.
Two examinations were made of him. The first was by the
Los Angeles Police Department Sex Offense Bureau which revealed
that he was normal physically and mentally but was not normal sex
ually or morally. He was diagnosed as being hyper-sexual, emotion
ally unstable, masturbator, and impulsive cunnilinguistic psycho
path. Their conclusion was that he admitted writing the notes;
for the last six months he had had the desire to commit the act
of cunnilinctus on women and admits doing it three times; claimed
he did not know how he got the desire as he has a nice wife and
two chi Idren •
The other examination was conducted by a psychologist who
summed the case up in a very similar manner as follows: “This
man gives the impression of being quite a normal person in every
respect .... During the last year he began to worry about a
murmuring heart condition and also because of certain debts which
he could not pay. He worked on a night shift and did not get
much sleep during the day. This caused him to be very nervous,
high strung and emotionally unstable. In the rest room of a beer
80.
parlor he saw drawings which stimulated his imagination. He hoped
to find an outlet for his worries by this kind of perversion. He
is now deeply disgusted with himself. His wife is still in love
with him and is willing to help him overcome his sad experience.**
The defendant was given probation for two years and was
ordered to stay out of public parks. His employer was persuaded
to re-employ him and to place him on a daytime job. He is appar
ently doing well at present.
Exhibitionism is another form of common heterosexuality,
expressed when an adult exposes his private parts, usually to a
child of the opposite sex.
It is a common infantile tendency which seems perfectly
natural . . . children . • love to dance about naked before
going to bed, often raising their little garments, even be
fore strangers, a reminiscence, as Freud views it, of a
lost Paradisical state, to become later in exhibitionism a
morbid obsession. . . . In adults its form is more defin
itely a symbol of coitus . . . It would appear to be a
not infrequent phenomenon, and most women, once or more in
their lives, have encountered a man who has deliberately
exposed himself before them .... the exhibitionist’s de
sires are completely gratified by the act and the emotional
reaction he supposes it arouses in the woman. He departs
satisfied and relieved.
During an interview with a young Negro married man it was
learned that he had secured pleasure in exposing himself and in
masturbating in Main Street theaters once or twice. He lived
close to the street and had been arrested for exposing himself to
a woman who lived next door. She claimed that his acts were pur
poseful as on several occasions when his wife was away he had
called himself to her attention by whistling at her or by making
^'^Havelock Ellis, The Psychology of Sex (New York: Emer
son Books, Inc., 1938), pp. 186-187.
81.
a noise on the window pane. He would then hold his penis in his
hand and masturbate. Becoming disturbed because of the increasing
number of times he performed the act, the woman called in a neigh
bor woman as a witness and informed the police. They placed him
under arrest.
His story was that he occasionally masturbated in his room
but he did not know that he was being observed. However, this
statement could not be accepted as true, being disproved by the
witnesses and his own admission to having practiced onanism in
theaters. His wife was not having intercourse with him as often
as he desired and because he was unemployed with much leisure time,
he began to think about unclean things and engaged in the act•
During the summer he observed the woman #10 lived next door to him
lying on the lawn between their houses and wearing shorts. This
aroused his passion which carried over into an onanistic type of
relief. He would not admit it, however.
A psychiatrist recognized by the Los Angeles County Medical
Association examined and gave the following report of his conduct :
In the physical examination I was unable to find any disease
or pressure on the brain nor anything else to explain his be
havior. As he has graduated from high school his intelligence
quotient must be at least eighty or ninety. His whole manner
is one of irresponsibility and his behavior dictated by impulse.
It is quite probable that he did not intend any harm but it is
also probable that he knew he was being observed and was rather
hoping it would lead to contact with someone who might see him.
I am unable to find definite evidence of dementia praecox or
other mental diseases. It seems to me that the patient might
be given another trial to see if he learns by this lesson.
The defendant was placed on probation for two years and ad
monished to attend church, join a young man’s athletic group and
82.
thereby endeavor to develop clean thoughts and observe the laws of
