I woke up to Mariachi music this morning.
Yes, I’m Mexican, but no, I’m not a mother, at least not yet 
. It was the sound of my neighbors serenading their mothers because although this country celebrates the holiday on the second Sunday of the month, those Latin American momas won’t forgive us if we dare forget to recognize “el 10 de mayo.”
So to my beautiful mami, and to all the mamis out there, Happy Mother’s Day, from yours truly and Don Chente.
Boyle Heights artivist Nico of Los Poets del Norte and Merkado Negro, designed a special “Z is for Zapata” cut out mask for this Sunday’s Marcha por Zapata. The annual march will start from Ross Valencia Park, on 1st and Chicago, at 9 am. Folks will then march out at 10 am to El Parque de Mexico, an area in Lincoln Park, where a cultural program will be held from 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm.
Last year’s Marcha por Zapata was held the same day as CicLAvia, which made many choose one event or rush back to catch both. The streets of Boyle Heights were filled with bikers, marcha supporters and danza azteca! But that won’t be the case this year…so if you’re going to the march, I highly encourage you to print out the mask and wear it.
Que viva Zapata !!
Here’s a video we produced on last year’s Marcha por Zapata. Read more about the march here.
I’ve noticed lately that Mariachi Plaza on First and Boyle has been used as a political rally point for protests. For the third time in two months I’ve come across large protests taking place at the 3-year-old Metro station– and those haven’t been the first. From gatherings on immigration to education, the space has been put to use by those who it was meant for: the people.
While one side of the plaza acts as a worksite for mariachis, the other end is used for a weekly farmer’s market, a meeting point for bike groups, a spot for break dancers and your occasional skater. The large, open space is conveniently close to downtown, sits atop a metro station, and has a stage, perfect for demonstrators, entertainers and anyone else willing to use the space. I think we’ll see even more people making use of the plaza in the future, especially with the recent opening of Libros Schmibros and the soon-to-open Boyle Hotel Apartments.
I took a few pics at last week’s rally, where hundreds of people gathered to protest against the major cuts adult education currently faces in Los Angeles. Watch my slideshow below.
In a double whammy of sorts, both Guisados and Mariscos Jalisco have been crowned as the official 2012 Taco Madness winners.
LATaco.com counted almost 1,500 votes in this contest of gluttony and delicious tacos. But truth be told, the real winner is Boyle Heights because both restaurants are based here. And in honor of this tasty victory, Guisados is going to be taking 15 % off your check today and Thursday if you mention that you voted for them in Taco Madness. How awesome is that? If you mention you heard about it through Mis Neighbors won’t actually get you anything, but we’d appreciate the shout out none the less
Photo of mis-printed flyer by El Random Hero
If you’ve seen CicLAvia flyers around town you might’ve gotten a little excited about the tiny, but significant extension in Boyle Heights. The flyers for April 15 show a spur going north on Boyle Avenue toward Mariachi Plaza, the same day the Mariachi Festival is being organized.
Yesterday, Mis Neighbors contributor El Random Hero blasted the possibility on Twitter. Immediately, I questioned it. Along with Random, I was part of the outreach to bring an extension to the Eastside, and to my knowledge, this wasn’t happening in April, WTF?
Today, LA Streetsblog confirms flyers are indeed a mis-print.
From the post:
Initially, CicLAvia planned to extend the route to Mariachi Plaza, but the costs to extend the route proved too high for the upcoming CicLAvia, explains Joe Linton, CicLAvia community organizer. Linton added he didn’t know how many flyers were printed with the error.
