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Surviving: inside the lives of four people who call the streets of Los Angeles home

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Surviving: inside the lives of four people who call the streets of Los Angeles home

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Surviving

Inside the lives of four people who call the streets of Los Angeles home

by

Yannick Peterhans

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ANNENBERG SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION AND
JOURNALISM
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(SPECIALIZED JOURNALISM)

May 2023

Copyright 2023 Yannick Peterhans
ii
Dedication
Dedicated to all those that call the streets of Los Angeles home.
iii
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my parents for your eternal support and encouragement of my creative passions
and professional ambitions. None of this would be possible without you, and I feel incredibly
privileged and thankful for your faith in me and my dreams throughout all these years.
I cannot properly express my thanks for the unwavering help throughout the whole reporting
process provided by my faculty committee: Mark Boster, Christina Bellantoni, and my
committee chair, Alan Mittelsteadt. Mark - your kindness, introspection and visual eye
transformed my images from data recorded in megabytes to images with the possibility to have
real impact. Christina – you changed my life the first time we spoke in what has become my
home at USC. Thank you for your open arms and steadfast support. Alan, your patience, words
of wisdom and willingness to continue to push me have made this piece of reporting what it is
today. To all three of you, truly, thank you.
iv
Table of Contents
Dedication …………………………………………………………………………...…................ii
Acknowledgments ……………………………………………………………………………….iii
List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………………......v
Link to Multimedia Thesis………………………………………………………...……………..vi
Abstract………………………………………………………………………..............................vii
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..1
Chapter 1: The barber of Skid Row………………………………………………………..……...5
Chapter 2: Spirituality and healing tents on Venice Beach……………………………….……....9
Chapter 3: Growing old on Skid Row……………………………………………………..….....13
Chapter 4: Cigarettes, vodka, and Mark Twain……………………………………………..…...17
Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………..2 1
v
List of Figures
Figure 1. Hawk lays in his bed and laughs before prepping for another night on Skid Row.... .....5
Figure 2. Hawk moves his barber chair.……………………………………............................….6
Figure 3. Hawk gives McCorvey a shave.…………………………………..................................6
Figure 3. Hawk gives McCorvey a shave..……………………………………….........................6
Figure 5. Hawk smokes crystal meth.………………………………………..................…...........8
Figure 6. Lindsey Davis sits on the Venice Beach boardwalk..………………….........................9
Figure 7. Lindsey Davis moves the healing tent..…………………………….............................10
Fgure 8. Athena Montruex sits outside the healing tent. …………………….................…........11
Figure 9. Athena Montruex stands on Venice Beach at Sunset.………………..................….....12
Figure 10. Wa and Athena stand for a portrait. …………………………………………….......12
Figure 11. Felix Gonzalez sits on his bed in his tent. ………………………………………......13
Figure 12. Felix Gonzalez moves his belongings after a sweep.……………………………......14
Figure 13. Felix Gonzalez points and yells at to city employees after a sweep.…….................14
Figure 14. Felix Gonzalez looks through his bag of marijuana.…………………………...........15
Figure 15. Felix Gonzalez holds out marijuana buds……………………..................….............15
Figure 16. Tim Graves stands by his mattress above the 110-freeway…………..................…..17
Figure 17. Tim Graves reads a book with the help of a flashlight.………..................….............17
Figure 18. Tim Graves takes a draw from his cigarette.………………………..................….....18
Figure 19. Tim Graves holds a fork while eating teriyaki chicken...............................................19
Figure 20. Tim Graves moves some belongings to his mattress.………………..................…...19
Figure 21: Tim Graves walks into a liquor store.…………………………..................…...........20
vi
Link to Multimedia Thesis
https://www.peterhansphotography.com/surviving
vii
Abstract
This work of multimedia journalism examines the experiences of chronically unhoused homeless
populations in Los Angeles through a series of four distinct profiles through written reporting
and photographs. The characters include Derrick “Hawk” Thomas, a barber who lives on Skid
Row, Lyndsey Davis, a spiritual healer on Venice Beach, Felix Gonzalez who has lived on Skid
Row for 30 years, and Tim Graves, a once happily married man that now lives underneath a
freeway overpass.
The research for this thesis was conducted over a period of almost 10 months, during which time
the researcher encountered several challenges. The work was often dangerous and unpredictable,
with the researcher navigating the dangers unhoused communities are exposed to every day.
Additionally, many of the stories told were often difficult to corroborate due to the transient and
unstable nature of their lives.
