ERHS Alum Just Hoping for a Break

While most of us are feasting on honey-baked ham leftovers and tossing out the wrapping paper detritus from around the Christmas tree, Ben Maldonado is tussling with a different household issue: Figuring out how to pay his electricity bill before his lights go out.

We caught up with the 1973 graduate this weekend, as he strummed his guitar and shook his tambourine in front of Trader Joe’s.

During the three-plus decades of his professional life, Maldonado has been a horticulturalist, musician and a chef—and he recently retired from the City of Los Angeles Department of Horticulture after 34 years of service. It wasn’t the happy-ever-after second half of life that he imagined.

“Times are rough for me and my better half,” he confided during a pause while he belted out holiday tunes. The couple separated, and Maldonado’s now former wife “took half of the 24 years of my retirement money,” he said, adding: “She’s entitled to it—I can pay for the house but I use my credit cards more than I’d like to.”

While he has applied for work, Maldonado says he finds himself in a situation increasingly familiar to anyone who has been in—or observed—the job market lately: “Everyone tells me I’m overqualified.” He has a degree in management and “there are no supervisor positions right now,” he says.

His solution? Sing!

“God gave me a talent, so I decided to come out and play for the people of Eagle Rock,” he says, waving at his musical instruments. “You know all those mansions on Hill Drive? I’ve played with bands in most of them.” 

Finding the appropriate street stage is not so easy, however. Maldonado says that , and 7-Eleven all asked him not to play on their premises.

“Trader Joe’s doesn’t mind,” he says. “It’s not like I’m panhandling or anything—I’m doing something of service. And I like the people here. They’re nice.”

(Other Eagle Rock buskers, such as Grateful Dead diehard Dan Henken, have told Patch that they can play in front of Trader Joe’s as long as they remain on the sidewalk and don’t intrude into the parking lot.)

As if on cue, Eagle Rocker Roger Kintz pushes his cart by. He stops to shake Maldonado’s hand and gives him a dollar bill. “I think it’s great that he can come out here and play,” says Kintz. “It’s fantastic that people like him can make a contribution to the neighborhood by sharing their art and music with us.” 

“God bless you,” Maldonado calls out to him, turning back to our conversation. “And if you need any help at your office, I can do lots of things—gardening, painting, and I can cook. I was a chef at Lawry’s. I can cook all kinds of things, even Chinese.”

Until Maldonado lands a new job, he will be out on Eagle Rock street corners belting out songs and hoping for a break. “I only make about $10 a day,” he says. “But it’s something. I just try to keep my head up and play.”