Earlier today I published a review of my recent stay at Hotel Figueroa in downtown Los Angeles. While the hotel itself was lovely, the LA neighborhood was quite the opposite…with drug dealers operating brazenly directly outside the hotel entrance.
Drug Dealers In LA…Overt And Odious
LA does not just have a homelessness problem, it has a drug problem. And in the gentrifying “DTLA” neighbor of Los Angeles, getting your drug fix is as easy as walking outside at 9:00 pm.
Heidi got off from work around 9:00pm and drove over to the hotel. She parked on Olympic Street around the corner from the hotel (why not, her car was just broken into anyway and now it is clearly empty….). I went outside to meet her…and was dismayed to see five cars parked outside the hotel on Figueroa Street with a number of transactions going on.
It was so obvious. So overt.
It was jut not just weed. There was white powder and there were pills. Guys coming up to parked cars with wads of cash.
One guy was sprawled in the front seat of his car with a lit crack pipe.
All of a sudden a police siren blared out. The guys quickly tensed up and all turned their heads, but the police car drove right by without slowing down.
I did not want to linger too long or make eye contact with anyone, but it was all so disgusting. What an indictment on my city, a city in decline, a city riddled with drugs, trash, and vagrancy and public officials who do not have the courage to meaningfully address it.
I did like the Hotel Figueroa and would return. But if you are a guest at this hotel, do steer clear of the street outside once the sun goes down. It gets pretty nasty at night…
You havent been to SF
Have you?
Obviously not. I was in SF last week and shocked, absolutely shocked at how clean it was. And I didn’t see a single homeless person. And I was all over the city.
This whole false narrative pushed by conservative media about how ‘dangerous’ and ‘dirty’ San Francisco is untrue. I understand why Fox pushes the lies, but why do ignorant people like yourself? Are you just stupid? Do you not care what an idiot it makes you look like when you continue to repeat untruths?
I think the Russians call people like yourself ‘useful idiot’. The idiot part if more than fitting.
Grow up.
You are kidding right? I witnessed people taking a dump in front of a building on Market St at noon while people walked by like that was normal. I had to watch my steps to not step on used needles. I met one of my best friends from school that lives in SF. I asked him if what I see on the news is really happening. He smiled and said it is nothing close to how bad it is. Have you heard of bipping? Do you research and look that so far this year 15,000 cars have been broken in downtown SF. Do you think that is an exaggeration of conservative media? That place stinks.
I was in SFO a month ago–it is literally a s-hole. Although I didn’t see anyone shooting up or taking a dump on the street, the evidence is everywhere you step.
I don’t watch FOXnews nor am I a conservative, with that said, SF is pretty rough, is it like MadKax? No, but it isn’t great either.
On the other hand, my wife and I drove out to Bodega Bay, CA. and stayed at the Lodge at Bodega Bay and we had a wonderful stay.
SF is clearing out the homeless and drug users (and avoiding breaking the law by doing so) in advance of the APEC summit they are hosting, don’t need any dignitaries seeing what it usually looks like.
I might suggest returning in a couple of weeks. It’ll return to it’s pre-summit sad condition shortly – to be clear is a drug ridden shithole, very similar to what you see in downtown LA or Downtown Frankfurt, people sitting on curbs shooting god knows what into their bodies.
Lol “false narrative” the facts show conservatives are right about SFO.
Like most dmocrat cities is a dying shithole.
Are you Billy Bob’s replacement? You seem to parrot similar copium takes, with smooth brain quips like bringing up Fox News int a topic that clearly isn’t, or shouldn’t be a political issue.
When multiple people tell it like it is, that SF is a shithole, just take the L. My uncle is an Uber driver there and got his ride broken into after going to a public toilet for a break (1-2 min break?)
https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/sf-car-breakins/
I agree with you, drugs should be legalized to remove the illicit trade.
What would then happen is the same thing, except the cars would have a paper sign advertising the drugs they are selling.