Oopsie! La regaron! Let’s see if we actually get the ball rolling to make this come true at all. They say maybe October, but don’t hold your breath…
Photo by Daniel Covarrubias via Mercado Negro Facebook page
With all the attention the Wolfpack Hustle L.A. Marathon Crash Race is getting, it’s easy to overlook the fact that they won’t be the only ones crashing the marathon this weekend. For the last couple of years, I’ve been crashing the marathon route with friends and fellow bike enthusiasts in the wee hours of the night/early morning before the actual marathon starts. Long before it became a big deal, I got into crashing the route after a friend, who’s been doing the crash ride longer than I have, invited me to tag along. Since then, I’ve been crashing the route every year and getting more folks to join along and enjoy this once-a-year experience.
With the marathon happening this Sunday, we are crashing the route once again, rain or shine. Meet up for the Boyle Heights contingent starts at 3 am at Mariachi Plaza. We’ll be riding out at 3:30ish and hitting the marathon route in Downtown L.A.. Be forewarned that it will rain, just like it did last year.
And if you don’t like getting your fundillo all wet, make sure to wear a garbage bag or something to protect yourself from the rain. Layered clothing is also a must, as it will get chilly and combined with the rain, it’s gonna get cold up in here. You must also have your bicycle in working condition and working front and back lights. Other riders, including myself, will have basic tools to repair any possible flats along the way, but that’s it. If your bike breaks down, we’ll do our best to help you, but chances are you’ll have to walk it to the nearest train/bus stop. We’ll be making our way back East by riding to the Hollywood/Vine Redline Station and then Goldlinin’ it back to Boyle Heights. Other than that, expect to have an amazing time seeing the city from a whole new perspective.
L.A. City Councilman Tony Cardenas speaks before a crowd of students and community advocates outside City Hall./ Photo by Andrew Roman, Boyle Heights Beat
It was a jubilant scene last month outside L.A City Hall when a crowd of eager high school students waited to hear if their hard work had finally paid off.
For months they had blared chants –“Justice not tickets! Schools not prisons!”— and participated in demonstrations wearing orange jumpsuits and graduation caps and gowns to show how the city’s daytime curfew law criminalized students for minor infractions.
Before noon on Feb. 22, their demands were satisfied. The L.A. City Council unanimously voted to limit high fines for students who were late to school.
Student organizers, including a number of student leaders from Boyle Heights, have been at the forefront of this political victory. They’ve kept up with every report, directive and policy change on truancy, and have made it their responsibility to distribute information around the community. Although many of them will graduate this year and won’t benefit from the new law, they say it’s an important cause that will affect their younger siblings and their peers.
“This is the victory for our communities who have struggled to pay for these fines,” said Roosevelt High senior Cinthia Gonzales, who was present at the city council hearing last month. “It’s about time we go rid of a law that criminalizes students who are late.” (Gonzales, a reporter with Boyle Heights Beat, also is one of the main organizers of the student campaign.)
Under the original truancy law, students were fined $250 for being out of class. Along with court fees, the total bill to a student could exceed $800. Critics say the zero tolerance approach, which aimed to increase student attendance, punished students who, in spite of being late, were trying to get to school. Students were forced to miss more school time to appear in court. Fines placed a financial burden on many low-income families.
The new amendment prevents police from issuing tickets during the first hour of school to students who are within a three-block radius of their campus. Community service will be assigned for first and second violations, while only third-time offenders will face a $20 ticket, with a maximum cap of $155.
For students like Gonzales, it meant a great deal to have a chance to witness democracy in action. For years, she saw many of her schoolmates picked up by police, handcuffed and ticketed during truancy/tardy sweeps. “I was tired of the injustices that were committed on my peers,” said Gonzales. But it was the disproportionate statistics that compelled her to get involved.
According to a report by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, Public Counsel Law Center and Community Rights Campaign, between 2004 and 2009, police issued 47,000 truancy tickets—88 percent of them were given to Blacks and Latinos, who represent 74 percent of the student body.
Rosa Solache was one of them. Now a junior at Roosevelt, Solache remembers the high price she paid for missing the bus on her way to school back in 2009.
“The bus passed me by because it was overcrowded,” she said. “Other people at school saw me get into the cop car and I felt like a criminal.”
