Editorial by Álvaro Huerta, Ph.D I first learned about MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/o de Aztlán) during UCLA’s Freshman Summer Program (FSP) in 1985, as a 17-year-old freshman. My humorous efforts to pass myself off as younger by joking that I was “actually” a 7-year-old math prodigy at UCLA in that year aside, I eventually joined the campus chapter. Many moons later, I still stand by MEChA’s mantra: “Once a MEChista, always a MEChista.” No offense to my friends who graduated from historic Cathedral High in Los Angeles, where it seems a similar slogan had served as to stoke alumni pride long before MEChA was founded in 1969. Moreover, I’m certain being a proud, life-long Cathedral “Phantom” never precluded anyone from becoming an equally committed MEChista. Shocked to learn of the name change to MEChA proposed during the MEChA National Conference 2019 at UCLA earlier this spring, I didn’t know whether to cry or yell. Given that my youth unfolded at one of the toughest...

In 1969, over a thousand Chicano youth from across the U.S. gathered in Denver, CO for a Movimiento conference. By Abel Salas and Anthony Ortega On March 30th, the Chicano Movement Symposium Series presented its second annual installation of a program that seeks to encourage study and discussion and healthy, constructive debate on meaning and results of Chicanismo, outside of the university setting. In keeping with that goal, according to organizer Anthony Ortega, about 100 guests attended the free symposium, titled Aztlan Then And Now: 1969 Chicano Youth Liberation Conference held from 11am to 4pm at the Church of the Epiphany in Lincoln Heights. The location was particularly well chosen in light of the fact that much of the planning and organizing in preparation for East L.A. Chicano student “Blowouts” in 1968 took place inside the very same church, more than a year before the Chicano Youth Liberation Conference was held in Denver, Colorado. Convened by the Crusade for Justi...

Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, a Boyle Heights legacy. Inset: Minnie J. Jackson. Photo courtesy of Pamela Davis/Andy Takajian and the Lawrence Family Archives . By Shirlee Smith In the neighborhood, the schools, the cemetery, the churches, the workplace, the political movements… we were everywhere, especially if and when being there meant being a part of building and sustaining this vibrant multi-cultural enclave. Our organization seeks to develop a historical perspective documenting the early arrivals and the continuous influx of our elders into an enclave well known for its significant place within the history of Los Angeles. Less familiar are the contributions our elders made to Boyle Heights from its earliest days onward. As members of “Boyle Heights - African Americans Were There,” an organization we are pleased to introduce within the pages of Brooklyn & Boyle , we work to present the facts surrounding our existence. We work to restore our history. And just as importantly...

Raúl Castillo as Diego Hernández who dons a mask as obsidian knife-wielding, motorcycle-riding superhero . Review by Alci Rengifo El Chicano is both a throwback and a sign of progress. It gives us a genuine, big screen Latinx superhero while basking in classic midnight movie style. This is the kind of guilty pleasure you should seek in an old school neighborhood movie theater, wherever they still exist, and cheer on a costumed avenger who wields an Aztec war knife. Writer/director Ben Hernández Bray borrows from every recognizable superhero movie trend, updating it all with the polished veneer of a Latinx vision celebrating the Eastside of Los Angeles. Raúl Castillo plays Diego Hernández, an LAPD detective from East L.A. who still feels connected to his neighborhood and lives with wife Vanessa (Aimee García). His brother Pedro had been a bright prospect years ago, but was gunned down in a suspected drug gang conflict. When a warehouse riddled with the corpses of murdered ga...

