Wendell Blassingame's guest appearances

Wendell Blassingame

HomeLandLab Podcast

The Idea Fountain: Life Changing Conversations

Alex Banayan

Jon Levy

Richard Rothstein

Miguel McKelvey

David Kessler

Kevin Carroll

Tim Harris

Beth Comstock

Salaam Remi

Alan Graham

Mike O'Brien

Anik Khan

Beth Ditto

Molly Neuman

John Wilson

OwlTail

Every year at Thanksgiving canned food drives are arranged. Many people like to serve meals at the Union Rescue Mission DTLA. There are an estimated 60,000 homeless people in the Los Angeles area year round. It’s a number so large it can be hard to wrap your mind around. Recently, I met one man named Wendell Blassingame. He’s the City Councilman for Skid Row. He was once homeless. Now every day, for the past 17 years, he’s set a table up at San Julian Park to help people. Talking with Wendell has changed my life. Normally I record each episode of The Idea Fountain in my house as a fireside chat. This month we took the conversation down to Skid Row with sirens, loud music, and commotion for one of the most priceless episodes to date. I hope you get half as much as I did from Wendell in our conversation about Humanizing Homelessness. 

Every year at Thanksgiving canned food drives are arranged. Many people like to serve meals at the Union Rescue Mission DTLA. There are an estimated 60,000 homeless people in the Los Angeles area year round. It’s a number so large it can be hard to wrap your mind around. Recently, I met one man named Wendell Blassingame. He’s the City Councilman for Skid Row. He was once homeless. Now every day, for the past 17 years, he’s set a table up at San Julian Park to help people. Talking with Wendell has changed my life. Normally I record each episode of The Idea Fountain in my house as a fireside chat. This month we took the conversation down to Skid Row with sirens, loud music, and commotion for one of the most priceless episodes to date. I hope you get half as much as I did from Wendell in our conversation about Humanizing Homelessness.

S2 Ep 11: Skid Row with Wendell Blassingame Humanizing Homelessness

As the unofficial “concierge of Skid Row,” Wendell Blassingame has earned his reputation as an “angel” and as a “saint.” A man of deep wisdom, kindness, and patience, Wendell was gracious enough to sit down with me at the James M. Wood Community Center in Los Angeles as he was getting prepared to host his Sunday afternoon Nickel Movies in Skid Row.To start our conversation, I asked Wendell to tell me how his story and the story of Skid Row became intertwined.

As the unofficial “concierge of Skid Row,” Wendell Blassingame has earned his reputation as an “angel” and as a “saint.” A man of deep wisdom, kindness, and patience, Wendell was gracious enough to sit down with me at the James M. Wood Community Center in Los Angeles as he was getting prepared to host his Sunday afternoon Nickel Movies in Skid Row.To start our conversation, I asked Wendell to tell me how his story and the story of Skid Row became intertwined.

Episode 11: Wendell Blassingame