*I didn’t name it. Several outraged nearby residents did. The “it” is an alley in South L.A. That must be ranked by any standard as an abomination, embarrassment, and disgrace to a city.
It’s gotten the name “the horror alley” which sets it apart from other alleys in South L.A. It is virtually a stone’s throw from Sofi Stadium, Intuit Arena, the Kia Forum, LAX airport, and two major shopping malls. It is surrounded by a population of thousands, and nearby fabulous wealth and luxury living.
Yet for months the alley has been the home for every imaginable type of garbage, broken down furnishing items, tires, refuse, trash paper, rats, mice, vermin, and insects, near permanent stench. It’s also the landing place for a small army of unhoused men and women. They live in the open air, no tents, or enclosed encampment.
There’s another all too familiar characteristic feature to “the horror alley.” Nearby residents have repeatedly called, written, and filed the mandated clean-up and trash pickup forms. There have been few, far between, and sporadic clean ups. However, the neighbors’ complaints are still the same—too little and way too long to get action. L.A. City officials are aware of the alley. The Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation is certainly well aware of the alley. They are certainly well aware of the crescendo of complaints from residents.
It is the worst, most chronic, and ugliest of the garbage and people dumping sites that now dominate the landscape in South Los Angeles. But again, it’s no aberration.
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The brutal reality is that when it comes to a basic city service such as combatting illegal street garbage dumping there remains a gaping difference between service in South L.A. and West L.A. The difference as always comes down to one thing: race and clout. South L.A. is predominantly Black and Hispanic, and lower income. West L.A. is predominantly white or non-Black, and mid to upper income, with plenty of political pull.
Environmental advocacy groups have amply documented the colossal health, safety, environmental, disease, contamination, and infestation dangers in these areas. The reports are clear. The problem of illegal garbage heaps on the streets is almost exclusively a problem in predominantly Hispanic and African American lower income neighborhoods. Nowhere is this more the case than in South L.A. “The horror alley” is a grotesque testament to that.
I have gone to that alley multiple times in the past few months. Each time I sent emails, posted on social media, recorded a Facebook video, and even sent out a press release on the problem. No response. Not only were the piles still there each time I went back, but they were also bigger and sprawled out past the alley with more than a few unhoused languishing in the alley.
The alley is also near a major thoroughfare. It can plainly be seen by motorists, pedestrians and certainly the homeowners, apartment tenants, and business owners in the area. The sanitation department could also see it.
The constant question residents ask is why is this health and safety peril still there? And, more importantly, why does it take numerous social media blasts for city officials to act?
This is not a new problem. A decade ago, the Los Angeles City Council was so fed up with the laggard response to garbage pick-up and trash dumping in South L.A. that it called the city’s sanitation department on the carpet and demanded a report on why there was a disparity in trash pick-up in South L.A. compared to other parts of the city.
That was just the start. In the next few years, the problem of illegal garbage piles in South L.A. and the soaring number of complaints from residents about the problem continued to bedevil city officials. Things were clearly spiraling out of control. So much so that a report by Construction Coverage, a research and product supplier industry for the building, in 2022 noted that L.A. had the dubious distinction of ranking number two nationally in the number of streets that had trash piled up on them. There is no evidence that that dubious distinction has changed since then.
The Los Angeles City controller in a report on the issue in 2025 stated the obvious about the peril. “Illegally dumping thousands of tons of trash, debris and hazardous wastes on our sidewalks and streets lessens the quality of life in Los Angeles,” it said.
The City Council’s immediate response has been to allocate a $100 reward to anyone reporting illegal dumping. That was a weak, ineffectual, almost laughable response to a critical, even life threatening, problem.
The sanitation department’s answer is no better. Its official website encourages citizens to report illegal dumping. The assumption is that the department will send out a crew to clean it up.
What it doesn’t say is when the clean-up will take place. The continued existence of “the horror alley” sadly answers that question.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His latest book is The Garbaging of America” (Amazon ebook and Middle Passage Press)
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