mental and physical hygiene. He was referred to the United States
Employment Service for work. So far he has heeded the advice given
him and is succeeding on probation with the help of his wife who
consented to assist him.
The bisexual deviate is essentially a heterosexual as his
natural desire is for intercourse with a member of the opposite
sex although he also engages in homosexual practices. This type
of perversion is one of the worst, psychically speaking. Whereas
the heterosexual and homosexual deviates are at least whole-heart
edly and purely types of their natures, this ”half-breed“ is usually
a low order of sexual offender who has acquired his over-sexed con
dition. It is his object to have satisfaction in any form. He
would as soon resort to bestiality or sodomy or promiscuous hetero
sexuality as the affection and beauty of sexual relations with his
wife. An example of this type is given in the illustration of the
fellationist who had served in the Canadian Array, was sentenced to
prison for one year, and was arrested for the offense of fellatio
as described in an earlier part of this chapter. Married and liv
ing a perfectly normal life with his wife, he nevertheless was the
active member in the affair.
Anomaly excuses this conduct when he writes, “Occasionally,
when semi-intoxicated and away from women some men will disclose
apparent symptoms of inversion .... probably this is nothing but
maudlin sentiment, or, at worst, a drunken application of the rule,
83.
’any port in a storm’. H e offers a remedy or cure for this
condition by saying further, “’What you want is a good, healthy
wife’
Etiology. The causes for sexual deviation, especially homo
sexuality, are summed up by Rosanoff. They are to be considered
as inborn or hereditary, and environmental or acquired. “Heredity
determines what one can do, environment determines what one does
do. Whichever theory of etiology may seem the most acceptable the
fact is that homosexuality in adults, in whatever degree it exists,
is a fixed trait.*
Anomaly has a different opinion of the causes. He states
that there are two definite schools of thought which attribute in
version to “some abnormality of the internal glands, on the other,
those who consider its causation to be primarily psychological.**^®
In the latter group are psychologists who follow Freud in the matter
and who find the root of all anomalies in early childhood sexual re
pressions. Anomaly feels that this is stretched beyond all proba
bility. On the other hand, the endocrinologists have some informa
tion on which to base their claim but are not far enough advanced
to be considered authoritative.
^^Anomaly, The Invert (London: Bailliere, Tindall and Cox,
1929), p. 58.
. p. 59.
17
Aaron Rosanoff, Manual of Psychiatry (New York: John
Wiley and Sons, inc., 1927), p. 207.
18
Anomaly, 0£. cit., p. 37.
8 4 .
The “mother fixation* in which the young man never becomes
“weaned” from his mother’s apron strings to associate normally with
girls and so develops an inverted personality is Anomaly’s^^ con
ception of the causation. This borne out in the first case given
in this chapter. Other causes which Anomaly endeavors to disprove
are the beliefs that masturbation and the first sexual experience
being caused by a member of the same sex are factors. He states
that if these causes were true, more than half of the population
would be urning8.
In Pasadena, California, there is an endocrinologist whose
viewpoint on the subject proposes that there is an uneven number
of hormones in the system which causes sexual deviation. This
20
doctor maintains that tests made of the urine of men and women
showed that if in the man the male hormone predominated, or in the
woman the female hormone predominated, they would be normally at
tracted to each other. On the other hand, if in the man the female
hormone were predominant, he would be effeminate in his tastes.
A reverse situation would be found in the case of a woman. Treat
ment consisted in supplying hormones to balance the deficiency, thus
effecting a cure. This has been generally unsuccessful, however.
This theory is in its infancy and much experimentation will
have to be accomplished before it becomes recognized as a true cause.
In fact all of these theories are in their experimental stages of
development to the extent of actually determining the etiology of
^^Ibld.. pp., 41-42.
^^Cllfford A. Wright, M.D. and Endocrinologist,
85.
sexual deviation. The true causes are probably a combination of
acquired and inborn traits as well as conditioned circumstances
which occur in the same individual and make of him a variant in the
behavior attributed to normal persons.
Treatment and cure. “Psychiatry should say and does say ’we
need information about this problem; more information, much more in
formation. We need information about the endocrine and chemical
