Home with Pepper: An Interview with Mr. Chavez

Isaac J

Could you tell me about your childhood and where you grew up?

Mr. C

I grew up in Boyle Heights in the Ramona Gardens projects. I stayed there until I was 17 years old. Then I moved out and moved in with my girlfriend. We got married when I was 18. It is not very interesting.

Isaac J

It's actually very interesting. Sorry for not giving you time to prepare beforehand.

Mr. C

I did. I did prepare. You got the picture I sent you?

Isaac J

Um, I don't think I got it.

Mr. C

You wanted to know how many years I had been homeless?

Isaac J

We could start with that. How did you come to experience homelessness?

Mr. C

Until I was 18 years old, I had never been homeless. I got married when I was 18 years old. When I was 21 years old, we bought our home and we stayed there from 1980 to 1993.

Isaac J

Okay.

Mr. C

I sold the house in ‘93. In ‘94 and ‘95, I rented an apartment for two years. In 1986, that was the first time I became homeless. Well, I don't know if I was homeless, but I was living with my girlfriend's family for two years. Yeah, that was the first. Then

from 1998 to 2005, I had my own apartment and I was working.

Isaac J

What happened after that?

Mr. C

I left the apartment because my brother was paroled from prison and he came to my apartment. He messed it up for us and he asked me to leave. Then from 2006 to 2014, I was homeless. That was the longest time. That was the second time I was homeless. It was nine years.

Isaac J

Yeah. So I heard that you have a dog. Did you have the dog during this time?

Mr. C

Yes, yes I did. Yes, I had Pepper. I had the first Pepper for 18 years. Then he passed away and I got another Pepper, Pepper The Second. I got Pepper The First in 2000 and he was with me until 2018 . He was living in my truck, in motels and going to work with me.

Interviewer

Is your dog like a really good friend who gives you encouragement?

Mr. C

Yeah, he's my best friend–unconditional love. You take care of each other, you know. I treat him well and he loves Daddy. I just fell in love with him when he was just a little puppy in my hand. Whenever I feel insecure about something, I am always able to hug him. I've never hung around with anybody or the crowd.

Isaac J

During this time, what was a typical day like?

Mr. C

All those years I was homeless, I was living in a vehicle and I was still working. I was getting side jobs and still working in my trade. I was living in the motel sometimes and living in my car sometimes. Having a vehicle makes the total difference. Being homeless is being right at the bottom. If you don’t have a car, you can't move around. I'm just glad that I always had a vehicle because you can always drive away and keep on moving. If the homeless person doesn't have a vehicle, he's stuck and he would have to deal with whatever that is going on.

Isaac J

What happened after that time period? Were you able to settle into a home?

Mr. C

The third time I became homeless was from 2016 to 2017. I was sharing rent with a friend. He wanted to get back together with his family, his wife and child, and so I had to move out. It was for one year. Then I'm here. I'm here now at my present home. I'm renting a room from a friend whom I met at PetSmart. She saw Pepper and that got her interested. She lives in Mexico and her daughter owns the property. They rent me the room, and I'm going to be here for two years next month. She’s helped me out a lot.

Isaac J

What do you think were the biggest challenges for people affected by homelessness?

Mr. C

From personally having been homeless, the thing that makes the biggest difference has to do with having a vehicle. I've always had a vehicle, and there's a big difference, a really big difference of lifestyle. I've seen a lot of homeless people out there and it's really bad for them. I I feel sorry for them. I've always helped them out because I was fortunate enough to have a car. Yeah, it'd be pretty scary out there without a car.

Isaac J

Have you seen homeless children or teenagers in the street?

Mr. C

I have never seen any young kids as far as being homeless. I was mostly over in Alhambra. That's where I'll stay because I know the area. It's a place where I feel safe. The police know who's homeless because they see you time after time. I know that Alhambra has an officer who goes around and reaches out to the homeless. He gets their names and tries to help them get into a shelter. I know they were trying to help me.

Isaac J

Congratulations on your apartment. I hope you have a great second year anniversary. Is there anything else that you would like to share? How are things going in general right now?

Mr. C

Well, I think it's gotten better. It seems like it's gotten better over in Alhambra because just a few years back, there were a lot of homeless people. I know some got housing downtown and a few of them got an apartment or stayed in the hotels. As a matter of fact, there's only one man that I know who is still homeless. I don't really speak to him, so I don’t know why, but I just kind of hope that we can build enough housing to help everybody because people lose their jobs. The price of everything is so high. I think that's one of the problems.

Isaac J

What do you think could prevent homelessness?

Mr.C

I would say as long as somebody could, do well in school and learn as much as you can. Then you won't have any problems as far as financial goals. That's the key right there. When I was growing up, I was going to school just to eat. That was the only reason I was going to school. School just wasn't as important as I should have taken it. I played around my classes but I was working. I was 12 years old when I started working. I was a good worker. Toward the end of high school, the counselor put me in electives so I could learn about survival, parenting classes, homemaking, drivers training, and important stuff like that.

Where I grew up down in Ramona Gardens, it was a really bad environment. I told my mom I was going to get the heck out of here as soon as I could. I was still just a young kid. I got married to my high school girlfriend at 18. I did not want my son Jimmy to grow up there. I was pretty lucky because I was working. I worked at the pool as the lifeguard right across the street. Where I lived there was a company. The owner came over and asked if we wanted to work to help unload the truck. So yeah, that's how I got started. Right out of high school, I already had my job in construction and I think I was getting paid $2.65 an hour. They liked the way I worked, so they sent me out to two years of trade, to install bathroom partitions. All of a sudden I was put in the Union and I was making a lot of money. I would save that money and I bought the house. My wife worked in the bank. My mom was living in the project. My mother-in-law was living over on the other side of the tracks, in a better area.

I didn't want my son to grow up in the Ramona Gardens, in the project. I was very lucky to get him out. He turned out to be a great kid. Honor roll. He is a police officer from Southgate right now. So he has done a lot better than I have, and that's the way we want it. We look forward to having our kids better than us.

Isaac J

Congratulations on all of that. Thanks so much for allowing me to interview you. Hope that you have a good weekend.

Mr. C

Thank you very much and I appreciate it.

Isaac J

Thank you.

Mr. C

Thank you back.