That said, I moved into a solidly middle class neighborhood/city down here and I am absolutely flabbergasted at the number of trash divers I see on garbage days. We have garbage pickup twice a week here (Tues/Fri) and I'd say I probably see someone browsing my or my neighbors' trash cans at least once every two weeks.

Most often it seems to be people looking for recyclables, but I've also clearly seen people looking for food that got thrown out. Today as I was leaving for work, some dude stopped his car and examined an object (some kind of wheel, like a steering or cart wheel) in my neighbor's trash can before tossing it back in and driving off. I've never seen anything like that anywhere else that I've lived.

Then again, yesterday afternoon a dispute between neighbors seven houses down from me led to one getting shot and killed and the other getting arrested for it. And that's in literally one of the safest cities in LA County. So there's that.