The homeless had moved in under Gladstone’s restaurant next to the beach.
For the past few days, individuals living underground in storm drains have been making the news. One woman said she called 311 repeatedly for years about the encampments near her home. She said she reported fires, trash and, last year, people living in the storm drains, but nothing happened.
Why did the Mayor’s office respond now? According to Juan Naula, who runs a nonprofit dedicated to cleaning up the city, he believed it was the videos he posted on social media that caught the City’s attention.
One day, at the corner of 88th and Grand, Naula saw as many as 10 people go in and out of the storm drains. After posting a video, he received a call from a Fox 11 reporter, who ran the story Tuesday morning.
On the other side of town, Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness volunteers, Sharon Kilbride and Carmen Kallberg, were doing homeless outreach and made an equally disturbing discovery.
Gladstones restaurant at the Sunset Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway is situated on the beach/rocks next to the ocean. The wood building is on wood foundation and is high enough for people to sit under it. Usually it is enclosed with a fence and a locked gate..
They noticed that the lock had been cut. Underneath the deck area and further back under the restaurant, “we found a huge abandoned trashed-out encampment, so people have been living under there,” Kilbride said.
There was no one there when they visited, but as Kilbride pointed out “it’s a huge fire hazard and a public nuisance.”
All of the material needs to be cleaned out from under the restaurant. Although it is a state beach, it is under the jurisdiction of L.A. County.
CTN reached out to L.A. County Lindsey Horvath’s office and asked, “since the homeless were on county property will the county help the current Gladstone’s leasee clean out the accumulated trash? Will people living there be offered services.” There was no response from the county.
Kilbride asked, “Do you know the current manager, so this could be resolved? It is really a danger for any restaurant patrons eating in the restaurant. Because if the homeless start a fire, the whole place will go up.”
CTN put Kilbride in touch with the Gladstone’s Legacy group. She was told that no one was helping the with the homeless. He had a long-time squatter’s car towed today off the Gladstone’s lot and hoped to have help tomorrow (Friday) clearing the encampment out and then replacing the fence.
Thanks again to the Palisades Task Force on Homelessness and their efforts to ensure the entire community, including the homeless stay safe. rehttps://palisadeshomeless.org/
Bedding and clothes were found under the restaurant.