In the fast growing city that was Los Angeles in the 1960's, both the Echo Park neighborhood and Olvera Street were havens for me: places where one could retreat from what I must have known on a subconscious level, were the homogenizing effects of modern development. Echo Park, where I grew up and a stone's throw from downtown, is a tangle of streets and green hills. As a kid, I would walk up and down
through hills, feeling as if I were on an adventure away from the city. And then, there was Olvera Street: a series of quaint, Mexican shops. The color of the place, set down...more
