We traveled to Los Angeles this holiday weekend and visited some of my old haunts from when I lived there. One of the places we visited was Venice Beach. Up and down the strand, along side the hippie flea market, tons of beggars with signs that I have to admit were quite authentic. One woman’s sign said “Need money for beer and shoes.” Another dude’s sign said “Please get me high.” Far and away though and one of the best PR ideas I’ve seen in a long time, is this scruffy vagabond kid with a handwritten cardboard sign. The sign reads “Good advice … one dollar.” As you can see, he has a group of people around him, taking advantage of the offer. We passed him several times and each time he had takers. Now that’s the best combination of free-market and hippie freedom I’ve ever seen.
Hippie Advice giver in Venice Beach California
That reminds me of Amy Alkon, the columnist who began as an “Advice Lady” – they set up a spot on the streets of New York, I think, and people would come up to them for advice. She parlayed that notoriety into a syndicated column and now her career/niche is a younger/funner/dirtier advice columnist, somewhere between Dear Abby and Dan Savage.
By: Sam Mittelsteadt on January 24, 2009
at 5:43 pm
I didn’t know that, very cool.
By: tonyfelicepr on January 24, 2009
at 8:22 pm