you are about to become a witness. >> look at momma's baby. >> a new mom beaming with pride. >> her name is pamlina nicole mcbride. >> already making plans for her daughter's future. >> i want her to live on the streets. i want her to live my type of life. >> this is the legacy spider is

creating for her 6-week-old baby here on the streets of hollywood where life is clearly unscripted. >> i gave my daughter to her for her dog. >> and kids don't seem to give much thought to alternatives. >> i'm disenchanted by life, i guess. that's all i'm saying. >> i overdosed more than 22 times. i've pulled through that many times, i'm not going to die of an overdose that easily. >> how do they survive? >> could you spare anything, please? i've got nowhere to go. >> will this street family stay together? is this teen fit to be a parent? >> you know, i was a foster kid from 8 years old and up. you don't [ bleep ] my life. you want to take my daughter from me? >> captured on camera, "invisible people." >> the streets ain't nothing nice. >> on any given day in america,

there are nearly 1.5 million kids living on the streets. each year reality hits home for thousands of runaways under the bright lights of hollywood, where many homeless teens live on discarded food and an endless supply of cheap heroin. they will tell you in their own raw language that being a street kid is about as tough as it gets. perhaps toughest for the newborn you're about to meet. no one comes to hollywood to see them. but an estimated 7,000 to 8,000 homeless teens and young adults live right here under the famous letters on the hill among the stargazers and the wanna-bes. >> can you guys spare anything for food? i just got here from hawaii and i have got nowhere to go. i don't know anybody here. >> on the streets for just a few months, brittany and jason are finding hollywood not all it's cracked up to be. >> i have absolutely no resources. it's gotten really bad.

>> and 21-year-old allison knows how bad it can get. >> sometimes you've got to do [ bleep ] you don't want to do to survive. you don't like it but you got to do it anyway. >> tom, a drifter from denver, came here by chance. >> some crackhead sold me his bus ticket to l.a. for 5 bucks. >> 17-year-old al isn't innocent to these streets. >> i never did heroin or speed until i came here. >> these are the faces of america's invisible generation. >> i've been running this since i was 11. everyone knows me as spider. it's my tatoo. >> theirs is a hollywood few ever experience. >> can you guys spare change for beer? we need like a little bit more to get drunk. thanks, bro. >> spare changing for a buck. breaking, entering and trespassing. squatting for a bed. >> sometimes you go days without eating. the streets ain't nothing nice. >> but 19-year-old spider is thrilled to be here.

after a long absence, she's finally back on the boulevard. >> we're all a big family here. we have all known each other for a long time. i know scottie and his brother. i met them at jack in the box. that was about four, five years ago. this is a friend of mine. i just met him tonight. he's cool, he's great. may be a boyfriend, maybe. this is my beloved loving sister. ooh, she's so sweet to me. we've known each other for about six years now. >> allison and spider may not be related by blood but for this moment in time, they are family. >> we are trying to stick together because she has nowhere to go. she has no family either. so we were trying to make it together, you know, me and her. >> there is little spider and allison can't handle when it comes to making it out here. but these days there's a new kid on the block, and she comes with a whole new set of problems. >> her name is pamlina nicole mcbride.

>> it's been just six weeks since spider gave birth to little kalina and already she's inherited a legacy, surviving the boulevard. >> i want her to live on the streets. i want her to live my type of life. >> calina is the newest member of this family, which like all others, comes with its own set of dynamics. spider plays the fun-loving child to allison, who is known as a street mom. she takes care of everyone but herself. >> let's roll, people. >> allison's fondness for calina is one of the few cracks in her armor. her own baby girl died shortly after birth and she can't believe spider wants calina to sleep outside. >> there ain't nothing wrong with squatting. >> there ain't nothing wrong with squatting but i don't want her to do it because i don't want the [ bleep ] cops to be taking her. >> it's my little girl. if i want her on the streets, she's going to be on the streets. it's my choice. it's my decision. >> i don't want her on the street. i don't want her to be taken. >> she's not going to be taken, dude.

