Original subtitles

♪

♪ I took a walk through this ♪

♪ Beautiful world

♪ Felt the cool rain on my shoulder ♪

♪ Found something good in this ♪

♪ Beautiful world

♪ I felt the rain getting colder ♪

♪ La, la

♪ Sha la, la, la, la

♪ Sha la, la, la, la

♪ Sha la, la, la

♪ Sha la, la, la, la

♪ Sha la, la, la, la, la

♪

Los Angeles, maybe the most filmed,

most televised, most looked at place on Earth.

It's the landscape of our collective dreams.

36 hours of steady rainfall have left many...

But what if we look at LA from the point of view

of the largely unphotographed...

The 47% of Angelinos who don't show up

so much on idiot sitcoms and superhero films,

the people doing much,

if not most, of the hard work

of getting things done in this town.

♪

One in ten Angelinos are undocumented.

One in ten.

Think about that number for a while.

That's who's here now.

Contemplate, if you will,

what would happen if anywhere near 10%

of the workforce were no longer here,

particularly since they're rather

over represented in those fields

that most of us are in no hurry to enter.

♪

Los Angeles, like much of California,

used to be part of Mexico.

Now, Mexico, or a whole lot of Mexicans,

are a vital part of us.

Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda is a processor

of Chicano studies at UCLA.

Gish Bac on Washington Boulevard serves specialties

from the city of Tlacolula de

Matamoros in Oaxaca, Mexico.

So, bro, you know about so Tlacolula, right?

I mean... The market, isn't it?

Tlacolula is this village, okay,

in the middle of a valley,

the oldest valley where agriculture was invented

in the word.

These people who live here

lived there for about 10,000 years,

so there's archeological evidence

of the seeds actually being manipulated...

- All the way back that far. - All the way back then.

And that's where the core of the moles

that we're gonna eat tonight are from.

Mole negro, or black mole is an incredibly old

and sophisticated, near-magical substance

containing over 30 different ingredients.

It's an old sauce from an old culture

used as either a base to build a stew,

or as a sauce to be poured over meat,

but unlike most sauces,

the point of mole is the mole itself.

The flavor is unique:

roasted, sweet, bitter, and spicy,

all at the same time, and deep.

Very, very deep.

Maria Ramos is the owner and chef.

The third generation of a family

of barbacoa specialists,

barbacoa being the barbequing of lamb and goat

until it's falling apart perfect.

She started out cooking at age

ten at the Sunday market in Tlacolula.

This family goes back a number of generations

to that area, yes?

Exactly, and they got here

because they were migrant workers

in the fields of LA,

and that's where they started working in the restaurants.

This show will air long after the election.

There is actually a national conversation now,

unthinkable in my lifetime,

where the notion of rounding up

however many millions of undocumented workers

in this country,

all at once, or in short order,

and then kicking them all out.

I mean, it seems unthinkable.

- It, it... - But, I mean, you know,

they said that in Europe in the '30s.

Right, right, no, I think from just a military,

logistical point of view,

there's no way you're gonna move the people

out of California and out of Los Angeles.

I mean, they tried that in 1954, Operation Wetback,

mostly from the fields moving a million people out, right?

- And they did. - Yes.

- And what happened? - Well, first of all,

a huge amount of U.S. citizens were picked up one day

and never came home, and families were torn apart,

and then the most ironic thing about it

and the most tragic thing

is the next couple of years they said,

"Well, you know what, we have to open the borders again

"to bring them all back," right?

- Mm-hmm. - The problem was we never

stopped wanting the workers.

California's the number one agricultural state,

and approximately about 70%

of the labor force is undocumented.

Stuff would rot in the fields,

to start with. Yeah, right.

Number one, who'd grow it and bring it here?

Who'd grow it, picking it, packing it,

to a great extent processing it,

cooking it and serving it?

And serving it. Cleaning up after you.

Cleaning up after it.

I mean, there would not only be no restaurant business,

but there would be the worst economic crisis

in the history of California and the United States.

♪

Estevan Oriol is a respected

and highly sought after photographer

and director, known for his street portraits.

