Private Shelter for Homeless Closes; 450 Back on Streets

A privately operated shelter at 25th and Alameda streets closed early Saturday, throwing about 450 of Los Angeles’ homeless back on the streets.

The shelter, which opened on a temporary basis during a cold spell last month to house the needy and provide breakfasts and dinners, was intended only as a “stopgap measure,” according to Robert Gay, City Councilman Gilbert Lindsay’s chief deputy.

Gay, acting in an unofficial capacity, began putting together the operation after receiving a telephone call Jan. 19 from businessman James Lucero of Arcadia, who said he had become impatient with city and county governments’ inability to provide housing for a significant number of the homeless. Lucero said he owned a two-story building which he would make available, and would pay for its insurance, utilities and security requirements.

The American Red Cross provided cots for the shelter and the Salvation Army furnished blankets. Gay said he “hustled” individuals and organizations for food donations and to provide funds to rent buses to transport homeless people from Skid Row and other downtown areas to the shelter.

Gay said he hoped that the shelter would be “an eye opener” which would prod churches and synagogues into opening their doors to the needy “in future emergencies, such as inclement weather.”