Despite these challenges, the findings of this research shed light on the experiences of
chronically unhoused homeless populations in Los Angeles. Derrick Thomas discussed the
importance of serving his community despite struggling with mental health and drug abuse.
Lindsey Davis spoke about the role that spirituality and faith have played in helping herself and
other homeless individuals cope with trauma and violence.
Felix Gonzalez, who has lived on Skid Row for 30 years, provided a unique perspective on the
long-term effects of chronic homelessness, experiencing sweeps and losing documents - and not
being able to contact his family after years of living on the streets. Finally, Tim Graves, who
lives on a mattress underneath the 110-freeway overpass shared his experiences of navigating the
dangers of life on the streets, including physical violence and the constant threat of robbery.
This report also includes the voices of researchers and politicians in LA, including Los Angeles
Mayor Karen Bass and her attempt to serve chronically unhoused populations. Overall, this
thesis attempts to provide a nuanced and compassionate look at the experiences of chronically
unhoused homeless populations in Los Angeles.
1
Introduction: Surviving: Inside the lives of four people who call the streets of Los Angeles
home
Scraps of paper and sprinkles of dirt rest in the shadow of an EZ UP tent. In the windy South
Central morning air, two LAPD officers circle the final belongings of a 60-year-old homeless
man. He took his last breaths on the sidewalk mere feet from commuters waiting to board the bus
on Metro’s Figueroa Line 81.
He died on January 31 with no ritual or ceremony. His body lay silent in the morning air,
covered in a white sheet laid down by police, as a fellow Angeleno shouted verses from the
Quran before boarding the bus.
Nearly three months later, the Los Angeles Coroner’s office has yet to find any family members.
This man, still unidentified, was one of the nearly 70,000 homeless people living in Los Angeles
in 2023.
For people living on the streets, their final moments mirror the time they spent coping with the
harsh realities of being homeless in Los Angeles. Weathering the harsh summer sun and the
chilling winter rains. Surviving as the rest of the city drives by their mattresses, tent, or
encampment. Surviving as the rest of the city drives by their home.
The chronically unhoused men and women profiled here represent a population the county
defines as people unhoused for a year or more, or who experienced homelessness four times in
the past three years. Their exact numbers are not known; the annual Greater Los Angeles
Homeless Count does not keep a separate tally for the chronically unhoused.
Homelessness, a major issue in Los Angeles for years, emerged as a focal point in the 2022
mayoral race.
“If we want to successfully confront this homelessness crisis, we must take real action when it
comes to chronic homelessness. The approach we are implementing does that,” Mayor Karen
Bass said in a statement. “Mental health assistance and substance abuse treatment go hand-in-
hand with our effort.”
When Bass took office last December, she issued an emergency declaration on homelessness,
enabling her administration to speed up construction of housing for unhoused communities. She
also promised to find shelter for 4,000 people within her first 100 days of office, a goal she met
as of March 24.
2
Bass’s emergency declaration also sought to help people suffering from mental health and drug-
abuse-related issues, calling attention to the nearly half of all unsheltered individuals who suffer
from severe mental illness or substance abuse.
Inside Safe -- one of the mayor’s directives on homelessness -- provides “outreach and sustained
street engagement with people experiencing homelessness, especially people who are
experiencing chronic homelessness,” her spokesperson, Zach Seidel said.
Service providers cannot force their help on unhoused individuals, and often face rejection when
offering mental health, housing, and substance abuse-related resources.
“We have to work with people on their terms,” said Elizabeth Cope, a county supervisor for the
Homeless Outreach Engagement Team in the San Gabriel Valley.
Cope has faced this predicament for the last 16 years as a licensed social worker who primarily
helps adults suffering from severe mental health conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar
disorder.
Cope found that consistency and offering a variety of services are the best ways to eventually
house people. Her team provides condoms, street medicine and female health exams to create a
safer environment and build trust.
Lack of trust is a big reason why unhoused populations are weary of city services.
“A lot of people don't want to go to shelters because they have had a really bad experience or
they have been assaulted or they have had their belongings stolen or some traumatic experience
that prevents them from giving it another chance,” Cope said.
She sees diverse housing as the best way to solve homelessness in Los Angeles.
Diverse housing aims to accommodate unhoused people and their current mental and physical
health needs. The model uses a broad approach, hoping to house everyone from women
survivors of domestic violence who wish not to live around men to people who wish to bring
their pets with them into their housing. She said a long waitlist for available housing poses a