as long as people don't run their mouth, nothing can be said. >> distressed, allison makes a call to a good friend in oakland, whom she's planning to visit within days. >> i don't know what to do about this child. this woman is sitting here saying that she wants her kid to squat, her kid's gonna squat. she's got a 6-week-old baby. i mean just the thought of having a 6-week-old child on the [ bleep ] side of a freeway is tearing me apart. >> and despite her bravado, spider lives every moment with the fear calina could be taken away by the state of california's child protective services. >> i'm afraid. i hope they all realize i'm doing the best i can at 19. >> as much as she fears the powers that be, she, like the ever growing number of young mothers, would not survive without the social service system. and spider knows how to work it to her advantage. >> i'm all weak and they provide formula for me and juice and cereal. the salvation army helps me

provide for diapers. tonight i got all these blankets here at the way inn. and they are all pooh bear and nice stuff. it's all brand new. i go to parenting classes and they help me give me clothes and pacifiers and stuff i need. >> can you spare any change, sir? trying to get diapers for our kids? >> can you guys spare change tonight? >> allison talks spiders into spanging up enough money for a hotel room. >> thank you. >> 33, 34, 35, 36. we have 36. >> i'm good. >> we need like ten more and we got a room. >> with just a few more dollars to go, spider decides enough is enough. regardless if allison's efforts to the contrary, they will squat outside, baby and dog included, in an empty lot and save their money for another day. >> i have squatted like two nights ago with her, and she loved it. >> that's what she wants the baby to be. she wants it to be a natural born squatter. >> spider knows being homeless is not a crime. neglecting your child is.

and for spider, it's all in the definition. >> neglect is when you're beating your child, your child has no clothes, your child is filthy, your child is hungry and got no food. my baby has everything she needs. coming up -- >> this is not what i was raised to be so it's like, i've gone for like miles on low, you know. i was in south korea. i was in germany. i was in iraq. i think the hardest transition as you get further into the military is... you know it's going to end one day. and that's why i'm doing the job i'm doing now at chase, helping them hire veterans through the 100,000 jobs mission. because chase understands if you want an organization that's going to grow, that has a basis in ethics, and get the engine running again in america... why wouldn't you want to hire the veteran? chase is proud to help 100,000 veterans find jobs at home. there's a battery that's relied on to help bring children holiday joy. of course, children don't really think

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back at the squat, spider and the gang are getting ready for bed. >> i have blankets up the ying-yang for her and i don't see no harm in it. >> i don't mind sleeping outside. it doesn't bother me. it doesn't bother my little one either. >> i [ bleep ] hate it but she told me earlier, it's my child. i will do whatever i want with it.

>> excuse me. i just got here from hawaii and i'm trying to get a hotel room. if you guys could spare anything, please, i've got nowhere to go. >> though a relative newcomer to hollywood, 17-year-old brittany, is as street smart as they come. five years younger than her boyfriend jason, it is she who runs their show on the boulevard. >> move out of the way. move out of the way. excuse me. >> brittany is a master spanger. >> cross the street. >> she has spare changing down to a science. >> dig those work suits. they're good. they're great. those are really great. that will help me for a long time. >> people stereotype me. and i'm all innocent. >> you're just too young and sweet to be out here on the street. >> thanks a lot. a dollar will really get me into a hotel room. i don't like panhandling from people. it's not honest. i make it up i have only been here a few days but i have here quite a while and could have gotten my [ bleep ] together but drugs have slowed me down. that's the truth. >> and drugs are precisely why

