Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
This is Later with Lee Matthews, The Lee Matthews Podcast
More what You Hear Weekday Afternoon's on the Drive.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Jerry Klickstein was born in Boston, Massachusetts, too at best,
challenging circumstances that led him to a journey that led
him to writing about his journey in his new book
called Crooked Smiles. What Sorry, Crooked Smile. What it Took
to escape a decade of homelessness, addiction, and crime. Jared Klickstein, Welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Hey, how's it going.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
So your childhood? Is that a fair assessment? It was challenging.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
Yeah, I mean, listen, my parents were heroin addicts and
they eventually started using crack cocaine, and you know, I listen,
I'm still lucky that I came from like a two
parent household, I guess and all that.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
But yeah, there was challenges.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
And at what point, I mean, were they homeless as well?
When you were that? When when you were young, did
you struggle with having a place to live?
Speaker 4 (01:11):
No? I mean, my dad had had a pretty good
union carpenter job and it was sort of okay, and
things worked out, and you know, it did get worse
and worse, and eventually, you know, by the time I
was twelve, it was probably heading in that direction. But
fortunately I had an aunt and uncle in Oakland, California
that that came and adopted me, and we tried to
(01:33):
put my parents in rehab, but that sort of just
floundered for years, but eventually took hold of my dad.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
At what point did you strike out on your own?
Jared Klickstein as the author of Crooked Smile.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Pretty quickly.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
I mean I started doing heroin around nineteen and nineteen twenty,
and by the time I was twenty two, I was homeless.
And it's you know, it's pretty pretty simple. You just
you run out of money and run out of friends,
and you run out of family, and no one will
really put up with your horrific behavior. So it was
(02:09):
it wasn't that that complicated for me to become homeless.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
At the time. Were you aware that a lot of
this was because of influence of your parents or were
there other reasons?
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Uh? No, I didn't really think it was because of them,
and I still don't know if it really they had
anything to do with it. I think it was just,
you know, I really got addicted to oxyconton really quickly,
and I didn't know that ox con was essentially heroin,
and and.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
You know, just listen to the stuff is super physically
and mentally addictive. And and I you know, whether my
parents were heroin acts or not, I.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
If I had done that much oxycon and heroin, no
matter what kind of background it came from, I think
I really would have wound up addicted. But but then again,
I think I did become addicted to suppressed pain of
growing up in those circumstances.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Jared Klechstein is with us a crooked smile what it
took to escape a decade of homelessness, addiction, and crime.
Do you remember that first night you spent when you
were homeless?
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Yeah, the first the first night, I actually I still
had a car, so I slept in a car, and
that's sort of cheating. I don't know, it's sort of
like a it's like being homeless with like a life
vest on. Yeah, you know, it's not that bad, but
you know, I obviously eventually you you lose the car
(03:38):
and then you're sleeping outside and that is very frightening.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Did you find yourself in homeless camps at some point?
Speaker 4 (03:49):
Yeah? Yeah, you know, I wound up homeless in Los
Angeles and naturally gravitated towards skid row where homeless people
gravitate to.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
And yeah, you're kind of you eventually.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Make friends, I mean, you make enemies, and if you're
I mean, if you're lucky enough, you make some good
friends and.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
You end up in a camp. Then you sort of
protect each other.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
But at the same time, you're all homeless and on drugs,
so someone will doublecross you for five dollars. Yeah, so
that's it's not like, you know, it's not like you're
you're in the foxhole with someone that's honorable or anything.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Talking to Jared Klickstein that crooked smile. At what point
did you decide to write this book?
Speaker 4 (04:30):
About six years ago, I wound up in a situation
where I was living with some people that were sober
and they were trying to help me get sober, and
I just started writing it and I thought that, you know,
I didn't really want to live anymore, and I started
started writing this like poetic, you know.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Self obsessed suicide letter.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
And it kind of just turned into this book eventually,
I you know, it turned into a draft.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
At least.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Most of your homelessness was in Los Angeles or was
it between Los Angeles and Oakland.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Most of it was in Los Angeles, but I was
homeless also in Oakland and San Francisco.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
But but yeah, the majority of it was in Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
And of those three cities, which one was the best
to be homeless in?
Speaker 4 (05:22):
I'd say Los Angeles because Los Angeles has skid row,
which is essentially like its own city of homelessness, And.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
You know, it's adventurous, and there are some resources.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
They're not resources to really there's not a lot of
resources to help you get out of homelessness, but there
are a lot of resources to sort of help you
maintain your homelessness, for lack of a better way of
describing it. But yeah, and the drugs are better in
Los Angeles than they are in They're just higher quality
(05:55):
where they were.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, Crooked Smile is the name of the book. And
you can hear this is kind of it's kind of
dark humor, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Yeah, Well, you know, homelessness and addiction are are extremely dark.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
But unfortunately, or or maybe fortunately, you get.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Yourself in some pretty funny situations because when you are
under the spell of addiction, you sort of don't act
in your best interest and end up in crazy, crazy
situations that that are humorous if you after the fact,
they're humorous.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah. Can you give us an anecdote of one of
those instances?
