Have you ever been to a section of a place or city that happens to be dominated by a specific ethnicity? And have you ever thought about how that specific ethnicity began to inhabit and dominate that area? As the United States has become a very diverse country, one of the most diverse state and city in the United States has to be Los Angeles, California. Mainly due to the different districts that hold specific people of diverse backgrounds. Accordingly, the Los Angeles area is becoming notorious of holding a majority of Latino migrants. Due to the Latino migration, the area has a majority of Latino specialty supermarkets, Spanish speaking financial businesses, and Spanish translated billboards. Even in Los Angeles there is a misconception that the Latino population only consists of Mexican migrants, when in reality there are a majority of Central Americans that inhabit the area, such as Salvadorans, Nicaraguans, and Guatemalans. Unknowingly, Guatemalans are the third largest Latino group inhabiting the Los Angeles area, specifically, the Westlake-Pico Union area of downtown Los Angeles. The Guatemalans are an underrated group in the Los Angeles area, since not much is known about this ethnic group. As the Los Angeles Pico union area holds diverse Latino cultures, the Guatemalan community is becoming a prominent group in the area, by thusly influencing the commercial space and living environment that makes this Los Angeles area recognizable.
In the late 1970s into the early 1980s, a massive influx of Guatemalans began to appear in the Los Angeles area, estranged to the new environment, these people began to scatter and adapt to the new urban life. The majority of the migrating Guatemalans had firstly stopped in Mexico after escaping Guatemala due to the political oppression and fear. These people settled in the lower part of Mexico, mainly Chiapas, but after Mexico’s economic crisis in 1982, many of the Guatemalans decided to migrate further north (Hamilton, Chinchilla, 33). Thusly, the Guatemalans respectively migrated into the southern states of the US, such as Texas and California; the majority migrated into Southern California. As newcomers, the Guatemalan migrants stumbled upon the Los Angeles area and inhabited different parts, such as Westlake-Pico-Union, Korea-town, Echo Park, and Hollywood (Hamilton, Chinchilla). These Guatemalan immigrants were diverse within themselves, thus including many indigenous groups from Guatemala such as the Mayan Chujes, Quichés, and Kanjobals (Hong). Acknowledging the facts, the majority of the Guatemalan migrants, including Kanjobal Indians, were attracted to the Westlake/Pico union area. Indifferently, these Guatemalan migrants were accustomed to their rural habitat in the highlands, and not only had to adapt to the new urban space, but also to the demographics of the Westlake/Pico-union area. In the adaptation to the urban space, many of the Guatemalans had not used electricity or cars before, and women who were accustomed to hand washing their clothes in rivers used Laundromats (Hong). Both Guatemalan men and women encountered unfamiliar appliances such as refrigerators and strange products like hot dogs and commercial cleaning agents in the supermarkets (Hong). “Many [Guatemalans] went to Westlake, a traditional immigrant entry area directly west of downtown Los Angeles, where those romantic visions of ‘El Norte’ confronted the gritty reality of deteriorating housing and increase crime and delinquency” (Hamilton, Stoltz). Analyzing their new environment in the 1980s, the Guatemalan migrants felt lost within this space, since they knew that the Mexican culture and people heavily influenced the area. Some, but not all of the Guatemalan migrants began to assimilate with the Mexican culture, as to fit in and also avoid getting deported. The Guatemalan assimilation to the Mexican culture was mainly associated with finding housing and employment with ease in the Westlake/Pico-union area.
As the Guatemalans began to inhabit the Los Angeles County, specifically the Pico union area, they began the search for employment, but became a tedious task since the area was predominantly Mexican. In the 1980s, when the Guatemalans settled in the Westlake-Pico-union area, they were introduced to a rundown, poor, Mexican dominated region. Even though it was not a very nice environment to live in, it was convenient, since apartment rents were cheap and there was job opportunity in a Spanish speaking oriented area (Hamilton, Stoltz). In the means of jobs, many of the migrating Guatemalans, including indigenous groups tried to pass as Mexican migrants, since the Los Angeles area was familiar to Mexicans and knew that these people worked hard, even though the pay was mediocre. In the mid-1980s, the Guatemalan migrants, both men and women began to find any means of employment, many became cooks, janitors, hotel maids, street vendors, and garment workers (Hamilton, Stoltz, 70). Since the garment district in downtown Los Angeles was near the Westlake-Pico Union area, many of the Guatemalan Kanjobal indigenous men and women dominated the apparel factories, and worked long hours for low pay. It was their reality in this impoverished area, and also because they weren’t U.S. citizens, so as long as they could pay for their own and their families’ necessities it didn’t matter. As for housing, the Guatemalan migrants rented single bedroom apartments that held about two to three families, and usually paid a total sum of five hundred dollars for a month’s rent, and pitched in for food and basic utilities as well. The apartments were pretty spacious in the Westlake-Pico union area, since in the early 20th century, the now rundown apartments were offices and mansions (Hamilton, Stoltz, 61). It does not cover the fact that the Guatemalan migrants living space was uncomfortable and impractical for the families, since these people had to share their living quarters with other families. “Accustomed to a life of struggle in Guatemala, they continued to draw on their cohesive family and kinship networks to cope with the difficulties of living and working in Los Angeles” (Hamilton, Stoltz, 61). Thoroughly, the Guatemalan migrants called the Westlake-Pico union area their home, and were not in a hurry to return home to Guatemala. Prominently, the Guatemalan migrants were being recognized by the surrounding neighborhood, which began to influence local businesses to cater to them.