factors. We need more information concerning environmental factors.
We need information about sex itself, ordinary, every day, normal
sex. We know little about it. We need information about its
21
psychology and physiology and sociology*Thus we see the lack
of proper information about the subject of treatment. No cure,
then, is to be deemed one hundred per cent perfect or even a frac
tion of that.
Anomaly writes, “Personally, I have never heard of a cured
case, nor heard of any reliable source of treatment, nor even of
any recognized expert on the subject.*®^
Likewise Rosanoff writes, “The prognosis for recovery alto
gether is unfavorable. It follows that the aim of treatment of
homosexuality, at least as far as adults are concerned, is not a
cure, but a social adjustment which would relieve the patient of
21
Edward A. Strecker, “The Challenge of Sex Offender
Mental Hygiene, 22:64-72, January, 1938. [Or, XXII (January,
193817 64-72.]
22
Anomaly, op. cit., p. 44.
86.
suffering arising out of nervous and mental symptoms and at the
same time protect the community against anti-social behavior on
23
the part of the patient
Havelock Ellis writes.
In the treatment of inversion, the most satisfactory re
sult is usually obtained when it is possible, by direct and
indirect methods, to reduce the sexual hyperesthesia which
frequently exists, and by psychic methods to refine and spir
itualize the inverted impulse, so that the invert’s natural
perversity may not become a ease of acquired perversity in
others. The invert is not only the victim of his own obses
sion but the victim of social hostility .... An appeal
to the pederastia of the best Greek days, and the dignity,
temperance and even chastity which it involved will sometimes
find a ready response in the emotional enthusiastic nature of
the congenital invert. Plato’s dialogues have often been
found a source of great help and consolation. Inlaws, by
Edward Carpenter and In Memoriam, may be recommended.
An American woman writes, ’ I recommend that the moral sense
be trained and fostered, the persons allowed to keep their in
dividuality, being taught to remember that they are different
from others, rather sacrificing themselves or happiness when
necessary’
Thus, generally ascertained, the prognosis for the cure and
treatment of sexual deviation, especially homosexuality in its true
form, is that there is no adequate treatment known and consequently
no cure•
Municipal Court and Los Angeles County Probation Department
procedures. With the recently created division for the referral of
sexual deviates to the Los Angeles County Probation Department by
23
Rosanoff, ££. cit., p. 207.
^^Havelock Ellis, Sexual Inversion (vol. II, Studies in the
Psychology of Sex, 7 vols.; New York: P. A. Davis Company, 1925),
p. 293.
87.
the Municipal Court, a more adequate and thorough study is being
made of these offenders. Before their probation hearing, after
guilt has been established in court, a social case study is made
of their lives, present and past, including the story of their
problem from the offender, victims, other interested parties, pri
or records, and social agencies. They are required to secure a
psychiatric examination from a competent medical doctor special
izing in psychiatry and recognized by the Los Angeles County Medi
cal Association, or a psychiatrist recognized by the California
Osteopathic Association. No staff of psychiatrists has been added
to the County Probation Department as yet. When the report of the
psychiatrist is favorable, a recommendation for probation may be
made in the probation officer’s report to the court. If probation
is granted, the offender receives help and supervision in his fi
nancial, social, employment, recreational and spiritual life during
the period designated for probation. The supervision consists in
the probationer’s reporting each month those activities described
in the preceding sentence and a report from the psychiatrist where
in it is felt that the defendant requires additional care from him.
At the end of the period of probation, if the offender has had no
violations and has complied with the conditions of probation, he
is eligible to have his plea of guilty changed to not guilty and
the case dismissed. This, according to the best known method of
treatment, aids the sexual deviate in his problem and sends him on
his way toward a better life.
88.
Summary. Sexual deviates were found to be those unfortu
nate individuals who, because of some unknown innate or acquired
characteristic, or both, live their lives in a sexual manner which
is not the normal standard as accepted by society. Among the homo
sexual group, case records and reactions of onanists, sodomists,
fellationists, and pederasts were secured. These revealed, in
some cases, a denial of their guilt, and in other cases a realiza
tion of their problem and an honest effort on their part to curb