she and jason made the long haul from hawaii to hollywood. >> first of all, the dope is cheaper here and there's dope is here. i was sick of sitting in hawaii and every four days ran out of dope and got deathly hill and sick of paying $60 a pop when it's $6 a pop over here. if i'm going to do drugs i may as well do them right. >> ironically, brittany and jason have come to do something else they know is right -- check themselves into drug rehab to get off heroin for good. >> i wanted to be clean when i got here but not that much. i mean now it's just like to the point where every day i'm thinking about it. i only get high because i have to sit on the sidewalk and, you know, there's nothing to do. it's just like boredom. i'm just lying to god and myself, you know, and i just feel guilty about it. oh, man. [ bleep ] scored. >> nonetheless, it's been a successful night. >> oh, this is so great. we needed this. we got one night nearly taken

care of. give me my purse, purse. $43, man. [ bleep ] nice. >> brittany and jason call it a night. they will squat in a spot they feel lucky to have found. >> all the way back. all the way back. >> a ramp on a soon-to-be-finished hotel. >> there's a big sign outside that says sleep here soon but we just figured we'd sleep here now. >> i guess my luck has gone down a little bit. you know, we're like literally sleeping like right on the sidewalk. when i was in hawaii i didn't think of myself as homeless. i have like a lot of morals. this is bad for me. >> we now look forward to dessert. >> this is not what i was raised to be and so it's like i've gotten to my all-time low, you know. >> there are lots of kids that

have come to this city and said they would never be homeless or would never sleep in an abandoned building or would never eat out of a garbage can. and, you know, a year later find themselves doing those things. >> no one knows what these kids face better than brian bob, part parent and all friend. he heads the street outreach program of hollywood's covenant house where he's worked for 11 years. seven nights a week you can find him and his team out here among the tourist trolleys and the limos, cruising the boulevard in his red van. >> we represent a moment of sanity for a lot of them in an otherwise chaotic life. you know, let alone a chaotic day. it's good to see you like this. usually when i see you, you're kind of depressed. brought some smiles in your life. >> on a typical evening he runs into 40 to 60 kids. many of them are new faces. >> hey, what's your name? >> columbia.

>> you know -- you win with that name. that is a good name. where are you from, columbia? >> kansas. >> kansas. would you like a sandwich or something to drink? >> yeah. >> how long you have been in los angeles? >> about four months. >> you know what, this guy jose has sodas and sandwiches. grab one from him and he will give you a card and let you know what we do. >> all of a sudden we run across a person that says, hi, what's going on with you? i want nothing from you other than you're being okay. who's that right there? >> i heard you! i knew that was your voice. i was like covenant house. covenant house! >> kids will see you and say, wow, you're still here. and i would look back and go, the problem is you're still here. this is not cute. sleeping on the bus. and you all both know this. they don't trust systems. they don't trust programs. >> be good, okay. >> so you got to hold their hand in hopes that one day when they are ready to trust, you can start opening the door to them

slightly until it's completely open. a new day has dawned in hollywood. spider and baby calina made it through their night of squatting under the stars to tell the tale. >> when i squatted with her outside, i felt like home. you know, i felt comfortable. i felt like i was doing the right thing. you know, she was warm. she was taken care of. i still got up in the middle of the night to feed her. i didn't neglect her. >> and for spider, there's no better proof than that social services is still not on her trail. >> when i gave birth to my little girl, i thought about adoption. but right now i think i'm doing good so i don't think i need to give her up right now. i think i'm doing okay. coming up -- >> i have overdosed more than 22 times. and if i pulled through that many times, i'm not going to die of an overdose that easily. every month brings hormonal changes, and that means acne flare ups. olay challenges that.

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it's a new day, but for brittany and jason, it's an old routine. they are on the go heading nowhere. >> when i first started doing drugs, my mom was all willing to help me.

she was like, i will take you on vacation. you can get away from here. you can stop doing drugs. i quit cold turkey and stayed clean the whole time. the first day we get home, my stepdad, he goes, we got to have a new set of rules here. your boyfriend, we don't want him on the property anymore. it was all his fault i was on drugs. i got on drugs way before i met him. i got him started on drugs. actually when i met him, he was clean. then we split, we left and got high. >> and getting high here has its advantages, hollywood's needle exchange, clean needles now, is a regular stop for brittany and jason. partially funded by the city, the service was founded in 1993. some find it controversial, claiming it promotes drug use. but exchanges like this one have been proven to stop the spread of disease, and here addicts like brittany and jason can trade in dirty needles for clean ones. >> what size do you want, 27?

