Canto CCCXLIII: Random Cool People I Know — Abelardo de la Peña Jr.

Gentle cabrones:

It takes a lot for me to drive to downtown L.A. from OC on a Friday around 5, the time I usually start to write my cantos.

But OF COURSE I was going to do it for the retirement party of Abelardo de la Peña Jr.

His official position is director of marketing and communication for LA Plaza de Culturas y Artes, the downtown L.A. museum and cultural space that keeps getting better and better every year and for which I have helped on a project to come.

But for the past quarter century, Abelardo has been one of the most helpful, enthusiastic and quietly influential people for Latino cultural life in Los Angeles.

He’s the founder, publisher, and editor of the late, great LatinoLA.com, a pioneering forum for community news, events, and journalism that was one of the first places to publish my writing.

He was a longtime board member — with stints as executive director and board president — of the Mexican Cultural Institute, an important part of L.A.’s culture-space ecosystem.

He is an eternal champion of many great causes, but especially his beloved Wilmas.

An Army vet who served in Vietnam. A compa who has tipped me off to great stories and consistently praises my work — but has never held his tongue when I’ve gone too far, either.

I was one person out of at least 80 people who gathered outside LA Plaza’s entrance on a chilly Friday afternoon to congratulate Abelardo on a career well done. We snacked on ceviche, taquitos, quesadillas and empanadas from the ever-great La Parrilla in Boyle Heights. Abelardo worked the crowd, his long, luxurious gray hair flowing out of the back of his all-black Dodgers hat. Ever-chic in round glasses, a black shirt, checkered dark-blue business jacket, jeans and sneakers.

“I feel great!” the ever-chipper Abelardo told me when I asked the obvious how-are-you-feeling question. DJ Linda Nuves spun neo-oldies, bachata, and other low-key happy jams. “I just signed the paperwork, so it’s now official.”

I thanked him for taking a chance on me so long ago.

“We’ve known each other now what, like 20 years?” he said.

23, but who’s counting?

We had actually talked about his post-retirement plans the week before, when we ran into each other at a media panel hosted by Caló News. He and his wife are going to travel more, more visits with kids and grandkids, but he’s not going to stop helping those who ask him for it.

Thank God for THAT. He is the vital advocate of Latino L.A. that not enough Latinos in LA know about — but this afternoon was meant to rectify that.

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LA Plaza CEO Leticia Rhi Buckley kicked off the short program by noting it had rained just a few hours earlier. “The sky shed a little tear” for Abelardo’s retirement she said, kidding not kidding. She had long admired him before he began to work for LA Plaza in 2017.

“I thought he was so cool, a cool Chicano connecting us,” Rhi Buckley said. “Always willing to tackle it on with that smile.”

Abelardo stood to her side. Behind them was a slide show of him throughout the years, his grin as wide and warm as his heart and soul. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen him down — whether in attendance at a show, setting up tables, managing an event, anything.

Rhi Buckley handed him a proclamation from L.A. Supervisor Hilda Solis and revealed he’s going to do contract work for LA Plaza even in his retirement. Then came the bigger reveal: Abelardo would get free parking there for LYFE. Man, even former CEO John Echeveste doesn’t have that!

John hailed him, along with an army of friends and fans. Playwright Dan Guerrero. Cartoonista Lalo Alcaraz, who presented Abelardo with an intricate portrait and thanked him for hosting his first-ever art show at the Mexican Cultural Institute. “There’s thousands of these stories of him helping, I’m sure,” Lalo remarked, to nods from everyone present.

Artistic types hailed his time at LatinoLA.com, which has long been defunct but did the type of community journalism — a community calendar, essays, original reporting, a sense of belonging and space — that nonprofits are nowadays tripping over themselves to fund to the tune of millions of dollars and that legacy publication just can’t figure out how to do. Abelardo basically did it all by himself, but could never sustain it because the money just wasn’t there because people say they want to support local journalism but rarely ever do because they’re a bunch of fookin’ ingrates.

I digress.

Mark Torres, longtime host of KPFK’s “Travel Tips for Aztlán,” remarked how Abelardo always posted his weekly Top 10 list, which allowed Mark to create buzz for local bands that could then take that distinction to get gigs at local clubs, which led to news stories. A Molinista revealed how the late, legendary Gloria Molina — the person most responsible for making LA Plaza possible — was a huge Abelardo fan for taking them to the next level of promotion.

Comedian Ernie G talked about when he was an absolute unknown, Abelardo promoted his shows. “In the chaos that the Latino culture can be, you’ve always been a strong, calm voice of reason,” Ernie G said, his usually gregarious self on the verge of grateful tears. “Thank you for loving us.”

