Work In Progress: Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, 06-24-12
The young Latino boy slept in the fetal position on a discarded couch adjacent to the curb, with both the couch’s back and his against the street. His pastel green vomit, which I had just skipped over, had pooled on the sidewalk.
In the very early morning hours along Sunset, small Christian Hispanic Churches the shape of Cracker Jack boxes open up to receive morning worshipers. The congregants wear mostly black, and seem to oftentimes be middle-aged woman without their male counterparts. Besides cars the only other sound this Sunday morning is the breaking of beer bottles by recyclers, and the cleaning out of a bar painted completely black-all of it. The thirty-something cholo breaking the bottles looked only once at me and then went back to using his left hand to sort dark glass and his right for clear glass. He tossed the bottles in an arc like the flight of an artillery shell, so they would surely break.
Congregant, Along Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
Occasionally, a pedestrian will murmur a greeting but will not look into my eyes. If people do talk, all I hear is a soft whisper of Spanish trailing off behind me. Kitchen help open up side doors to Mexican restaurants, and you can hear the smack of stainless steel a half block away.
As the temperature rises this morning, so does the frequency of traffic. It is now becoming difficult to flip a U-turn on Sunset to take a second look at a possible subject. You keep from making left-hand turns onto Sunset Boulevard because the cross street lights are set to turn green whenever. I spend my last few moments working a back alley behind a theater and find another abandoned couch. On this pass it is unoccupied.
Bus Kiosk & Rhinestone Scissors, Along Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
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