their desires.
The heterosexual group with case records of a natural type,
adulterer, cunnilinguist, and exhibitionist illustrated individual
pathologies of their types. The paragraph on bisexual deviates re
vealed their anomaly as being of a disgusting nature yet a definite
deviation according to the writer of The Invert.
The etiologies of sexual deviation were discovered to be re
sults of two circumstances, (1) heredity or innate; and (2) environ
ment or acquired anomilies. Being conditioned to deviation was also
found, but the final analysis may be said to be a probable combina
tion of all factors.
The treatment and cure of these inversions are unknown. The
best discovery made up to this time has to do with aiding the devi
ate to sublimate his obsession or anomaly and thus protect himself
from distress and also to protect society from the deviate. The
Municipal Court and Los Angeles County Probation Department plan
for the rehabilitation of the sexual offender has been revealed as
complying with the plan of treatment as just suggested.
CHAPTER VI
ETIOLOGY OP MAIN STREET DEGENERACY
The gay life and lackadaisical existence of Main Street’s
habitues are the underlying reasons for its popularity as a street
of gaiety and “forgotten men.® Consequently, it affords a perfect
laboratory for the study of alcoholic and sexual deviates.
Beneath these circumstances are definite causes for its
notoriety as a street of this type. Those basic causes are found
in its ecology, climate, immigration, population, employment and
unemployment factors which problems will be presented in this
chapter.
Ecological study. Two factors are foremost as reasons for
Main Street’s degeneracy from an ecological standpoint. They are
(1) its position in relation to surrounding areas, and (2) the
types of business it supports.
It has been stated in Chapter III that Main Street is
bordered by two separate and distinct areas -- the downtown busi
ness section, including Pershing Square; and the warehouse dis
trict, including East Fifth Street. Both areas contribute unde
sirable deviates to the street which nourishes these abnormalities.
In it are found business houses which cater to the alcoholic and
sexual morbidity of those who seek those types of diversion. Among
the enterprises which were shown to be degrading are the beer dis
pensaries, dance halls, eating houses, hotels, stores of medicine
90.
“quacks,® penny arcades, picture shows and pool halls. These
comprise forty-four per cent of the 306 separate stores in Main
Street.
Main has another classification which d.esignâtes it as a
borderline street. Those who live in the area v/est of the street
usually think of Main as the least desirable place to do business,
as the area beyond is of the lower class of people and types of
business. Likewise, those who live on the east side of the street
often do not pass beyond it because it offers in goods and amuse
ments all that they desire. Metropolitan Main Street, then, may
be said to be a natural boundary line of certain Los Angeles cul
ture areas.
California climate. Los Angeles, a center of ideal weather
conditions the year around, has attracted not only desirable tour
ists and homeseekers, but also those who do not possess the economic,
physical or mental equipment with which to maintain themselves.
This class of people eventually comprises the bulk of the relief
rolls. Consequently some of them eventually become those habitues
of Main Street of whom this study was made. This is especially
true of the unattached individual.
The Court Assistance Project Study revealed that of the 2,180
cases studied in 1937, almost all were single, unattached men from
the vicinity of Fifth and Main Streets who were recipients of some
kind of relief and who had resided in Los Angeles but a short time.
91.
Immigration. Allying itself very closely with the preced
ing study of climate, is immigration. Victims of the floods in
eastern areas, droughts and. floods in southern and central states,
and the dust storms of the mid-western and southwestern areas,
have come to the city by thousands. Among these have been the
poorer manual laborers and transients. Some of them have gone to
work as itinerant fruit pickers, while others have managed as best
they have been able until eligible for direct or work relief. In
either event, the usual trend, is toward Main Street or its immedi
ate vicinity. Unskilled and uneducated, these immigrants have
found there a place in which to live on their meager incomes. This
migration gives promise of forming a slum district such as exists
in some large eastern cities. In this manner, definite influence
has been exerted by the people who have come to Main Street from
other sections of the country.
Population. The population of Main Street is representa
tive of almost all nationalities, races, creeds, colors, and econ
omic conditions. Foreign born of the western and eastern hemi
