A Skid Row Soundtrack
Ricardo sits on a park bench outside the closed Central Library in downtown Los Angeles. Pre COVID-19, Ricardo would spend most of his days inside, immersed in the library's music section. Photo by Zaydee Sanchez.
Visual storyteller Zaydee Sanchez found Ricardo on Los Angeles’ notorious Skid Row. She returned over the years and captured images of a soul that moves to its own unique beat
In 2014, photographer Zaydee Sanchez met Ricardo, an immigrant from Mexico who’d fallen on hard times and wound up living in a tent in Los Angeles’ notorious Skid Row district.
The section of downtown L.A. is aptly named: It’s long been where homeless people have congregated -- at least 5,000 by official count -- making it one of the nation’s highest concentrations of people cast adrift by society.
As with most people who wind up on Skid Row, Ricardo’s story is long and complicated. It’s enough to know that as a teen he worked with his father at a radio station in his native Puebla, east of Mexico City. And it’s enough to know that he doesn’t fit the stereotype of a “homeless” person on the streets of America: He’s not a sad down-and-outer sitting by a dumpster, strung out on drugs or addled by mental illness.
“He’s a regular man who happens to be unhoused and voiceless,” Sanchez said
Ricardo lost his larynx a decade ago. Still, he’s quick to smile, especially when conversation turns to music -- rock and blues in particular.
“His music has kept him company, reminding him of love, laughter, and his childhood,” Sanchez said. “(His) is a different look of Skid Row that only people who have spent a lot of time there can really see and appreciate.”
Storytelling through activism
While serving food on Skid Row as a volunteer, Sanchez got to know Ricardo and the compelling story behind his smile. Over the next few years, she would return with her cameras to document his life on the streets.
The first results are a stunning collection of photos and a short documentary she produced with veteran filmmaker Scott Barker. The visual collection debuts here on palabra., a screening that brings Sanchez closer to her goal of a full-length documentary about Ricardo.
From the rising sun till after dark, this documentary follows Ricardo through the streets of Skid Row as he shares his personal stories about music and how it shaped his life.
Barker is an award-winning filmmaker who works on human rights documentaries, as well as on television commercials for clients like Disney, CNN, and Nickelodeon. His work has appeared at film festivals such as Sundance and the One World Human Rights Film Festival.
Sanchez is a documentary photographer based in Los Angeles and originally from Tulare, a farm city in California's San Joaquin Valley. Her professional focus is the human cost of homelessness, the country’s abusive immigration system, and racial discrimination that persists in America. Sanchez’s work has been featured in gallery and museum exhibitions in New York and Los Angeles. And, IN 2018, her activism and photo-documentaries of Skid Row earned her a Pioneer Women of the Year award from the Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women.
The story behind Ricardo’s story
Sanchez put down her camera for a bit to address questions from palabra. about Ricardo and about her work. Her answers here were edited for clarity and space.
palabra. - What's next for your project? Will the collection on Ricardo be displayed somewhere? Do you and (filmmaker) Scott Barker have plans to expand the video documentary?
Sanchez - We are definitely looking to make Ricardo's Story a full documentary. Scott and I are exploring what that would look like. I feel the 10-minute video of one day in Ricardo's life is a teaser to a more in-depth story. As for the still images, our goal is to incorporate photography and video simultaneously in one presentation. It’s not a photo essay, nor a (standard) video documentary, but a combination of images purposely placed in an order where one feels engaged with Ricardo. It's hard to explain this concept, you just have to see it.
Documentary Photography Zaydee Sanchez (Left) and Award-Winning Filmmaker Scott Barker (Right).
palabra. - We understand the attraction of Skid Row as a subject for your photographer's eye. But explain how you landed on Ricardo as your focus?
Sanchez - I met Ricardo about six years ago through my volunteer work with a non-profit called Share A Meal. We provide food and water to anyone in need of a meal, five days a week, in various neighborhoods all around Los Angeles. I am one of the directors for the Skid Row chapter on Monday nights. That is how I came across Ricardo, who always prefers the spicy burritos we provide. Our similarities in our language, culture, and love of music brought us to know and trust one another. Over time, many birthday wishes and "Feliz Navidad!" greetings, I got to observe Ricardo and his daily life. It was over six years, and I knew I had to tell his story.
Skid Row is an attraction for any photographer's eye, but this community is so much more than what someone looking from the outside can understand in a glance.
Ricardo is a man who happens to be mute. He has found his own way of surviving on the streets through community, humor, optimism, and most importantly, his love of music, all without being able to use his voice. I knew I wanted to focus on him because this is the kind of story we do not hear on Skid Row. We constantly see stories of the "darkness" of this community. And I cannot say there is no pain, addiction, or violence that occurs every day in this neighborhood. But as much as those things are present, there is, at the very same time, much love, community, support, laughter, and at least a sense of belonging.
I wanted to focus on that other side -- the side that is not so black and white, that requires the storyteller to look beyond his or her lens in order to show a different and truthful perspective of what a day on Skid Row can look like.
palabra. - Ricardo is such a compelling character. What brought him to Skid Row? What does his circumstance say about the times we're living, at the end of 2020?
Sanchez - At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the city of L.A. was trying to figure out how to keep the public safe, including the most vulnerable like Ricardo. The fear of a huge outbreak within the community of Skid Row led the city to temporary house individuals in motels, but the reality of this condensed neighborhood of about 5,000 people, and of an estimated population of 66,000 homeless people living in Los Angeles county, quickly left everyone having to fend for themselves. The city's long-time problem of a lack of affordable housing is now more visible than ever.
Ricardo is 67 years old and living in a tent during a pandemic. There is no work available. There are long lines at food banks, meaning more exposure to the coronavirus. The place he spends a lot of his time, the Los Angeles Central Library, is closed during the pandemic, leaving him no option but to be out in public all the time.
We have all experienced hard times this year, with the closure of our favorite places, long grocery store lines, or being laid off from our jobs. Ricardo is you and Ricardo is me. We are the same, he's just unhoused.
Ricardo found himself on the streets of Skid Row after the loss of work and losing his voice after having his larynx removed about 10 years ago. All it took was a few bad breaks for him to land on Skid Row.
Many in Los Angeles and across the country collectively experience similar circumstances. We are in unprecedented times. With numerous businesses shuttering, less work available, and people unable to pay their rent, the pandemic has shown how vulnerable we all can be.
palabra. - There is certainly a lot that other photographers and documentarians can learn from how you searched for, found and then chronicled Ricardo's story. Share with us one piece of advice for journalists looking to humanize an issue or a story?
Sanchez - In my mind, the number-one thing is to take the time to not only get to know your subject but also to look at why things around you are the way they are, and from all different angles. I cannot imagine documenting Skid Row without knowing the history of the neighborhood, the politics behind affordable housing, and without the many years I’ve spent talking to the people of Skid Row.
Listening to the community, it's advocates, and local government officials allowed me to go in-depth. You may not need to incorporate all of this into the story you are telling, but it will help you to truthfully tell your story. It's upsetting to me to see documentation of Skid Row by storytellers who’ve not put in the time, to do the due diligence of getting to know the community. I would apply this to any topic you are documenting. If someone is allowing me to tell their story, or just to listen to them, I consider that an honor and privilege that I cannot take for granted.
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Ricardo Sandoval-Palos is palabra.’s managing editor.