Transforming the area, the Guatemalan community influenced the surrounding commercial businesses to cater to their personal and gastronomic needs. Since the Westlake-Pico union area caters to the surrounding Mexican population, by setting up specialty Mexican carnicerias, or Delicatessens, Mexican restaurants with a new Tex-Mex fusion, and even special courier services. And the Guatemalans had no place where they can find their own food products, eateries, or even cash and money places to expedite money to their loved ones in Guatemala. This displacement of their own cultural foods led the Guatemalans to become resentful toward the Mexican neighbors and began to complain about not being counted in the area. “As [Guatemalans began] to say Mexicans think they own Los Angeles” (Hamilton, Stoltz, 56), which began the start of local businesses catering to the Guatemalan, and Central American consumers. Such as a plaza named “Lakeview Plaza” that is located in the Westlake-Pico Union area that is on 6th and Alvarado St., which has a market/carniceria that caters now to the Guatemalans/Central American community that sells Guatemalan products. The products consist of traditional additives and spices imported from Guatemala, such as Guatemalan vanilla extract, Guatemalan “nances” a Guatemalan fruit, a whole array of spices and nuts to make specialty dishes as well. “By the early 1980s, Westlake was being transformed by Guatemalan markets…and familiar foods to the growing [Guatemalan] population” (Hamilton, Stoltz, 59). And that was not all, but also the Mexican only expedite services, now changed their view from Mexicans to Guatemalans. Such as expedite service named “Bancomerico” that is located on Alvarado Street and 8th street that specifically sends money to Central America, which became a very great thing to send the remittances in Guatemala. “Express courier services advertised prompt and dependable delivery of mail and packages to designated sites in Guatemala” (Hamilton, Stoltz). Along with these expedite businesses, the local airline agencies began to set up airline companies that flew to Guatemala and Central America, such as “TACA”, which became important to know that there were places to get inexpensive tickets to Guatemala. And not only were there businesses that catered to material necessities, but also there was an established Guatemalan refugee organization in the Westlake-Pico Union area. The organization IXIM or better known as “Integration of Indigenous Mayas”, located in the heart of Westlake-Pico Union area, on Olympic Boulevard and Union Avenue. This organizations help Guatemalans conserve their Mayan-Indigenous groups such as the Kanjobal tribe, and also help the incoming Guatemalans to get in touch with other migrants, and help them get work as well (Integration of Indigenous Mayas). And so this organization began to pave the way to the upcoming Guatemalan businesses and eateries that would open in the area, that catered specifically to the needs of the Guatemalan people.
In the need of traditional cuisine, Guatemalans began to establish privately own eateries and bakeries in the Pico union area, and also, influencing the establishment of a popular Guatemalan food chain. As increasing numbers of Guatemalans in the 1980s inhabited the Westlake-Pico union area, it wasn’t until the late 1990s into the early 2000s that the numbers began to surpass those of the 1980s. “According to the U.S. census, the total Guatemalan population grew from 268,779 in 1990 to 372, 487 in 2000 an increase of almost 39%” (Quiquivix). Analyzing the numbers from this time period, it becomes apparent that the Guatemalans are becoming a stronger presence, which called for a greater demand for Guatemalan eateries. In the area many Guatemalan entrepreneurs wanted to test their luck at opening and maintaining restaurants that would serve traditional Guatemalan dishes that would satisfy Guatemalans, but also bring a bit of their culture for the other ethnicities. Such restaurant that fits the criteria is “El Venado”, translation The Deer, a family style Guatemalan restaurant located on Alvarado Street and Olympic Boulevard that serves a whole array of traditional Guatemalan cuisine. The most memorable and apparently popular Guatemalan dish that this restaurant serves is “Caldo de Gallina,” translation chicken soup, accordingly, this dish has white-breasted chicken, carrots, potatoes, water, cilantro and mint. This locale was a bit bland, the walls were all white, the tables and chairs were a typical chrome style, the waitresses wore an all blue pants and t-shirts, but the main focus was the Guatemalan food, and that should be the most important part. Also, in the Westlake-Pico Union area there is a Guatemalan fried chicken food chain called “Pollo Campero”, that firstly started as a family restaurant in Guatemala, but since many travelling Guatemalans would bring boxes filled with this chicken it caught attention to expand to the Los Angeles area. “[Pollo Campero] was started in 1971 in Guatemala and El Salvador by Dionisio Gutierrez, the patriarch of a Guatemalan agricultural conglomerate. The restaurants soon caught on, not only for chicken that tasted of adobo seasoning and marinade” (Gonzalez). The Pollo Campero chain is typically a commercial restaurant filled with colorful color schemes, greasy chicken, burgers, and fries, appealing to Guatemalans and also to other ethnicities in the area as well. Along with places to eat meals, the Guatemalans are reputable for establishing Guatemalan bakeries in the Los Angeles area, which have different style sweet bread that a person might not be accustomed. Such as “Las Delicias Baking Co.” located in the inner part of Westlake-Pico Union area in West 7th Street and Little Street, a small Guatemalan bakery in the corner. The bakery had bread bins all along the bakery, even though it wasn’t huge there was a wide selection of breads that didn’t resemble Mexican sweet breads at all, such as the “campechanas, ” which is a Danish style bread with a snail shape. And so these locales are only a few to name, but there are a lot more Guatemalan eateries that are visited and loved by many Guatemalans. Accordingly, the Guatemalan eateries are important to the Guatemalan community in Westlake-Pico Union, since it reminds them of their home and their culture and also makes the Guatemalan acculturation dominant in this area as well.
