Bum strategy

George, a lanky man who pedals a bicycle around town and sleeps on a building roof, said paparazzi and parking valets can be a problem when he panhandles outside celebrity haunts. But being close to wealth can lead to $100 handouts, or finds such as gold jewelry, video cameras and an Armani suit.

He was so thrilled with the suit that he wore it panhandling until he noticed he wasn't doing too well.

"You have to have a certain look to get sympathy — dirty, kind of stupid, not aware," he said.

He also knows an opportunity when he sees one. For a couple months, he hung out in a vacant house, lounging by the pool drinking up the liquor he found in a cabinet until the owner walked in on him. He managed to flee.

"I was just using the facilities," George said. "I wasn't robbing no one."

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