Solache had to miss a day of school, and her mother a day of work, to go to court after she was issued a truancy ticket. “I cried,” said Solache’s mother, Genima Valdestino when her daughter told her the news. Today, Valdestino is still paying off the ticket and continues to blame herself for not being able to take her daughter to school. “It’s something really frustrating to know your child was put in a police car for being a few minutes late.”
This year, Solache joined Gonzales and other students in the effort to amend the truancy law. Like Gonzales, Solache also serves as a staff writer for Boyle Heights Beat.
As part of Taking Action, a club at Roosevelt led by the Community Rights Campaign, students learn about the political process and strategize about building a campaign. They participate in community meetings and organize petitions, protests and press conferences with support from the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and Public Counsel Law Center.
Read more at BoyleHeightsBeat.com
‘News from The Beat’ are selected posts written by students, contributors or myself for BoyleHeightsBeat.com
Photo by Armando Velez
I remember my Sunday mornings as a kid– most of them were religious. We did church or watched soccer matches on TV (if my dad’s Chivas were playing). On a lucky one, my family and I would sit at the table digging in on a big wad of carnitas from Zamora Brothers Carnicería in Boyle Heights, the meat market with the droopy-eyed puerquito logo.
I love these Sunday meals… maybe it was the subliminal messages they fed us before even walking in the door, as captured here by photographer and Mis Neighbors contributor Rafael Cardenas.
Photo of Zamora on Cesar Chavez and Mednik in East L.A., but you can also find Zamora on Cesar Chavez near Warren in Boyle Heights.
Yesterday’s AirTalk segment on KPCC featured a discussion that’s inherently passionate, the Eastside vs the Westside. For a second there, I thought they were discussing the musical “Westside Story.” Pero no, seems folks still can’t distinguish between what parts of town are considered Westside, which are Eastside and the vigorous meanings they carry in this city. Folks, of course, sounded off and shared their two cents about where’s what and why. The conversation continued on Twitter as well, where more folks chimed in.
So what defines the Westside/Eastside boundaries in this city? Is it a street? An invisible line? Access to organic foods? The LA River? That all depends on whether you’re talking to someone who has migrated to LA or folks who have lived here all their lives. This isn’t the first or last time this conversation is going to happen and it certainly won’t to be the last time Eastside residents are going to have to chin check others in LA geography.
Bloggeros/as like El Chavo, have long been ‘correcting’ others on their inappropriate appropriation of the term Eastside when referring to any place in LA that isn’t East of the river. 2009 was the last time this debate got heated enough that the LA Times even picked up on it after folks in the community got together at Eastside Luv for a night of Eastside appreciation. That article even mentioned a get together LAEastside bloggeros/as had that year, in which we burned some incorrect maps promoting Silver Lake as the Eastside. Chale, the LA Times mapping project defines the Eastside as Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, East LA, El Sereno and by extension Highland Park. So why can’t others?
In the end, there’s more to this conversation than just defending a name or tittle. It comes down to still breaking through ignorant and short sighted stereotypes outsiders have about our communities, families and way of life. There are those who still think East LA is one giant ass ghetto with poor people living there and it’s our responsibility to us to say ‘Ohhhh hell nah. You did NOT just say my neighborhood is shitty. Girl, hold my earrings.’ When that conversation changes, then debates about the Eastside or Westside won’t come up anymore.
The Eastside is something earned and not to be taken lightly. As Dewey Tafoya shares,
“Where you from holmes?! I’ve heard that from too many times before, with an added ese or puto or punk or holmes at the end. I’ve earned the eastside. My eastside. Japanese, Jewish, Black, Mexican eastside. My dad’s eastside, where pachucos traded their suits for army boots. Where Japanese neighbors have been forced into concentration camps, where freeways destroyed our homes, where we still ask ‘what we can’t do for our country?’ That’s how I was raised to be proud of who I am and where I’m from, Boyle Heights, the Eastside.”
