The elderly owner of a notorious Los Angeles “trash house” has been seen sleeping among piles of rotting garbage in his front yard, leaving neighbors furious that the disturbing eyesore has remained beside multimillion-dollar homes for years.
Residents in the 600 block of N. Martel Avenue say city officials have failed to resolve the problem at Raymond Gaon’s Spanish-style, two-bedroom home in the affluent Fairfax District.
A foul odor drifts from the towering heaps of garbage into the street, just steps from Melrose Avenue. Neighbors also report seeing rodents, cockroaches and other pests.
Images obtained by the California Post show 72-year-old Gaon napping amid the putrid debris in August.
“Neighbors are angry. The city needs to do its job. Why hasn’t this been cleared up already?” a disgusted neighbor identified as “Robert,” who declined to provide his last name, told the California Post.
In a statement to the Post, Mayor Karen Bass’s office said it was “extremely disappointing that the owner of this private property has once again allowed the conditions to disintegrate and neighbors are forced to live near this mess.” The office said it had previously attempted to clean up the property “on more than one occasion.”
A criminal case against Gaon remains “ongoing.”
Sanitation crews wearing hazardous-materials protective gear removed more than seven tons of trash from the property in 2024, including 1,000 pounds of household hazardous waste. A similar, multi-agency cleanup was carried out in 2025.
Yet the garbage has returned.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is reportedly set to inspect the property for sanitation violations, accumulating trash and potential rodent infestations. A criminal investigation is also underway.
Gaon’s friend, 61-year-old Tonya Jaynes, was at the trash-filled home Thursday, attempting to clear away the foul-smelling piles.
Jaynes previously told The Post that Gaon is a military veteran who suffers from PTSD.
“He’s a nice person who’s got a lot of problems,” she said. “Who doesn’t?”
Jaynes said the piles consist of “recycling, not garbage,” arguing that Gaon is recycling to support himself financially. “He has to do it a certain way which takes time. It’s so hard on him. He needs help,” she said.
She also rejected claims that the material poses a biological hazard. “Nothing here is toxic,” Jaynes said. “No chemicals, no cockroaches or rats.”
Instead, she said, Gaon is “helping the world,” adding that there are “tons of butterflies and hummingbirds” around the property.
“Everything here has a purpose. He’s an artist. People need to love that about him, not make him out to be a horrible person,” she said.
Bass’s office urged the L.A. County Department of Mental Health to seek a court-appointed conservator who could “serve as a responsible party to ensure that property never deteriorates into this condition again.”
“If appropriate legal action is not expedient, we will pursue all actions necessary to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” the mayor’s office said.
The office of Los Angeles City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky previously described the recurring conditions as “completely unacceptable” and criticized the city for its slow response.
