The Fascination of Main Street . . .

By Rick Farris


My destination on Main Street was located right in the heart of skid row.
I grew up in Burbank, a fairly middle-class neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley.
There was no skid row in Burbank. There was little desperation that I was aware of.
Burbank was a working man's town, home to many film industry personnel.
As a kid, I had a wild streak and when I turned thirteen, was already known by the Juvenile Authority.
I wasn't into drugs, or anything too deep, but I had too much energy.
Boxing burned up that energy. The best thing I ever did in my life, in many ways.
Boxing also introduced me to the other side of life. It took me to a place that mesmerized me, Skid Row Downtown L.A.
Aside from the old winos who would be curled up on the sidewalk, often tucked away behind a box, it was the buildings.
These buildings were ancient burlesque houses, ones that were popular decades earlier in the century.
They were pawn shops, knife shops, a downstairs basement pool hall about a block south of the gym.
There were little deals going on, out of sight, yet in plain sight. There were freaks, trans-sexuals, what a cast of players.
Very intriquing to me. I'd walk the street alone, or with my brother or cousin.
The gym was located upstairs in what was once a theatre located above a larger, ground floor burlesque house.
The theatre below was closed, and they knocked out the front wall on Main Street and back wall by the parking lot.
They paved the floor and the theatre was now a tunnel that led thru the building to the parking lot behind.
This was done years before, and you could still see the lighting fixtures attached to the ceiling above what was once the stage.
Below the gym, on the south side of the tunnel was a pawn shop and the ultimate dive bar, on the north side a barber college and luggage shop.

I'd have my gym bag slung over my shoulder, checking things out. Walk to the bus stop on Spring Street and go home.
I gotta education on Main Street.