Dia de los Muertos

November 2, 2014

Destination: Olvera Street

Cost: $6.25 plus gas

And so begins the march of the holidays. Now that Halloween is behind us, Thanksgiving will be here in about ten minutes and Christmas in about twenty.

I spent All Hallow’s Eve at the home of friends, greeting costumed kids in a popular West Hills neighborhood and chastising them if they didn’t follow proper protocol. York patties were only handed out after a “trick or treat” request. If a costume was unidentifiable, I grilled the youngsters about their identity. If they came “as themselves,” I suggested they try harder next year. Halloween is not a holiday that celebrates being nice – it’s about witches, right? Someone on facebook suggested a “Frozen” drinking game – in which you take a swig for every Elsa that shows up at the front door. Thank goodness we opted out – I would have been a blithering idiot by 6:15.

On Saturday, I ventured to Olvera Street for Dia de los Muertos. I found free parking on a hill above Chinatown (College Street) and discovered the Main Gateway and New Plaza for the first time. It was fun strolling past small shops along Broadway packed with lucky bamboo, Asian produce and cheap tourist trinkets on my way to the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District. I approached the main plaza by cutting through the courtyard at La Placita church – which was founded exactly 200 years ago.

Not surprisingly, there were throngs of visitors at El Pueblo that day. Aztec dancers were performing just as I arrived, exhibiting great energy as they jumped with ankle rattles to the beat of two drummers. There were also traditional shrines to the departed and a weirdly out of place skateboard demo. Cutting through the narrow merchant-lined alley to Cielito Lindo was an exercise in patience, and it took about a half hour of waiting in line to secure the prize – 3 taquitos with beans for $6.25. Worth the wait, and this allowed ample time to admire the creative skeleton facepaint sported by many festival-goers.

Back at the main plaza, a Peruvian-styled flutist played the Paul Simon song “El Condor Pasa (If I Could)” while homeless men slept in the sunshine on the inset brick benches lining the square. I strolled back to the historic Brunswig building, vowing to visit La Plaza de Cultura y Artes next time. After hiking back uphill to my car, I followed the scenic route through Chavez Ravine and Elysian Park to return to the freeway. It’s always best to celebrate the dead by spending an energetic day among crowds of the living.