Aliyah Explores A Famous Neighborhood of LA - Mariachi Plaza

Today I am in the city of Los Angeles

and specifically I am in a place called

Mariachi Plaza.

[music]

Mariachi Plaza is in a neighborhood of

Los Angeles that is on the east side of

the city in a neighborhood called Boyle

Heights. A fun fact about me is that I

actually used to live here in Boyle

Heights about six years ago. I lived in

this neighborhood, but I actually didn't

get to explore Boyle Heights very much

because I was living here during the COVID

19 pandemic. So, I was stuck inside my

house and I couldn't really go outside

and see places like this. Mariachi Plaza

is a famous landmark in this part of LA

and there are a lot of public events

that happen here and it has some history

behind it as well. Behind me there's

actually a big gazebo, a gazebo made out

of stone and this is to basically

commemorate some of the history that has

taken place here at Mariachi Plaza.

Mariachi is a type of music that

actually I think um originally comes

from Spain but is also very very popular

in Mexico. The reason that it has the

name Mariachi Plaza is because starting

in the 1930s mariachi musicians used to

come here. They would gather here and

look for work. Basically, if you were

someone that wanted to hire some

entertainment for your party, a wedding,

some any sort of celebration, you would

come here because all of the mariachis

would be waiting to meet people who

wanted to hire them. And they would also

live in some of the surrounding

buildings. I believe one of these

buildings around here is actually like a

famous old hotel where the mariachi used

to stay while and then they would come

out here to the plaza looking for for

work um for hire every day. And although

I don't think it happens as much, I

actually do see some people um parked

over here and there's some signs on

their cars saying mariachi for hire uh

with their phone number. So, it's a

little piece of history that is still

going on to this day here at Mariachi

Plaza. Behind me is actually the old

building I was just talking about. This

building behind me used to serve as a

hotel. Now, um I'm not sure what's in

the top part of the building, but the

bottom has some really nice businesses.

I've actually been to this coffee shop

quite a few times. It's a Mexican coffee

shop called La Monarcha, which is

Spanish for the monarch. The monarch is

a type of butterfly that you will see in

a lot of Mexican American imagery. A lot of

the street art will have monarch

butterflies. And so you see it all over

Los Angeles because we have a huge

Mexican-American population, throughout

all of the city and throughout all of

Southern California and really the whole

state, but especially in neighborhoods

like Boil Heights where the majority of

people are are Mexican-American and it's

known for being a Mexican-American

community. The other business that is

under this old hotel is a something

called a lending library. And I'm super

curious to check this out because I

don't know what the difference is

between a lending library and just a

regular bookstore. I I don't know. It's

definitely not a public library, but

maybe it operates as some sort of

private library, which could be really

interesting. So, we'll take a closer

look in a second. So, this is the

storefront of the lending library, and

it looks like they're closed right now.

You can see the sorry, we're closed

sign, but there's also some other

interesting signs here. Basically, they

they do offer books for free and you're

allowed to enjoy the free AC when you

borrow a free book. I wish they were

open because it is a really hot day

today. I am definitely struggling out

here without a hat. I wish that I was

wearing a hat. At least I have my

sunglasses. But it is about 90 degrees

today. Yeah, I need to wrap up this

video uh before I get sunburned for sure

or get heat stroke or something like

that. Here are some of the books that

are on display in the window here. Um

I've actually heard of some of these

books. this book on the bottom here um

with the pink title. It

translates to open veins of Latin

America. I actually read that book when

I was in college. Basically is a history

of colonialism in Latin America. There's

another book down here called City of

Quartz by Mike Davis. And this is um

about the history of Los Angeles and how

it was developed. This book up here,

Octavia's Brood, um, I actually have not

read yet, but I do own it. It's in my

personal collection at home, and it's a

collection of science fiction stories.

And there's also a really cool piece of

art here that's um, a skeleton dressed

in deos muertos, or Day of the Dead

decorations.

