After rolling back into LA 40 years ago, I needed a job and some money fast. I had roughly been on the road for 2 months and was burned to a crisp.

I went to my old standby, the ABC-TV Center on Prospect in Hollywood. I made sure I didn't burn any bridges there when I left the last time, as it was a good gig. A graveyard security supervisor spot was going to open in a couple of weeks and it was mine to take.

In the meantime I went to my other old stand-by, the LA skid row labor temples. You basically signed in, sat on a bench, and waited to get farmed out as casual labor. It could be anything, loading trucks, construction clean-up, bike messenger, pushing garment racks, etc. Any able-bodied man could get work, and the competition wasn't very tough. A good portion of people waiting with you were either drunk or nodding off junkies.

The good part was they paid you at the end of the job with a chit. Now the beauty of the system. The chits could only be cashed at bars on skid row that were often owned by the same folks who owned the labor temples. Most of that money never left the bar. It was a completely closed economic eco-system. Alcoholics work for you, get paid, and drink it all up at your bars.

But the reality was if you didn't drink, at least in those bars, it could be a pretty good deal. As the Morrison Hotel sign said, you could get a room for under $3 a night and eat at one of the missions for free. I would work my way through the throng of butt ugly whores, these were not Sunset Strip hookers, and cash my chit at the bar and go back to Hollywood with a pocket full of cash.

This was Bukowski's skid row from 'Barfly' that he captured so very well. However, it was probably made more famous by the Doors '69 album "Morrison Hotel". That was an actual hotel that was next to the labor temple I worked out of. The Doors did their photo shoot for the album there and at the Hard Rock Café.

Yes, Virginia, there was an actual Hard Rock Café that had nothing to do with rock music and not a memento in sight. It had fluorescent lighting to cut down on stabbings and fights, a Formica bar top, and chicken wire in the urinals so vomit would not plug up the plumbing. Morrison gave it a moment of fame, but it was way too spooky for people to hang out there. I would drink there occasionally when they had "Old Tap" at 25 cents per mug, which was actually cheaper than buying it in a store.

It got me by for a couple of weeks until I was back at ABC and feeling good to be home. Here is the cover of the Doors "Morrison Hotel" and the center gateway of the Hard Rock Café and an interior shot of the bar.....