>> do you have 27s in here? >> yes. >> i got their needles but they might want something. >> cotton, water. anything else? no. >> my mom just sits over there and worries. she worries her ass off about me and she thinks i'm getting loading and i'm going to die. and i'm sleeping on the streets here and i don't want her to think that. so i told her i got a job and i told her i was doing good a long time ago. now i'm kind of starting to do better but i'm still not clean yet. >> but getting clean isn't so simple. fearing the terrible pain of withdrawal, going cold turkey is not an option. brittany, still a minor, cannot legally enter a methadone clinic until her 18th birthday, just a few days away. and though 22-year-old jason is getting a daily dose of methadone from a clinic, he still can't make it through the day without shooting up heroin. kicking the habit isn't easy for anyone. >> i was clean for like five

months in denver until i came out here. really pisses me off that i'm stupid enough to go back into it. but at the same time it's too tempting while i'm out here. >> black tar heroin flows so abundantly across the border from mexico, it seems impossible for this 21-year-old from denver, known as junkie tom, to avoid. >> i had heard the consequences but i didn't believe that anything was that bad. i thought that i would be able to quit any time i want because i thought human will is the strongest thing there is, but i learned a lot about my will. i thought my will was a lot stronger than it is now. >> since his arrival in hollywood five months ago, tom has been hanging with another street veteran and fellow junkie, 22-year-old lori from connecticut. >> i came here, i just started doing a lot of speed because everybody does speed. and then i stopped doing speed and then i started doing heroin

again and now i just do whatever. >> anybody going to eat this? >> in the last few weeks, tom and lori have taken a new kid under their wing, 17-year-old al from brooklyn, new york. >> when i came here to hollywood, like, i was on the street and i didn't know [ bleep ] about hollywood. tom showed me everything. showed me squats, showed me who to trust, who not to. >> and whether intentional or not, tom also introduced al to heroin, a drug al had never tried before he came to hollywood just two weeks ago. >> he said to me one day, oh, i want to try it so she [ bleep ] tried it once. he said i'm just going to do it once. >> is that what you said? >> he did it once and he did it like later that day and then the next day he went on his own and copped it, did it without me knowing. >> tom doesn't want al emulating his junkie lifestyle but tonight

tom did not prove a very good example. he was just released from the hospital after a heroin overdose. >> i've overdosed more than 22 times and if i pulled through that many times, you know, i'm not going to die of an overdose that easily. >> though he is blase about his own drug use, he is angry when it comes to al's. you see why i'm pissed off at al for trying to do this [ bleep ]? >> i know. >> he's [ bleep ]. >> he's not. >> i'm looking at a junkie. i think it's kind of ridiculous. how can anybody want something like that? it's wanting poison. my [ bleep ], they wasted their lives on heroin. they are gone now, you know. aids, all of that [ bleep ], jail. that's what came of it. >> but al is struggling with much more than a possible drug problem. >> i tried to kill myself. i just got out of the sanitarium after staying there about eight months.

