Stars Dish Up Holiday Meal on Skid Row

It was the usual Skid Row Thanksgiving scene--turkey roll, celebrities, and block-long lines of people who don’t have much to be thankful for.

An estimated 5,000 of the down and out trooped into the new, half-finished Los Angeles Mission on Wednesday afternoon for a free holiday eve meal dished up onto paper plates by Hollywood stars and a lone congressman distinguishable by his white button-down shirt and tie.

“My buddy, Lloyd Bridges,” joked Skid Row regular Red Williams as he glanced up at the serving line between mouthfuls of mashed potatoes and corn. “I used to swim with him on ‘Sea Hunt.’ ” Williams scanned the other end of the food table. “Cesar Romero? Yeah, I know my stars.”

The food, Williams offered, was “great, great” and the ambience beat that of some other missions. “We didn’t hear no sermon and it’s inside, not out there in the sun.”

The repast, one of several served this Thanksgiving by Skid Row shelters, is an annual tradition for the nonprofit agency, which normally serves about 600 people a day at its old downtown headquarters.

This year, the tradition was carried out a day early at the mission’s new $17-million building at 5th and Wall streets to allow the diners to take advantage of other meals today. The stars, who have helped at the mission’s holiday meals for the last five years, were there to get media attention for the homeless.

“The L.A. Mission is doing some great work,” remarked actor Jeff Bridges as he piled scoops of mashed potatoes onto plates. Was he going to have mashed potatoes at his Thanksgiving meal? “Oh, yeah, you bet.”

And what did it mean to Williams to have his turkey served by the rich and famous? “It means they didn’t have anything better to do today. That’s what it means.”

Not everyone was so jaded.

“She’s stunning, stunning,” exclaimed Shirley John Williams after actress Heather Locklear introduced herself to him. “I was shocked to see her. But it’s a blessing. I’ll never forget that she wasn’t ashamed to shake my hand.”

And yes, his name really is Shirley John. He pulled out his driver’s license to prove it. “My parents were expecting twin girls and got twin boys instead,” said Williams, who works part time at a carwash and lives in a Skid Row hotel.

Locklear’s husband, Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, also got his share of attention with his cultivated bad-boy look: nose ring, black boots, skin-tight jeans and tattoos encircling both arms.

He and Locklear had helped the poor with Christmas presents before but never served food. “This is interesting. You get to rap with them and stuff. They’re some cool people,” Lee observed.

It had been a long time--15 years--since one middle-aged man sat down with his family for Thanksgiving back in Pittsburgh. “I miss it,” conceded the man, who would not give his name.