We used to call them bums. You pass them on your way to work. They're leaning against a building in ragged clothes. They're drunk. In every city, there's a neighborhood where the street alcoholics hang out. Most of us catch only brief glimpses of them from the car, or the bus. Sometimes we think about them, and wonder how they got in that place.
But you can't just walk up and start asking questions. You need a guide. Someone like Paul Ojanen He's going to take us on a tour of First St. in downtown Duluth. He calls it Alcoholic Central.