East Los Angeles

This story was created by [a] student(s) at University of California, Riverside for a class project in Ethnic Studies 132 and should only be used for educational purposes.

Growing up, I remember going to East Los Angeles on the weekends. My family and I would spend our weekends in local restaurants eating foods that reminded my parents of home, shopping at local 'puestos' for traditional relics, and buying spices and groceries for the week.

Like myself, many chicanos from my generation have had the same experiences. Every young chicano who lives in Los Angeles has experienced shopping in small and local businesses. Even if it is just your local fruit stand or 'elotero".

At a first glance, these small business and commercial spaces may seem like just that. A place for business and commerce. The reality is that these marketplace represent much more than simply exchange of goods. Commercial spaces in the community East Los Angeles represent not only commerce, but also the culture and the traditions of the cities population.

For this story map, we will focus on two specific commercial spaces in the community of East Los Angeles. The first is El Mercado, which is located in the corner of 1st Street and Lorena Street. The second is Whittier Blvd, known as Chicano Walk of Fame, which stretches from the San Gabriel Valley right into Los Angeles. We will explore the evolution of these historic commercial spaces and marketplaces in the East Los Angeles community.

East Los Angeles is known for its Chicano culture and community.

"East Los Angeles is not only the single largest Chicano/Mexicano population in the country. It is the largest Hispanic community in the United States" (Benitez).

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of East Los Angeles is roughly about 121,000 residents, of which 96 percent of them are Hispanic.

"By the onset of World War II, East Los Angeles was a nearly exclusively Latino community, soon reinforced by Mexican workers who arrived to man the machines in the area’s burgeoning war industries. Although the face of the city of Los Angeles and its surrounding communities has changed considerably, East Los Angeles has maintained this basic character throughout the last sixty years. As a result of its history as a long-standing Mexican American community, the area of East Los Angeles continues to be studied and documented by scholars from around the world"(LA County Library)

Located in the corner of 1st Street and Lorena Street in Boyle Heights, El Mercado is a hub for Latinx Marketplace.

• "Widely known as a social, cultural, and commercial center for the local Latinx community, El Mercado represents a traditional Latin American marketplace providing a space in Boyle Heights for the sale of traditional Mexican goods, religious relics, live mariachi music, and authentic Mexican food"(LA Conservancy).

Since the foundation of El Mercado in 1968, this chicano marketplace has served as a hub of commerce. With 'puestos' selling products such as religious relics, pottery, household goods, clothing, spices and groceries. The lists of products sold here goes on and on. To this day, El Mercado is still a place for commerce. A place where chicano community can embrace their culture and find the products they need. Below is a set of pictures taken by myself of El Mercado and the products sold there.

Although El Mercado still holds the traditional shops since its foundation, the commercial space and scene have evolved.

"Today, El Mercado (also referred to affectionately as "El Mercadito") is famous for its legendary mariachi scene, hosting hundreds of bands throughout its history. Traditionally, musicians recreate the practice of working al talon ("on one's heels") as they would in Mexico, working a handful of establishments per night for a fixed fee per song" (LA Conservancy).

To our parents, and the older generation, commercial spaces like El Mercado were part of their everyday lives. If they needed a few ingredients for dinner, El Mercado would be their go to store. If they needed household goods such as pots and pans or cleaning utilities, El Mercado had it all.

For me and the younger generation, El Mercado has become a location for the embracement of the chicano culture. We no longer attend El Mercado for our daily needs (although we can). El Mercado has evolved into a cultural center, a place we go to as an experience more than the actual function of a market place. Sure, we may be an ice cream or some 'esquite', but the reason we attend El Mercado is to experience the chicano culture. Instead of attending for our daily needs, today attend mostly for the experience.

"For decades, the boulevard had served as a hub of Latino life, commerce and culture. It was an affordable shopping district for an emerging, immigrant-rich middle class that had been redlined out of other neighborhoods. It was a teen hangout where rival Garfield and Roosevelt students gathered after football games to split a soda at A&W Root Beer, snog at drive-in theaters or catch Little Richard shrieking ecstatically at Sebby’s, on the corner of Whittier and Soto Street"(Vega, 2020).

Whittier Blvd, also know as Latino Walk of Fame, is a boulevard that intersects the heart of East Los Angeles. Like mentioned in the quote above, Whittier Blvd became a hub of latino commerce because of its affordable shops. As the chicano community ascended into the working middle class, these affordable shops and businesses fulfilled their needs. Below is a set of pictures what Whittier Blvd looks like today.

Just like El Mercado, the shops and businesses in Whittier Blvd have also evolved. Without loosing the chicano tradition, many of the new businesses in the boulevard have evolved in order to satisfy todays needs. For example, below is a comparison of two business, both of which are on Whittier Blvd. Chronis , although it does not serve ethnic food, has been a staple of the community since 1953 serving famous chili dogs and sandwiches. The second business is a food truck, which serves hibachi style steak and lobster. Just like the traditional chili dogs, the traditional taco food trucks and fruit stands, which are still around, there is also new businesses with new products that aim to fulfill the younger generations needs.

In addition to the restaurants above, we also see the evolution of business such as clothing stores. Below we see a comparison between a 3 Hermanos clothing store and a Nike story which are a couple of businesses away from each other, both on Whittier Blvd. 3 Hermanos has been on Whittier Blvd for decades serving and clothing the chicano communities for decades. In 2015, Nike opened up a community store right on Latino Walk of Fame. This also shows how the newer generations demands and needs are changing, and so are the commercial spaces in the community.

The community of East Los Angeles is the biggest Hispanic Community in the entire country. The businesses and marketplaces in the community have worked hard over the decades to fulfill the demands of the population. These commercial spaces such as El Mercado and the Shop on Whittier Blvd have been serving the community for at least 40 years. Over time, the needs of each generation have changed and so have the commercial spaces in order to fulfill the demand. El Mercado has evolved into a cultural center. A place where you can experience first hand rich chicano culture and heritage. Whittier Blvd still has the same traditional shops it had decades ago, but has also added the twist of modern shops. The chicano community of East Los Angeles will continue to evolve over the years and there is no telling where the chicano tradition, culture and community is going.

Community History . LA County Library. (n.d.). https://lacountylibrary.org/eastla-local-history/. 

Los Angeles Conservancy. El Mercado | Los Angeles Conservancy. (n.d.). https://www.laconservancy.org/locations/el-mercado. 

“Nike's New East Los Community Store Ignites Sport and Local Engagement.” Nike News, 15 Oct. 2015, news.nike.com/news/nike-s-new-east-los-community-store-ignites-sport-and-local-engagement. 

Public Broadcasting Service. (n.d.). American Family . About the Family. East L.A.: Past and Present. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/americanfamily/eastla.html. 

Vega, P. (2020, September 6). For L.A. Latinos, Whittier Boulevard is still a crossroads of change and hope. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-09-06/la-latinos-whittier-boulevard-offers-change-hope.