Tag: downtown la

“The Day Shall Declare It”

“Yes, I remember you plainly, I met you in the park in back of the public library or was it the men’s room at the Greyhound Depot. I met so many they sometimes get mixed up however you stand out plainly. You asked for the time, or a light, and we got to talking and first thing I knew we was in your apartment, drinking…I seem to have gone through a change which I cannot account for except that I am very disgusted with all of the world. I guess I stopped caring about what happened to me. That is to say, I have lost my self respect. I have had experiences which only meant money to me and a place to shack up for the night and liquor and food. I never thought it could mean very much to them. I have meant something very important to hundreds of people whose faces and names have slipped clean out of my mind. I feel as if I have run up a debt of some kind – not money, but feelings.”

“The Day Shall Declare It" Downtown LA. 2015. Polaroid 2031.

“Really makes you wonder, what price do they put on me. The only time you stop is when the line stops. It just goes and goes and goes. I bet there’s men who have died, lived and died and never seen the end of that line. And they never will, because it’s endless. It’s like a serpent; it’s just all body, no tail.”

Annie Saunders /  Chris Polick

“The Day Shall Declare It"

“It’s a strange atmosphere. You come into contact with at least 35 an hour. You can’t exchange any ideas with them. They don’t know you, they never will.  You’re kind of detached. You feel like they put a coin in the machine and they’ve got you. You’re there to perform your service and go. They are paying for something else. They are paying to act out a fantasy or they are paying for companionship or they are paying to be seen… Or they are paying for somebody to listen to them. They are paying for a lot of things.”

 Nick Konow / Chris Polick

Photo by: Derek Woods

09.04.14 Downtown LA.

“By 1920, [Los Angeles’s] private and municipal rail lines were the most far-flung and most comprehensive in the world in mileage, even besting that of New York City. By this time, a steady influx of residents and aggressive land developers had transformed the city into a large metropolitan area, with Downtown LA at its center. Rail lines connected four counties with over 1,100 miles (1,800 km) of track…

…Following World War II, suburbanization, the development of the Los Angeles freeway network, and subsequently, increased automobile ownership led to decreased investment downtown. Many corporate headquarters slowly dispersed to new suburbs or fell to mergers and acquisitions. The once-wealthy Bunker Hill neighborhood became a haven for low-income renters, its stately Victorian mansions turned into flophouses. From about 1930 onward, numerous very old and historic buildings in the Plaza area were demolished to make way for street-level parking lots, the high demand for parking making this more profitable than any other option that might have allowed preservation. The drastic reduction in the number of residents in the area further reduced the viability of streetfront businesses that would be able to attract pedestrians. For most Angelenos, downtown became a drive-in-drive-out destination as they would come into the area for a particular objective and then leave immediately once their business was completed…

…The 2000 U.S. census found that just 27,849 residents lived in the 5.84 square miles of Downtown. The population increased to 34,811 by 2008, according to city estimates. As of 2014 the population of the district had grown to 52,400 residents, and 5200 residential units were under construction. The median age for residents was 39, considered old for the city and the county.” – Wikipedia