Looking on was playwright Roberta Martinez, who was there with her husband (both are Alta Baja Market regulars). “Abelardo’s like a surfer who’s always ahead of the wave,” she said with awe.

Abelardo, a great conversationalist in real life but someone who never wants to hype himself up, stayed true to character. He thanked his family, but especially his father, who set for his children the example of always helping your community. Abelardo said he would try to slow down in retirement, but he just can’t stay away.

Thank God for THAT for helping.

We gave Abelardo his final applause, then people approached him for a hug. I bid my goodbye, because I had to leave to write this canto — but I was so glad to attend, and to write this. This was actually the first retirement party I’ve ever been to, but I’m going to attend more in the years to come, insha’Allah.

I’m glad Abelardo got to hear how much he and his work has meant to so many. He’s a hustler’s hustler, that guy you see everywhere but who doesn’t get the headlines because he’s not seeking them. All communities have that person. They’re the ones whom things fall apart the moment they leave (a board member told LA Plaza with peace and love that they now “have a huge hole to fill,” and no one disagreed).

Hail the helpers before they leave.

Abelardo, again: Gracias for all the support you’ve given me over the years, and to so many others. I’m sorry I didn’t come with a gift…but I guess this is it? Still gotta visit your parents, and we HAVE to go play bingo soon.

Oh, and you co-founded the Boys and Girls Club of Harbor City? Just found that out yesterday — man, you’re a mensch!

**

Enough rambling. This was the semana that was:

IMAGE OF THE WEEK: You can’t have a proper Dominican meal without raspberry soda! Somewhere in NYC from a few weeks ago…

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Ultimately literature is nothing but carpentry. Both are very hard work. Writing something is almost as hard as making a table. With both you are working with reality, a material just as hard as wood. Both are full of tricks and techniques. Basically very little magic and a lot of hard work involved." — Gabriel García Márquez

LISTENING: “Te Vas,” Aaron Y Su Grup Ilusión featuring Mariana Seoane. For all the happiness associated with cumbia, it has some LEGENDARY weepers. Like this one, here as my favorite version — plaintive lyrics with forceful horns and a an accordion that moves the song forward. To quote Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, sometimes you gotta dance to keep from crying — and here’s an example and a half.

READING: “On This Day”: I tend to find nonprofit journalism stuffy and too wonky, but a wonderful example is Mississippi Today. They have a good podcast, incredible investigative reporting, original political cartoons — and yet what I love the most is a regular series talking about civil rights, almost all of it tied back to the Magnolia State. Know your history!

BUY MY NEW CO-BOOK! People’s Guide to Orange County tells an alternative history of OC through the scholarship and reporting of myself, Elaine Lewinnek, and Thuy Vo Dang. There’ll be signings all year — in meanwhile, buy your copy TODAY. And, yes: I’ll autograph it!

Gustavo Events  

March 21, 5:30 p.m.: I’ll be in conversation with folks from the Long Beach Public Library Foundation on why libraries have become the culture-war front that they’ve become at the Union Bank Building, 400 W. Oceangate, Long Beach. Tickets are $25, were sold out — but I heard more tickets were released? But it’s a fundraiser, so PAY UP.

April 21: I’m going to be at the L.A. Times Festival of Books at USC— for sure in conversation with author Hector Tobar, but probably more events as well. Attendance is FREE, but you gotta make reservations for at least Hector — details next week!

Gustavo in the News

“The Latino Vote Podcast”: A plug for an installment of my Latino political power in L.A. series.

“Who Killed the California Burrito?”: I get quoted in this story with a false premise.

“L.A. rental prices may be cooling. Here’s what that feels like”: An L.A. Times newsletter you should subscribe to plugs my columna.

“A destination restaurant in the high desert is better than ever”: Another L.A. Times newsletter you should subscribe to plugs my columna.

Gustavo Stories 

“Grítale a Guti”: Latest edition of my Tuesday night IG Live free-for-all.

“How OC changes without Katie Porter in Senate”: My weekly KCRW “Orange County Line” talks about the Irvine congresswoman who lost doubly — and might make OC Dems a loser.

"Disneyland is about to embark on a $2 billion expansion”: My semi-annual appearance on KCRW’s “Press Play.”

“Cal-Mex is having a moment in New York. But how does it taste?”: My latest L.A. Times columna seems me take the L to Williamsburg, then off to Times Square! KEY QUOTE: “Are expat Californians that desperate for home and New Yorkers that interested in the foodways of a state they otherwise dismiss as a cultural backwater?”

You made it this far down? Gracias! Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram while you’re down here by clicking on their logos down below. Don’t forget to forward this newsletter to your compadres y comadres! You can’t get me tacos anymore, but you sure as hell can give them — and more — to the O.C. Catholic Worker!