Watch below:
Map image from GOEZ Art
It must have been an elote. No, a tamal. Or maybe a tamal de elote…
It’s been too long to remember the first bite of street food I ever had in Boyle Heights. But perhaps it was from the sweet lady who sold tamales outside of Sheridan Street School, where she stood every morning, surrounded by hungry escuincles like me who opted for her delightful bites of masa, meat and chile over the school’s free pigs in a blanket.
Neighborhood street food vendors are a part of our everyday lives. They are our neighbors, our mothers, our friends, or simply a familiar face. And although not all community members agree with unlicensed street vending, and police have cracked down on them at higher rates recently, they’ve maintained a following. People seek them because they can’t resist their sazón; because it’s a better option than McDonald’s pink slime; or because their food is a reminder of home-coked meals.
Now, street vendors in Boyle Heights are looking for ways to vend without the fear of being ticketed, arrested or wiped away from all their goods. East LA Community Corporation (ELACC) and local vendors are launching “a campaign aimed at providing paths to self-sustainability and better economic opportunities for local microentrepreneurs.” Their efforts will help raise funds for required permits and new equipment so that street vendors can meet their goal of setting up an Evening Farmer’s Market in Boyle Heights.
This Friday, February 3 from 5-10pm, ELACC will hold a fundraiser to help eight vendors who have been displaced by strict police enforcement. Bring cash for tacos, quesadillas, pozole and more, and for the $1 admission at the ELACC house 530 S. Boyle Ave, Los Angeles CA. To donate, visit their page here.
Meet some of Boyle Heights street food vendors in a video produced by ELACC. Stay tuned for some of our videos where we’ll introduce you to Caridad, a street vendor famous for her pozole.
To remind you, here’s the video we posted on Facebook Monday from YouTube user CaptainSanjeezy (it’s age restricted)
As reported by EGP News, Monterey Park Police arrived on the scene at 9:30am after 22-year old Steven Rodriguez had blown out several windows with a metal bar. The rest can be seen on the video– Rodriguez swings the metal bar and cops fire multiple times.
There’s no need to explain why the video has riled up so much controversy. Witnesses and viewers have raised questions on YouTube and discussion forums on whether police action was justified, why the guys in the video are laughing, and why it seemed to take so long to get an ambulance at the scene. I myself have a few questions, but I’ll share one: Did the cops need to fire so many times, especially after the man was down?
Today, Carl’s Jr. has boarded windows but is now open, the outside decorated with flowers, candles and photos of Steven. A candle light vigil has been organized for 5:30 pm today outside Carls Jr. in honor of Steven and to spread the word on other cases like this.
Some have deemed it police brutality, others say force was justified. What do you think?
Photos and H/T by Erick Huerta.
If you began your year with the most common news year’s resolution out there, chances are you joined a gym, got on a diet, or hit the jogging path at Evergreen Cemetery in Boyle Heights.
Why not, right? It’s there and it’s free. It’s no Griffith Park; it comes with all the “amenities” of an urban area, surrounding one of the oldest cemeteries in L.A. But somehow the hectic traffic that blows into one ear is eased by the silence of thousands of headstones that blows into the other– sort of a serene moment…
It’s also kind of neat to know that this space was initiated with the effort of the Boyle Heights community. In 2002, The Evergreen Jogging Path Coalition, comprised of community residents and members from the Latino Urban Forum, began a campaign to fix the sidewalks and cracks in their streets. Their efforts not only got the city to revamp the streets but replace them with the Evergreen Jogging Path, a 1.5-miles long rubberized stretch around the cemetery that was dedicated a year later.
During my not-so-routine jogs around “el panteon,” –where so much life surrounds death– I’ve come across several features signature to the urban recreational experience in Boyle Heights. Here are a few of them:
1. Elote vendor: When should I say no to elotes? When I’m trying to get my fitness on! The vendor’s blaring honk could be a bit of a distraction to many. But if you’ve been living here long enough, you may not notice it anymore– these sounds have become part of the structure of your urban daily life.
