while general dogar and i are having a nice conversation on a beautiful day, it's tense. being on skid row is overwhelming all of my senses. everything i see, everything i smell. it's a lot. >> i met some of the most amazing people on skid row. it is really truly that community that i'm going on live in. >> i don't think people imagine here are taking care of each other. >> a lot of people don't think that. >> people see individual tents. >> because the city and the business folks paint us all off as transients. >> in the 1870s, a spur of the trans continental railroad hit downtown l.a. it brought seasonal worker, wanderers and emancipated people alike. it became l.a.'s skid row. and skid row, it ain't a row. it is a 50-block area between third and seventh, alameda and maine. the largest population of homeless in the entire country. even though l.a. is basically written off this part of the city, skid row has been here in one form or another for over 100 years. they are not transents. they're residents. with you if l.a. shakers and movers get their way, they won't be resi