PHOTOS: A laid-back beach town is looking differently at “bums”
Young transients gather at the corner of Abbott Street and Newport Avenue in the Ocean Beach area of San Diego. The laid-back neighborhood is being torn by a dispute over the emergence of a subculture of unkempt young males sleeping in doorways, urinating in public places and panhandling aggressively. The flash point was a bumper sticker reading: “Welcome to Ocean Beach. Please Don’t Feed Our Bums.” (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Eric “Kandy” Diaz, 19, left, and Lili Ford, 26, make bracelets from colored beads while sitting at the corner of Abbott Street and Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach. “We’re not bums, we’re travelers,” said Ford. “We travel to Ocean Beach because most of the people are cool, and they help us with money.” Diaz said he’s made a discovery: “If you treat the police in Ocean Beach nice, they treat you nice.” (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Michael Ford, right, and Calvin Mitchel gather with other young transients in Ocean Beach. The community seems split between residents who feel it’s about time something was done and those who feel the “Don’t Feed Our Bums” bumper sticker is crass and out of character with Ocean Beach’s traditional tolerance for all manner of idiosyncratic lifestyles. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Eric “Kandy” Diaz, 19, checks out a pair jeans he found on the beach along Abbott Street. These days, San Diego police who patrol Ocean Beach begin their mornings by rousing sleepers from the doorways of businesses. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Dustin Glover, 19, shows the ticket he received for publicly drinking in Ocean Beach. O.B., as residents call it, is not just a residential enclave, but a state of mind. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Dustin Glover, left, Calvin Mitchel and Michael Ford at the corner of Abbott Street and Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach. Surfers, motorcycle club members, young families, retirees, artists, unreconstructed hippies and a colony of feral cats have long lived here in harmony. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
A transient plays music as a surfer passes by. The community has largely resisted the gentrification and commercialization that have transformed other beach communities in Southern California. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