And over here there's just a bunch of

posters and information about different

events that are happening both here at

the at the library and in other places.

For example, there's this reading group

on Mexican philosophy and culture that

sounds super interesting. So, you can

tell that the folks in this neighborhood

really value and appreciate their

heritage and they try to stay connected

to it as much as possible. Now I'm in

front of the cafe and it looks like they

have this sign outside advertising their

slushitos. Slushitos. Perfect for summer.

Our flavors are lemonade, mango, lime,

hibiscus, and they also have a cafe

deoya slushie, which is like a coffee

with cinnamon. I agree with them. I

might have to come in here after the

video and grab myself a slushie myself.

It's the perfect thing to drink when

it's hot outside. There's an example of

one of the mariachis for hire. You can

see the phone number and the

advertisement um is printed on his van.

So you can still see that they really

keep this tradition alive here at

Mariachi Plaza. Another important thing

about Mariachi Plaza is that it's

actually a metro stop. We have a public

transportation system in Los Angeles.

It's not the best. It is definitely not

world class. Most people here drive

because things are so spread out and a

lot of things are only accessible by

car, but we do have a transit system

that includes buses and an underground

metro. And this is one of those metro

stops. So, this is the entrance to the

metro station. You can see there's like

a cover that actually it's quite nice.

It actually looks like the tail feathers

of a peacock with the jewel toned

colors. So that's kind of like an

overhang that's covering the entrance

via escalators. So you take those

escalators down underground and access

the train. There's also a screen there

that tells you how many minutes away the

next train is. And over here um on the

other side is the elevator, so you can

take the elevator down if you can't take

the escalators. Here is a map of the

entire metro system that we have here in

Los Angeles. And um this information is

outside. If you're planning your

journey, you can take a look at where

this stop is right here on the yellow

line, which is uh line E in this system.

And then you can see how it it connects

to the hub in the middle of the city at

Union Station and some of the other

places in downtown LA. And then from

there, you can you can continue planning

your trip. Here's a free restroom that

Metro provides for their passengers.

that's also outside of the station. On

this poster, you have some information

about the history of Mariachi Plaza and

the neighborhood. And across the street,

you can see that there are a number of

different small businesses. Um, there's

some restaurants, including uh a vegan

restaurant, which has the two

butterflies, like I mentioned.

Interesting. A a house of trophies and

awards. You can get some trophies or

awards made at a shop like this and

they'll engrave the names on it or the

name of your team or whatever it is that

you do. There are some more shops even

further down the street. Um I see a

restaurant. That restaurant is called Casa Fina and I've actually been

there. It is a really great restaurant.

Um I see a sporting goods store, a

beauty salon. Um and this is

interesting. This sign says available

for filming. This is something that you

will see around Los Angeles. You'll see

businesses, sometimes even some outdoor

places that have a sign that says

available for filming. And basically,

they're asking that people from the

entertainment industry, from Hollywood,

they want them to know that they can

book that location if they want to film

something there. And so a lot of things

are filmed, you know, around the world

or around the country for different

reasons, but for certain things, you can

film on location here just in Los

Angeles, not far away from Hollywood. It

can be a good form of basically rental

income if you are the owner of a space

that people might want to use. And

although I don't know any off the top of

my head, I know that various shows and

films have filmed here at Mariachi

Plaza. And finally, behind me, there's

this other area of Mariachi Plaza that's

behind the entrance to the Metro

Station, and it's actually a little

stage. It's like a stage for community

theater that you can see behind me.

There's um some seating. There's some

benches and um some areas in the shade

with some trees for people to um host

community events, cultural events, and

community theater. Thank you so much for

coming with me on this visit to Mariachi

Plaza in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles.

It's nice to be back after so many

years. I have to end this video now

because I am baking in this sun. My

phone is even alerting me that the

temperature is too high. So, uh, I'm

going to stop here. Bye-bye.