spheres, representing all religions and political faiths, are found
here. A few rich, the many poor and middle class people mingle
alike with the royalist, anarchist, democratic or dictatorial
minded politicians. Merchants, lawyers, salesmen, manufacturers,
militarists, social workers, and many others associate with the
drunkards, sexual deviates and offenders of all kinds. A black.
92.
yellow, brown or white man, or members of all the races, may be
met within a short distance.
The most noticeable trait of population is in the predom
inance of males. It has been estimated that the ratio is ten men
to one woman. In the motion picture shows the ratio is even
greater. There may be one hundred males to one female in the ten-
cent movies. There are approximately two hundred men to one woman
in the five-cent shows. Even women who are hostesses in beer par
lors do not patronize the five-cent motion picture houses because
of the filth and type of men there. The male predominance precip
itates the types of Main Street habitues which the alcoholic and
sexual deviate desire. The alcoholic variant finds in many men
the seclusion and freedom from restraint he would not secure with
many women. Likewise, the sexual invert can operate more readily
and successfully among men.
A statement has previously been made regarding the types of
women to be found in Main Street. Generally, those who are the
most loose, loud and profane are the dance hall and beer parlor
girls. Many thoroughly respectable younger and older women come
to the street during the day to shop. This study does not wish
to imply that these are among the degenerates found in Main Street.
However, the woman who lives in this street and who plies her trade
there, assuredly adds nothing of a constructive nature to it.
Among the men populating Main Street can be found numerous
sailors, soldiers and marines. They find there all the amusements
93.
and wants they seek. It is usually the first place of which they
think upon arrival and some come to Los Angeles without ever leav
ing this street. From the mines in the mountains come the miners.
From the construction camps and railroad gangs come the laborers
and their foremen to drink and have a riotous Saturday night.
Motorcycle clubs from surrounding towns, the C.C.C* boys
and many other groups of men and women come to Main Street because
they are attracted by its lively gay life. But underneath the thin
veneer of loud laughter, easy going, lively, youthful fun is the
degrading influence of too much drink and other indulgences. This
has no immediate effect on the drunkard or urning except that it
further sponsors their debauchery and morbidity, making of the street
a notorious center for that type of life.
Employment. There is no worthwhile employment in the street
except as a clerk or manager in one of the better business stores.
Bartending, ushering in motion picture theaters, managing dance
halls, operating pool halls, being a bus boy or waiter in a res
taurant, or houseman in a hotel are honorable trades to follow in
any respectable community, but not on Main Street. The trade with
which one deals precludes respectability. Consequently, those em
ployed there are not an asset to the street since they must be able
to match the temperament of their customers.
Unemployment. This factor has a direct bearing on the alco
holic and sexual habitues found on Main Street. The lack of employ
ment not only on the street and in its surrounding areas, but also
94.
throughout the city, affords them no means of occupying their
time constructively. They disintegrate into the lowest forms of
human life, violate the laws of physical and mental hygiene, and
exist without morals or reason. The old adage, “the devil finds
things for idle hands to do“ may very aptly be applied to this
situation. When one reads the records of the number of times
drunkards have been arrested for crimes they have committed, one
realizes the seriousness of this condition of unemployment. Any
of the police officers stationed in the Main Street area, who, in
cidentally, are the largest in size and the most aggressive in the
entire department, will verify the number and variety of offenses
committed by these idle men congregated together. Furthermore,
many offenses are committed which go undetected, as, for example,
the offenses of the invert. Thus, unemployment also has its in
fluence on the degeneracy of Main Street.
CHAPTER VII
REMARKS AND COHGLUSIOHS
The chief items of this chapter are concerned with the
questions (a) what are we to do about this problem, and (b) what
can we do to preserve Main Street’s original colorful and romantic
life for future posterity. It is supposed that if the tenure of
lawlessness and inebriety continues to thrive as it exists today,
the street will become an utterly disgraceful place in which to
be seen.
