Dana

The below interview is with Eliot, one of the unhoused residents of the park and a regular at the table.

Eduardo -How do your days go usually ? 

Dana -My day is about survival. I find stuff to eat, different places like this [survival aid stations], different shower places. It’s all about survival. I get through the day because with the grace of the people [the Westlake Community Table] like this that provide things for me--so that is pretty much how my day is, at least right now.

Ed-What do you like about the MacArthur space ?

D-It’s [The MacArthur park] peaceful, it’s a peace of mind, sometimes I come here and sit on a bench and watch people run around. It’s a peaceful park,  I've been coming here for years so I’m kinda accustomed to it. So pretty much the number one thing is it’s a peaceful park. You don’t ever see a bunch of dust up, you know where there is this big problem going down here or some big fight going down over there, you don’t see a lot of that down here, so that is what draws me here. They kind of changed the park. The park was really different back in the 90s, this park was rough, it was really a rough place to be in. They changed it and made it into a people oriented kind type of park. I like the change cause I can now sit here and collect my thoughts, but back then you couldn’t do that because you were on high alert. Now MacArthur is a different place. I mean we have some gangs creeping into the place, but nothing like it used to be, this is a great place.

Ed-May I ask, do you live in MacArthur Park or around ?

D-I’m kinda mobile right now. I’m kinda moving around here and there. It's tough, it’s not easy, but you know I do what I do, I'm a grown man. I’m going to handle mine, but you know it’s still at the same time it’s tough, not an easy thing. I’m mobile right now, man, that’s where it is, man, so until I improve it that’s where it is. I’m just doing what I can do right now.

Ed-How long have you been unhoused ?

D-Not very long, man, it hasn’t been very long this time. I was homeless in the 90s, but I got myself back together and my life right, and I lived a really good life for a long time. But now since the pandemic I caught myself in a bad situation. I’m trying to dig up out of there. So this has been going for about a year. 

I’m not just living here, but hanging out here for necessity. Not because I want to hang out here at the park, I kick it here out of necessity. Since the pandemic came around all the work is slow, it’s hard and I’m not the only one. Millions of millions of people that are in the same situation as I am, so I don’t really get down on it because this is not about a lack of effort. It’s because it’s not there...It’s circumstantial, that’s what it is.

Ed-You come to the table often, correct ? So do you get most of the aid you need from the table or other groups ?

D-Pretty much what they provide here is pretty much all I need, it’s cool I get food, I get water, I get medicine.  I have talk to Linh [about this] over and over about what she is doing and the effort she is making because this is kinda of unusual, where you get food, medication and everything. It’s a really good thing because it covers a lot,  it just doesn’t fill you up for a day because Linh [along with the table] has given me stuff that really, really helps me you know as far as medication goes and everything. Not a lot of people are doing that, the things Linh is doing. 

Linh covers a lot, and yeah she is multitasking !

Ed-Has the table impacted you ?

D-It’s a great impact on me because I can't get this nowhere else, I actually look forward to Saturday from where I’m coming from. I look forward to it because I mean for free. It’s free [the aid] and I can't get this nowhere else, so I mean it’s been a tremendous impact on my life. Linh knows that I’m here every wednesday and saturday, if I’m not working I’m here, I always tell her that.

Ed-What do you think about the organizers here besides Linh ?

D-Everybody is pretty much on point, with [the vibe like] ‘where not here to talk down to you, where here to help you and provide for you’. That’s the feeling I got from day one when I first came here and that’s what attracted me really. Because you can go down  there to some places in Skid Row where the missions and shelters kinda talk down to you, and kinda beat you down and you don’t want to hear that when you're already down, but people here always offer a word of encouragement. That’s what I picked up on the first time I got here. Besides what you gave me, you also gave me a word of encouragement. It kinda hooked me, you know !

I’m keeping it real, I ain’t playing nothing up cause you recording me. These are real people and I love coming here. Linh knows it.

Ed-What are some changes or services you would like to see here at the table ?

D-I talked with Linh about this a few different times, the only thing to probably improve this is really a bigger hygiene station. Maybe a shower space, people have shower stations all over the city. A grooming station because you may not realize how much people will change after their grooming status changes, you know after you give a person a fresh cut or a fresh shower it changes people. It makes people feel different about themselves, to the point that people start thinking about ‘maybe I should do something different for myself instead of laying here in the park and doing drugs.’ Besides that it’s a great table ! That’s a hard thing with the grooming station right now. But for people on the street it does wonder for people’s self-esteem. When you've been groomed and you look good and you know you look good ! Ain’t no one going to tell you, you're not looking good ! That would be the only thing, besides that this is pretty much an on point situation. You know I’m on the streets right now, I shower and everything downtown on Skid Row at the Refresh Spot, when I go down there and I shower up and walk out there I feel much better than before I walked in. That’s the one thing I've been telling Linh, she knows it, cause I told her that what you guys are doing out here is on point, but that [the showers] is the second stage. That the table can work on. She is doing a yeoman job here ! Everything takes time you know, since everything works on God’s schedule, not on Linh’s [the table’s] schedule. He is working through her, but on his schedule. She is doing good though.