i've been through a lot and like sometimes i just feel like everything is dead, you know. i just wake up and i'm like what the [ bleep ] is there to walk around for? >> kids on the street do get support from at least ten different hollywood organizations which cater to their varied needs. they come to these agencies for everything from clean socks to parenting classes, one-on-one counseling and internet access or simply to rest up from the previous night. today spider and her new boyfriend rock are at the popular center my friend's place. but 6-week-old calina is conspicuously absent. >> i had people trying to take my daughter from me saying i was being neglectful because i was squatting with my baby. >> child protective services did catch up with spider. >> they checked the baby over. stripped her down and her diaper and everything. they said it looks like she wasn't appeared to be beaten,

they said i had diapers and formula and everything i needed but said the housing thing was their main concern, but i told them that in a week i should be able to get into a place. they said that i needed to have a place tonight and right now and i didn't have one. >> fearing little calina would be whisked away by the state, spider made an unusual pact with her friend allison, who was temporarily going out of town. >> i gave my daughter to her and switched for her dog. so i made deal with her. if anything happens to my daughter while she's gone, while me and my daughter are parted, then i will kill her dog. so her dog means a lot to her. so that was the agreement. coming up -- >> you know, i was a foster kid from 8 years old and up. do not [ bleep ] with my life. do your lashes want volume or length?

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msnbc now. newt gingrich says he will launch an aggressive write-in campaign to get on the ballot in virginia. he and rick perry both failed to secure the 10,000 signatures to secure a ballot. and crowds are gathering in the west bank this christmas eve. some 90,000 are expected in bethlehem, the town where it is believed jesus was born. the streets of hollywood have attracted young runaways for years. four out of five homeless teens there see the streets as their only escape from abusive families. but all of them quickly learn the life of a street kid is anything but a picnic. add a baby into the mix, and things get complicated quickly.

fearing social services was about to catch up with her, 19-year-old spider sent her newborn away with a friend for a few days. but now she thinks it's safe to bring the baby home. >> i'm waiting for my 6-week-old baby calina nicole mcbride to come here. she is with my best friend, allison who is on that bus right there coming in right now. >> in calina's absence, spider has been applying for housing benefits. she now has enough money to pay for a motel for a few nights. >> calina! oh, my god, my daughter, my daughter, my daughter. look at mama's baby. hi, cookie. you're getting bigger every time i see you. you got her bottle made? >> no, i got to make one for her. >> spider is certain with her new-found benefits little calina will be here to stay. >> they need to see her before

they give me all of my benefits. as soon as they give me the benefits, i will be up in the hotel. my rent will be paid. we will be able to buy groceries and everything. >> isn't she a little angel? >> not only has spider found lodging in the short time calina's been away, she's also found her baby a daddy. >> you ain't holding her right. first off, she's spitting up all over you because you are not doing it right. third off, you're letting her feet all scrunch up. man, you don't know ooh. >> the rock has been her boyfriend for less than a week. they are already engaged. >> we are going to take calina and john to hollywood boulevard. i have a bunch of friends who want to meet her and see her. >> hi, baby. >> just when spider thinks she's in the clear, child protective services catches up with her once again. >> are you spider? >> yes, i am. >> okay. we need to talk. can you come here for a moment? >> why do we need to talk? >> cps has been lying in wait, tipped off that on a bus arriving from oakland is a young mother whose baby is reportedly

suffering from dehydration. >> that's kind of funny because my daughter has formula and water. >> where do you live? >> i live at the hotel right over there on labrea and hollywood in room 101. i got the hotel key with me. >> okay. >> and they're putting me up and they're at the rosalyn hotel on monday. my appointment is at 8:00 to get it so y'all can't take my daughter. sorry. momma isn't arguing with you. >> in the company of police, who are there merely to ensure order, it is this social worker's unenviable responsibility to enforce a law which is ambiguous at best. is little calina suffering neglect? >> i have legal rights. this is my daughter. she is not sick and you need to get out of my business! >> calm down. >> the social worker, sensing her increasing aggression, asks the cops to call their supervisor for additional help. in the meantime he tries calmly to reason with spider. >> we have information that she

is sick. >> she was not sick, dude. >> okay. >> but you guys are making her sick by asking her [ bleep ] mother. leave me alone. >> tell me what he's saying. >> he's saying my daughter is sick, that she has some kind of [ bleep ] disease or something. and i haven't taken care of her. and i have rights. i had nothing. i have no warrants. i don't have a record. i don't have a record and i have been a street kid for 11 years! >> relax. before you get in trouble, please. >> they are doing this to me. this is so [ bleep ] up. you have [ bleep ] up. i've been in the foster kid system. you know, i was a foster kid since i was 8 years old and up. you [ bleep ] my line you have. and you want to take my daughter from me?

