Fifth and Wall Street – Skid Row, Los Angeles in the 1970s
In the early 1970s, when we began photographing and filming where Fifth intersects with Wall Street, we were struck by a certain irony. L.A.‘s Wall Street, in the heart of Skid Row, was the polar opposite of New York City’s Wall Street, which is acknowledged as the financial capitol of the world. The disparity between the public squalor and desperation we witnessed and the symbols of capitalist prosperity at the other Wall Street became defining points in our efforts to document and interpret how personal finances, and even world economics, contributed to alcoholism in our families and in the lives of those we met on Skid Row.
Ultimately, Fifth and Wall Street represents more to us than a crossroads in L.A.’s Skid Row. It’s where we gained insights and developed empathy for the lives and lifestyles of unique people and some pets, including Leonard and Torchy, Mona and Gumby, Ray and Tippy, Barbara and Dino, as they struggled with life’s daily contradictions.
Michael Hyatt and Charles Pavlich