major hurdle, with up to six month delays.
Adverse Childhood Experiences include trauma such as violence, abuse, or neglect that threatens
someone’s sense of safety, stability, and bonding. Such trauma can lead to substance use and
mental health problems.
3
All of the people profiled here faced difficult upbringings. Alisa Orduna, a community
development scholar who has focused on homeless policy for 25 years, said early childhood
trauma profoundly affects people once they become adults.
“There’s a lot of research, depending on the type of trauma and the support that someone may
have had and their own sense of agency and resiliency in getting through it that it can break your
most trusted relationships,” Orduna said.
Howard Padwa, a researcher at UCLA, spoke of a further lack of diversity among service
providers as an issue.
“The homeless population is disproportionately African American,” Padwa said. “If you look at
the population of providers, it's disproportionately white. You also have the issue of the people
who enter these professions tend to be more female, whereas the clientele tends to be more
male.”
Padwa said unhoused people often find society to be isolating and unforgiving. So they create
their own community, where they can self-medicate and stay mostly safe. For them, choosing to
remain unhoused and on the streets provides the best shot at happiness.
But this decision to remain on the streets can lead to violence and further insecurity. A reality
often described as a “war zone,” the people who remain unhoused are some of the most
vulnerable residents in Los Angeles.
Almost 1 in 10 homeless people in California reported being sex- or labor-trafficked. In extreme
cases, their everyday realities include violence.
The stories of people living on the streets are filled with incomplete narratives, faulty memories
and details hard to corroborate.
Some basic questions remain mysteries brought on by the housing crisis itself. Documents such
as government IDs and Social Security cards are often lost in random sweeps or drenched in the
rain. The sweeps, conducted by CARE+, the city’s homeless encampment cleanup program,
forces the unhoused to remove their tents and belongings while sanitation workers sweep the
area.
The tales of these street inhabitants are snapshots of long and complicated lives. They are former
business owners, loving parents of children, loving husbands to wives, and caring members of
the community. They occasionally blend myth and reality as they share stories about their lives
that, for some, involved crimes and accusations of violence. The stories here take you inside their
4
lives, revealing the danger, heartbreak and uncertainty they face every day. They also offer a
glimpse into the friendships and hope they've found on the streets, and reveal more about their
lives than we may see driving by.
5
Chapter 1: The barber of Skid Row
Figure 1. Hawk lays in his bed and laughs before prepping for another night on Skid Row.
A black cape floats through the air as Hawk’s next customer takes a seat. In weathered hot pink
letters -- “Brazilian Blowout” -- streaks across the front of the cape, as Hawk closes the clasps
behind the customer’s neck. The barber wears gray sweatpants with “LA County Jail”
emblazoned down the side of his left leg.
Hawk, whose real name is Derrick Thomas, has called Skid Row home for the last seven years.
The 65-year-old Louisiana native has been cutting hair since his grandfather gave him his first
straight razor when he was 11.
Over the course of eight months, Hawk opened up about his life, sharing details that couldn't
always be verified.
6
With hardened leather hands and scarred arms, he
gets ready to work. Wearing his county jail
sweatpants, black socks and black slides with a
pink Nike swoosh, he welcomes his customer,
Will McCorvey. McCorvey is a homeless veteran
and a native of Watts, who lives down the block
from Hawk. He’s lived on Skid Row for 18 years.
He says he was an infantryman in the Army and
served at the Panama Canal from 1978 to 1981.
Today he is getting his goatee cleaned up.
Figure 2. Hawk moves his barber chair.
The two men met in the late 1990s as members of rival gangs. “I almost killed him twice. Lucky
man,” Hawk said with a soft grin. “The last time he begged. We were younger, a lot younger.
Been about 20 years.”
They have since mended their relationship. Today McCorvey also needed a shopping cart to help
carry his belongings, something Hawk was able to quickly supply. After he finishes trimming his
friend’s goatee, Hawk unearths the cart beneath three layers of tarp. “If you need it, I can help
out,” Hawk explains. Soon, the sound of the clanking metals echoes down the block as the
wheels rotate and McCorvey walks back to his tent.
Figure 3. Hawk gives McCorvey a shave.
Figure 4. Hawk gives McCorvey a shave.
7
Hawk has worked as a barber for nearly 50 years, getting licensed in Missouri and California. He
opened two barbershops in Los Angeles: Black Hair and More with his mom and aunt in the San
Fernando Valley in the 1990s, and another shop in Inglewood called A New You.
He spent time in prison for a series of bank robberies and got out in 2015, spending the first night
shivering underneath a cardboard box. With few options, he found his way to Skid Row. Now
the ever-optimistic barber chuckles as he surveys a life’s worth of clothes, keepsakes, and tools -