[ bleep ] my daughter is just fine, healthy. >> are they coming -- >> you know what it's going to do to me? you know what it's going to do to me if they take calina? this dude is trying to take my daughter from me. >> even brittany can't take charge of this situation. >> i'm not on the streets. she's got everything she needs. i'm living in a hotel. my daughter is not -- does she look like she's sick? does it look like she's been abused? ever since day one, since the day i gave birth six weeks ago they've been trying to pull her out of my arms because i'm only 19 years old. they are trying to yank her from my arms. >> with the supervising officer now on site, the cops pull spider aside, hoping to convince her to cooperate. >> let's go over here and talk. i want to talk to her by herself. >> are you -- are you who is in charge? >> no, my sergeant is. i'm going to just ask you a couple of questions, okay. where are you staying now?

>> on la brea and hollywood. >> what's your address? >> all right. [ bleep ]. they're going to take me all the way up to the hotel to make sure i have a place to stay. watch all of my stuff. i will be right back. >> spider is anxious to get into her motel room. she's sure that once she shows the police documents proving that she's found shelter, little calina will not be taken away. >> you got to turn left here now. excuse me? what? is the older man here? can you please open my room, please? thank you. thank you. it's right over here, police. thank you, sir. thank you. >> but spider's paperwork isn't enough. two paramedics are called to the scene to examine the baby, and that's not sufficient either.

finally, it's decided that calina will be escorted to children's hospital where she will be given a full battery of tests. >> they want to just make sure. >> after several hours, spider emerges from the hospital with rock at her side. >> they said the baby is fine. perfectly healthy. healthiest baby they had ever seen. >> she's furious, she's defiant, but she still has the baby. >> [ bleep ] them. the whole world! they want to take her, i'm ready. i'm ready. [ bleep ] coming up -- >> who do we as a world think is picking these people up? you know, these people aren't prostituting to themselves. these people are prostituting to the husbands and the fathers of this country. who wants some holiday tunage?

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it's another saturday night, and the kids are just hanging on the boulevard before the evening really gets started. al's new haircut hasn't changed him much. desperate for companionship, he clings to tom. and it's status quo for brittany and jason, too. after scouting the boulevard, they make their way to los angeles' skid row to cop some dope. >> i never buy from that guy. it's like -- >> yeah, we know him. a few times we bought from him.

>> with their previous fix wearing off, brittany and jason make their way to the cleanest, safest refuge they know of in which to do their dirty business -- the bathroom of a four-star hotel just a short walk from the very worst part of skid row. >> heroin addicts are forgetful. they don't remember. >> yeah. and no matter how much you do remember, you still lie to yourself and say, well, i can just do it once and i won't do it tomorrow and tomorrow comes along and you're like, [ bleep ], it's only been two days. i can do it today. can't do it tomorrow because you do too much and you're strung out. tomorrow comes, the day is up. it's almost a habit. i'm getting used to this again. i'm just going to do it again. and two days later, you're like, i'm totally sick. that's how you get into it. >> i guess i will always be an addict. but i really, really need to stop. i'm really at that point where i just -- i can't do this anymore.