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Yeah? Sure.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
I mean, you you really sacrifice your safety when you're
on drugs, so you'll get your you'll start hanging out
with people that that you know, you risk your life
basically on a daily basis. And you know, there's all
kinds of things that I've gotten myself into. I've you know,
I ended up getting held hostage in a suitcase naked
by people that were attempting to sell me.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
To a human trafficker.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
And and that was really scary in the moment, but
but after I realized, you know it is it is
pretty funny that, you know, these people tried to sell
me and and I wasn't very attractive because I was
on drugs, so I was and they, you know, they
beat the hell out of me. So I was like
covered in blood, and they were trying to take pictures
of me to send to this potential human trafficker, and
(07:20):
I wasn't looking very sexy. So so fortunately, uh no one,
the guy wouldn't buy me, I, uh, what do you like?
Cut a deal and I got I got out of there.
But uh, you know that is frightening, but it's it's
also it is funny after the fact.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, I mean it does doesn't do much for the
self for the self image, does it. You couldn't even
be sold to human traffickers?
Speaker 4 (07:49):
No? I mean perhaps now I could, But yeah, in
the moment, Uh you know.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
I was all I was on meth and heroin.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Just that's a no one wants the babysit a meth
or heroin addict.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
That seems like the least fun person to hold captive.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
It's Jared click Stein and he is the author of
Crooked Smile What it Took to Escape a decade of homelessness, addiction,
and crime. Have you come to any conclusions as to
what we need to do as a nation to better
homelessness nationwide?
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Yeah, I mean I think that there's a lot of issues.
I'd almost use the words spiritually. I mean, we just
have a lot of vision in this country and a
lot of leaders that aren't really concerned with achieving anything
more just attacking the other side, and we just keep
sending money to other countries, and it's like, you know,
we just have.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Thousands upon thousands.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Of homeless people, and a lot of them are addicted
to drugs, and we have to give these people hope,
and we have to stop enacting policies that sort of
just maintain their homelessness and enable their homelessness and maintain
their addictions, and you know, set these people up for
a life worth living with long term nonprofit treatment and
specifically a job change.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Thanks for listening to Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee
Matthews Podcast, and remember to listen to The Drive Live
weekday afternoons from five to seven and iHeartMedia Presentation
This is Later with Lee Matthews, The Lee Matthews Podcast
More what You Hear Weekday Afternoon's on the Drive.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Jerry Klickstein was born in Boston, Massachusetts, too at best,
challenging circumstances that led him to a journey that led
him to writing about his journey in his new book
called Crooked Smiles. What Sorry, Crooked Smile. What it Took
to escape a decade of homelessness, addiction, and crime. Jared Klickstein, Welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Hey, how's it going.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
So your childhood? Is that a fair assessment? It was challenging.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
Yeah, I mean, listen, my parents were heroin addicts and
they eventually started using crack cocaine, and you know, I listen,
I'm still lucky that I came from like a two
parent household, I guess and all that.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
But yeah, there was challenges.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
And at what point, I mean, were they homeless as well?
When you were that? When when you were young, did
you struggle with having a place to live?
Speaker 4 (01:11):
No? I mean, my dad had had a pretty good
union carpenter job and it was sort of okay, and
things worked out, and you know, it did get worse
and worse, and eventually, you know, by the time I
was twelve, it was probably heading in that direction. But
fortunately I had an aunt and uncle in Oakland, California
that that came and adopted me, and we tried to
(01:33):
put my parents in rehab, but that sort of just
floundered for years, but eventually took hold of my dad.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
At what point did you strike out on your own?
Jared Klickstein as the author of Crooked Smile.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Pretty quickly.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
I mean I started doing heroin around nineteen and nineteen twenty,
and by the time I was twenty two, I was homeless.
And it's you know, it's pretty pretty simple. You just
you run out of money and run out of friends,
and you run out of family, and no one will
really put up with your horrific behavior. So it was
(02:09):
it wasn't that that complicated for me to become homeless.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
At the time. Were you aware that a lot of
this was because of influence of your parents or were
there other reasons?
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Uh? No, I didn't really think it was because of them,
and I still don't know if it really they had
anything to do with it. I think it was just,
you know, I really got addicted to oxyconton really quickly,
and I didn't know that ox con was essentially heroin,
and and.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
You know, just listen to the stuff is super physically
and mentally addictive. And and I you know, whether my
parents were heroin acts or not, I.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
If I had done that much oxycon and heroin, no
matter what kind of background it came from, I think
I really would have wound up addicted. But but then again,
I think I did become addicted to suppressed pain of
growing up in those circumstances.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Jared Klechstein is with us a crooked smile what it
took to escape a decade of homelessness, addiction, and crime.
Do you remember that first night you spent when you
were homeless?
