February 7, 2015
On our secret-stairs-walk through Echo Park, Debra and I peeked over the fence of an abandoned property. Apparently expecting nobody, a man who was sitting in the garden jumped up and screamed: “You scared the shit out of me”. After he recovered, we chatted about a Romanian wax museum, Frogtown gangs and secret stairs. He pointed out to us how we could find his secret spot in the hilly forest where he was living. Proudly he tipped us not to be misled by the first outdoor room, meant as a decoy, but to follow the path. Leaving him in the the garden, we followed his path, passed the decoy with a Buddha and found an extremely organized forest shelter with a faboulos view over Frogtown, the LA River and the San Gabriel mountains. When we came back, Robin-Romanian-Hood was gone but his radio, connected to the outdoor power outlet, was still loading.
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