Ride, walk, play; CicLAvia is this Sunday!

Take advantage—10 miles of streets will once again close to car traffic for CicLAvia on Sunday! This time, enjoy a slightly different route with new extensions and five new hubs, including Mariachi Plaza and Soto Station. That’s right, this time it’s for real, no misprints like April.

So if you haven’t already taken note: the route will no longer travel to Hollenbeck Park–it’s 1st Street getting most of the action in Boyle Heights.

I haven’t missed a CicLAvia yet, but I may just have to this time. At 39 weeks pregnant, there’s a possibility I’ll pop this baby out before Sunday. For safety reasons, I will leave my two wheels at home, trek my way down Soto and 1st to Mariachi Plaza, and see how far I can go. Although there’s a group organizing WalkLAvia, a two-hour walk ending at Exposition Park, I plan to stay mostly on the Eastside. So join me if you wish, and let’s see if CicLAvia is as cool (and safe) as they say it can be on two feet.

I’m hoping the little one stays in the oven through this, otherwise headlines might read: “Mother gives birth at CicLAvia”

Check out the map:

More on Los Mariachis

In my many files of video, photos, and audio, I have a number of interviews with mariachis. Of course, it’s obvious that trying to capture the essence of Boyle Heights I would do a story on the Mariachi Plaza musicians–their instruments, their charro suits, and now, their change of landscape–it’s all right there, in one corner. Truth is, I wanted to do something different than the stories we’ve seen, read or heard…there’s so much behind this culture I’d like to explore! So, I’ll keep at it.

In the meanwhile, Southern California Public Radio put on an interactive multimedia page on Boyle Heights with a video featuring the life and legacy of mariachis. Filmed and edited by Grant Slater with some interviews by Leslie Berenstein-Rojas.

The New Boyle Hotel

This week, construction began for the renovation of the historic Boyle Hotel-Cummings Block located in front of the Mariachi Plaza. This particularly excites me because for many years, the corner where the Boyle Hotel stands was my daily companion- my school bus stop. A lot has changed since my high school years, especially on the corner of 1st and Boyle, but I’m happy to see that this project, led by The East Los Angeles Community Corporation, will be preserving the historical structure and will continue to provide a hub for the community’s mariachis.

Chiquita pero picosa!

The Mariachi Plaza was decorated with mariachis in their charro suits at the Santa Cecilia Festival on Tuesday. But Carla Cisneros stood out on stage, not only because of her young age, 14, but because she was the only female in her mariachi group. I caught her right after she performed- still nervously laughing. It’s nice to see young women thrive in the male-dominated world of mariachis.