Alleviation of the problem. Only by utilizing the exist
ing agencies which are endeavoring to control the problem can the
citizens of Los Angeles expect to effect an alleviation of it.
The police department is performing its duties to the best of its
ability but it must secure the added support of those active agen
cies interested in the problem. The officers petroling the area
are fine protectors of the public morale. They are doing their
job well, but until pressure is brought to bear against the intol
erable conditions of the lack of public spritled citizens who will
study the conditions and offer solutions to the problem, their
work shall have been in vain.
The fostering of more of the better business stores that
could sell their commodities at reduced rates if necessary, would
stabilize the trade and crowd out those establishments which exert
a bad influence. More recreation centers and reading rooms should
96.
be opened to offer leisure time and craft activities for the idle
men and women. Perhaps more religious organizations offering less
emotional religion and more spiritually social religion would as
sist in alleviating the problem. However, only the deeply emotional
spiritual message will sometimes reach the debauched habitue of the
street and its value need not be overlooked.
Another facility which will be of great effect if it becomes
a law, is the inebriate colony plan already referred to in Chapter
IV. Those drunkards who are beyond redemption will be taken off
the street and a means for their cure sought. This offers an oppor
tunity for the civic groups and good people of the community to
champion the cause of a better Main Street area by taking the ineb
riate away.
The ^eye-sores** such as old, delapidated buildings, flop
houses, dance halls, smelly restaurants, unclean streets, foul
theaters, noisy beer parlors and smoke-filled pool halls must be
replaced, rebuilt or refined for perfect and permanent good influ
ence on the community. The owners of these establishments cduld
be made to realize the profitableness of improving their possessions
and thus aiding in this reconstruction. .
The preponderance of single unattached men offers one solu
tion -- disbursing them to better communities and causing them to
get away from their crowded, iniquitous existence in the street.
This was brought out in the Court Relations Report already referred
to in Chapter IV of this study. Hew interests found in wholesome
97.
surroundings would help them acquire a new lease on life for
their betterment and the good of the city.
As a majority of these single men receive aid of some kind
from a charitable organization, pressure could be brought to bear
in their moving out of the district by refusing them the relief
they require until a removal is affected. This would be difficult
to do, it is realized, but the State Relief Association has shown
the way. It was formerly persistant in refusing to grant aid to
the single unattached man who resided in the area from Main Street
to Central Avenue and Sunset to Ninth Street. Also, it had placed
in a single men’s camp all those unattached men who had asked for
aid from the area described. There were many who refused to go to
cac^, but these were not granted aid.
In January of this year, a new policy was adopted, however,
which somewhat modified this procedure. John H. Morgan^ states
that single men from the Main and East Fifth Street area do not
have to go to the camp in order to secure relief at present. In
cidentally, when the new order went into effect for the last two
weeks in January and first two weeks in February, there was an in
crease in the applications of single men for relief in the metro
politan district of two hundred per day. This illustrates the
popularity of such a procedure with the men of the district who
preferred Main Street, its associations and an uncertain means of
^John H. Morgan, State Relief Administration, Los Angeles
Metropolitan Division, Intake Department.
98.
livelihood to the wholesome environment of camp life. However,
the camps have not gone out of existence. Those who desire to do
30 can go to them, but those who have no county residence or are
declared state homeless men must remain or go to the camps for aid.
The fact remains that as long as these men are allowed to
congregate together in disintegrated areas, problems of the deviate
in the community will continue to aggrevate its citizenry. If the
removal of these men can. be accomplished by the State Relief Admin
istration, it can be accomplished by other means. It seems impera
tive that it be done.
(Questions for future studies. What would be the best means
of alleviating the problem of alcoholic degeneracy in Main Street?
What would be the best means of alleviating the problem of
the sexual deviate in Main Street?
What would be the best means of alleviating the problem of
the disintegrated area of Main Street in which the alcoholic and