As the Guatemalan community is new amongst the Los Angeles, specifically the Westlake-Pico Union area, the Guatemalan migrants had to adapt to the foreign space, gradually, establishing their Guatemalan cuisine and traditions making them recognizable in the area. Living in a nation under environmental hostility, the Guatemalan people and indigenous groups had to migrate north due to safety. Arriving from a rural space into an urban, busy city, was a challenge, since these people had to adapt to the new living conditions and also to the people in the Westlake-Pico Union area. Increasing in numbers, local businesses in the Westlake-Pico Union area catered to the Guatemalan community by adding imported goods from Guatemala, and also courier services. Trying to bring their Guatemalan cuisine into the area, the Guatemalan entrepreneurs began to establish eateries that brought back meals and sweet breads from their beloved country. As analyzing the Westlake-Pico Union area of downtown Los Angeles, it is becoming well known that the Guatemalan along with their Central American counterparts are adding to the diverse Latino cultures in the Los Angeles area. And as people often mistaken every Latino, as Mexican, it should now be certain that there are other Latinos, such as the Guatemalan community, that are unique and quite different from their mistaken counterparts. As a reminder, next time you go to a new place and find yourself surrounded by a specific ethnicity, do not jump to any conclusions about the people, ask around analyze your surroundings and capture the history that once took place.
Annotated Bibliography
1. Hamilton, Nora, and Norma Stoltz. Chinchilla. Seeking Community in a Global City Guatemalans and Salvadorans in Los Angeles. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 2001. Print.
The authors Nora Hamilton and Norma Stoltz in their book Seeking Community in a Global City: Guatemalans and Salvadorans in Los Angeles, discuss and inform the readers about the migration, settlement, demographic change that the Central American community influence upon the Los Angeles area. They conducted a series of surveys throughout the early 1980s with many Salvadoran and Guatemalan migrants, and asked about their backgrounds before the settlements, and their adaptations to the Los Angeles life. Also, they mention how these Salvadoran and Guatemalan people have created their own voice in the Los Angeles county, mainly, the Westlake-pico union area.
2. Hong, Maria. “Guatemalan Americans.” Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America. Ed. Jeffrey Lehman. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2000. 764-782. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 27 Apr. 2011.
The conducted study is about the acculturation and migration of the Guatemalan community into the United States and the greater Los Angeles Area. The study touches upon history in Guatemala, from the 1800s through the counterinsurgency in the 1980s, informing the readerabout the different oppressions and labor struggles. Then, Hong talks about the Guatemalan immigration into the United States and the different settlement patterns. Also, emphasizing the influence of the Guatemalan community in the Los Angeles Westlake area, but also touches upon the Kajobal indian settlement into the Florida region as well. Thusly, the study also touches upon the Guatemalan labor force in the US, the health services, their religion, their food, and their culture as well.
- Quiquivix, Linda Elizabeth. Guatemalan Transnationalism in Los Angeles. 2006. Print.
The book Guatemalan Transnationalism in Los Angeles, is a Masters thesis written by Graduate student Linda Quiquivix, which is a study done on the Central American, specifically the Salvadoran and Guatemalan inhabitants of the Los Angeles area. The thesis consists of the migration pattern these Central Americans went through, how many came over from Central America into Los Angeles, the growing population of Central Americans in Los Angeles, and the Central American organizations in the area. The thesis also touched upon the remittances the Central American community sent over into their native countries, and also how Los Angeles is the highest population to send remittances to their country.
- Gonzalez, David. “Fried chicken takes flight, happily nesting in U.S.(Guatemalan fried chicken chains expand to California)(International Pages).” New York Times 20 Sept. 2002: A4(N); A4(L). General OneFile. Web. 27 Apr. 2011.
The New York Times article “Fried chicken takes flight, happily nesting in U.S.” talks about the growing popularity of the Guatemalan fried chicken franchise called “Pollo Campero.” The author David Gonzalez reports on the history of the franchise, from its humble beginnings as a family owned restaurant, and its transformation into an international fast-food franchise. The article emphasizes the fact that travelling Guatemalans and Salvadorans from Los Angeles would import this chicken from Central America, catching the attention of major business companies to make the fried chicken franchise transnational. Thoroughly, the article vividly describes the over indulgence of this Guatemalan fried chicken and is explained well with personal experience of this chicken mania.
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