or at least as much he could hold onto after years of sweeps from the Los Angeles Sanitation
Department.
Hawk was once married, had kids, and a mother he loved very much. His mother died in the
winter of 2021. He likes antiques, saying they remind him a little of himself. The only keepsake
left from his mother is an ornate wooden mirror. He keeps it next to his bedside, and no matter
how many times he has been forced to move, he makes sure to always bring it along.
Hawk has struggled with substance abuse his whole life. He spoke of first trying heroin when he
was 14, while coping with a stepfather he often clashed with. He continued to use throughout his
life, regardless of where he was at, from the military, to owning a business to being in prison, he
struggled with staying sober.
Two nights before McCorvey’s trim, Hawk was affixing a tarp to the fence behind his shelter. In
the middle of the rain, he flipped backward out of a shopping cart, first hitting the grated metal
and then smacking into the ground. He called it a “Greg Louganis moment,” a reference to the
Olympian who hit his head on the dive springboard during the 1988 Olympics.
“I didn’t want to get soaking wet, so I had to do it with nobody’s help, and it was pitch dark,”
Hawk said, still feeling dizzy and sore days after the fall.
Hawk recalled a moment seven years ago, sitting on the cold ground in a gray concrete prison
cell. He remembers constantly speaking to God, asking to be released from prison. As he sat
there, he told God that if he got out of prison, he would provide for the homeless. He would
make haircuts affordable.
8
Figure 5. Hawk smokes crystal meth.
“I want to help people that need help desperately,” Hawk promised God, as he sat alone in his
concrete cell. He repeated that promise to me the first time we met, calling it his purpose for
being on Skid Row.
On that level, Hawk kept his promise. He remains steadfast in his mission to uplift those around
him. Carrying decades of pain and the constant reminders of death - the loss of every family
member he loved and the perpetual abuse of drugs - Hawk remains astutely aware of his reality.
“My house is a tent. My house is paper. I’m at risk all the time. I don’t fear nothing. If it's my
time, I will die with dignity.”
9
Chapter 2: Spirituality and healing tents on Venice Beach
Figure 6. Lindsey Davis sits on the Venice Beach boardwalk.
Mewing seagulls accompany the grinding rollerblade wheels on the broader lands of Santa
Monica and Venice. Here a community of people have made a home escaping the better-funded
Santa Monica Police Department to the north and the Venice Shoreline Crips to the South.
Abuse, spirituality, and community are commonplace here. Some residents have been living in
Venice for decades, while many more wander in and out - between shelters, couches, and tents.
Lindsey Davis, who prefers to go by what she describes as her shaman name, “Welcoming All”
or “Wa,” has called this part of Venice Beach home for the last few years. With brown hair and
brown eyes and a relatively small stature, this 41-year-old ex-sugar baby is friends with every
police officer, fireman, sanitation worker, and tourist on the boardwalk.
10
Wa came to Venice in June
2020 and began setting up her
Goddess Temple. It has since
become a mainstay in the
community, as she looks to
create a safe place for women
who have been emotionally
and physically abused. Wa
began the temple as part of her
path of emotional healing.
Figure 7. Lindsey Davis moves the healing tent.
She spoke of being abused or taken advantage of by men since she was a young girl in
Connecticut. After her parents divorced when she was two, she lived in her mother’s house with
her grandfather, who she described as the “family pedophile.” No one was safe at her home, she
remembers, both toddlers and teenagers were vulnerable.
“So it made sense to me that by the time I was 22, I had super-wealthy men in my back pocket
giving me $8,000 to $12,000 a month, was the range of allowance I would get,” Wa said.
As she grew older she made arrangements with certain men to have children. She would either
receive child support checks or in one case both child support and $200,000 when she agreed to
be a surrogate mother.
But in 2019, everything changed.
She left her then 10-year-old boy to babysit her other two children as she went to go visit one of
her sugar daddies.
11
Figure 8. Athena Montruex sits outside the healing tent.
“You don’t sleep with your sugar daddy right
away, you want them to pay you. And since I
wouldn’t sleep with him we had a tussle and he
took the money back from me and I called the
police. They arrested me and I told them my kids
were alone and I needed to get back to my kids
and they charged me with child endangerment. It
sucked,” Wa remembers.
She hasn’t seen her kids since and currently does not have any contact with them. She has tried
to make the Goddess Temple a space of healing for others like her that have been abused.
Athena Montreux is a trans woman from Kansas who came to Venice Beach in the middle of
2022. She was raped and nearly trafficked before managing to find Wa and the Goddess Temple
under the shade of the boardwalk palm trees.
Athena had traveled across the United States attempting to find a community and a home. For
the last few years that home was Las Vegas, but a falling out of her relationship forced her to
find something new.