2. Doggie waste [now with a bag]: As part of the city’s “Take A Bag, Leave A Bag” Pilot Program, dispensers were recently installed with free plastics bags and a waste basket to throw away your pet’s doo-doo. Did we need these? Yes. Will people using them wisely? Hopefully. There’s been too many surprises I’ve had to abruptly jump over– most of it which I’m sure come from stray dogs.
3. A mom with a stroller, three kids and two Chihuahuas: Another thing I wish I could jump over sometimes. I love that parents are leading by example and taking their kids on walks/jogs, but hey, when it’s such a big family, maybe practice single file? It might be my fault here for challenging myself to high speeds in what is meant to be a pedestrian friendly, slower pace route– I just really don’t want to step on any dog’s miniature limbs.
4. The smell of carnitas from Cinco Puntos and El Mercadito: It slaps you in the face, and it feels (smells) good. I usually hold my breath around these corners… I’m afraid if I don’t I will run right into one of these and grab a taco de carnitas para llevar while I finish my lap. At least I’m walking it off right?
5. Diverse, but segregated headstones: It’s always interesting to think about the thousands who have been buried in Evergreen Cemetery– about 300,000. Here, you can find segregated burial sites with sections for whites, Armenians, Japanese, and Mexicans. In 2005, during the MTA Goldline construction, archeologists found skeletal remains just outside the cemetery of what they deemed to be mostly Chinese people buried in the Potter’s Field, the only place that allowed their burial before the Civil Rights era.
Mis Neighbors marked its first full year online in November; we’ve brought you stories about life and happenings in Boyle Heights, and opened a conversation about news we’ve shared on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
Personally, I’m also proud to have featured stories from Boyle Heights Beat—where I mentor students that produce a community newspaper and I manage the website open to community contributors (yes, I’m plugging).
I must also thank those who have contributed to this blog. As my time became limited this year, you guys had my back– let’s keep it going!
Before we move forward to 2012, let’s take a look at the top stories you viewed on Mis Neighbors (I would’ve probably chosen others, just sayin’). Here they are in no particular order.
Happy New Year from yours truly, Jessica Perez aka Jessicas2Cents.
CaminArte: Art Walking in Boyle Heights
Art walks have sprung up in neighborhoods all over L.A. recently. Last August, Boyle Heights debuted its own— bringing art, music and community together for the monthly event. From the post:
See a slideshow of the first CaminArte below.
Ultimate 2011 Dia de los Muertos Event Guide: Boyle Heights
I asked my friend and neighbor Erick Huerta aka “El Random Hero” to share his annual Dia De Los Muertos Event guide with us this year. Although he came up with an amazing comprehensive LA guide, there were plenty of events going on in Boyle Heights for us to narrow in on.
See the photos from Self Help Graphics and Art’s Dia de los muertos event.
Boyle Heights hosts platica on Occupy movement, now reaching out to the hood
One of this year’s top stories in Los Angeles and across the country had to be the Occupy protests. As it became evident that the mostly-white crowds of protesters were not proportionately representing the 99 percent, activists hosted a platica in Boyle Heights to discuss the involvement of people of color.
Here are a few Twitter posts that can sum up the event:
One of L.A. Art Walk’s best comes home to paint a mural in Boyle Heights
Boyle Heights native Robert Vargas is famous for painting portraits of people at Downtown LA’s Art Walk. Mis Neighbors contributor Rafael Cardenas caught up with Vargas as he got ready to paint a mural outside Eastside Luv in October.
“I love to paint the people on the street… they are all so beautiful and worth immortalizing,” said Vargas. “I believe we are in the golden age of Los Angeles.”
Photo by Rafael Cardenas.
Watch a video by our East Los neighbor Steve Saldivar here.