♪ ♪ >> but jason just can't seem to resist an old life beckoning, this piano in the lobby of the hotel. >> ever since i was 5 years old i have been playing the piano. i haven't played the piano in a

very, very long time. ♪ i will always, always love the piano. i don't think i could get rid of it if i tried. ♪ >> so we are on santa monica boulevard. and basically santa monica boulevard is male prostitution boulevard. so mainly anyone that you see up and down the boulevard at this time of night walking around, maybe looking like they are waiting for a bus or looking like they are waiting for a phone call or whatever, chances are they might have something to do with doing the stroll out here. >> he's so cute. >> with few options, many kids reluctantly turn to prostitution, or as it's more commonly known out here, survival sex. this boulevard sees them all, from heterosexual to homosexual,

transvestite, transgender and transsexual. >> you've been hanging around that particular boulevard for a long time, you get involved in that stuff? >> santa monica? >> there's the pause. >> no comment. >> no comment, all right. i respect that. how long you have been in l.a.? >> three months. >> three months. >> is it all what you thought it was going to be? >> not at all. >> what does that mean? >> at first i thought it was just all fun and games. just out having fun doing what you want, being on your own. but once you really get out here and experience it, it's -- it gets hard. >> it's not unusual for a kid to tell me, you know, i got picked up by this guy who has got his two baby seats in the back of his land cruiser and he's on his way home from work to his wife but he stopped me so that i can give him or he can give me a [ bleep ] job. these young people are prostitutes and these prostitutes in general, who do we as a world think are picking

these people up? these people aren't prostituting to themselves. these people are prostituting to the husbands and the fathers of this country. >> it's been just a few days since tom's near fatal overdose and though he considers the episode itself no big deal, he's tired of the general path he's treading. >> i grew up in a good family, but i think it's just dumb choices that i made that i regret making. >> he stops in at the los angeles youth network, a hollywood agency which has seen more than 600 kids like tom each year since it opened in 1986. a hot meal at layn is a daily part of tom's routine. but today he also meets with a case worker to discuss his hopes of going home. >> i just want to move back to denver. >> to denver? >> yeah. i have been trying to do that for a month and a half. >> what's in denver? >> that's my home. i have like employment waiting for me out there, possibly a home. >> but like all addicts, tom is

caught in a vicious cycle he can't seem to put an end to. >> i want to be able to stop permanently, you know. i was clean for like five months in denver until i came out here. when i go back to denver, i plan to like stay away from it again. >> one thing he can control is his association with al. >> what's up? >> their relationship, like so many on the boulevard, has quickly disintegrated. >> he wants to do heroin today and if he's been doing that, he's usually doing it with someone else because i don't want to contribute to that anymore. i mean he chooses me as a role model he might become like me or want to become like me and that's not a good decision. because he's throwing his life away. >> despite tom's advice with each passing day, al is seeking deeper into hollywood's drug scene. tonight stoned and stumbling, he's even boastful about his latest hit. >> the amount that tom used to

o.d., i did probably more. i had a whole other needle. see. it feels good. i usually feel like [ bleep ]. but now i'm just -- whoa! hi, mom, look at me! my mom would be torn up very bad. like she doesn't like really show it, like, all of her feelings but i know she cares a lot about me. i can't really rationalize what i'm doing now. just shooting poison into me and shooting poison in me making me sick. i'm disenchanted by life, i guess. it's not my thing. >> hi! come on in. coming up -- >> i got a place to live now and nobody can say nothing about it. i knew i could do it. i just needed some time. ♪ ♪

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sunday may be a day of rest for some, but the boulevard is alive with its usual buzz. the street performers and the walking billboards, the shopkeepers and the ticket takers, the newcomers and the old timers, they are all here. >> how are you doing today? >> and in front of the mcdonald's on the corner of hollywood and highland, the kids have taken up their usual spots. brittany and jason are here, ready for business. and so is tom, spanging in his own haphazard way. and though he's still in hollywood, tom has split with al, just as he vowed, and is now squatting with a different group of friends. >> last night it was the fuel up there. tonight it's probably going to be the same place. >> jason has made some choices, too. >> i'm done with the clinic. brittany is trying to get in. when she goes, i'm going to buy