She spoke of the dangers of living in Venice, where sexual violence remains a constant threat.
“Well, yeah, it's me, Athena, again, a couple days ago I was raped. Some dude groped me, and
then tried to grab me, tried to pull my pants down, didn’t want it, I tried to pull them back up,
and he was just too forceful. So I gave in and let him do it because I was afraid he was going to
hurt me,” she said.
12
Athena spoke of this
violence in November
2022. She sat on wood
panelings that covered
the sand inside a white
pop-up tent that made
up the Goddess
Temple. To the right
adjacent to the temple
was a garden that Wa,
Athena, and other
community members
had built. They looked
to begin growing their
own food, and create a
more sustainable future
for their community.
Figure 9. Athena Montruex stands on Venice Beach at Sunset.
Wa remains hopeful through her spirituality. She described five pillars of her faith - god, spirit,
intention, always move, and state of flow - as key aspects to her life of healing. According to her,
these five pillars encapsulate certain aspects of her life, whether it is her interpersonal
relationships or dealings with the police, and help guide her in her path of healing.
Most of the Goddess Temple has
since been hauled away through the
City’s Care+ programs. Wa
currently only has a backpack and
some clothes to her name and turns
to Goodwill when she needs
something new.
Athena and the garden have also
since disappeared. Wa suspects the
garden was bulldozed. She assumes
Athena was arrested.
Figure 10. Wa and Athena stand for a portrait.
13
Chapter 3: Growing old on Skid Row
Figure 11. Felix Gonzalez sits on his bed in his tent.
Felix Gonzalez sits on the curb surrounded by all he has left to his name.
It’s not much: A half-inflated air mattress, assorted bikes, bike parts, two boxes, and clothes
scattered across the sidewalk.
Clean-up crews took his tent, blankets, and ID cards. Nearby, a diesel engine roars as one of the
Los Angeles County Sanitation Department’s backhoes moves down 6th Street.
Once the crews leave, he’ll move his things across the street and begin to rebuild. The empty
sidewalk slowly begins filling up with his neighbors. Since 1992, the 65-year-old Cuban native
has called this block of Skid Row home.
His neighborhood is bustling, with tents and canvases covering every inch of the 6th Street
sidewalk. The entrance to Felix’s home is hidden behind two layers of blue tarp, where some
salvation from the frigid rain and harsh summers has been carved out.
14
Figure 12. Felix Gonzalez moves his belongings after a sweep.
Figure 13. Felix Gonzalez points and yells at to city employees after a sweep.
He left Havana, Cuba, in the late 1980s and landed in Atlanta, working odd jobs before coming
west in 1992. He worked as a truck loader and carpenter but said he stayed on Skid Row due to
immigration and identification issues.
His 32-year-old daughter and 37-year-old son still call Atlanta home. They know he lives on
Skid Row, but after losing his daughter's phone number he has no way to get in contact with her.
“The biggest thing I need is my identification so I can see my kids,” Felix said.
His shelter, crammed in between two neighboring shelters and covered in a blue tarp, has a
wooden pallet for a door. When it rains, the floor becomes a river as water runs through his
home.
His bed is in the back of the shelter. It sports a blue blanket and several pillows and is flanked by
a metal shelf to the right where Felix keeps his prized belongings on the long winter nights, a
battery-powered lamp.
To the left of his bed are half a dozen bikes and even more bike parts. Felix works as a bike
mechanic and receives most of his income from fixing and selling bikes. He has everything he
needs from the allen wrenches to tubes and tires to air compressors for filling up flats.
“No one gonna give you $20, $30 for a bicycle. For a bicycle you gonna get five or six dollars,
that’s what I live with,” he said.
Felix lives on Skid Row with his brother, who is handicapped. He had a bad infection about two
years ago and they had to amputate his leg.
15
Felix also has pain all over and is unsure of the causes since he can’t afford a doctor.
His IDs and documentation of his immigration status are constant sources of stress. He said he
lost his California ID and tried to get a new one at the DMV, but it was too expensive to have it
replaced. “If I had a million dollars I’d be happy,” Felix said.
He points to his joints for arthritis, his swollen leg for an infection, and his back for other
ailments.
He used to have a prescription to help manage the pain but has largely turned to marijuana. He
will scour through local trash cans to find discarded bags of marijuana from local marijuana
dispensaries.
Figure 14. Felix Gonzalez looks through his bag of marijuana.
Figure 15. Felix Gonzalez holds out marijuana buds.
Once he finds one of the bags, typically 20-25 pounds in weight, he will bring it back to his
encampment and begin looking through the discarded buds and sticks and pick out the pieces
that are still smokable.
This process can take days, as he sits on the floor of his tent, smokes a cigarette, and continues to
sort out the buds.
When he is finished he says he shares the loot with his neighbors. Many living on Skid Row are
just like him, in constant pain and without access to medical help. He described himself as a
