Fifth Street Skid Row

Duration: 12:00

Year Published: 1960

Creator: McGraw-Hill Films

Complete Record: Cautionary documentary about homelessness and Alcohol Abuse. Man in cowboy hat laughing. Perhaps inebriated (drunk ?). African American man in bright paisley shirt and headband banging on steel drum and singing. Overhead shot of 5th street sign in Los Angeles, California (L.A. CA), pedestrians walking past. Groups of men arm in arm, gathering on street. Man on crutches. Scenes of poverty. Man being arrested by police. Someone drinking out of a bottle. Lying and sitting on the street. Lots of older, elderly men. Men in bread line. Interviews talking about Fifth Street. “It’s Hell.” “I hate it”. Men looking for work. African American man talking about desperate times in the city. “Fifth street is nothing but homosexuality”. Central street sign, liquor stores. California Blood Bank Foundation. Hustling, male prostitution. Unemployment. Street fight. Man with head injury and big bandages. Zoom out of broken window in Champion Hotel. Shirtless homeless man talks about getting cold, living under the freeway to shelter from rain. Shots of trash, empty liquor bottles. Bum sleeping on the street. Winos. Talking about why they get drunk. Get the shakes, D.T.'s . Wife leaves. Alcoholics and alcoholism. Wine is fine. Talking about societies ills. Union bank downtown building panning down to homeless man. Musings on philosophy. “I don’t give a damn what happened to the Brown Derby.” Man playing his nose, miming violin. Walking in front of the freeway. Drumming on box. Hotel Robert's. Putting man in the back of a Paddy Wagon. Midnight Mission. Man crawling on sidewalk, collapsing. Bearded man with a bike and cart full of junk. Jesus Saves sign. Interior of dark tunnel looking out onto city street with traffic.