He started his career as a night club bouncer,

pivoting nicely to tour manager for Cypress

Hill and House of Pain,

taking beautiful photographs along the way.

Now, nearly 20 years later,

he's famous for capturing perfectly both the glamour

and grit of his hometown, Los Angeles.

Mister Cartoon is a very famous tattoo artist and designer.

Cartoon began airbrushing T-shirts

and lowriders before adopting

and excelling at the legendary fine-line style tattoo art.

His work is sought after by the biggest names

in the music industry and well,

anyone who loves truly superb skin art.

♪

La Reyna on East 7th

is a late-night thing down the street

from where Cartoon and Estevan used to live.

Run by Abigail and her team, the place serves mulitas.

Not quite a taco. Not a quesadilla.

More of a taco sandwich.

First the tortilla on the grill,

then marinated meat, cheese,

then another tortilla, flip and serve.

La Reyna is located in the downtown arts district,

but it's right across the bridge

from Boyle Heights, a working class,

densely packed neighborhood of about 100,000 residents.

Nearly 95% are Mexican or Central American.

How Mexican is LA? I mean, how deep does it go?

Mostly Mexico, you know what I mean?

Yeah.

All the names. All the people.

I mean, it's... and you can go into certain in East LA

in the harbor area, the Hollywood area,

and see nothing but Latinos.

A lot of other areas in LA are... they're mixed, you know,

but on this side where we're at,

you go over that bridge,

it's pretty much all Mexican people.

And LA's mixed with Salvadorian,

Guatemalan people, Central America too.

So they just get called Mexicans anyways.

You know, like, we're Chicanos, so, you know,

we know we're from here.

We know we were born here on this side of the line.

Our family relatives are from Mexico,

and we're proud of that,

and we celebrate it our style.

We live in unbelievable times right now.

People are talking about, you know,

mass deportations of Mexicans.

What's the problem here?

Where does this fear and loathing come from?

It's just racism is still alive

and kicking in America, you know?

We really don't hear it from people we're around.

We're around artistic, laid-back people, you know?

- Right. - Some idiot said, you know,

he said, "We got to do something about this situation."

"When all these Mexicans come over,

we're gonna have a taco truck on every corner."

And I'm thinking, "Is this a bad thing?"

Where would all these food trucks be, you know?

There was only taco trucks ten years ago.

- It's a prototype for, yeah. - There wasn't

an Asian fusion truck here, this kind of truck,

an Indian food truck or this truck, you know,

Taco truck, I mean, you opened the door.

We kicked the door down, yeah,

White America loves Mexican food, I mean,

probably more than any other food at this point.

- Yeah. - You know...

they sure like cheap Mexican labor

because they can't live without it.

- Right. - Why... why are they

so freaked out about Mexicans?

You know, nobody's talking about building a wall,

you know, across the Canadian border.

Who's gonna help them build the wall?

You got to have some Mexican power to do that.

That's exactly what I thought.

I was at a taco truck in Eagle Rock,

it's one I go to,

and I just overheard the guy's conversation.

He was finishing up his order and the guy goes,

"Oh, bro, my mom told me

"not to eat the cilantro if it's from Mexico

because they're shitting in it to get back at Trump."

And I said, "Well, don't get me wrong.

"I'm all for a good Trump takedown,

"but I'm not sure if they've got that level

of organization going on in a Mexican cilantro field."

"All right, everyone gather round.

"Let's all start brainstorming.

"No idea is a bad idea.

Yes, Crazy Eddie."

"Okay,

"this a little outside the box,

but I say we shit in the [...] cilantro."

All right, thank you very much, everybody.

How Mexican is Mexican?

How Mexican can you be, or should you be,

if you grew up in California

with a Mexican name and of Mexican heritage?

Al Madrigal is a comedian.

Gustavo Arellano is the editor of "OC Weekly."

We discussed such weighty matters

over taquitos at Cielito Lindo on Olvera Street,

which has been serving the kind of stuff

that made Americans fall in love with Mexican food

since the 1930s.

