Residents of L.A.’s ‘Skid Row’ seek hope as coronavirus worsens

Many of the roughly 5,000 people in this tight-knit community are homeless. With the first COVID-19 cases now reported, is the city ready for what may come?

In Los Angeles, aid missions provide vital support for homeless people, such as those on Skid Row, a densely packed community on the east side of the city. The first coronavirus case was confirmed there on March 21. Face masks are becoming a more common sight, but social distancing is difficult, especially for people waiting in line for meals.

CREDIT: STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER BROWN

LOS ANGELESThis city’s Skid Row has been home to people on the margins of society for more than a century. It’s a roughly 50-block area east of downtown, mostly warehouses, low-income housing, single-room occupancy hotels—and tents. The name Skid Row originated in Seattle, an hour south of the Washington farming region where I grew up. It initially described the logging communities along the “skid roads” where logs were dragged to be loaded onto ships at the port. Only later, around the time of the Great Depression, did it become synonymous with impoverished neighborhoods across the country. With some 5,000 people, L.A.’s Skid Row is like a little city within the metropolis—a city defined by the tents on its sidewalks.

A man hidden from the world sits outside Midnight Mission, with an oversized poster as a backdrop. The mission is one of many that gives hot meals to Skid Row residents. With the risk of coronavirus infection high, some aid organizations now only feed people outside.

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