Exhibition: April 25 – December 26, 2026
Open Thu, Fri, Sat, 2-5pm
Opening reception, Saturday, April 25, from 5-8pm
Hotels in Crisis (Again) See link for more info. about panel conversations and events.
WALK-THROUGH with Rosten Woo
The opening reception will feature a 30-minute performance by the Los Angeles Poverty Department addressing the same concerns and created by our Skid Row resident – in the know performers.
In the 1970’s – at a time when residential hotels, were being demolished throughout Los Angeles, the city redevelopment agency made the bold choice to save and renovate the 60 single room occupancy hotels in Skid Row. Now, many of those hotels have again fallen into disrepair and one non-profit owner of 29 hotels has gone bankrupt. This project excavates this history, addresses the current situation and assesses what’s now needed to make the Skid Row Hotels into decent, truly affordable housing.
The exhibition with artist Rosten Woo, is developing in a “learning in public’” format, where each new stage of the exhibition will be informed by public conversations about SRO Hotels and Los Angeles Poverty Department is creating a performative response on what’s wanted to create and sustain decent housing.
Come be part of the conversation, and help develop the exhibition (and, we hope, the future of housing in Skid Row) with us!
Hotels in Crisis (Again), an exhibition that looks at the past, present, and future of Single Room Occupancy (SRO) hotels in Skid Row. In the 1970s, at a time when residential hotels, were being demolished throughout Los Angeles, the City of Los Angeles and the Community Redevelopment Agency made the bold choice to save and renovate the 60 single room occupancy hotels in Skid Row. Now, many of those hotels have again fallen into disrepair, and one non-profit owner of 29 hotels, Skid Row Housing Trust, has gone bankrupt. This project excavates this history, addresses the current situation and assesses what’s now needed to make the Skid Row Hotels into decent, truly affordable housing.
The exhibition has been developed by artist and civic designer Rosten Woo in collaboration with the Los Angeles Poverty Department and draws on the archival resources of our Skid Row History Museum & Archive. The museum’s holdings include extensive documentation of the original formation of Skid Row Housing Trust, a nonprofit housing corporation that was created to maintain the existing SRO housing in the Skid Row neighborhood. The archival records also show the history of crises that have affected this housing model. The exhibition makes visible the recent history of housing in Skid Row, and the testimonies of residents who have seen these developments firsthand. Hotels in Crisis (Again) goes on to share details on what led to the demise of Skid Row Housing Trust and the current crisis in SRO housing, before finally looking to the future and new models for tenant empowerment that may be developed in the face of this collapse.