doctor giving out much-needed medication.
“Hell yeah,” Felix exclaimed when asked if he finished the bag of weed.
16
Felix remains on Skid Row with no sign of leaving. He said he will always be in his corner if
someone needs to find him, and plans to continue to live by the motto he has tattooed on his left
shoulder, “I live it by day.”
17
Chapter 4: Cigarettes, vodka, and Mark Twain.
Figure 16 . Tim Graves stands by his mattress above the 110-freeway.
Amid the engine exhaust, frigid nights, and soaking-wet sidewalks, Tim Graves reads Marly and
Me.
Tim lives above the oldest freeway in America, where for the past five years 100,000 cars have
passed underneath him each day.
His home consists of a plastic remake of the right side of
Lightning McQueen’s classic Corvette body, a full
mattress covered with colorful blankets and pillows, and a
metal grated cart where other clothes, food, and plastic
bags are stored.
“I’m sleeping rough,” Tim said.
Figure 17. Tim Graves reads a book with the help of a flashlight.
18
All of Tim’s belongings rest in this 10-by-5-foot space. His library of books, his knives for
protection, and the colorful juggling balls that he uses to make money on the freeway off ramp.
Like the seasons, Tim’s thick white beard is slowly changing colors. His face, scared and
wrinkled, tells a story at every peak and trough. His
hair, while short and graying, curls with his cowlick
and last night’s resting place on the pillow.
His earliest memories were just a stone's throw
away, where West Vernon Elementary School still
greets students to this day. He said his father
attended the school and recalls a time in 1957 when
no fences surrounded the schoolhouse.
Figure 18. Tim Graves takes a draw from his cigarette.
Today, Tim calls this 50-square-feet of pavement home.
“Shortest version of why I’m here is poor choices,” Tim lamented. Those poor choices aren’t
easy to pinpoint, and many details are scant.
He wasn’t always living on the streets, and from age 18 to 65, he led a life that looks very
different from today.
He said he was employed as a carpenter, working with a church in San Pedro where he would
meet his future wife. He had previously worked at the LA Mission, living there while fixing
people’s computers. His move to Hope Chapel in San Pedro was inspired by a desire to get clean
from drug abuse. He was struggling with substance abuse and was also enrolled in a 12-step
program at the LA Mission.
In 2005 he got married, but was in and out of rehab for years, smoking marijuana and trying to
stay clean. Over the years, the relationship went sour, and as his crack addiction consumed his
life his marriage fell apart.
“When he was sober, he's super charming. And of course, everybody just thought he was the
greatest thing ever. And so did I,” someone who was close to Tim at the time said in a 2023
interview. The source requested their name and relationship to Tim be withheld for their safety.
During this time he also became violent toward his wife, but no report was filed with law
enforcement.
19
After a drug deal went awry in 2011, he was arrested and charged with two counts of assaulting a
police officer and one count of vandalism. He went to jail. Two years later, his wife divorced
him.
Today, the over-optimistic 70-year-old juggles at the 110 Freeway exit to make some money,
saying it also helps keep his mind sharp.
He keeps a knife in his back pocket for
protection but laments that he often forgets
about it when he is in harm's way. He says
he's been robbed many times and nearly
stabbed while living outside. Centimeter-
long scars on his middle and pointer finger
knuckles show the reality of living on the
streets.
“This is a war zone. You are aware of that.
If a homeless person calls the police…ain’t
nobody gonna show up,” Tim said.
Figure 19. Tim Graves holds a fork while eating teriyaki chicken.
He scavenges for goods and food in and around the overpass he calls home. When his neighbors
are arrested, move into shelters, or pass away, he looks into the goods they collected to help aid
his survival.
He recalls how the LAPD arrested a
woman who lived in a tent on the other
side of the road. Tim described the
clutter left behind, filling one lane of
traffic and taking over the whole
sidewalk.
He found jackets, shoes, food, plastic
bags, and crates that he took back home.
Figure 20 . Tim Graves moves some belongings to his mattress.
20
A liquor store is his source for all of life’s vices. A packet of cigarettes and a small bottle of
vodka from the bottom of the shelf slip into his breast and back pocket. A black Cadillac
Escalade sits in the parking lot, as loud Hip-Hop music emanates from the speakers. This is
where the best weed is sold, according to Tim.
And at the end of the night, like any other night when it is hot or cold, wet or dry, Tim crawls
beneath his blankets and grabs a book. With a small flashlight illuminating the dark text, he
finishes his read while sipping on the sweet nectar
from his back pocket.
In a testament to how different his life had been years
before, Tim spoke about a connection he once had to a
USC Annenberg professor. Details remain unclear. An
email to the professor failed to produce more
information; instead the professor alerted campus
authorities out of fear for their safety.
Figure 21 . Tim Graves walks into a liquor store.
21
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Abstract (if available)