sexual variant lives?
What are the functions and powers of agencies and socially
minded groups which would be interested in ’ ’cleaning up** Main
Street areas?
Can employment, spiritual, recreational, and avocational in
terests be established in Main Street for the purpose of assisting
in the alleviation of the problem?
What agencies for the welfare of the habitues of Main Street
could be improved to further the desire for a better community?
99.
Would it be possible to foster a plan for better business
establishments in Main Street?
The future of the street in the light of the past. Main
Street, with its glorious and historic past, can be made into a
leading business thoroughfare of the city, yet not lose its luster
and romantic appeal. Its proximity to the fine civic center and
new union depot could be utilized to make of the street an added
showplace wherein the visitor and resident could find those worth
while diversions of amusement and recreation in which he would be
interested. By carrying through a ®clean up** program initiated
by anyone and everyone interested in it. Main Street’s future would
be assured of success.
As it existed many years ago, it was a small, quiet business
street which had at one end a plaza where upon festive occasions
the community gathered in celebrations, dances and recreational
pursuits. As the population grew, it became the Galle Principal
in trade and importance. It remained thus until recent years with
the moving of the business district toward the west. It fell in
importance and now is regarded in such an inferior light that it
has become known as “Skid Row**.
If it remains as it is, the street will deteriorate into
the classification of a slum area, but if action is taken to alle
viate the problem of the debauchery of its constituents, it has a
bright future.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. BOOKS
Alexander, Franz, and William Healey, Roots of Crime. Hew York:
A. A. Knopf Company, 1936. 305 pp.
Anderson, Hels, The Hobo. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1923. 302 pp.
Anomaly, The Invert. London: Bailliere, Tindall and Cox, 1929.
160 pp.
Berman, Louise, The Glands Regulating Personality. Hew York: The
Macmillan Company, 1928. 341 pp.
Burt, Cyril, The Young Delinquent. London: University of London
Press, 19237 643 pp.
Ellis, Havelock, Psychology of Sex. Hew York: Emerson Books, Inc.,
1938. 377 pp.
. Sexual Inversion. Vol. II, 384 pp. Studies in the Psy-
'ecology of Sex, Y vois.; New York: F. A. Davis Company, 1925.
El Pueblo. Los Angeles: Publicity Department, Equitable Branch of
the Security, Trust and Savings Bank, 1928. 80 pp.
Emerson, Haven, editor. Alcohol and Man. Hew York: The Macmillan
Company. 451 pp.
, Alcohol, Its Effects on Man. Hew York: D. Appleton-
Century Company, Inc., 1934. 113 pp.
Glueck, Sheldon S., 1.000 Juvenile Delinguents. Cambridge; Univer
sity of Harvard Press, 1034. 341 pp.
, 500 Criminal Careers. Hew York: A. A. Knopf Company, 1930.
365 pp
Graves, J. A., ^ Seventy Years in California. Los Angeles: The
Times Mirror Press, 1928. 478 pp.
Robinson, William Wilcox, Story of Pershing Square. Los Angeles:
Title Guarantee and Trust Company, 1931. 3Y pp.
Rosanoff, Aaron J., Manual of Psychiatry. Hew York: John Wiley and
Sons, Inc., 19277 pp.
, Manual of Psychiatry. Hew York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.,
1938. 1,091 pp.
102.
Slater, Gilbert, Poverty and the State. New York: R. R. Smith
Company, 1930. 480 pp.
Thomason, George, Science Speaks. Mountain View, California:
Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1938. 96 pp.
Thrasher, P. M., The Gang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1936. 605 pp.
Transeau, Emma L. Benedict, Effects of Alcoholic Drinks. Boston:
Scientific Temperance Pederat ion, 1931. 84 pp.
Young, Vashni, Thank You. Indianapolis: Bobbs Merrill Company,
1934. 201 pp.
Zorbaugh, Harvey W., The Gold Coast and the Slum. Chicago: Uni
versity of Chicago Press, 1929. 287 pp.
B. MAGAZINE ARTICLES
King, A. R., “Psychology of Drunkenness,® Christian Century.
57:1591-4, December 24, 1930. [Or, XXXXVIÏ (December 24, 1930)
1591-4.]
Paddock, Charles, “Booze Beats Our AthletesColliers, 85:7-8,
June 14, 1930. [Or, XXGV (June 14, 1930) Y-8.]
Stecker, Edward A., “The Challenge of Sex OffendersMental Hy
giene, 22:100-1, January, 1938. ^r, XXII (January, 1938)
100- 1.1
Thomason, J. W., Jr., “Cure for Alcoholism,® American Mercury,
43:473-9, April, 1938. [Or, XXXXIII (April, 1938) 473-9;)
C. UNPUBLISHED MATERIALS
Sanson, Don R., “Court Assistance Project Study.® Unpublished Re
port of a Study, Council of Social Agencies, Los Angeles Com
munity Welfare Federation, 1937. 6 pp.
Sanson, Don R., and others, “State Inebriate Colony Act.® Unpub
lished State Assembly Bill, Number 491, Works Progress Admin
istration, Los Angeles Coordinating Council, 1938. 5 pp.