some methadone off the street. my habit is really low right now. >> brittany and jason run into spider and find her relatively unfazed by the tumultuous events of the previous day. >> four doctors come in and said she's fine, healthy, looks good. healthy baby. i said, you seen. i went home. got in the hot tub. had a fun time. we celebrated. they did not take her from me. they are not ever going to take her from me. she's fine. >> and things are looking up for brittany, too. somehow in the midst of spanging and not knowing where she's going to rest her head, she's gotten a job. >> i haven't had a normal job for like over a year. it was really hard to wake up and come here. i want this nice apartment but i got to save money up for it. it's expensive. so like i'm doing something that might actually get me it. instead of just [ bleep ] about not having it. >> she's training to work as a telemarketer. >> my dad, this is all he ever wanted to do was work in a office like this. be the big business executive guy.

but he was always like a total mess-up. but like he would drive around in his little broken-down datsun, a piece of [ bleep ], started with a button and briefcase and fancy clothes and shoes and drive to court because he was in trouble with the law. so i was like, dad, i got the office job you want, you know. >> and while brittany is attempting to earn money, jason is collecting it from uncle sam. though he knows one day he will have to get a job, the prospect of employment is frightening. >> i know all my life i've had jobs. i used to teach piano lessons. that's the only job i really love to do. and it's like what are the chances that i'm going to get a great job again where i will be able to like be creative and do what i want to do? i want to be a rock star. you know? >> in the meantime, with his welfare check, he and brittany have been able to get off the streets and move here, into a seedy hotel on skid row.

>> this is [ bleep ] compared to the other room. they're supposed to move us to another nicer room. this one has icky furniture and yucky carpet. the other rooms have nice carpet. nice comforters. >> with each step forward, brittany and jason take another step back. brittany's 18th birthday has come and gone, but she is no closer to checking into a methadone clinic. >> hi. come on in. >> just a few floors below, spider is moving in. she qualified for money from the state and can now afford to pay for room 668. >> this is my room. i just now started to unpack. i paid for two weeks. actually we were going to pay for three weeks. i got bottles, i got diapers on the floor. there's blankets, receiving blankets. diapers.

i got a changing -- oh, my god, i have toys for her. i even have our own picture hanging up together, our first picture we took together. i have a place to live now and nobody can say nothing about it. i knew i could do it. i just needed some time. >> with a place for everyone to call home, the group heads out to celebrate. brittany and jason give spider and her growing family a tour of the new neighborhood. which is just blocks from the worst part of skid row. >> you go down there in skid row, i mean those guys just trash the whole place. they trash themselves. i have seen guys piss on themselves. it is nasty [ bleep ]. they have no respect for anything. this whole block right here is terrible. >> this is where jason and brittany spent their first night in california. >> this is where we slept, right

about here. >> to them however the idea that they could end up permanently homeless adults living in a tent on the sidewalk seems absurd. but not to brian bob. >> what makes you think that you are not in line to take the place of the woman on the corner talking to herself? they weren't always there, and they won't always be there. someone is going to have to take their place. >> there's nothing i can do about the past. so i try to look forward to the future as much as i can. >> i'll just try to find -- maybe there is something better out there. >> as long as i feel bad, i'm not too far gone. >> i can substitute music for heroin. it gets me high, man. it totally gets me high. >> these kids are us. they're our future. they're amazing souls, amazing young people and forgotten.

>> my daughter was still going to be raised on the street. i'm going to still raise her the way i'm going to raise her. >> several months after we left hollywood, we spoke with alison, who followed a man to texas where she says he was teaching her to drive 18 wheelers. jason sent an e-mail in 2001 telling us he and britney moved to los angeles. they had scraped together enough money to rent a small apartment. a lucky break, jason said. the apartment had an organ that let him keep up with his music. as with spider, we spoke with her in 2002. she said she gave her baby to an acquaintance for safekeeping before she went to jail in the previous summer. after serving several months, she had been unable to find the baby. they have had no contact with the child or spider since 2001. that's our report. i'm john seigenthaler.