2024 Q2 Picture Story

Judged by Tony Overman of the Olympian

First Place: First is a beautiful (didn’t we say that before?) set of images from a near ghost town struggling to hang on. The colors are gorgeous, and some of the images are worthy of an art gallery.
Second: An action-packed, drama-filled story from inside a free Palestine demonstration (protest?). Chaos, drama, emotion. We felt kind of claustrophobic from being so close to the chaos.
Third: Wonderful set of portraits and moments of a man living in his car. The photos made us care about this guy.

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First Place: Gina Ferazzi, LOS ANGELES Times

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AMBOY, CA - Amboy has long served weary travelers — first as a railroad station, and later as a roadside attraction that’s especially popular with people touring the Mother Road, Route 66. But this slice of Americana has been beset by a series of crises that stretch back more than half a century.Smack in the middle of a windswept corner of the Mojave that looks like Mars, its permanent population is now zero. Its infrastructure: a smattering of vacant houses and empty outbuildings; a shuttered post office, a church with no congregants and a school with no students. Roy’s is the only operational business. And the only operational portion of that is the store, stocked with cold drinks, snacks and souvenirs, and the gas station — three mechanical pumps that require an attendant to dispense fuel, which was recently priced at $6.49 for a gallon of regular. The new owner inherited the town from his father last year and is hoping to fulfill his father’s legacy and turn the place around.Joan and Kirk Bullard sit under the awning of the Roy’s gas station and cafe on May 24, 2024 in Amboy, California.

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AMBOY, CA - MAY 24, 2024: Roy’s Motel and Cafe sign is reflected in the windshield of a vintage vehicle parked next to the sign on May 24, 2024 in Amboy, California. The new owner of the ghost town, Kyle Okura, is trying to revitalize the town by reopening the vacant cottages, motel and cafe in time for the 100 year anniversary of Route 66 in 2026.

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AMBOY, CA - MAY 24, 2024: Amateur photographer Max Moersch captures the lit Roy’s Motel sign against a dusk sky on May 24, 2024 in Amboy, California. The new owner of the ghost town, Kyle Okura, is trying to revitalize the town by reopening the vacant cottages, motel and cafe in time for the 100 year anniversary of Route 66 in 2026.

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AMBOY, CA - MAY 24, 2024: Assistant Manager Nicole Rachel stares into the desert landscape after pumping gas for a customer at Roy’s gas station and cafe on May 24, 2024 in Amboy, California. The new owner of the ghost town, Kyle Okura, is trying to revitalize the town by reopening the vacant cottages, motel and cafe in time for the 100 year anniversary of Route 66 in 2026.

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AMBOY, CA - MAY 24, 2024: Assistant manager Nicole Rachel works behind the counter at Roy’s cafe on May 24, 2024 in Amboy, California.

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AMBOY, CA - MAY 24, 2024: French tourists take a group selfie on National Trails Highway (Route 66) in front of Roy’s motel and cafe sign on May 24, 2024 in Amboy, California. The new owner of the ghost town, Kyle Okura, is trying to revitalize the town by reopening the vacant cottages, motel and cafe in time for the 100 year anniversary of Route 66 in 2026.

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AMBOY, CA - MAY 24, 2024: The faded Amboy School sign still stands even though the school is vacant and dilapidated on May 24, 2024 in Amboy, California.

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AMBOY, CA - MAY 24, 2024: Text books and papers are strewn on the floor in a large classroom framed with wall size chalkboards inside the abandoned Amboy school, which was closed in 1999 on May 24, 2024 in Amboy, California.

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AMBOY, CA - MAY 24, 2024: Playground equipment still stands among tumbleweeds in the desert landscape as seen through a broken window inside the abandoned Amboy school, which was closed in 1999 on May 24, 2024 in Amboy, California.

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AMBOY, CA - MAY 24, 2024: Assistant Manager Nicole Rachel unlocks the small historic church for tourists on May 24, 2024 in Amboy, California. The new owner of the ghost town, Kyle Okura, is trying to revitalize the town by reopening the vacant cottages, motel and cafe in time for the 100 year anniversary of Route 66 in 2026.

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AMBOY, CA - MAY 24, 2024: Assistant Manager Nicole Rachel stands in the doorway of the small historic church across the street from Roy’s motel and cafe on May 24, 2024 in Amboy, California. The new owner of the ghost town, Kyle Okura, is trying to revitalize the town by reopening the vacant cottages, motel and cafe in time for the 100 year anniversary of Route 66 in 2026.

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AMBOY, CA - MAY 24, 2024: Roy’s Motel and Cafe sign are lit against a dusk sky on May 24, 2024 in Amboy, California. The new owner of the ghost town, Kyle Okura, is trying to revitalize the town by reopening the vacant cottages, motel and cafe in time for the 100 year anniversary of Route 66 in 2026.

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Second Place: Robert Gauthier, Los Angeles Times

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Irvine, CA, Wednesday, May 15, 2024 - After weeks of demonstrators camping on the UC Irvine campus, the call was made to disperse them after a group occupied a building. Scores of law enforcement personnel from various agencies move hundreds of demonstrating students, faculty and supporters protesting the treatment of Palestinians and the UC system’s investments in Isreali interests. (

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Irvine, CA, Wednesday, May 15, 2024 - Demonstrators retreat while others resist as law enforcement personnel from various agencies methodically push forward.

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Irvine, CA, Wednesday, May 15, 2024 - Demonstrators fall while fleeing the surge of police at UC Irvine. Scores of law enforcement personnel from various agencies move hundreds of demonstrating students, faculty and supporters protesting the treatment of Palestinians and the UC system’s investments in Isreali interests.

