News & Updates

By Marisa Kendall
Published November 11, 2024 at 2:35 PM PST

by Marisa Kendall
October 28, 2024

Olvera Street merchants concerned about homeless, rampant rats.
Homeless tents and the surrounding areas, Flores says, are filled with food and human waste, and that has allowed the rat population to boom in an area frequented by tourists looking to dine and shop.
Many vendors say they barely survived the pandemic and can’t afford any more setbacks. City leaders could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday.
Olvera Street is known as “the birthplace of Los Angeles” and features dozens of restaurants, food stands, shops and vendor carts among buildings that date back to the 1800s.

Juan Smith lives in room at the Sanborn Hotel Apartments with a door that doesn’t close. The Sanborn, located on South Main Street in downtown L.A., is one of the buildings owned by Skid Row Housing Trust, a nonprofit whose leaders recently disclosed financial shortfalls that made the upkeep of its buildings impossible.(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Longtime tenant James Porter, 75, right, complains about the filthy floors and unsafe environment at the Sanborn Hotel Apartments.(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Maurice, 50, is wrapped in a foil-like blanket outside Fred Jordan Missions on skid row in downtown L.A. as the storm was bearing down Friday. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Reynaldo Roman, who moved from Mexico to the U.S. about three years ago, receives a bag of clothing and other supplies Friday from Pauly’s Project.(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)