Source: Next City —
At Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights, just east of downtown Los Angeles, mariachi bands play all day and into the night. Visitors still come to listen and hire them for weddings, quinceañeras, and other family or community events.
Some of the mariachis still live right across the street, where the East LA Community Corporation converted the historic Boyle Hotel into affordable rental housing more than a decade ago.
Born in Boyle Heights, Fanny Guzman Ortiz is no mariachi, but she still vividly remembers moving into her apartment at the former Boyle Hotel. After two years of living without their own home, her kids immediately laid down on the floor and didn’t want to leave, even though Guzman Ortiz needed them to go out with her to buy some furniture.
