Central City East, Los Angeles
| Skid Row, Los Angeles | |
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San Julian Street south of 5th, part of the Skid Row area
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| Coordinates: 34°02′39″N 118°14′38″W / 34.044232°N 118.243886°W | |
| Country |
 United States
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| State |
 California
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| County | County of Los Angeles |
| City |
 Los Angeles
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| Government | |
| • City Council | Jose Huizar |
| • State Assembly | John Pérez (D) |
| • State Senate | Gilbert Cedillo (D) |
| • U.S. House | Jimmy Gomez (D) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 11.2 km2 (4.31 sq mi) |
| Population (2000) | |
| • Total | 17,740 |
| • Density | 1,587/km2 (4,111/sq mi) |
| ZIP Code | 90013 |
| Area code(s) | 213 |
Coordinates: 34°02′39″N 118°14′38″W / 34.044232°N 118.243886°W
Skid Row is an area of Downtown Los Angeles. As of the 2000 census, the population of the district was 17,740. Skid Row was defined in a decision in Jones v. City of Los Angeles as the area east of Main Street, south of Third Street, west of Alameda Street, and north of Seventh Street. Skid Row contains one of the largest stable populations (between 5,000 and 8,000) of homeless people in the United States.
The term "skid row" or "skid road", referring to an area of a city where people live who are "on the skids", derives from a logging term. Loggers would transport their logs to a nearby river by sliding them down roads made from greased skids. Loggers who had accompanied the load to the bottom of the road would wait there for transportation back up the hill to the logging camp. By extension, the term began to be used for places where people with no money and nothing to do gathered, becoming the generic term for a depressed street in a city.
At the end of the 19th century, a number of residential hotels opened in the area as it became home to a transient population of seasonal laborers. By the 1930s Skid Row was home to as many as 10,000 homeless people, alcoholics, and others on the margins of society. It supported saloons, residential hotels, and social services which drew people from the populations they served to congregate in the area.
In June 1947, LAPD chief Clemence B. Horrall ordered what he called a "blockade raid" of the whole Skid Row area. Over 350 people were arrested. Assistant Chief Joseph Reed, who claimed that "at least 50 percent of all the crime in Los Angeles originates in the Skid Row area," stated that there had been no "strong arm robberies" on Skid Row as late as one week after the raid. Long time residents, however, were skeptical that the changes would last.
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Wikipedia