The Stranger on Hollywood Blvd.

Today at Chris's journal ( http://itsallaboutmeithink.blogspot.com/ ) she talked about an insident that occured concerning a homeless person. (good post go read it)

It reminded me of my own time with a homeless man...

There was a time when I lived in Calfornia. Anyone who has read my journal knows that I had a friend who was an actor named DeForest Kelley. Through DeForest I had mad yet another friend who worked at Paramount named A.C. Lyles. Both men had stars on the Walk of Fame. This you have to know.

A then friend and I decided to keep their stars on the walk of fame "special" by cleaning them once a week, on Sunday's. Yeah, it was silly to do, but it turned into fun.. we met people and talked to friendly strangers, had pictures taken of us, and all round enjoyed the "task".

One Sunday while cleaning A.C's star we noticed a homeless man sitting on the steps close to where we were working. (right near El Capitan Theater) He watched us in silence and never said a word.

The following number of Sunday's that man was always there when we came to clean the star. One day he talked to us, saying he thought it was nice what we were doing. I remember from then on we always said hello, and chatted while we cleaned the star. Never once did he ask us for a handout.. never once did he approach us. He just sat on the stairs, smiled and chatted with us.

About 2 months passed and Thanksgiving came upon us. The next Sunday when we were headed to Hollywood I decided it would be nice if we broght him a plate of leftovers from our dinner, so we made the plate and brought it with us.

When we arrived that Sunday the man wasn't there. It was the first time we hadn't seen him since his appearance some weeks before. I was saddened he wasn't there because I wanted to give him the dinner we had for him.

As we went about cleaning the star it was quiet. We both noticed how much we had come to expect him there and to have our weekly chat with him. Before we finished what we were doing a police officer came walking by. I stood up and asked him if he knew what happened to the man that was always on the steps. He told me they made all the homeless "go somewhere else".

I remember looking at the Officer and wondering why they would do such a thing, ? He wasn't hurting or bothering anyone. Where would he and the others go?

I was upset that we never saw that man again.. and wonder to this day if he is alright. I know that the homeless can be problematic at times for the cities where they reside, but they are human beings.

I often think that someone should write a book about them.. or rather, a book telling their stories of how they came to where they are. Everyone has a story... I wonder what "my homeless man's story was"?