Take a look at what’s happened to Vancouver after the decriminalized just about all drug usage.
The reason to legalize is that states would make a ton of money in taxes. That’s all about money. However, who would pay for all the metal illness and other side effects that will come with more people having access to something legal that is bad for you? This is not coming from conservative media: https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/06/health/marijuana-heart-stroke-risk-wellness/index.html
How would you look into the healthcare cost to take care of all these side effects?
And hope it lets drug users kill themselves.
Lmao, LA = shithole.
To the above comment, SF = also a shithole
Keep looking north: Portland, Seattle, Vancouver.
Cities are complete shitholes now. Don’t expect it to get any better.
Fellow Angelino here. This, like much of the brazen crime in our city (among others see the Mad-Max meets Daytona 500 driving that seems to be the norm now) falls largely on the LAPD. LAPD, where are you all day??? That you experience would happen at a major intersection mere minutes from City Hall and the LAPD Headquarters says it all. I love my city and love the LAPD, but the HAVE TO BE VISIBLE AND OUT ON THE STREET. And stop with the “well, thats the defund the police!” BS. A vocal minority that does not speak for the actual majority mouthed off and now the LAPD seems to do as little work as possible to spite the whole city.
The vocal minority were the ones getting laws unenforced. I’m fundamentally against most laws that impact one’s fundamental rights, but this was driven by lunatics in charge. LA isn’t alone. So, whether the majority wanted it or not, you were allowing the minority lunatic tail to wag the dog.
It also would help if our District Attorney stopped acting like a public defender and criminal advocate. I’ve heard the police here just fed up and it’s useless to try enforcing the law.
BLM!
A different side of the same coin. Whatever the DA does or does not do does not give the LAPD a pass on doing any work.
If my boss says the process has changed that doesn’t mean I get to suddenly stop doing work…
Much of what Matthew detailed are likely misdemeanors, not worth the time or paperwork by the LAPD. Meanwhile, the local paper LA (aka El Segundo) Times constantly trumpets about crime dropping, as do local pols. If you are a California voter who approved the various propositions that changed so many crimes into simple misdemeanors, here are the rewards.
Did you buy some dragon rock before Heidi arrived or after??
Put democrats in power
Get democrat results
♂️♂️♂️
Imagine if there were something that one could point to as a reason for this happening…….
I find that surprising. Given the entrance to the JW, regal cinemas, yard house and other restaurants off Olympic would be open and bustling with activity for there to be open drug deals on the other side of the street. Even more so if it was a busy weekend. The LAPD has quiet quit so maybe they just don’t care about doing their job.
Well you got exactly what you wanted…..no police. What’s the problem?
Do we know each other?
Jeez… even SF Tenderloin (where my office is) isn’t this bad…
Elect Democrats, get third world cities
Wanna fix it? Vote Republican.
Never gonna happen with jungle primaries
Also, LA and SF are the worst cities I’ve ever seen. I have seen South African shantytowns that were cleaner. I have seen Central Asian and Eastern European former Soviet cities that were much cleaner and safer even after suffering under communism for decades. Nothing wrecks a place like uncontested Democrat governments.
The correct adjectival term is “Democratic”.
You are getting exactly what Californians voted for. Enjoy!
I see absolutely no need to patronize these cities. By not doing so, I’m also greatly reducing the likelihood of being the victim of a violent crime.
Make sure you eat breakfast at the Pantry which is a block away.
The food there tastes better when you’re high.
You’d think the hotel’s management would be concerned with what’s happening in front of their hotel. And even if the cases are merely misdemeanors, wouldn’t the police and hotel want to move the dealers on their way?
The police in Los Angeles have lost hope with the judicial system in the City of Angels. Our district attorney doesn’t press charges in most cases and we now have a no bail system for most crimes so no one goes to jail.
Have you considered ‘inconveniently’ timed window washings? Sometimes, things just have to be done. I’m sure a liter of water spilling on top of them would send an appropriate message.
