A homeless man in Los Angeles has gotten quite innovative with turning a freeway underpass into his personal compound.
Ceola Waddell Jr, 59, furnished an underpass in L.A.’s 110 freeway near Coliseum, complete with a makeshift jacuzzi, two porcelain toilets, couches, discarded refrigerators, and a four-poster bed, the Daily Mail reported.
Waddell began living in the underpass six months ago, but has since decorated the underpass into his personal paradise.
The man has become a viral sensation, thanks to a Facebook video he took of his living space.
City officials, however, are not so pleased with his decision to deck out the freeway underpass. They say the site is dangerous and that Waddell has turned down their offers for temporary housing and homeless services.
Workers removed a refrigerator with an “abundance of rotting food,” “explosive materials,” and other unsanitary items, according to the Los Angeles Times.
In the Facebook live video tour he gave of his living space, he described it as “Paradise Lane.”
“You have now entered Paradise Lane. Let me give you a little tour,” he said. “This here is my jacuzzi. It holds ten gallons of water. All it is is a refrigerator on its bottom. I’m being innovative.”
“Come on down. You have now entered the man cave. This is where my quarters are,” he continued, introducing his bedroom.
He has another bed, “jacuzzi,” and toilet in his guest room.
Waddell rents out his spare room, which has a tent, to other homeless people in the area for $25 a week. “I decided I wanted to live like everybody else, make me something nice that I wanted to come home to,” he said. “If I was in the Arctic, I’d make me an igloo.”
“I refuse to let the city beat me down to what they think a homeless person’s profile is, living on cardboard,” he added.
City officials say they have received reports about the site and have had sanitation crews dismantle it twice.
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