Mariachi Plaza, The Breed Street Shul, Self-Help Graphics, and the Silver Dollar Cafe

Mariachi Plaza
La Boylé (Mariachi Plaza) -- First Street and Boyle Avenue, Los Angeles (in front of donut shop) Street corner where mariachis congregate while waiting to pick-up jobs. In addition to a kiosk, there are also murals of mariachis on the surrounding walls. Mariachi is a musical form that originated in Jalisco, Mexico and is performed by groups of men (and increasingly women) wearing traditional charro outfits and playing violins, horns, and accordians. Mariachis can be found strolling in restaurants and are standard entertainment at Mexican and Mexican American celebrations, such as weddings, baptisms, and quinceñeras. Los Angeles is one of the leading cities for mariachi music in the world.

Consumers of mariachi music have long known that they can hire musicians at La Boyle, thus making Mariachi Corner one of the older "shape-ups". Shape-ups refer to sites were workers in the informal economy congregate while awaiting work. Los Angeles's informal economy has flourished over the past several decades due to both an increase in immigration and an increasingly polarized economy characterized by both high-wage and low-wage employment.

The Breed Street Shul served the Congregation Talmud Torah from 1923-1992. Consisting of two buildings, the shul was widely-considered to be one of Boyle Heights’ leading synagogues. Boyle Heights has traditionally been a port-of-entry for immigrants, including Jews from eastern Europe and the East Coast. Prior to World War II it is estimated that one-third of all Jewish Angelenos lived in Boyle Heights. However, after the War there was a decline in anti-semitism and housing restrictions, prompting Jews to begin moving westward. Initially settling in such communities as the Fairfax district, the heart of the Jewish community is located today in the San Fernando Valley. The shul eventually closed in the early 1990s due to disuse. Tragically, the buildings were vandalized and fell into disrepair and the City of Los Angeles assumed ownership.

In 1988 the Los Angeles City Council declared the shul an historic-cultural monument (#359) and the Jewish Historical Society took back the shul in 2003 from the City. Currently, plans are underway to renovate the shul under the leadership of the Breed Street Shul Project, a nonprofit subsidiary of the Jewish Historical Society. Although the future use of the building is uncertain, there is a general commitment to maintain the Jewish heritage of the site while actively serving the Latino inhabitants, which now constitute 95% of Boyle Heights’ population.
For more information: http://www.breedstreetshul.org/

The Silver Dollar Café
4945 E. Whittier Boulevard
This was the site of the assassination of Ruben Salazar. Born in Ciudad Juarez in March 1928, Salazar was a journalist who became an important voice for social change. Salazar worked for the Los Angeles Times and the Spanish-language television station KMEX, and over time became increasingly critical of the Vietnam War and social injustice. At the time of his death, Salazar was being investigated by both the LAPD and the FBI who opposed his increasingly critical coverage. Salazar was killed on August 29, 1970 while observing the Chicano Moratorium, a protest against the War, drawing approximately 30,000 for a march from Belvedere Park to Laguna Park. As it approached Laguna Park, over 500 police attacked the crowd, resulting in over 200 arrests, hundreds of injuries, and three deaths. The Chicano Moratorium was the largest anti-war action on the part of any ethnic community in the US. Salazar covered the event and afterwards went to the Silver Dollar Café where he was shot by an L.A. County Deputy. The bullet, shot from outside the café, hit Salazar in the head. A Coroner's Panel ruled the killing a homicide, but the deputy was never brought to trial.