Street Stories - A Ringside Seat To Over 4 Decades Of Taking Jesus To The Streets Of The World

Chapter 11 Skid Row (Los Angeles)

S kid Row in Los Angeles is unlike any place I had ever seen before. So many people within a few blocks’ radius. So much filth. So many tents, makeshift tents, making beds out of cardboard on the sidewalks, so much squalor. So very heartbreaking. There are not enough words in the English language to describe it. Before actually going there myself, I only knew of one word to describe it and that was dangerous . It is a place I never had a desire to go to. I was fearful of going there. Fearful of the people, fearful of the danger. I had seen Skid Row on the news many times and that was enough to reinforce the fear I felt about how dangerous it is. The Los Angeles Homeless Court reported in 2022 there are 4400 homeless people in the four-square miles infamously known as Skid Row. When I first met John and Elsie Benton (lovingly known as Mom B) of the Walter Hoving Home in Pasadena, California, I read one of John’s books. I don’t recall the title of the book, but it had an impact on me. John Benton spoke of Skid Row and how he had known it to be a dangerous place, but he went there in spite of his fear. We have a good friend from YWAM, Joseph Appler. We had done quite a bit of street ministry with Joseph over the years in Hollywood. Joseph went to work with one of the missions on Skid Row. Joseph loves the Lord and has a love for lost people, so what better place to be than Skid Row with thousands of lost people wandering aimlessly?

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