♪

Beans with machaca,

spicy shredded beef, sauce and cheese,

I believe they call these things a burrito.

But what they're known for here is their taquitos.

Rolled up, fried, smothered in avocado sauce,

topped with chile guero,

garlic, tomatillo and cilantro.

Oh, yeah. Oh, man, I'm loving the sauce already.

Oh, this is legendary sauce going back to 1934.

Guacamole, you don't think it's gonna work,

but it absolutely does.

Wow.

Gives it a little spice on the end.

I love it.

You, by your own admission,

you're sort of a sorry excuse for a Mexican.

You... you don't... How's your Spanish?

Not so good. Spanish is horrible.

I mean, I've always been given a hard time about my Spanish.

- Mm-hmm. - And that's okay.

Every Mexican in history has always given shit

to another Mexican about their Spanish.

"You don't know this lingo.

You don't know this pronunciation."

But yeah, you should know Spanish better.

Well, that's what I learned. This has been an age-old thing

where everyone's trying to out Chicano each other,

and I shouldn't feel that bad about it.

Right, what's the expression for a bad Chicano?

- Pocho. - Pocho.

Is there a literal translation there?

Rotting. So if you say "pocho,"

you're basically saying, "You're a rotting Mexican.

"You're completely fake, you've lost all your culture,

therefore you should be hated."

- That's harsh. - I know.

When you hear, like,

about rounding up Mexicans left and right,

sending them all... all off to camps,

and then putting them across the border,

scary, angry?

I actually think it's good.

I think Latinos need this to rally together to excite.

The world needs aliens to land

till it'll actually come together.

Is there anybody who could rally all Mexicans, you know?

- Like a spokesperson, yeah. - No, like a Mexican Reagan.

The last big leader was Cesar Chavez,

and that was, God, what, 25 years ago at this point.

I mean, you have to have almost a messianic figure.

- I have the answer. - Who?

- Danny Trejo. - Oh, Wow.

- Danny Trejo. People love him. - Danny Trejo would be the man.

He would be... that's the guy. I would vote for him.

- Machete. - Machete for president.

- I would totally vote for him. - He's ancient.

He looks good with his shirt off.

Donald Trump can't say that.

Bill Clinton can't say that.

Danny Trejo's still peeling that shirt off.

He's the baddest dude in the history of badass.

Look up "badass" in the dictionary.

It says "Trejo."

♪

"Danny Trejo."

♪

Born in Echo Park in LA,

he spent much of his early life in and out of prison,

including a stay in San Quentin

where he managed to straighten shit out,

join a 12-step program and rethink his life.

He came out of the joint as a drug counselor.

This led directly, if unexpectedly,

to a storied career in film.

Danny Trejo is known and loved for iconic tough guy roles

in such films as "Heat"...

There's cops all over me, man.

They're on me like a cheap suit.

"From Dusk Till Dawn-"

Get out!

And, "Once Upon a Time in Mexico."

But he finally rose to the action hero

leading man status

he always deserved playing Machete...

- This is the boss. - A character who grew out

of a fake trailer from the Robert Rodriquez,

Quentin Tarantino film,

"Grindhouse," which soon became its own awesome

and gore-heavy franchise.

If you haven't seen "Machete," its follow-up "Machete Kills,"

or a soon to be released "Machete in Space,"

it's like missing the "Citizen Kane"

of violent, family friendly fun.

Trejo's Cantina on Cahuenga Boulevard,

because, of course.

Grand opening is still a few days away,

but I thought, since I'm in town,

I'd help advise Danny on the new menu.

Give him the benefits of my tasting notes.

And I've got to be honest, I was thinking,

"How good could it be?

Can Machete run a good restaurant, and why?"

So are we gonna see Trejo's Tacos

all across America at some point?

Oh, that would be awesome. Taco truck on every corner.

- This is delicious. - Awesome.

On the menu tonight, jidori chicken

with chipotle cream sauce,

some charred branzino with summer squash

and sautéed poblano peppers,

and crispy pork tacos with black garlic mole

and some fat sacks of uni,

and lots of healthy greens.

Why healthy? I mean...

