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Ceola Waddell Jr. is homeless.
Ceola Waddell Jr. refuses to believe that, just because he doesn't have a home, he shouldn’t have all the amenities that someone with a home would have.
So with a lot of gumption and a bit of imagination and ingenuity, Waddell's humble abode has made him something of an internet sensation since video of his elaborate encampment under a Los Angeles freeway went viral.
"You have now entered Paradise Lane," the 59-year-old smooth-talking, full-length-robe-wearing Waddell explains in the video, which has been viewed over a million times on Facebook.
He takes viewers on a tour of his pad, which includes a refrigerator turned on its back to function as a "Jacuzzi." Waddell's home also includes a toilet (we'll spare you the details, but no, it doesn't work), a bed and a living room.
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Waddell also has a guest room that he claims to rent for $25 a week or $10 a night.
"I've set this up three times," Waddell told Fox 11. "The first and second time, they came and got all my coats, my food, my cooking utensils, my makeshift Jacuzzi, which I made out of a refrigerator, laid it on its back and put water in it so I could take a bath.
"They took all of that, and I said, 'You're not gonna win because I come from the streets. I know how to live as a homeless person. You can keep taking it, but you can't take my spirit to do it again."
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Elena Stern, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Sanitation, said that the city has offered homeless services to Waddell but he's refused. Waddell told Fox 11 that that's not true and he'd love to have an actual apartment.
"I want to have one of those, but they're a little slow, dragging their feet with the process," he said.
See the video below:
Read more at Fox 11.