By Margaret Medina I was in my Chicano Studies class with Dr. George Garcia when I got the call. We were in groups, and my phone would not stop vibrating in my book bag. I politely looked at Dr. García and mimed that I had to take the call. I figured it was important. I stepped outside the classroom in Sierra Hall north in front of the beautiful Chicano mural. There were two voice messages and one text from my sister-in law Jamie announcing that my mother had passed. As I walked back in, Dr. García’s face asked me silently if everything was okay. I shook my head no. I was still in shock despite the fact that Mamá had been in hospice, and it was no secret she was dying. I knelt down and could feel the tears well up in my eyes. I gathered my books and put them in the knapsack. I looked up at Dr. García hoping to find some calm with which to soothe the emotional blow. Dr. Garcia gave me a very compassionate look, and said, “Mi’ja, your universe has changed forever. You’re half orphan,...

A Sacred Journey , Fernando Barragán 2008, exterior wall, Sacred Heart Elementary       By Abel M. Salas Ernesto Quintero entered the world a year-and-a-half behind his brother Juan. Of the six children born to Micaela and Roberto Quintero, they were the nearest in age. “Growing up, we did everything together,” says Quintero, an independent filmmaker from Lincoln Heights, the cornerstone East Side community his family has called home since 1966. “We played on the same [Little League] baseball team… Pop Warner football… basketball…  we  were inseparable.” There, nestled below Flat Top, Montecito Heights and Elephant Hill—hilltop vantage points the pair of brothers explored as a duo—the Quintero family grew and prospered in the wake of the Chicano Movement and the fervent tide of cultural arts expression it spawned. As a result, the brothers would come of age in an era and an environment that validated their heritage and their identity even as their ...

Award-winning Chefs Hugo Molina and Aricia Alvarado, partners in life are now partners at Genovese's Italian Kitchen. From Staff Reports April 25, 2019 Alhambra, California —When two acclaimed chefs come together to operate an eatery, it is usually good news for foodies and fine dining aficionados because the pairing is most always the basis for a winning recipe.  Energized and excited, Chefs Hugo Molina and his wife Aricia Alvarado, long-standing partners in life and now in a long-standing local eatery, are the new proprietors of Genovese’s Italian Kitchen, a neighborhood spot on the western edge of Alhambra. After years of successful restaurant ventures, the couple is bringing their passion for great food closer to home, to a well-regarded but never pretentious bistro, where they will serve up delicious comfort food along with lighter, California-inspired  fare. Reopening Genovese’s with a refreshed menu curated from the perspective that suggests it is not only po...

Over 10,000 children are being held in U.S. detention centers as a result of Trump's inhumane 'zero tolerance' policy. By Elias C. Herrera The policies currently in place that deal with unauthorized border crossings, immigration, and asylum seekers must be reformed and made to conform to international law and basic humanity. In March of 2017, the Trump administration started a ‘Zero Tolerance’ policy for people that were crossing the southern border of the United States without authorization, kicking off one of the most morally corrupt and reprehensible actions of Trump’s presidency (Hirschfeld Davis, Shear, & Benner, 2018). Shortly thereafter, the Trump administration would expand that program to those that were seeking asylum, regardless of how they approached the US border (Hirschfeld Davis, Shear, & Benner 2018). This policy has led to a deplorable incarceration for thousands of children who automatically become ‘unaccompanied minors’ when their parents...

Luciana Souza headlines the South Pasadena Public Library Carnegie Concert on Saturday. Photo: Anna Webber By Sven Fieldsteen and Aleja M. Sierra The  Library Carnegie Stage Concert, an essential and always compelling component of South Pasadena’s annual Eclectic Music Festival & Arts Crawl, will be held this Saturday, April 27th and headlined by jazz singer extraordinaire Luciana Souza. One of the foremost jazz vocalists in the world, Souza will be accompanied for this unique presentation by Otmaro Ruiz, a renowned Venezuelan pianist. The duo are slated to take the stage at 6:30 pm inside the beautifully restored South Pasadena Public Library Community Room—an acknowledged historical, architectural and cultural landmark—at 1115 El Centro Street. Julia Vari returns to L.A. for the Eclectic Music Festival. Photo: Charlotte Bell Photography Back by popular demand, acclaimed jazz and world music composer-pianist-vocalist Julia Vari kicks off the concert at 4pm. Vari is...