Mariachi PlazaBoyle Avenue and 1st StreetLos Angeles, CA

Sarah Fisher & Linley GreenLA 5261: Graduate Landscape History I

September 6, 2018

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Boyle Hotel

Points of Interest1. KioscoDonated by the state of Jalisco, Mexico, for the initial rede-velopment plan. Designed and hand-carved in Guadalajara by artist Juan Pablo Salas Renovato.2. Statue of Lucha ReyesDepiction of the iconic Mexican singer and “Reina del Mariachi” dedicated in 2009. Nearby Bailey Street was also dedicated to the singer in 2013.3. Gold Line Station EntranceDesigned by Barrio Planners, including CPP alum and Boyle Heights native Frank Villalobos. Main staircase is over-looked by statue “El Nino Perdido” by Alejandro de la Loza, also a native of Boyle Heights.4. BandstandThe serpentine sidewalk pattern leads plaza visitors from the kiosco to this more contemporary performance area east of the Metro station entrance. The kiosco in Mariachi Plaza. Personal photo.

Bench from a plaza in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The benches in Mariachi Plaza are similar in style. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

History• The intersection of Boyle Avenue and 1st

Street has been used as a meeting place for mariachi since the 1930s. For over 80 years, musicians have gathered there to play music and market their talents to anyone in need of a mariachi band for hire. Before the formalization of the plaza, they would gather in the parking lot of Olympic Donuts Shop.

• Plans to redevelop the triangular area began in 1992. The City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department hoped that the redesign, which would include an extension of the Metro Red Line, would preserve the local mariachi tradition and revitalize the area, which had seen an increase in crime in the early 1990s.

• Local politicians solicited the state of Jalis-co in Mexico to donate a traditional kiosco for the plaza. The project broke ground in November of 1993 but stalled shortly after when development of the Red Line was halted.

• Eventually the plans for the plaza were re-vived by the extension of the Eastside Gold Line, which would include a stop at Mari-achi Plaza. The project moved ahead and the plaza was officially dedicated in 1998. The Gold Line extension was completed in 2009.

La Plaza de Garibaldi, Mexico City. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Design• The original design for the plaza was influenced by

La Plaza de Garibaldi in central Mexico City, which has also been a mecca for mariachis since the 1920s.

• The stone and wrought iron kiosco was custom made for the plaza in a traditional style and an-tique-looking benches and light fixtures were included. These elements link the plaza and the tradition of mariachi music to their cultural origins and other plazas throughout the southwest and Mexico.

• The Gold Line Station design added more con-temporary elements, such a bandstand with a swooping overhang and brightly colored stained glass panels, while still including the elements of a traditional plaza.

• Multiple community meetings were held with local residents by the designers when the Gold Line Extension began. Many people from Boyle Heights were involved in the design.

• The Metro has plans to continue transit oriented development in the area surrounding Mariachi Plaza, but how these plans will actually serve the community remains to be seen.

Sources and Helpful Resources• “Looking for the Rasquache at Mariachi Plaza in Boyle

Heights” by James Rojas (KCET.org)• Barrio Planners Incorporated’s website (barrioplanners.

com)• The L.A. Times (1989 - present)• LA Metro’s website (metro.net)• The Los Angeles Plaza: Sacred and Contested Space by

William David Estrada