Hollywood Homeless Interviews
By Alyssa Ramos
I was possessing an exceptionally enlightening day final Wednesday…or possibly Tuesday…I’m not genuinely positive mainly because all days appear to just run with each other in Hollywood…but various series of random events led to me strolling down Hollywood Blvd. at 2am in six inch Louboutins, interviewing homeless folks.
It all started off when I was sitting in my apartment waiting to go to dinner, obtaining a typical tipsy banter session with my roommate Dave (and probably totally scaring his good friend who was visiting from New Jersey). For some reason I noted a picture I noticed on Facebook of Winnie The Pooh and exclaimed how I constantly hated him mainly because his voice creeps me out and his title is poo. Somehow that conversation led into a conversation about how amazingly irritating the Kardashians are and how they should target on the Jenners far more because they’re hotter. Dave was brief to defend the reality that Brody can’t for the reason that he was “already on Laguna Beach, or The Hills, or whatever”. What ever Dave.
By the way, I know this all might not look as amusing as it was to me when I imagined I was drunk and psychic but I’m going to say it anyway. So very low and behold, I go to the bathroom at Wa Sushi on La Cienaga and Holloway, and what must be hanging on the bathroom walls but none other than two creepy Winnie the Pooh sketches! I rushed out to tell my good friend about my conversation with Dave and how I’m psychic, when who must stroll in the door of this small total in the wall sushi location? Yup. Brody Jenner. I’m totally psychic.
Anyway as we were leaving I observed what appeared like another person marketing art or books or a thing in the plaza wherever the sushi area was, and currently being a fan of any gypsy item I can get my hands on, insisted on investigating. It wasn’t artwork, it was a bunch of stolen things that a homeless guy named, “Boom-Shaka-Laka” was trying to promote. But it gave me a new strategy!
Amidst the random products which include outdated college headphones, and a purple vibrator, I identified a mini sketchpad that Boom Shaka Laka was quite stern on promoting for $one (even though it almost certainly sells for $ten), so I gave him $five, but in exchange asked him to compose a little something in it. What he wrote manufactured sense, along with what ever he was ranting about, but it gave me an idea to do something I’ve constantly wanted to do but usually can’t persuade anybody to do with me…interview homeless people.
I didn’t want to do it as a joke, or to be imply I legitimately feel that it’s intriguing to hear individuals’s stories who are down on their luck, and wished to share it with folks who don’t understand that not all homeless men and women are crazy, or drug addicts, some are merely down on their luck or not as lucky as other folks.
We decided we ought to get one much more drinks/adventures in before strolling down Hollywood Blvd. at evening, so headed to a new “speakeasy” that just opened in Hollywood known as No Vacancy. This spot is f-ing wonderful. It appears like you’re going into an previous, run down hotel, with a creepy red flashing light out front that says “No Vacancy”. You’re then ushered inside wherever you enter a bedroom that appears like a boudoir, finish with a half naked chick in lingerie sitting suggestively on a bed. She says one thing or the other about rules then all of a sudden the total freaking bed commences moving sideways and reveals a hidden staircase! Thank god I had a lot of wine in advance of that because I would have been working out the front door, crying by then.
We went down the methods and into the most important location which looked like a really old fashioned lobby of a haunted hotel. There was a wonderful back patio spot with tea lights strung from the tops of trees and an antique bar illuminated beneath. I attempted to order anything that sounded speakeasy-ish from the bar…no idea what it was, but it was disgusting, so I quickly drank it anyway and insisted on heading out on our journey. The sketchy exit through an alley that led as a result of 5 O’ Four (a hipster edition of Unwanted fat Tuesday’s) took us out to Hollywood Blvd. the place we started our search for homeless folks.
I walked up to the to start with individual and asked him if he would publish a thing in my journal. Devoid of hesitation he immediately wrote in excellent cursive, “Dreams Nevertheless Come True in Hollywood.” I was so touched that I offered him the only other singles I had left, smacked my good friend excitedly instructing them to go get more singles, and marched off to come across my up coming interview.
The second guy was a saxophone player from New Orleans, dressed fresh to death in a pinstriped suit and fedora, who lectured me for about five minutes about what he was creating, “Pull your pants up is also a mindset irrelevant of age, gender, or ethnicity! Evolve America! Outdated business is dead!!” I felt like a shunned kid.
The upcoming man’s entry I can’t really inform if it’s cynical or influential, nonetheless I will nevertheless note that his handwriting is also in nice cursive. Neil wrote, “Always bear in mind in lifestyle there is no problem so great you can’t run away from it.” So I’m assuming he ran away from a thing…and it didn’t end properly.
