UT Community News partnered with the journalism program’s social media storytelling class to cover landmarks crucial to understanding Latinidad.
El Mercadito
By Calista Pineda, Ashley Cortes, & Gracie Pulido
El Mercado de Los Angeles, called “El Mercadito,” was founded in 1968. The Boyle Heights market features good Mexican foods like flan, chuleta, esquites and churros, according to 2019 UT Community News Story. Sometimes, there’s live music such as Mariachi and Banda. In el Mercadito, one can go buy Latin food, clothing, medicine and snacks.
It has survived despite UT Community News reporting slowdowns in business after ICE raids during the Trump era, the pandemic and more.
Estrada Courts’ murals
By Aden Nora, Yahir Solis, Jessica Hernandez, Ana Martinez
The Estrada Courts’ murals are often considered “the site of the 1970s birth of the Chicano Mural Art Movement,” according to the L.A. Conservancy.
Murals are the site were painted by Gronk, an American muralist and painter born in 1954, and Willie Herrón, an American artist, born in 1951, according to the UC San Diego Library.
The Boyle Heights apartments, built decades earlier, were intended to address the housing shortage that resulted from the rapid growth of wartime industries, one of a handful of garden apartment projects that were fast-tracked for completion in the early 1940s, according to the L.A. Conservancy.
One recurring theme in the murals is to humanize community through organic forms and colors is in this early piece, located in an Estrada Courts corridor that has been nicknamed Nature Walk – “so named for murals that brings mountains, water, trees to the boxy set of apartment buildings built in the 1940,” according to PBS SoCal.
The full story is cross-published on the L.A. Times’ De Los section.
Los Cinco Puntos
By Calista Pineda, Ashley Cortes, & Gracie Pulido
Los Cinco Puntos is a reference to the five points of intersection of East Cesar E. Chavez Avenue, Lorena Boulevard, and Indiana Street.
“Los Cinco Puntos has two memorials: Morin Square Memorial and the War Memorial, honoring Mexican-American veterans of WW2, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Every year, the day before Memorial Day, there is a 24-hour vigil where volunteers stand guard over the memorials, and on the morning of Memorial Day, the vigil ends with a ceremony,” according to the L.A. Conservancy.
Los Cinco Puntos was the starting location of the first Chicano Moratorium march, which was in protest of the Vietnam War. The demonstration was a significant milestone for the Chicanx activist from the Eastside and drew national attention.
El Pueblo de Los Angeles
By Calista Pineda, Ashley Cortes, & Gracie Pulido
El Pueblo is California’s oldest plaza. That’s according to the National Park Service. This monument was created to honor 44 settlers that founded Los Angeles in 1781, according to the city of L.A.’s website.
It’s now used as a “living museum” with many attractions located nearby.
The full story is cross-published on CALÓ News.
Chavez Ravine
By Alexi Zavala, Edgar Ortega, Christina Rosales
Before it became the Dodger Stadium, Chavez Ravine – consisting of three neighborhoods – was one of the few places Mexican Americans could own property in the LA area, according to a 2022 UT Community News story.
Around 300 families were evicted as a result — in part of an empty promise to build low-income housing — and the city decided to build the baseball stadium in its place. Families that refused to leave were later kicked out of their own homes by force.
The full story is cross-published on CALÓ News.
More coverage is available at https://csulauniversitytimes.com/buried-dreams-generations-of-trauma/
Ruben Salazar Park
By Alexi Zavala, Edgar Ortega, Christina Rosales
Formerly known as Laguna Park, Ruben Salazar Park earned its name following journalist Ruben Salazar’s death during the Chicano Moratorium, according to the L.A. Conservancy.
Ruben Salazar’s legacy is more than his tragic death. As a Latino journalist for the L.A. Times — one of the few in the city then — he gave Mexican Americans a platform to voice issues affecting them directly.
Through accounts of colleagues, some people believed Salazar’s death was part of a plot to silence his voice and eliminate his coverage of Mexican Americans, the L.A. Times reported.
California State University, Los Angeles
By Aden Nora, Yahir Solis, Jessica Hernandez, Ana Martinez
Cal State LA is home to the country’s first Latinx/Chicanx studies department, established in 1968, and the second Pan African studies department.
It’s located on the site of one of California’s 36 original adobes, built in 1779 by Franciscan missionaries and destroyed by fire in 1908, according to the Cal State LA website.
It’s also home to Cal State LA’s Charter College of Education, which became the first such college of higher education in the nation when it was formed in 1993.
Garfield High School
By Aden Nora, Yahir Solis, Jessica Hernandez, Ana Martinez
This is one of the schools that participated in the East L.A. walkouts.
It is the setting of the ground-breaking 1988 film, “Stand and Deliver,” about the high school and dynamo math teacher, Jaime Escalante, and his students.
To this day, the majority of the school’s student body is Latino, according to a U.S. News & World Reports story.
The Conga Room
By Kayla Jamison, Daniel Perez, Samuel De Leon
The Conga Room started as a Latin salsa club and now has a long-standing reputation for providing amazing unique events such as movie premieres, record launches and award shows including the VMA’s, Grammy’s, and the Emmy Awards, according to the LA Live website.
The Conga Room, which had moved in 2008 from its location on Wilshire Boulevard to L.A. Live by Crypto Area, closed its doors in March after 25 years in Los Angeles due to how business was affected by the pandemic, according to the L.A. Daily News.
The Conga Room’s Conga Kids organization planned to continue to provide Afro-diaspora dance and music services to kids in L.A.
Theodore Roosevelt High School
By Kayla Jamison, Daniel Perez, Samuel De Leon
Roosevelt High School was one of the schools whose students participated in the 1968 Eastside Blowouts, in which Latino students protested their right to education and to learn about their history.