Q&A: The Democracy of Music in Boyle Heights
Grand Performances had a series of events that celebrated the history of Boyle Heights this past summer. One of the featured events was dedicated to the musical and cultural legacy of Boyle Heights through the story of the Phillips Music Company. We talked to music critic and USC professor Josh Kun about this project that brought forth pride for new and old generations alike.
Watch a video produced by Boyle Heights Beat youth reporters here.
By Kris Fortin
Less than two weeks after the release of a draft for a new mural ordinance that would give muralists an avenue to legally paint the walls on private commercial property, artists Raul Gonzalez and Carlos Callejo began working on a mural on the corner of First and Cummings Streets outside Libros Schmibros Lending Library and Bookstore.
The new draft language aims to identify murals as “original works of art” rather than signs after the city’s 2002 sign ordinance banned murals on private property.
As the mural ban has disrupted the rich public arts culture in Boyle Heights, the draft mural ordinance has brought hope of a mural revival. Gonzalez, one of the few artists that continued painting murals on private property despite the ban, is at the forefront of this mural resurgence in Boyle Heights along with other artists, including many affiliated with Self Help Graphics and Art.
“I think that the pieces getting buffed made me want to paint more,” Gonzalez said. “I’m not attached to them. But as an artist, I want to create that message for the community.”
Councilman Jose Huizar, art preservationists, including Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles, and muralists from across the city were on hand at the press conference for the unveiling of the draft mural ordinance on Dec. 7 at Self Help Graphics and Art in Boyle Heights.
Veteran artist Wayne Healy said he sees the same passion his generation had in painting murals today’s generation. “I look forward to another blossoming of murals in the barrio,” he said at the press conference. His place, Healy said, is to help the younger muralists’ work flourish in the community again.
While city council support for a mural ordinance may signal the end to the mural moratorium, the ban’s effects have been felt by many artists.
The city has removed seven of Gonzalez’s murals since the mural ban took effect. The murals varied in topic, with some showing people gardening, erasing graffiti, or images of Mexican revolutionaries. Like Gonzalez, many artists have had to look for work outside of Los Angeles.
Gonzalez and Callejo’s mural, “Even Concrete Walls Cannot Stop the Beauty of Life,” which shows a man smashing he walls with a sledgehammer to reveal a flower blossoming from the crevice, does not have a permit either. Rather, posted on the window of Libros Schmibros is a 2008 motion by the city council that states citations will not be issued until a mural permitting process is in place.
The draft mural ordinance has created optimism among muralists, yet it has revived old concerns and created new ones. At the first public meeting to discuss the draft ordinance, artists were resistant to the $199 permit fee that would cover the costs to process the permit paperwork. Gonzalez said it is in an unfair cost that would discourage artists and building owners from painting murals.
“We don’t want the fee. Years, we haven’t given money to city for arts, now [the city] wants to take money,” Gonzalez said.
Artists also warned city officials that if owners and artists lack a full understanding of a mural permit, police could mislead owners to take down the paintings. Solutions included a mural having a registration number, stamp, or logo to authenticate it, and educating law enforcement on the mural ordinance.
Artist Jaime “Vyal” Reyes even suggested a Quick Response (QR) Code could be posted on the mural that would take people to information about the mural.
The draft mural ordinance prompted a 60-day public comment period until it is presented to city council in March. For more information or to submit a comment about the draft, visit the Los Angeles Department of City Planning or contact Tanner Blackman at tanner.blackman@lacity.org (Include case # CPC-2008-2142-CA). You can also visit the Planning Department’s Code Studies’ Facebook page.
UPDATE:
L.A. City Mural Ordinance Discussion:
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Good Will Industries Metro North
Worksource Center (Auditorium)
342 N. San Fernando Rd.
Los Angeles, CA 90031
6:00p.m.-7:30p.m.
Workshop and Public Hearing
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
L.A. City Hall Room 1020
200 N. Spring St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
1:00 p.m.
Erick Huerta contributed to this report.