Abstract This work of multimedia journalism examines the experiences of chronically unhoused homeless populations in Los Angeles through a series of four distinct profiles through written reporting and photographs. The characters include Derrick “Hawk” Thomas, a barber who lives on Skid Row, Lyndsey Davis, a spiritual healer on Venice Beach, Felix Gonzalez who has lived on Skid Row for 30 years, and Tim Graves, a once happily married man that now lives underneath a freeway overpass.
The research for this thesis was conducted over a period of almost 10 months, during which time the researcher encountered several challenges. The work was often dangerous and unpredictable, with the researcher navigating the dangers unhoused communities are exposed to every day. Additionally, many of the stories told were often difficult to corroborate due to the transient and unstable nature of their lives.
Despite these challenges, the findings of this research shed light on the experiences of chronically unhoused homeless populations in Los Angeles. Derrick Thomas discussed the importance of serving his community despite struggling with mental health and drug abuse. Lindsey Davis spoke about the role that spirituality and faith have played in helping herself and other homeless individuals cope with trauma and violence.
Felix Gonzalez, who has lived on Skid Row for 30 years, provided a unique perspective on the long-term effects of chronic homelessness, experiencing sweeps and losing documents - and not being able to contact his family after years of living on the streets. Finally, Tim Graves, who lives on a mattress underneath the 110-freeway overpass shared his experiences of navigating the dangers of life on the streets, including physical violence and the constant threat of robbery.
This report also includes the voices of researchers and politicians in LA, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and her attempt to serve chronically unhoused populations. Overall, this thesis attempts to provide a nuanced and compassionate look at the experiences of chronically unhoused homeless populations in Los Angeles.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Peterhans, Yannick (author)

Core Title Surviving: inside the lives of four people who call the streets of Los Angeles home

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Specialized Journalism

Degree Conferral Date 2023-05

Publication Date 04/21/2023

Defense Date 04/21/2023

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

Tag homeless,Journalism,Karen Bass,OAI-PMH Harvest,Photography,photojournalism,Specialized Journalism,unhoused

Format theses (aat)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Mittelstaedt, Alan (committee chair), Bellantoni, Christina (committee member), Boster, Mark (committee member)

Creator Email ypeterha@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC113062983

Unique identifier UC113062983

Identifier etd-PeterhansY-11688.pdf (filename)

Legacy Identifier etd-PeterhansY-11688

Document Type Thesis

Format theses (aat)

Rights Peterhans, Yannick

Internet Media Type application/pdf

Type texts

Source 20230421-usctheses-batch-1028 (batch), University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

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Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu