Mariachi Plaza

Mariachi Plaza. . , The Cummings Block , The distinctive building at the corner of First Street and Boyle Avenue is the Cummings Block. The Queen Anne - Italianate structure was developed by George Cummings in 1889. His wife, María del Scaramento (Sacramenta), was the granddaughter of Estévan López, and she had grown up on that same land. Renowned architect W.R. Norton designed the building, which housed the Cummings Hotel and served tourists and businessmen attracted to the growing community on the Eastside. Its construction was timed with the opening of the Los Angeles Cable Railway, which came from downtown and ran right past the new building. , The López family owned large tracts of land in Paredón Blanco, with 170 acres being given to Estévan López by his father, Claudio López, who was majordomo of the San Gabriel Mission and mayor of Los Angeles (1826). The López family line traces back to the Pobladores , the eleven families (22 adults and 22 children) officially selected to settle the pueblo of Los Angeles in 1781. These founding families were an ethnically diverse group that included people of African, Mexican, and Spanish descent. , In the years that followed, the Cummings Block was neglected and fell into disrepair. It became a popular residential hotel for mariachis who gathered across the street to socialize and find customers to play for. By the 1980s, it was operating as the Boyle Hotel , but to all of the locals, it was known better as the "Mariachi Hotel." , The Boyle Hotel-Cummings Block was designated a Los Angeles Cultural-Historical Monument in 2007. The building, which had just been purchased by the East LA Community Corporation (ELACC), underwent a $24-million renovation over the next five years and reopened in 2012 with many of the original architectural features restored , bringing the iconic hotel back to its original glory. , Plaza del Mariachi , Boyle Heights has a rich heritage of mariachi music. Even before the construction of the current Mariachi Plaza, the area across the street from the Cummings Hotel served as an informal plaza where mariachis have long gathered (as early as the 1930s) to make themselves available for hire. , Mariachi music originates from the Mexican state of Jalisco and is especially associated with its bustling capital, Guadalajara. Plaza del Mariachi de Los Angeles was established in 1992 as the cornerstone of the area's redevelopment by Metro. In 1998, the government of Jalisco funded the addition of a traditional Cantera stone kiosk, designed, hand-carved, and assembled by Juan Pablo Salas, a renowned stone artisan from Guadalajara. In 2001, seventeen wrought iron benches were also donated and added, representing towns of Jalisco. , Adjacent to the kiosk stands a statue of Mexico City-born singer, Lucha Reyes, installed in 2009. Reyes was popular in the 1930s and 1940s and is sometimes referred to as both "the mother of ranchera music" and "the queen of mariachi music." In 1920, Reyes briefly lived in Los Angeles to study singing but returned to Mexico in 1924. She popularized the song "Guadalajara," which is regarded by many as Mexico's unofficial second national anthem. , Many longstanding businesses exist in the neighborhood, many near the plaza, to serve and support local musicians. La Casa del Mariachi has been custom designing and tailoring elaborately embroidered "trajes charros" since 2002, and El Charrito has also been creating hand-crafted apparel for over 20 years. Music stores like La Casa del Músico (1979) and Candelas Guitars (1947) have long catered to the neighborhood's mariachis and other musicians. , Juan Solis Murals , Gracing the west end of Mariachi Plaza is the colorful two-panel mural, titled "El Corrido de Ricardo Valdez," painted in 1994 by artist Juan Solis. Solis began painting at the age of 12 and later spent eight years at the Academia de Arte Yepes of East Los Angeles. The school was founded in 1992 by renowned painter and muralist, George Yepes, as the first free mural academy for young artists. The plaza murals were Solis' first large commission. Two more murals followed: "La Virgen de Guadalupe" and "Castellanos."