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Yeah, the first the first night, I actually I still
had a car, so I slept in a car, and
that's sort of cheating. I don't know, it's sort of
like a it's like being homeless with like a life
vest on. Yeah, you know, it's not that bad, but
you know, I obviously eventually you you lose the car
(03:38):
and then you're sleeping outside and that is very frightening.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Did you find yourself in homeless camps at some point?
Speaker 4 (03:49):
Yeah? Yeah, you know, I wound up homeless in Los
Angeles and naturally gravitated towards skid row where homeless people
gravitate to.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
And yeah, you're kind of you eventually.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Make friends, I mean, you make enemies, and if you're
I mean, if you're lucky enough, you make some good
friends and.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
You end up in a camp. Then you sort of
protect each other.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
But at the same time, you're all homeless and on drugs,
so someone will doublecross you for five dollars. Yeah, so
that's it's not like, you know, it's not like you're
you're in the foxhole with someone that's honorable or anything.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Talking to Jared Klickstein that crooked smile. At what point
did you decide to write this book?
Speaker 4 (04:30):
About six years ago, I wound up in a situation
where I was living with some people that were sober
and they were trying to help me get sober, and
I just started writing it and I thought that, you know,
I didn't really want to live anymore, and I started
started writing this like poetic, you know.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Self obsessed suicide letter.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
And it kind of just turned into this book eventually,
I you know, it turned into a draft.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
At least.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Most of your homelessness was in Los Angeles or was
it between Los Angeles and Oakland.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Most of it was in Los Angeles, but I was
homeless also in Oakland and San Francisco.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
But but yeah, the majority of it was in Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
And of those three cities, which one was the best
to be homeless in?
Speaker 4 (05:22):
I'd say Los Angeles because Los Angeles has skid row,
which is essentially like its own city of homelessness, And.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
You know, it's adventurous, and there are some resources.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
They're not resources to really there's not a lot of
resources to help you get out of homelessness, but there
are a lot of resources to sort of help you
maintain your homelessness, for lack of a better way of
describing it. But yeah, and the drugs are better in
Los Angeles than they are in They're just higher quality
(05:55):
where they were.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, Crooked Smile is the name of the book. And
you can hear this is kind of it's kind of
dark humor, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Yeah, Well, you know, homelessness and addiction are are extremely dark.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
But unfortunately, or or maybe fortunately, you get.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Yourself in some pretty funny situations because when you are
under the spell of addiction, you sort of don't act
in your best interest and end up in crazy, crazy
situations that that are humorous if you after the fact,
they're humorous.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah. Can you give us an anecdote of one of
those instances?
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Yeah? Sure.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
I mean, you you really sacrifice your safety when you're
on drugs, so you'll get your you'll start hanging out
with people that that you know, you risk your life
basically on a daily basis. And you know, there's all
kinds of things that I've gotten myself into. I've you know,
I ended up getting held hostage in a suitcase naked
by people that were attempting to sell me.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
To a human trafficker.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
And and that was really scary in the moment, but
but after I realized, you know it is it is
pretty funny that, you know, these people tried to sell
me and and I wasn't very attractive because I was
on drugs, so I was and they, you know, they
beat the hell out of me. So I was like
covered in blood, and they were trying to take pictures
of me to send to this potential human trafficker, and
(07:20):
I wasn't looking very sexy. So so fortunately, uh no one,
the guy wouldn't buy me, I, uh, what do you like?
Cut a deal and I got I got out of there.
But uh, you know that is frightening, but it's it's
also it is funny after the fact.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, I mean it does doesn't do much for the
self for the self image, does it. You couldn't even
be sold to human traffickers?
Speaker 4 (07:49):
No? I mean perhaps now I could, But yeah, in
the moment, Uh you know.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
I was all I was on meth and heroin.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Just that's a no one wants the babysit a meth
or heroin addict.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
That seems like the least fun person to hold captive.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
It's Jared click Stein and he is the author of
Crooked Smile What it Took to Escape a decade of homelessness, addiction,
and crime. Have you come to any conclusions as to
what we need to do as a nation to better
homelessness nationwide?
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Yeah, I mean I think that there's a lot of issues.
I'd almost use the words spiritually. I mean, we just
have a lot of vision in this country and a
lot of leaders that aren't really concerned with achieving anything
more just attacking the other side, and we just keep
sending money to other countries, and it's like, you know,
we just have.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Thousands upon thousands.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Of homeless people, and a lot of them are addicted
to drugs, and we have to give these people hope,
and we have to stop enacting policies that sort of
just maintain their homelessness and enable their homelessness and maintain
their addictions, and you know, set these people up for
a life worth living with long term nonprofit treatment and
specifically a job change.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Thanks for listening to Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee
Matthews Podcast, and remember to listen to The Drive Live
weekday afternoons from five to seven and iHeartMedia Presentation
Popular Podcasts
1. Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
2. Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
3. Crime Junkie
If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people.