Photos: Four walls and a bed: Part 3
Paul Sigler, standing by his friend and fellow Project 50 participant Mohammed Duala, was rare in the L.A. County program for the hard-core homeless. He knew enough of the outside world to go back -- maybe. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Drugs, bipolar disorder and a brush with cancer landed Sigler in Project 50, where he had an advantage: friends from his old life who got him work. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Paul Sigler, right, claimed he was different from others Project 50 had pulled off the pavement -- a millionaire who lost everything. Here he talks to neighbor Ronald Howell. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
When his depression lifted a little, Paul Sigler, center, put on his salesman’s clothes and tried to rebuild his life. Here he talks with friend Cary Kinkle. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Sigler cheers for fighter Mario Navarro after he won a Montebello match. A friend from Sigler’s old life managed Navarro and had offered Sigler the vague, unpaid role of “co-manager.” Sigler jumped at the chance, instantly dreaming big. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Navarro gets a hug from Sigler after the match. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Project 50 participant Maurice Lewis, center, participates in a CPR class in his effort to renew his Ablebodied Seaman license and return to his old life in the merchant marine. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Lewis prepares for a water survival class in his effort to return to a life at sea. On the ocean, he said, he feels “calm and peaceful and serene. I’m a different person.” (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Lewis is suited up for the water survival class. He remembered his years in the merchant marineL spreading out a pile of cash on his bunk on payday, Egyptian women with their “hypnotic eyes,” the gigantic waves, and the chill of a place like Portland, Maine, so cold his eyes watered and icicles filled his nostrils. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Lewis, right, participates in a water survival exercise in the class at El Camino College in Torrance. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Lewis, center, takes a break from a CPR class. How his life had unraveled was vague -- he liked to blame it on a girlfriend who had betrayed him -- though maybe his acknowledged “drinkin’ and druggin” were all the explanation anyone needed. When he got his Ablebodied Seaman license, he said, he would leave skid row for good and “work till I can’t no more.” (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
