About 7 years ago I was a consultant for a health IT company based in the Midwest. One of my clients was Keck Med in LA. Keck was, I believe at the time, the largest ER in the US and I was told it was an intense, horrible client to work for.
It was just the opposite. In fact, out of all the clients I ever had they were the nicest. I was working a night shift setting up their lab software when I decided to take a break and take a short walk around 2AM.
On my walk I looked outside into the courtyard (I was about six stories up) and I saw a homeless man wander around. He seemed fine but was shuffling around weirdly. I stopped and observed him. Sure enough, he pulled down his pants, took a squat, and proceeded to take a dump. A few people strolled by, including some nurses and some doctors, but no one seemed to notice and/or care and they just ignored him like this was a normal occurrence. After he completed pinching off the loaf he pulled up his pants and walked away.
I went back inside and continued to work on my boring tasks. I wanted to ask someone "I just saw a homeless guy take a giant shit outside, do I need to call someone?" But I didn't know how to do so. I felt anxious that it would be unprofessional to talk about this. I kept it to myself for the remainder of my shift, but I just couldn't shake the thought of what I just saw. In Missouri, taking a poop in the middle of a courtyard or public place is unheard of, and I grew up in the Ozarks which is a total and awful shithole.
It was gone when I left around 7AM.
I had totally forgotten that event in my life until you mentioned street shitting in California.