Following was a guy named Steve who I met mainly because I’m psychic, and knew he was from the identical hometown location as me, West Palm Seaside, wherever he utilised to run a dance studio in advance of it went bankrupt. He came to LA to continue his dream of educating dance though getting aided by the VA Hospital, but when it lost funding for housing, he was left on the streets. He was quite passionate about lifestyle in his conversation and in his entry, “To Alyssa, Believe in love. It will give all the things you do which means. With no like life is just about how you really feel. Like ya & God bless you.” When I looked closely at the numbers he was writing underneath his entry, I recognized it was his social safety number, to which he told me that if we ever needed to find him, we could request the VA to search him up by his social.
My friend (who was not in any way, shape, or kind, expecting a night like this) was intrigued by my strategy, so I let them have a go at interviewing the next particular person. Typically mainly because I knew the upcoming particular person was going to be the one% of the persons that had been un-interview-able. The man yelled at us, but that just goes to display why we have to have a lot more homeless resource centers that will consider in and asses the mental stability of homeless people today like the one particular my ma assisted get started in Palm Seashore. Yay mom.
We acquired side tracked briefly at Ripley’s Believe it or Not, and for not becoming vacationers and for becoming real Hollywood residents, I must say, it was pretty entertaining. For some purpose I made a decision to interview inanimate objects like R2D2 and.some other comic form characters…and then spent about five minutes in a space that helps make you come to feel like your tripping in an iPod commercial. I honestly don’t know how my good friends are still friends with me.
Just after that, I received one particular a lot more interview just before we decided to cease at Buffalo Wild Wings to get some more fuel (drinks). But it was disgusting and the crowd was sketchy so we kept strolling. Thoughts you, I had now walked the whole length of Hollywood Blvd. in 6 inch Loubs. My feet were fucked. I located a pizza area and insisted on having a slice from the rude guy who attempted speaking shit about me in Spanish to the guy at the door, saying he was going to overcharge “these rich, white, visitors”, to which I kindly responded in Spanish, “I’m basically Cuban, and seriously enjoy pizza, so shut your mouth”, and obtained the most disgusting slice of cardboard cafeteria pizza I have ever eaten.
Appropriate outdoors the rude pizza spot, I saw a young dude playing guitar up coming to a row of super mod paintings of the Beetles, and two other folks who looked incredibly suspect. I knelt down subsequent to the guitar child and asked him to publish in my guide, and asked why he was on the street. Before he could even react, the thick wanna-be hipster chick (if it’s even doable to be wanna-be hipster) by the paintings with a tacky leopard dress on and way as well considerably eyeliner, KICKED a bucket in his direction…inferring that he must get income from me? Oh hell no she didn’t.
The kid had just arrived a number of days ago from somewhere in the Midwest and was chasing his dream of starting to be a musician in Hollywood. I informed him that he was in the Incorrect element of Hollywood and that I hated his obnoxious minor major lady good friend who he should really stay away from right away. Somehow my friend acquired swindled into obtaining one particular of the paintings for $120, then a random guy came up and took a bite of my pizza although I was waiting for my journal entry from guitar child, and when I went to go throw away the rest of the pizza, guitar kid graciously asked for it which I gave with him along with my Coke…which I instantaneously and awkwardly announced was Diet plan Coke, not like “coke”.
As we walked away, tacky leopard dress bitch says, “I like your sneakers”, as if she’s going to eat me and steal my footwear, and to which I replied, “I don’t like you’re hustling. Have a very good evening!” I’m so sweet to gypsies occasionally.
To wrap up our beautiful small journey on Hollywood Blvd. I felt it was only acceptable to obtain totally unnecessary touristy souvenirs from 1 of the a lot of gift retailers. They wouldn’t promote us the existence dimension Beiber lower out so I settled for a Beiber fake ID, a Ghostbusters shirt, and many T-shirts for my canine, Oscar. As we walked to uncover a taxi I was appalled when a greasy, obnoxious random promoter outdoors some death trap of a lounge stated, “Ey you know you want to come in sexy.” Initial of all, EW, 2nd of all, when I coyly informed him that I was I was interviewing homeless men and women and asked if he wanted to compose a little something, he said, “you gunna compose it for me?” EW Again. I kindly explained, “That’s why people like you will go nowhere in existence, very good luck!”
As quickly as I received house, I posted my interview undertaking, and was pretty delighted when I last but not least woke up the subsequent morning at 11am to read through all of the optimistic suggestions on my random venture, minus that man who has to be a rude sarcastic prick about everything on Facebook who commented, “I wonder how they check their email.” Dick. But anyway, I hope to carry on my undertaking to aid communicate the voices that no one particular cares to hear and hopefully present an alternate see on the persons who so several of us chose not to see at all. If ever you really feel so inclined…I recommend chatting with a person sleeping on the streets, it may possibly enhance your appreciation for daily life.
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