About 4,000 young people are living on the streets of Los Angeles, many come to Hollywood with stars in their eyes. But when they don't get discovered, they end up homeless.
Others are escaping abusive environments. The nonprofit Covenant House California is working to rescue them.
Four nights a week street outreach worker Nick Semensky drives the streets of Hollywood looking for kids in trouble.
NBC4's chief photographer Sean Browning and I went along on a recent outreach mission.
Just minutes into our ride we spot Ricky, a boy who briefly stayed at Covenant House months ago. Ricky is walking Hollywood Boulevard with two friends. Semensky pulls over and gets out to talk to them.
"How are you with housing tonight? Where you gonna stay?" Semensky asks.
Ricky says he's been approved for government subsidized housing but hasn't yet found an apartment. He and his friends accept some food and blankets.
Semensky encourages Ricky to come back to the shelter but Ricky insists he's fine, so Semensky hits the road again.
Semensky understands these kids because he used to be one of them. When he was 12 years old he was homeless in Pittsburgh.
"If you need a blanket or food, I understand where you're coming from. I've been there myself," Semensky says.
He was eventually able to make it to college and ended up with a job at Covenant House California.
Located on the outskirts of Hollywood, this shelter provides housing and support services for hundreds of kids. Some spend just one night, others live in the dorms for up to 2 years while getting education and job training.
Many of the kids ended up homeless after coming to Hollywood hoping to become stars, the shelter's director Bill Bedrossian says.
"The idea perpetuated on TV and movies that Hollywood is a place you can get your dreams filled. The reality is most of these youth that are coming here aren't coming here from great situations," Bedrossian says.
Tiara Smith is one of those kids. At 19, she aged out of foster care and ended up homeless and eventually in jail.
"I picked up lighter fluid and I put it on a girl and tried to light it on fire, but thank God my brother stopped me," Tiara tells us from her dorm room.
Tiara says after coming to Covenant House, she's learned how to control her anger and is getting her life back on track.
One of the things that has helped the most is music therapy, which is conducted in a music room built by Motley Crew founder Nikki Sixx.
Tiara is learning to play piano and drums. She tells us she's going back to school to get her high school diploma and wants to go to college to become a nurse.
Meanwhile, as night falls on Hollywood Boulevard, Semensky is still hard at work. He spots a 21 year old who goes by the name Tree Walker, a panhandler who gets violent when easily aggravated by crowds.
Tree Walker tells us he can't handle life in a shelter.
"Especially since they almost always require you to be completely sober, which I can't really do - not in crowds," he says.
Tree Walker prefers to camp in the mountains outside LA, but he accepts some food. He says when street kids see the Covenant House van, they're reminded somebody cares.
And for tonight, that's enough.
If you'd like to learn more about Covenant House California - or donate to help - visit their website at covenanthousecalifornia.org.
Photo Credit: KNBC