WARNING: If you aren’t already on the slippery slope of running away from all of your adult responsibilities in favor of homelessness, do not read on. There’s already too many of us contemplating living under freeways for the good of our city. But, if you need some further inspiration to give it up in favor of the true freedom that being homeless brings, well, this may very well introduce you to a new homeless mecca.
Via Yahoo – “One man’s attempt to build his home — his castle — underneath the 110 freeway is helping to highlight the growing issue of homelessness in Los Angeles. Ceola Waddell Jr., a 59-year-old man who only wound up underneath the freeway some six months ago, has been gathering massive attention to his splendorous attempts to create a respectable living environment.
“I still don’t get it, what’s so fascinating about this place,” Waddell asked the Los Angeles Times. “I decided I wanted to live like everybody else, make me something nice that I wanted to come home to.”
As he begins a video tour of his facilities with “you have now entered my man cave,” one can quickly can see that a home he “wanted to come home to” means a place adorned with zebra-stripe slipcovers, a nonfunctional porcelain toilet (that reportedly gives him access to the sewer), a refrigerator doubling as a “jacuzzi,” and a guest room that he rents out for $25 per week, among other amenities.
Waddell’s homebuilding efforts — he calls his compound Paradise Lane — apparently flew under the radar, relevant to the city’s ongoing efforts to clean up and correct the current crisis of homelessness. But word began to spread about Waddell’s exterior design skills, with people stopping by to take selfies with him, culminating in the aforementioned video tour that went viral on Facebook.
Soon after that notoriety was achieved, Los Angeles city officials began to make efforts to dismantle Waddell’s digs, with safety and sanitation issues being paramount. A sanitation spokeswoman told the Los Angeles Times that “workers removed a refrigerator with an ‘abundance of rotting food,’ ‘explosive materials’ and other unhealthy items.”
Homelessness has grown in huge proportions in recent years in the Los Angeles area. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, more than a third of the country’s homeless live in California. And while the nation’s overall homeless population has remained relatively flat in recent years, the homeless population in Los Angeles has grown 55 percent since 2013.
Days after the city dismantled his handiwork, Waddell pulled together more scraps and material to start afresh. “I refuse to let the city beat me down to what they think a homeless person’s profile is, living on cardboard,” he told the Times. “This should be a landmark.””
Real talk here: when I was a kid, I used to tell my parents when I grew up, I was going to live under a bridge. It’s pretty wise if you ask me – at the young age of six, I realized that the world was a bountiful place you could skate through without a care in the world. That is, if you were willing to be homeless.
Shit, a lot of people probably see the way I dress now and think I’m already homeless.
Nonetheless, a pioneer like Ceola Waddell Jr. comes along and suck me sideways if this isn’t the dream image of homelessness. First off, that is an incredibly cozy-looking space to be located under a freeway and alongside what appears to be a pretty busy road.
I imagine one of the biggest drawbacks of homelessness has to be not having a comfortable place to poop. You can knock the toilets for their lack of functionality, but man – don’t underestimate the comfort of sitting on a fine commode to do business. Ignore the fact that they’re shitting in bags and probably just throwing them into nearby bushes or creeks.
And, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought, “I would definitely be homeless if I could still find access to a jacuzzi.” Welp – problem solved. Thanks Ceola. Not only is it a jacuzzi, but it doubles as a place to store beverages (or rotten food, but whatever). And, there’s plenty of explosive material around to help you pass the time.
But, it’s always the details that make stuff like this worth it. Look at the posh zebra striped furniture, the nice antique decor, the fresh fruit sitting about in bowls all over the setup, the comfy beds, and a guest space that’ll only run you $25 a week or $10 a night. Throw in the smoking room in a tent and it’s a straight bargain. Plus, there’s a snack bar that has cans of green beans and one bag of barbecue chips.
As usual with stuff like this, big government labels it as a part of some bogus conspiratorial “homelessness crisis,” and tries to tear down the dream. My hope is that Ceola will fight the good fight and not let the stupid fun police wreck what will inevitably become the next great destination resort location.
Paradise Lane is more than a venue. It’s a state of mind. Brother Dan obviously gets it, and I do, too. This has ‘great idea’ written all over it.
Stoney Keeley is the editor of the SoBros Network, Tennessee Titans Featured Analyst for Pro Football Spot, Contributor to FanSided’s Bama Hammer, and covers the WWE for WrestlingNews.co. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley, @PFSpot, @WrestlingNewsCo, @Bama_Hammer
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