Per the headline referring to a luxury hotel, I would expect that the hotel provided a security patrol at night when these dealers were active. Such a patrol is usually sufficient get these brazen idiots to move on.
When Democrats lose — America wins.
Until then, enjoy the fun in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, New York and Washington, DC
Crime, poverty, misery, drugs, homelessness, chaos and insanity.
Shove it. Your comment is political. Not helpful.
…..and Philly, Baltimore, Seattle, Austin
DeSantis land is a major market and market pathway for illegal drugs in the US and around the world. So is Abbott land.
Last I checked, Florida and Texas are Republican governed.
Want to know what else makes the drug cartels powerful? Illegal American guns in Latin America that flow out to the cartels courtesy of Texas and Florida.
Nice deflection. I live in South Florida after a decade in LA. Quality of life is 10000x better. And I’m not alone, look at the relocation statistics.
Your lame pandering for leftist nonsense is as predictable as it is misguided
When I did gay porn in LA for Colt Studios it was a much better area. Sure we did plenty of blow, but never bought it in public. The dealers were far more respectful.
This article reads like nothing more than a childish (poorly written and not-well thought) rant by an otherwise talented writer frustrated by unfortunate circumstances.
Your article puts the face of a black man blowing smoke on a complex problem with global supply chains crossing China and Mexico (at the very least) that produce cheap, incredibly addictive drugs .. but yeah… “lack of courage”. Like whatever.
The guys happened to be all black in front of the hotel, but this was a stock photo.
Of course the problem goes far beyond the “front-end” dealers…but the front end dealers are part of the problem too.
Build Back Better… Prisons.
I remember one of my first stays at the Hilton on Orchard in Singapore. Outside of the hotel were crowds of prostitutes. Surprised me as I had this concept that Singapore was some kind of sterilized version of Asia and sleaze would be tolerated no more than chewed up chewing gum improperly disposed. Didn’t see any open air drug dealing, but given the death penalty for drug dealing there that was not unexpected.
Yet another chapter in the continuing story of a failing nation …
Same kind of talk that made the rounds in the 1960s and 1970s, in the 1920s, and even earlier around the abolition of slavery. And yet the US is at the top of the global power league today more than it was in the 1800s and 1900s.
Our foreign adversaries couldn’t do this good of a job, taking down the US. We’re being dismantled from the inside. Clever tactic. Most people don’t notice or care enough to do anything about it.
I sure hope we’re getting to a breaking point where society says that we’re not willing to tolerate this anymore. All of the west coast cities have seen the same decline during the last few years – the perfect storm of downtowns emptying out due to working from home, more leniency against crime (first due to COVID, then due to social justice warriors), and good-intentioned policy shifts around drug use that have ended up being a disaster.
Some encouraging news out of Seattle last night though, as the voters threw out the entire city council with a clear shift back to the center. In SF the mayor is finally talking about carrots and sticks when it comes to the drug problem. Let’s hope some momentum is finally building to clean up these cities and move away from the radical left policies (which can work when paired with social cohesion and safety nets… but failed in the absence of these). In any event, let’s hope LA can make a concerted effort to clean up this nonsense well in advance of the 2028 olympics.
There is no housing for workers. There is only “luxury” housing. They sell drugs to pay the rent. Greedy realtors are sucking the life blood out of the economy.
Also it’s LA so it was a meth pipe.
Ah yes, REALTORS are the problem
Gotta admit, that’s one bizarre leftist excuse I haven’t heard before. Bravo?
I was in Portland Oregon this last weekend, I couldn’t get over the homeless, and drug use out in the open. Heartbreaking!
Lol in what universe is Hotel Fig a “luxury hotel”?
Its own self-definition…
I am not phased at all by what is happening to the other side those who day in and day out put your life on the line so many of us can reap the benefits of drug use because you cartel are wage a continuing war on the supply route to keep everything in par. Me, I have no values morals or anything except the value of other males find from derived pleasure which you so richly deserve. I wish I could be one of you