YOLANDA CHAVEZ LEYVA
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The Stores of El Segundo Barrio

3/17/2017

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I love shopping in El Segundo Barrio. In the 1980s, I used to buy big bows for my hair. In the 1990s, I used to buy playeras, t-shirts, with Aztec figures on them. As I grow older, I no longer have the need for things. Now, just the experience of walking through the shops with their arcangels and booty mannequins. Looking at the colors and variety of cositas give me joy.

Here are some photos from my recent visit to El Segundo. From its beginning, the barrio was filled with small businesses catering to the Mexican immigrant population. Today, many of the stores are owned by Korean business people who are trilingual.

The majority of goods are made in China, including those that appear to be Mexican-- small bags with the image of Frida Kahlo or those made with fabric that mimics the traditional fabrics of Mexico.

The relationship between Mexico and China is hundreds of years old, going back to the colonial period. The first shipload of Chinese goods arrived in Mexico only fifty years after the Spanish gained control of the New Spain.  In recent years, Mexico has started to import the chile de arbol, once an important product of Mexico, from China.

It was a bittersweet shopping trip, finding bargains while thinking of the workers who are paid so little that I could buy a wallet or a small purse for $1.


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Above:
Esparza Grocery store, turn of the 20th century, S. Stanton and Fifth Street. Courtesy of Digie, El Paso Museum of History.

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1 Comment
Revere Furniture Assembly link
8/25/2022 10:37:56 pm

Hi great readinng your blog

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My father used to tell me about sneaking into this theater to watch movies as a kid in the 1910s. It showed Spanish language films. In the 1940s, it was transformed into a "whites only" theater but that didn't last long. By the 1950s, it was headquarters to the Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers Union, a radical labor organization. Before it closed, it housed the Mine and Mill Bar.
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This message is painted on the east side of the old Mission movie theater.
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The bell tower of Guardian Angel Catholic Church, built in the 1910s to serve the growing Mexican immigrant community in what was then the "east side" of El Paso.
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This pinata shop caught my attention as I was driving west on Alameda Street on my way to work.
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Hawaiian dancer, Alameda Street.
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Unicorn pinata on Alameda Street.
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Proud graduate pinata.
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Love message on the east side exterior wall of the old Mission Theater.

Segundo Barrio
Father Rahm Street
​July 2022

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Looking into Padre Pinto Plaza, Sagrado Corazon Catholic Church.
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Treasures on the window sill.
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La bici
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Tres vatos.
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Esperando el bus.
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Two generations.

 La Virgensita en la frontera
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Woman reflected on la Virgencita, Segundo Barrio, 2021.
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La Virgen de Guadalupe, 12 de diciembre 2017, Centro de Trabajadores Agricolas, El Paso
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Protecting Barrio Duranguito 2019

 Cd Juarez downtown
​December 2017
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Raramuri father and son musicians, downtown Juarez, 2017.
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The smell of copal, downtown Juarez, December 2017.
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Ciudad Juarez limpia, downtown, December 2017.
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Selling at the mercado, downtown Juarez, December 2017
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Telcel payaso, downtown Juarez, December 2017


 La Mariscal, Ciudad Juarez, 2017

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Dos perros, La Mariscal, December 2017
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Mujer con cabello verde, La Mariscal, Juarez, December 2017.
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Beautiful death, La Mariscal, Ciudad Juarez, December 2017.
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Tin Tan, La Mariscal, Ciudad Juarez, December 2017.
 
Montana Vista 2019
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Red high heels in the desert 2019
 El Centro July 2022
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A tree reaches out to Oscar Zeta Acosta (mural by Lxs Dos), El Paso, Texas July 2022
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