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Irvine, CA, Wednesday, May 15, 2024 - A protester holds her hands in the sign of a heart while standing behind a makeshift barricade as police prepare to push forward. Scores of law enforcement personnel from various agencies move hundreds of demonstrating students, faculty and supporters protesting the treatment of Palestinians and the UC system’s investments in Isreali interests.

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Irvine, CA, Wednesday, May 15, 2024 - According to some students, Wednesday’s action was taken after members of the protest negotiating team were suspended by the university. “They forced our hand,” said a student who declined to give her name for fear of retaliation by the university.The action also coincided with the 76th anniversary of the Nakba, Arabic for “catastrophe,” which refers to the estimated 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes during the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation.

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Irvine, CA, Wednesday, May 15, 2024 - Student representatives met with university leadership two weeks earlier to discuss whether the school would agree to their divestment demands in exchange for an end to the encampment. But talks were not fruitful, according to student organizers, and their encampment persisted.The group had asked for an end to “violent extremism” funding, amnesty for student protesters, a commitment to an academic boycott of Israel and removal of what the group calls “Zionist programming.”

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Irvine, CA, Wednesday, May 15, 2024 - “I’ve never seen a mobilization like this,” Lorenzo Love, a Laguna Beach resident, told a Times reporter while visiting the protest to support students speaking out about the Israel-Hamas war.“These kids were peaceful,” Love said.By around 5:30 p.m., several demonstrators had been taken into custody, and officers were ripping down some of the tents and barriers. Arrests continued as a group of officers made its way into the previously-barricaded lecture hall.

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Irvine, CA, Wednesday, May 15, 2024 - By about 8:30 p.m., the second of two unlawful-assembly orders was given by police officers. At that point, several dozens protesters remained, most of whom were standing on the grass or slowly walking away. “Where is the unlawful assembly?” said one student organizer.

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Irvine, CA, Wednesday, May 15, 2024 -Many protesters considered the forceful response unnecessary, at some points chanting “Peaceful protest!” while others felt the police presence added new safety concerns. One, a global studies professor, shouted, “Shame on them! Shame on them!” while being led away by officers.

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Irvine, CA, Wednesday, May 15, 2024 - A protester Is processed after being detained at a pro-palestinian campus demonstration.

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Irvine, CA, Wednesday, May 15, 2024 - The Orange County district attorney’s office said that any person who was arrested would be charged with failing to disperse. It will be at least a week before any charging decisions are made for those arrested, the office said; all those detained have been released.“The right to peaceful assembly is a constitutional right and we encourage protesters to exercise their right to peaceful assembly; however, criminal activity which transcends peaceful assembly, including violence and vandalism of any kind, will not be tolerated,” Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer said.

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Irvine, CA, Wednesday, May 15, 2024 - A small group of demonstrators continued its standoff with police, waving Palestinian flags and chanting, “Peaceful protest,” as officers stood watch and a police helicopter circled above.“Community came out,” one student said, standing in the middle of Aldrich Park, several hundred feet away from the police line. “We did successfully take over the building even if it was for a short period. We held our ground for hours. That’s a big win.”

Third Place: Cristina Klenz Salvador, FREELANCE

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A native of Long Beach, California, Albert is a 38-year-old Romani-American man and part of the conservative Machvaya nation whose traditions date back more than a thousand years ago to their native India. The Machvaya spent considerable time enslaved in Romania and as part of the militia in Serbia before immigrating to the United States in the mid-1800s. Albert is a descendant of a proud and upstanding Romani family that is well know in California. Like many American minorities, some Romani families are experiencing severe economic hardship while other individuals struggle with homelessness. Albert has been living on and off the streets since the death of his mother many years ago. He is currently living in his car.

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Albert keeps rubbing alcohol and sanitizer in his car to clean his hands and face. He is attentive and concerned with cleanliness.

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Albert may go several days without food. He receives a very limited income in the form of General Relief from the County of Los Angeles, which is given to adults without income or resources. “I don’t read. That’s the problem. I only read 40 or 60 words. I taught myself how to read. I went to school and told the people that I never went to school in my life and they put me in special ed for reading. Ruby (his mother) didn’t know how to read either.”

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Albert washes his clothes at a laundromat in Long Beach.

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Albert’s spends most of his day looking for customers who need bodywork on their cars in local strip malls. He approaches customers in a straightforward manner, “Sorry to bother you” and asks if he can do bodywork on their car, which is a trade he learned from his uncle Albert. He also searches for people willing to have their lights oxidized. “I make the headlights white again.” Albert buffs a customer’s headlights and the waits for an hour for her to return from inside the store to pay him. Albert may look for work all day and not make any money. Regardless, he remains polite and ends all his interactions with a simple, “God bless you.”

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Albert checks his reflection in a window to see the fit of a shirt at a Goodwill store in Long Beach, California. He shopped for designer brands, which are the types of clothes he wore before becoming homeless. His cousin says that Albert had been an intelligent and hardworking businessman.

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Albert parks his Toyota near strip malls so he can look for work. He alternates between neighborhoods in the north and Eastside of Long Beach.

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Albert is participating in a pilot program with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services (DPSS), so that he can find housing through the General Relief Housing Subsidy Program. Since his car is unreliable, he takes the bus from Long Beach and then walks two miles through Compton to reach the DPSS.

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After visiting the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) in Compton for help obtaining housing, Albert returns to Long Beach and finds a $65 ticket on his car for expired tags. He received a warning from a parking enforcement attendant that his car would be towed if seen on the street again without proper registration. Albert keeps everything he owns in his car and he would lose all his possessions if the car were towed.

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Albert drinks a small bottle of whiskey to help with the pain in his infected teeth. At the young age of 38, Albert suffers from gum disease and severe tooth decay from a lack of dental hygiene and from drinking sugary beverages as a child. Albert has an appointment scheduled to have is teeth extracted and replaced with dentures.

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