‘Brother Tom’ Gained Fame With Mission

When Los Angeles buried its beloved “Brother Tom” in 1942, thousands jammed the Little Church of the Flowers at Forest Lawn in Glendale to bid farewell to the man who reached out to the needy, salvaging souls in his Hell’s Half Acre, a pioneering homeless shelter.

It was a hero’s send-off, from the bums he had fed to his powerful friends, such as attorney Joseph Scott and Times Publisher Harry Chandler.

Brother Tom attracted a passionate, loyal following by serving others, but in doing so he also made himself one of the best known figures in the city--and an early media star.

Hailed as the founder of the Midnight Mission on Los Angeles Street, Thomas H.W. Liddecoat was a produce merchant turned self-proclaimed preacher; the press referred to him as the “Bishop of the Underworld” and “Father of the Poor,” while the L.A. Realty Board dubbed him “the most useful citizen in L.A.” for aiding the homeless.

For three decades he was a man both with a mission and on one, at war with “human misery and sin.” He wanted to “rescue saloon bums and other floaters and wanderers” down on their luck in L.A.’s gutters, offering them soup and salvation.

To the civic groups and local churches to which he gave speeches, he said: “No man is safe and no citizen’s property is secure so long as any man is either hungry or unemployed. If a man has food, lodging and a presentable exterior, he will not turn to crime.”

But Brother Tom was no Mother Teresa.

He was also a relentless self-promoter who adroitly used the charitable contributions to the homeless and his association with city leaders to boost his ministry. With his gift of gab and a passion for ballyhoo and limelight, he charmed the crowds but actually spent at least as much time congratulating himself as he did feeding and nourishing the souls at the mission.

Born in 1864 in England, he was a boy when his family moved to Colorado after his father caught gold fever. Liddecoat in later life claimed that he spent his teenage years being raised with American Indians and riding with Buffalo Bill.

At the turn of the century, after opening a successful produce business in Colorado, Liddecoat came to Los Angeles and quickly expanded his fruitful dealings. Then his wife died in 1917, leaving him with a young daughter to raise. He turned his talents elsewhere.

Driven by a spiritual calling to public service, he hitched a ride on a dream and a prayer and began ministering to the city’s troubled souls, opening a shelter for the homeless in 1917, near the old pueblo, on what he called “Hell’s Half Acre” on Los Angeles Street.

This first refuge for the destitute was a squalid pesthole, where one daily meal was served at midnight--hence the name Midnight Mission--after 13 hours of religious services. Fear of hunger and cold metaphorically chained the patrons to their benches; as at many other missions of the time, the destitute had to hear a soapbox sermon and pray before they could eat.

Most of the unbathed clientele--Brother Tom was not a believer in cleanliness being next to godliness--snored their way through the religious lectures, waiting to partake of the food that the health department later found to be unfit for human consumption. Food was exposed to flies and cockroaches and prepared by men afflicted with a variety of diseases, including syphilis and tuberculosis.

“Beggars can’t be choosers,” Brother Tom often said to complainers.

He threw a floodlight on sinners’ despair, reminding them of where they would be without him. At the time, cities made little if any provision for such men. In his in-your-face-style sermon, he referred to the men before him as “jailbirds, hopheads and drunkards,” and then told them to join him in singing the mission’s theme song: “Since Jesus Came Into My Heart.”

Fancying himself as God’s wandering salesman, he took to the pulpit on Sunday mornings at various L.A. churches, including Sister Aimee’s Church of the Foursquare Gospel. He used his guest gigs to beg, plead and rally the congregation, so that together they might feed the city’s hungry and shelter its homeless. As worshipers wept copious tears over the fate of “human wreckage,” Brother Tom collected donations.

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Being hailed as the savior of the unwanted by community leaders, he also took his show on the road as the chaplain for the United Fruit and Vegetable Assn., his former line of work, preaching on behalf of the homeless at produce conventions nationwide and collecting donations.

As his fame gathered momentum, he became a living local institution. But in 1929, the day of reckoning came when the health department and other city agencies forced the Midnight Mission to “clean up or close up.”

Brother Tom argued that their new “cleanliness” system--making his legions shower before receiving a meal ticket--was absurd. Religious inspiration and food in a man’s belly should take priority.

Dethroning him from the mission he had founded wouldn’t be easy. But the new board of directors who incorporated in 1923 came up with a plan, dug into their own pockets and sent Brother Tom and his daughter on a four-month trip to the Holy Land. While he was away, Mary Covell, an experienced social worker, was put in charge. Her first task was making Brother Tom honorary president and religious director, moving him out of the chain of command. The shelter was deodorized, disinfected and deloused. Finally, showers were installed and the pernicious phrase “Hell’s Half Acre” was abandoned for a new slogan: “A House of Opportunity for Homeless Men.”

A “work test” system was inaugurated, requiring three hours of work a day to help maintain the mission. Quickly, there was a 40% drop in the clientele.

While Brother Tom was good at raising money, he couldn’t manage it equally well. Investigators found that although he had said he was unsalaried, he in fact drew $200 a month, including expenses, and had run up $14,000 in unpaid bills for the mission.

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Upon his return, Brother Tom found that his role had changed. Undaunted by the loss of authority, he vowed to regain control. But he never did. By the 1930s, after the Midnight Mission moved to its present location at 4th and Los Angeles streets, Brother Tom was still traveling and making speeches and raising funds on behalf of the homeless and world peace.

In 1936, before his health began to fail, he broadcast a daily one-minute prayer for “salvation and divine healing” over KMPC radio.

Today, the Midnight Mission celebrates it 75th anniversary of offering help and hope to the destitute. And listening to sermons is no longer a prerequisite before a meal.