On the outskirts of California's most populous city lies a heart-wrenching sight - block after block of squalid, grinding poverty, where tents and makeshift shelters line the streets as far as the eye can see.
The English writer and social critic Charles Dickens would have had enough material for many more novels depicting life of the poor, had he been around to see LA's most impoverished neighborhood.
Just blocks away from LA's fashionable restaurants, coffee shops and cultural venues, barely visible from the top of the city's shimmering skyscrapers, is something of a warzone, a veritable no-man's land where entry is not conducive to healthy living. In fact, it can be downright deadly.Welcome to LA's Skid Row, where reportedly one in three residents are homeless. It has been
called one of the "most densely-populated areas of people experiencing homelessness."
On Christmas Day, 'citizen journalist' Nick Stern decided to take a drive around this neighborhood to see how some of California's least fortunate citizens were spending the holidays. Stern posted his
video, just under three minutes long, on Live Leak. It makes for painful viewing.
Comment: See also: The Truth Perspective: Poverty and Homelessness in America