I don’t know if I can agree with your recommendation to use drugs, even just pot, to take the edge of the long night of sleeping in the car. To me, that seems to overly increase your risks not just if you run into a patrol car but with anyone who might interact with you for any reason; or if there’s just some kind of emergency where you need your wits about you.

Your article made me try to think about some creative safe options for cheaply overnighting in LA. I don’t know how practical my suggestions are in real life, so please take them for the .02 cents with which they are offered. ;> I’m planning on getting out on the road in a non-descript camper van here in a couple of years so I am spending time trying to think through how to go places and hang out cheaply and safely.

With the large homeless population, I imagine the Walmarts in LA are less friendly about overnight stays in their parking lots then they are in other places, but it might be worth checking out their policies. If you don’t look obviously homeless, your chances of blending in around town increase. I’ve slept overnight in the LAX international terminal, for example, without waiting for a flight. Since you have a car, perhaps you can explore the Greater Los Angeles area. It’s legal in California to stay for up to 8 hours at a stretch in public rest stops. If you go east, north or south from LA, that would give you some options for getting some shut-eye. You might not be harassed at truck stops if you just quietly go about your business. If you’re not completely broke, there’s also a number of campgrounds within 50 miles of downtown LA; some costing as little as $12 a night. If you go further out of LA, your options increase for camping, cheap motels and spaces for just hanging out with less chance of being harassed. I’m spending way too much time tonight trying to think through!