“The R Building served as the primary setting for activities associated with the walkouts on campus, including a sit-in that students staged on the lobby stairs and an assembly held by district officials in the auditorium,” according to a 2021 UT Community News story.
Roosevelt High School was established in 1923 in Boyle Heights, a diverse Los Angeles neighborhood often called “the Ellis Island of the West Coast.”
The full story is cross-published on CALÓ News.
Whittier Boulevard
By Bryan Antunez, Noah Barron, Brandon Legaspi
Whittier Boulevard has been an important center of Chicano culture and commerce for many decades.
Cruising on the street is another important part of the street’s culture, though the hobby has been controversial, that it even elicited a ban at one point, according to a 2022 UT Community News story.
This male-dominated hobby has drawn more acceptance in recent years – and even drawn more female enthusiasts, according to a 2021 UT Community News story about the “lowrider ladies of L.A.”
Lined with shops, restaurants, taco trucks and street vendors, Whittier Boulevard is also a center of Chicano culture and commerce
The full story is cross-published on CALÓ News.
The Sears Building
By Bryan Antunez, Noah Barron, Brandon Legaspi
The 14-floor Art Deco Sears building in Boyle Heights was used for the company’s mail ordering work until 1992, when Sears closed the distribution center and sold the building. But Sears still used the first floor for its retail store. That, too, closed in April 2021 and has been empty ever since, according to an early 2021 UT Community News story.
“The Sears building, initially completed in 1927, took 171 days to construct and reflects the designs of well-known architects Eliel Saarinen and Bertram Goodhue. The building represents how Sears wanted to be seen: both classic and practical,” according to the story. Residents shared fond memories in the story of shopping for holiday clothes and visiting the store’s popcorn stand with friends.
There has been a proposal to house people experiencing homelessness in Boyle Heights Sears building.
Eagle Rock’s Colorado Boulevard
By Kaitlyn Gutierrez, Ashley Romero, Matthew Funke
In recent years, Eagle Rock residents have been divided on proposals to beautify the street or make it more accessible by public transit, according to UT Community News coverage.
But some don’t know its rich history.
As early as 1915, what is now called Colorado Boulevard ran right through Eagle Rock Valley, as it was known then, according to the Los Angeles Water & Power Associates website. Like much of the area, early Native American settlers, Spanish explorers and missionaries, and Mexican landowners came before Colorado Boulevard and the rest of Eagle Rock.
The road first found nationwide fame as the Tournament of Roses Parade route, and between 1926 and 1940 it was signed as U.S. Highway 66. In 1958, Pasadena redesignated it as a boulevard, signaling that Colorado—once home to lumber yards and carpenter shops—had come of age, according to Los Angeles magazine.
Mariachi Plaza
By Tristan Longwell, Edward Jaros & Nick Zaragosa
Many mariachis find jobs and a sense of community at this landmark, according to a 2019 UT Community News story.
The Mariachi Plaza Kiosk in Boyle Heights was a gift to the city of Los Angeles from the Mexican state of Jalisco, according to the L.A. Times.
Many of the mariachis who perform at the plaza live at the 1889 Boyle Hotel, also known as the Mariachi Hotel, which is located in the plaza, according to the hotel website.
When it was gifted to the city in 1998, Juan Pablo Salas, a stone artisan from Guadalajara, Mexico, designed and assembled the “Cantera stone kiosk,” better known as Mariachi Plaza, according to the Historical Marker Database.
The full story is cross-published on CALÓ News.
Mijares Mexican Restaurant
By Kaitlyn Gutierrez, Ashley Romero, Matthew Funke
This is the oldest Mexican restaurant in Pasadena, founded in 1920 as a tortilla and tamale factory and still family-owned and operated.
The original property was purchased as four homes by Jesuscita Mijares who came from Jalisco, Mexico, and it has survived through the Great Depression, an arson fire, and COVID-19, according to the owners.
Pasadenans used to line up with pots and pans to fill up with food from Mijares, according to the ”Visit Pasadena” website. Longtime customers say the food is ”authentic” and they appreciate the memories made there community for over 100 years.
The full story is cross-published on CALÓ News.
Plaza Mexico
By Bryan Antunez, Noah Barron, Brandon Legaspi
Throughout the year, Plaza Mexico hosts cultural events and celebrations like traditional dances, art exhibits, holiday festivities and events such as the Dia de los Muertos and Cinco de Mayo celebrations, according to its website.
It’s a key gathering place for the local Latinx community to socialize, shop and be immersed in Mexican culture.
San Gabriel Mission
By Tristan Longwell, Edward Jaros & Nick Zaragosa
Mission San Gabriel Archangel was founded in 1771 and is the fourth out of the 21 California Spanish missions to be created. The mission was created in an effort to convert the Indigenous people to Catholicism. People from the Indigenous communities in the surrounding areas were required to tend to the livestock, crops and worked in dangerous conditions, according to the National Park Service.
The Native American Gabrieleno-Tongva tribe helped build the mission, according to the city of San Gabriel.
The mission was founded by Saint Francis Junípero Serra and Saint Francis Pedro Cambón.
La Golondrina/Olvera St.
By Alexi Zavala, Edgar Ortega, Christina Rosales
Olvera St. seeks to preserve California customs from as early as 1930, according to the city of L.A.’s website.
Many of the vendors today are direct descendants of the original vendors.
La Golondrina in Olvera St. was the first Mexican restaurant in the city. It faced eviction and has struggled to reopen since then. “Unfortunately we have been served with an eviction notice and our battle is ongoing,” wrote business owners David and Bertha Gomez on their GoFundMe page for the restaurant.
