This is a little warning to any fans planning to check out the "Million Dollar Hotel"/Where The Streets Have No Name site in downtown Los Angeles...just a warning...it is very dangerous. I was there today at 2 PM on a Sunday and made the huge mistake of going down there on my own. I thought that I might be okay because it was in the middle of the day...not the case. I was hasseled by a prostitute and her pimp for photographing the building. Apparently, they thought I was photographing them and demanded money for the photograph, threw a plastic bottle at me and gave me a little shove. I tried to explain I was shooting the building but they wouldn't buy it. Luckily, I walked away very quickly after I realized that these people were whacked and got away without any harm (no I didn't give them money).
This is the area at 7th/Main...the area is littered with shady characters...even at 2 PM in the middle of the day. Apparently, it is on the eastern edge of what is known as Skid Row in L.A. The street behind it is even worse...it is worse then anything I've seen in New York. Garbage strewn all over the streets, bums staggering down the sidewalk talking to themselves...it's as bad as anything you can imagine. If you want to see the building, drive by and snap a shot. If you do end up walking to the building on 7th/Main, be very discreet if you plan on taking a photograph. Do not linger and move on. Not sure what this area was like in 1987 when U2 shot the video...but it's probably the most depressing/shittiest area that I've ever experienced.
Being a guy and having spent time in Brooklyn where I walked home from the Subway late at night (I never got hassled once) I thought I'd be fine...a very bad assumption. You've been warned. Be careful.
