Amid ICE raids, new Latin District emerges to reconnect LA community

Just before 9 pm on Saturday night at A Toda Madre Cantina, the DJ kicked off a night with everything from popular Mexican rock song “Oye Mi Amor” to Romeo Santos and Don Omar’s “Ella y Yo” to old school reggaeton “Telefono” within the first 10 minutes of the event, followed by remixes and beats to other songs that hold significance to the Latino community. The DJ was stationed in the back corner between two screens that read “Calentón”, as people started to trickle in and dance while others lingered around the bar.

Down the street, La Cita was playing live music by Coko Torres y la Santa Marta, which energized the crowd with cumbia and vallenato before the resident DJs took over with more Spanish songs. A five-minute walk from there, at The Association, people began to show up to grab their drinks and a seat before the venue got crowded; before they knew it, they hit capacity with a line down the building. The crowd swayed their arms, hips, and perrear as they danced in pairs and groups to old school reggaeton, Rauw Alejandro and more. Across the street at Las Perlas, the same was going on.

All this went down on a Friday night in Los Angeles’ new Latin District, which is a coalition of clubs that came together in a concerted effort to reconnect and uplift the community in Los Angeles, especially following the raids and fires the area has experienced in recent months. They are doing so by elevating Latin culture, music and dance, while giving people options of different music and venues within walking distance from each other. 

“The Latin District, honestly, is just to bring support to the community,” said George Trevino, co-founder of the Latin District. “After you know the ICE raids and everything going on right now, it's really important just to bring back the community.”

Trevino said that the idea for the Latin District came about following a trip to Miami earlier this year that he took with the two other co-founders, Kenny Castro Andrade and Vlademir Onofre, where they witnessed the tight-knit nightlife featuring Latino businesses there. 

“Other cities have little Latin Districts, a little strip for bars and stuff like that,” said Sarahi Garcia, who was at The Association Friday night. “Being from South Central, I'm like, why don't we have a strip for us?”

Garcia said that she was excited to learn about the Latin District, because she usually has to go to West Hollywood to bar hop. She said that because LA is very diverse, it's important to have a Latin district to incorporate Spanish music.   

“I feel like it's pretty fun to have that little getaway, especially with the fire and everything we've gone through these past months,” Garcia said. “It's pretty fun to have something to experience.” 

Castro Andrade said that the Latin District is also meant to put the culture on the map, especially as the Olympics head to LA in the coming years. This comes at a time when Latino businesses took a hit during the fires and raids. The Mayan, another popular Latin nightclub, is going to close next month, and the Angel City Brewery is going to close next year.

A Toda Madre Cantina was opened this summer after taking the place of another popular bar that recently closed in the area. Castro Andrade, who also works with The Association, said he wanted to help, so he reached out to the owners of A Toda Madre and told them about the Latin District. The team has been helping them rebuild so the same thing doesn’t happen.

“The event that we were doing downtown was doing really good, but the other places were closing,” Castro Andrade said. “We realized that it would work better if everybody had a full plate to eat, versus just one person eating, and then nobody else was eating.”

Castro Andrade also said that they aim to incorporate more food vendors into the district. Trevino said that one of the perks of working with the Latin District is that they do free promotion for the coalition members to help them grow their business. 

“I know some of them are scared to work right now, and we just want to put money in their pockets, all grow together,” Trevino said.

Poala, who was at The Association that night and asked not to share her last name, said that she has been looking for somewhere to bar hop in Downtown LA, “ because otherwise you're just kind of like going to one bar and then hoping the next place is close.” She said she hopes to see more eloteros and hot dog carts selling outside the venues because they are also the backbone of the city. 

“With everything that's going on right now, like we need a safe space for Latinos to congregate, because, God forbid, 20-year-olds want to have a good time,” Poala said.

 Similarly, Kirsten Roman also wanted to check out the Latin District. She went to Las Perlas to celebrate her mother’s birthday. They got there early, so they were able to enjoy some food and drinks before dancing.

“I feel like, because there's like a district for people like me, Latino people, it enticed me to go, because it's like the music that I want to hear, the people I want to be around, especially going to school in New York, I go to a PWI,” Roman said. “Places like this definitely makes me feel like I'm at home, like I can dance.”

Onofre said that moving forward, he hopes the Latin District will give an opportunity for “the voices that are staying silent at the moment to make themselves heard.” He said that as long as the Latino community makes itself heard, it will succeed.

“I think that that town is united enough to realize that they're not alone, but you still need to voice it so they can hear us a little bit louder, then everybody feels the same energy that everybody else is emanating and then come together as a stronger force in solidarity,” Onofre said.