1.24

That Evening Sun is a photo-journal of life, love and interminable lasting on LA’s Skid Row
by Suitcase Joe

Recently Boxer here was telling me about some dope going around Skid Row that had a flesh-eating effect. After shooting up he could feel his veins beginning to irritate and itch. All through the night there was an uncomfortable burning where the drug coursed through him. Finally his hands and legs began to swell until his skin split open into bloody wounds. He showed me the sores on his arms and legs that had formed over night. Some were several inches long and an inch or more wide. Boxer said it reminded him of the Krokodil drug epidemic that broke out in Russia a few years back, which was a drug that caused a flesh-eating virus that was fatal. If you haven’t heard of the drug Krokodil, look it up, but be warned it is very grotesque. I found Boxer the next day and his wounds had gotten worse. Walking around I began to notice the same kind of wounds on others, seemingly everywhere I looked. Hopefully this is the worst of it and not the beginning of a new epidemic to plague Skid Row.

~

Suitcase Joe is a Los Angeles photographer who lives anonymously in our amongst. His Instagram page is an important document of our times. @suitcase_joe