Chris is 41 years old and was born and raised in the Valley. He went to Apollo High School in Simi Valley, after which he took psychology for a year at Santa Monica College, but found balancing school and work too difficult and dropped out of the program. After dropping out he began working in construction, which he continued for a few years. His mother lives in San Fernando Valley, and he will drop by once a year or so, but he is not allowed to stay at the house without contributing to rent and other house expenses, so he remains on the street.
After working in construction, he began actively working as a tattoo artist, which he continued doing with quite a bit of success for several years in Hollywood. However, a year and a half ago he was jumped/attacked by four people late at night leaving work in Hollywood, and received an orbital eye fracture and suffered the loss of vision in his right eye. His condition took about nine months to recover and to have his vision and equilibrium fully restored, which prevented him from continuing work as a tattoo artist given the required detail orientation. During the course of his treatment, he was also prescribed pain pills for the severe pain that lasted an extended period of time, which caused him to become dependent and addicted to the pills. His addiction snowballed aggressively especially after losing his job and he sold all his equipment to support his addiction. He has since been on the streets and has found it very hard to survive and find a job, especially in the early stages with the chemical dependency. He was also recently diagnosed as being bipolar but maintains that he actively avoids his medication given the “zombie” like effect it creates. His mother asks him to remain on the medication but he insists that he is better off without them and can at least maintain some level of sanity and self-awareness this way.