Cesar E. Chavez Avenue & Soto Street
“The heartland of Boyle Heights.” Soto was named for Phil Soto, one of the first two Latinos elected to the state legislature. It’s Garcetti’s favorite spot. “With a pan dulce in one hand, watching the streetlife, it’s one of the great four-ways of L.A.”
Lyrics to the Missing Persons song aside, people do walk in L.A., chief among them indefatigable Los Angeles City Council president Eric Garcetti. “After I started campaigning, I just kept walking in our neighborhoods,” he says. To echo the point, he steps out of his city hall office to stroll the nearby town of Boyle Heights.
“It’s the Chicano heartland of Los Angeles but also a gateway for immigrants,” says Garcetti. “The people who couldn’t live downtown because of racial segregation—Jews, Mexicans, Japanese, some Russians—moved over here. So it’s always been one of the most racially diverse parts of our city.”
Now, Boyle Heights is 95 percent Latino, and you can really get lost in its culture. It’s where Garcetti’s grandparents and great-grandparents grew up, as did Oscar De La Hoya, Joe Gold of Gold’s Gym and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. A veritable mashup of communities, races and storefronts, Boyle Heights has more overlapping history than scrumptious handmade tortillas. You’ll want to experience both. Garcetti stops to buy pineapple sprinkled with chili from a street vendor near Mott Street, and then we’re off.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment