I have tried to keep up with all the thoughts here. I would like to chime in with mine. I live in Los Angeles. If he made it here. It’s huge. You can so easily be on the run, and still have access to food pantries, couch surfing, showers, clothing etc etc etc. And no one would even question. For all I know he could be trading art for food, or a couch for the night on Venice Beach and no one would blink an eye. Or recognize most likely. There are so many guys here that look exactly the same. I don’t think he is off camping in some park somewhere practicing survival skills. Just my opinion again.
I’ve always thought if I were BL, I would go to LA for all the reasons you said.
MOO