History of Skid Row - 2
Family in hotel, 1983.
Development of the SRO Hotels
This temporal population gave rise to the need for, and thus the development of, hotels that provided living space for a primarily single male population coming into Los Angeles for short term or seasonal work. These “single room occupancy” hotels, with their small rooms and communal baths, were affordable temporary places to live. Because the area had predominantly a single adult male population, it attracted services that catered to that population, including small shops; bars, saloons and restaurants; brothels, the forerunners of today’s “dance clubs”; and other social, recreational and meeting places. Some of the organizations that evolved into the social service organizations of today started as organizations to serve a temporary population with cultural, recreational or other diversions and with services which people away from home needed.
In addition, because the area was adjacent to the railroad, and Los Angeles was essentially the end of the railroad in the United States, people who were coming west looking for opportunities would arrive in Los Angeles. They were, again, largely single and primarily male individuals.
Many of them were social misfits, escaping from a less-than-rosy past elsewhere, so they were essentially rootless in Los Angeles. Others were here to seek a fortune and to either form families or bring families from “back east.” So there was a demand for additional social services. These were initially delivered by organizations such as the religious-based missions. Many of the missions that now deliver shelter and other services to the homeless and downtrodden have roots that go back over a hundred years. The missions began to appear as the transient single male population began to grow in the area, here to serve people migrating to Los Angeles looking for an opportunity to find work, settle and either form a family or bring a family from the east, or migrating here to escape a troubled past elsewhere in the United States.
With successive waves of new job opportunities in Los Angeles -- the discovery of petroleum shortly before the end of the 1800’s, the arrival of the film industry shortly after 1900, the beginning of automobile manufacture in the early 1900’s among them -- additional migration occurred. Most of it came first to Central City East since, again, most arrivals were by train. Moreover, the downtown offered the greatest range not only of housing options but also of transit options for access to jobs elsewhere, and was therefore an easy base of operations until housing was found in other locations.
The fact that the hotels were here, and the social services were here, made this area an ideal resting place during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. During this period, there was a substantial migration of individuals coming to the west coast because of lack of employment opportunities elsewhere in the country, and the expectation that Los Angeles had the “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.” Many people felt that if you got to Los Angeles, life would be good, everything was going to be all right. By and large, it turned out that for a lot of people it wasn't all right. But, in any event, the area had the missions and the other social services for the population that began to cluster here during the Depression. To a large degree this population consisted of hobos, rail riders and others who migrated from place to place, some in search of work, some simply moving around because of restlessness. Some of these people stayed for longer periods of time, some of them would stay for only a couple of days and then catch the train going somewhere else. Many of these individuals were alcohol addicted, often they were unemployable, and several of the social service organizations focused on “saving” such people.
The role of the area again evolved during the Second World War when Los Angeles was a stopping point for a lot of people coming either to find work in the war industries or to be shipped off to the Pacific. The hotels were a stopping place for people in transit. During this period the missions and other social service organizations were supplemented by organizations that catered to the military personnel who were coming through here. The USO was located in Skid Row. Many of the small theaters, bars, cafés and adult bookstores that are still here trace their roots to that period of time. They have evolved into the triple X theaters that we see today (they were probably only one X at that time). Again, it all traces back to there being a continuing substantial single male population flowing through here. Moreover, it should be remembered that Los Angeles was a relatively segregated city in the 1940’s and many new arrivals were African-American, so their options for places to live were limited to parts of downtown, Watts and a relatively few other communities.
This temporal population gave rise to the need for, and thus the development of, hotels that provided living space for a primarily single male population coming into Los Angeles for short term or seasonal work. These “single room occupancy” hotels, with their small rooms and communal baths, were affordable temporary places to live. Because the area had predominantly a single adult male population, it attracted services that catered to that population, including small shops; bars, saloons and restaurants; brothels, the forerunners of today’s “dance clubs”; and other social, recreational and meeting places. Some of the organizations that evolved into the social service organizations of today started as organizations to serve a temporary population with cultural, recreational or other diversions and with services which people away from home needed.
In addition, because the area was adjacent to the railroad, and Los Angeles was essentially the end of the railroad in the United States, people who were coming west looking for opportunities would arrive in Los Angeles. They were, again, largely single and primarily male individuals.
Many of them were social misfits, escaping from a less-than-rosy past elsewhere, so they were essentially rootless in Los Angeles. Others were here to seek a fortune and to either form families or bring families from “back east.” So there was a demand for additional social services. These were initially delivered by organizations such as the religious-based missions. Many of the missions that now deliver shelter and other services to the homeless and downtrodden have roots that go back over a hundred years. The missions began to appear as the transient single male population began to grow in the area, here to serve people migrating to Los Angeles looking for an opportunity to find work, settle and either form a family or bring a family from the east, or migrating here to escape a troubled past elsewhere in the United States.
With successive waves of new job opportunities in Los Angeles -- the discovery of petroleum shortly before the end of the 1800’s, the arrival of the film industry shortly after 1900, the beginning of automobile manufacture in the early 1900’s among them -- additional migration occurred. Most of it came first to Central City East since, again, most arrivals were by train. Moreover, the downtown offered the greatest range not only of housing options but also of transit options for access to jobs elsewhere, and was therefore an easy base of operations until housing was found in other locations.
The fact that the hotels were here, and the social services were here, made this area an ideal resting place during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. During this period, there was a substantial migration of individuals coming to the west coast because of lack of employment opportunities elsewhere in the country, and the expectation that Los Angeles had the “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.” Many people felt that if you got to Los Angeles, life would be good, everything was going to be all right. By and large, it turned out that for a lot of people it wasn't all right. But, in any event, the area had the missions and the other social services for the population that began to cluster here during the Depression. To a large degree this population consisted of hobos, rail riders and others who migrated from place to place, some in search of work, some simply moving around because of restlessness. Some of these people stayed for longer periods of time, some of them would stay for only a couple of days and then catch the train going somewhere else. Many of these individuals were alcohol addicted, often they were unemployable, and several of the social service organizations focused on “saving” such people.
The role of the area again evolved during the Second World War when Los Angeles was a stopping point for a lot of people coming either to find work in the war industries or to be shipped off to the Pacific. The hotels were a stopping place for people in transit. During this period the missions and other social service organizations were supplemented by organizations that catered to the military personnel who were coming through here. The USO was located in Skid Row. Many of the small theaters, bars, cafés and adult bookstores that are still here trace their roots to that period of time. They have evolved into the triple X theaters that we see today (they were probably only one X at that time). Again, it all traces back to there being a continuing substantial single male population flowing through here. Moreover, it should be remembered that Los Angeles was a relatively segregated city in the 1940’s and many new arrivals were African-American, so their options for places to live were limited to parts of downtown, Watts and a relatively few other communities.
Photograph from the Los Angeles Times photographic archive, UCLA Library. Copyright Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.
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