Bamboo Charlie
by Rebecca Schoenkopf
Bamboo Charlie does not accept welfare or ask for money. He grows nectarines and peaches and yams, selling the extras and giving seeds to his neighbors. He does odd jobs at restaurants for a meal. Cops give him Thanksgiving turkeys. He has made himself an artist's lair near the giant Sears building off the 5. Nobody hassles him. He lays down rules for other homelesses when they come to visit, to keep it all peaceful. And they abide.
It's about as idyllic as it can get for a homeless dude, simultaneously artistic and spick-and-span. He's got a microwave, a TV, a generator.
Reading Hector Bacerra's nice story in this morning's LA Times leaves you asking only one question: when is Building and Safety gonna come and make him ditch the generator, and level the shack (which surely isn't up to any of man's codes), and make him tear it all down? It's a follow-up I'm expecting, and God I hope not.
Comments
Oldest sister of Bamboo Charlie….my brother…a guy who found his way to do whatever was in his heart to do. Love kids and would do anything he could to help another person. I always wonder how he got the knowledge to be able to repair anything he put his hands on…whether a car, radio, a/c, etc. I love my brother and always mentioned to him that CA agreed with him. This is a guy who was a foreman, assisted in building some of Houston’s finest sprinkler systems. After reading some of the comments he made while being interviewed was astounding and so much Bubba as we called him….we all must do what is in our hearts to do and LIVE not by what someone else think we ought do but what we feel we must!! Much LOVE to you brother and I await the next time to meet! PEACE be with you!!
PS if the area where he now resides is torn down he will only move to the next chapter of his life….write the book Bubba!!
8/4/11 by Rita
I know Bamboo Charlie personally. He is my exbrother-n-law, I have a 22 year old son by his youngest brother. To me and the rest of his family here in Houston, we call him Bubba. He is a wonderful person and was never really close to his family but he would come to Houston and visit from time to time. I never really knew why he was not very family oriented but I can tell when he visited them, there was a lot of love in his heart. I never knew anything about his father but I do know that his mother passed in his teenage years and his older sister, then 19, took on the responsibility of raising her siblings and from what I know she did the best she could with what she had for those kids. My son is now planning to make a journey to California to visit his uncle that he has never met. God bless Charlie (Bubba)!
2010-12-19 by Rhonda Caldwell