The Salvation Army
Methodist preacher William Booth and wife Catherine founded The Salvation Army in the late 1800’s. The Salvation Army was known for teen-age girls marching into the slums of London and getting spit upon.
Today when you think of the Salvation Army you think of folks dressed in red ringing a bell to encourage you to put some holiday coin in their iron kettle as you walk past them to get to the newest shipment of furniture in your neighborhood Salvation Army Thrift Store.
But there is a place in Downtown Los Angeles where the Salvation Army has not lost her edge. It’s in the eastern section of Skid Row. You might know it as Arts District Adjacent.
In June 2012, I was made an honorary Native American in a sacred ceremony after ten years of advocacy work. A major impact immersion in Native American culture has had on me is everything has a voice. This is confirmed by Quantum Physics. And so when I approach this Salvation Army situation in Skid Row, I approach it with this question — What do the buildings have to say?
The Salvation Army opened two buildings in 1947. One was Safe Harbor for men offering spirituality and life skills for men struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. The other building for women was Harbor Light. After many decades of service, the Salvation Army closed down the buildings in 2009 during the recession.
The buildings remained boarded up, but then in 2015 developers bought them with the goal of creating Efficiency Apartments as entry level apartments for single young people. This is known as Arts District Adjacent.
Skid Row activists/advocates and residents fought back. The Skid Row Neighborhood Council Formation Committee (SRNC-FC) put a strategy together with the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LACAN). SRNC-FC wrote an official letter of opposition as LACAN mobilized other Skid Row groups and those on the streets resulting in a press conference and demonstration which shut down part of Fifth Street in front of the buildings. With the history of services provided by The Salvation Army, these buildings are iconic in Skid Row and Skid Row wanted them used in ways helpful for the current population.
This initial effort worked. No Efficiency Apartments and the buildings were later sold to a Fashion District business who used them as warehouse storage for garments.
Kaleb Havens of the Los Angeles Catholic Worker chained himself in 2018 to a fence outside the Salvation Army buildings to observe the 40 day season of Lent from February to April; fasting food and housing in solidarity with folks living on the streets of Skid Row.
On May 7, 2019, the Coalition for Responsible Community Development, based in South Los Angeles, filed plans in City Hall to turn the buildings into extremely low income affordable units. According to the Mayor’s Office, the housing is intended for Homeless Veterans and Homeless Youth.
Along with providing housing, the buildings will be part of Economic Development as the Mayor’s Office will be working with the Skid Row Community Improvement Coalition, known mainly because of the Skid Row Community Refresh Spot, for the ground floor of the Salvation Army buildings to contain Skid Row businesses — businesses culturally appropriate to Skid Row.
In late May, the SRNC-FC is hosting the Coalition for Responsible Community Development at LACAN for Skid Row to get a presentation of the whole project.
William and Catherine Booth would be proud.