Food Vendors Contend with a Mental Health Crisis on the Streets of L.A.

Publisher: Capital and Main

“I was shot right over there,” says Jose Luis Millán, pointing north toward Alameda Street. On a blinding summer Sunday, the elotero (corn vendor) is back in Watts. Pushing his cart along his old route from the Imperial Courts housing projects on Mona Boulevard and East 115th St. through the streets just east of the complex. The heat from the black asphalt is palpable.