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Conceptually similar

PDF

A study of juvenile gangs in the Hollenbeck area of East Los Angeles

PDF

Family care program: A descriptive study of the family care program at the Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Veterans Administration Center, Los Angeles

PDF

The French in Los Angeles: A study of a transplanted culture

PDF

Population pressure and its effect on the land use pattern and land valuations in Los Angeles County from 1940 to 1953

PDF

Social work and gerontology: A study in professionalism

PDF

Special library collections in the Southern California area as an approach to historical studies

PDF

The significance of zones and boundaries in the urban community with special reference to the Los Angeles Area

PDF

A sociological study of public opinion concerning certain police practices in Los Angeles

PDF

The Korean community in Los Angeles County

PDF

A study of changes in services of All Nations Foundation as affected by the neighborhood's ecological changes

PDF

An analytical study of the physical distribution of population in Los Angeles County, 1946-1956

PDF

Survey of the vocational activities of the Japanese in the city of Los Angeles

PDF

Some differences in factors related to educational achievement of two Mexican-American groups

PDF

The Federal theatre in the Los Angeles area

PDF

The social status of the negro in Pasadena, California

PDF

The participation of the Chinese in the community life of Los Angeles

PDF

Ethnic factors in use of child guidance clinic services: A comparative study of Negroes and Caucasians

PDF

An analysis of the theory and practice of contemporary corrections as a professional activity

PDF

Institutionalized elderly: design, community, and management effects on life quality

PDF

Suburban Political Behavior In Los Angeles County, California

Asset Metadata

Creator Harrod, Merrill Leonard (author)

Core Title A study of deviate personalities as found in Main Street of Los Angeles

Degree Master of Science

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag OAI-PMH Harvest,Psychology,Social Sciences

Place Name California (states), Los Angeles (city or populated place), Los Angeles (counties), Main Street (roadway), USA (countries)

Format application/pdf (imt), iv, 102 leaves ; 29 cm. (aacr2)

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c39-455084

Unique identifier UC11314715

Identifier EP66096.pdf (filename),usctheses-c39-455084 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier EP66096.pdf

Dmrecord 455084

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt),iv, 102 leaves ; 29 cm. (aacr2)

Rights Harrod, Merrill Leonard

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA