LATIMES - LA COUNTY POOR FARM ! link to full article from the Los Angeles Times by Bob Pool on August 4th, 2013 here
(George Atkinson is a citizen activist who has contacted representitives with his idea of reopening the unused areas of the old farm for today's homeless.)
"In its day, the county Poor Farm was an anomaly. A 1902 story in The Times described the place as "wrapped in sunbeams and wreathed with flower gardens."
"The Los Angeles County Poor Farm visibly resents the incongruity of it name," the story said. "The delightful innovation of housing the homeless and unfortunate in such environments belongs exclusively to Southern California, for no other part of America bears record of having done likewise."
The Times' account explained that the farm operated with an eye toward being self-sustaining, not profit-oriented. "There is no intention of going into extensive agriculture for financial profit because such an arrangement would bring pauper labor into competition with the farmers," it stated.
Still, the farm raised $10,061 in 1901 from the sale of oranges, livestock and dairy products, the report said. Operating costs that year totaled $32,914 — or about 341/2 cents per day for each of the farm's residents.
The story described male residents' living quarters as "immense," with as many as 30 beds along the walls. Three men's wards opened to a central courtyard, and each resident was provided with bedding, a chair and a small bed stand. There was a large reading room filled with several hundred books "for those who can read," the story reported. Another building housed female residents.
By 1910, the Poor Farm covered nearly 400 acres."
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