- [Interviewer] Delilah.
We're here in Los Angeles.
You're homeless.
- I am.
- [Interviewer] Tell me about it.
- It's not that bad.
(Delilah laughs)
- [Interviewer] It's homeless.
- Could be doing a lot worse things.
- [Interviewer] Yeah.
- I honestly worked in Beverly Hills at a hair salon
for a year while I was out here before I was homeless,
and I enjoyed doing this a lot better
than I enjoyed doing that.
- [Interviewer] You enjoy homelessness
more than cutting hair?
- It's all the angry mean rich ladies.
(Delilah laughs)
- [Interviewer] Oh my gosh.
- And this way, I get some freedom.
I'm my own boss.
I can make my own hours, take a day off
if I can when I want to,
and I'm enjoying the fresh air.
It gives me a chance to travel if and when I want to.
I'm not attached to a mortgage or a family
or any business payments right now,
so I'm enjoying my freedom while I'm young enough
and healthy enough to have it.
- [Interviewer] Well, it's a nomadic lifestyle,
is that what you're saying?
- I enjoy having, living minimalistic.
I have what I need on my back.
I've got my sleeping bag and some water,
food, spare change of clothes, and normally I'd have a tent.
Working on saving up for one of those again though.
- [Interviewer] Now, you've been out here
three years, you say.
- I have not...
I've been in LA for three years.
I've not been homeless for as long.
It's been about six months now, I think.
I started out coming to LA three years ago
for cosmetology school.
I was living on a boat in Marina del Rey
while I was doing that for 10 months, and after that,
I lived in an apt with my sister, right off La Brea
out here in Hollywood for about five months
while I was working on getting a job,
and once I got a job,
I moved down to South Central and got a roommate.
And then my roommate blamed me for some stuff
that I didn't do, and I hated my job,
so it was between them firing me and me quitting.
They fired me a week before I was gonna quit anyways,
so it was kind of good timing on that, I guess.
But the roommate thing wasn't a good idea,
'cause she threw out all my things
when I was gone for three days.
I had my phone stolen and the keys to our apt stolen,
so I had no way of getting back into the apartment
or contacting her at all.
So that kind of sucked,
but I'm making the best of what I've got.
- [Interviewer] So what was your first day homeless?
- Not too bad.
I had been on and off for a few months
staying with my boyfriend.
He's been homeless for many, many years now.
So I'd spend weekends with him in his tent,
and so it wasn't too big of a change for me.
And when I was living with my sister,
I was pretty much living out of a backpack anyways,
sleeping on the couch, so it wasn't too much
of a transition for me, to be honest.
- [Interviewer] Where'd you sleep last night?
- Last night I slept near the 10 freeway.
And, you know, there's all the plants on the side,
and then there's a plateau.
So slept over there.
It's near the LA Board of Supervisors
and the big cathedral over there,
not too far from that place.
- [Interviewer] Now, what's your future like?
- Like I said, I want to travel for a while,
and, I mean, eventually if I wanna change my lifestyle,
I can and I will, but right now,
I'm content doing what I am.
If anything, I'll do odd jobs for a while
and just see where the road takes me.
- [Interviewer] If you had three wishes, what would they be?
- Oh, man, that's an interesting one.
I'm not sure, to be honest, on that one.
Right now, I just...
I don't know.
I don't have anything
that I'd really wish for at the moment.
Like I said, I have what I want, what I need on my back,
and I'm enjoying not needing any more than that.
- [Interviewer] Well, thank you very much
for talking with me.
(steady electronic music)