Because we have such an obese problem

in the United States, especially Latinos,

so we had to find a way to make it tasty but healthy.

Healthy food can taste good.

Green, healthier, lighter,

locally sourced versions of Mexican street classics

are not exactly what I'd expected,

and I sure as shit ain't making no rude cracks

about vegan tacos.

Not to this man. Though to be fair,

Danny Trejo is, like, the nicest guy in the world.

Here's something I discovered that completely shocked

and surprised me, so I have to ask you.

Are you a Morrissey fan by any chance?

- Morrissey? - Like, from this band,

The Smiths.

Apparently, it's like a British rock band

of the late '80s that is

apparently hugely popular in the Chicano community.

So you have not been touched by this, this...

I'm gonna tell you something right now between me and you.

I listen to no music that came

after the 1968.

I'm, like, the oldies guy. You know what I mean?

So I know your parents were born in Texas.

Yeah.

But can you trace your people back to one area in Mexico?

Monterrey.

My grandmother and grandfather were born in Monterrey.

Did you speak Spanish at home, or...

Yeah, yeah, we spoke, we spoke,

I spoke Spanish until I was about nine, ten, and then,

usually you stop speaking Spanish

when you go to grammar school,

especially in the '50s because they wouldn't let you.

"No, no, you don't speak Spanish," you know?

So you kind of forget. Right.

So then... but then when you start going

to juvenile hall and jail,

you pick it up again so the guards

won't know what you're talking about.

Did you get in a 12-step

while you were still in prison or after?

When I was in prison. That was 1968.

Cinco de Mayo in 1968.

That was where I just kind of like made a vow.

I'm... you know, I'm done, you know?

When you get out, you became a drug counselor.

I dedicated my life to helping other people.

Everything good that has happened

to me has happened as a direct result

of helping someone else, everything.

Well, for example, you were called to a film set

to counsel somebody, and you bump into,

of all the people in the world, Edward Bunker.

- Eddie Bunker. - The sort legendary ex-con

turned writer and,

I guess, screenwriter as well.

I... I knew Eddie in prison, you see.

And so when he saw me, "What are you doing here?"

I said, "I'm working with this kid."

And then he asked me, "Are you still boxing?"

because I held the lightweight

and welterweight champion of every joint I was in.

I said, "I'm training. I still train",

but I don't want to get hit in the face anymore."

And he said,

"We need somebody to train one of the actors how to box."

The movie was the awesome "Runaway Train."

Trejo trained and fought against the actor,

Eric Roberts, who, along with Jon Voight,

earned Academy Award nominations for the film.

For Danny, it was the start of a long and glorious career.

He never looked back.

I'll never forget, Andrei Konchalovsky,

the director, a Russian aristocrat, right, he says,

"You fight Eric in movie.

You be my friend."

Now, if you come out of the penitentiary

and somebody says,

"You be my friend," it's kind of a red flag.

Right.

And then how many films since then, man?

A whole hell of a lot. Oh, yeah, they've got to be

at about 320 or something, you know?

You moved from there to serious bad guys...

- Yeah. - To now action hero franchise.

How do you stay nice in a business basically

full of [...]holes?

Eddie Bunker, the first time when I started getting,

like, a little recognition, he told me something.

He said, "Try to remember"

"that the whole world can think you're a movie star,

but you can't."

And I've watched movie stars, right?

I hate them.

You know, nobody likes them.

And if you, like, if you're, like, on a movie set

and the movie star comes in,

then after he leaves, this is how everybody talks,

"That guy's an ass. I hate that guy.

Man, he's rude." So I don't want to be that guy.

- Right. - You know what I mean?

One if the things I've learned, actually,

making television really early on,

if, like, you show up to, like,

shoot and the people, like,

with the cameras and the crew say,

"Oh, the talent is on set,"

what they really mean is the [...]hole is on set.

You know, when somebody calls me the talent or refers

to me as the talent, it's, like, time to go back

and take a long look in the mirror, right?

♪

♪

They ain't from LA, but from time to time,

you'll find them here,

and when you do, you best play nice.

Gilbert Melendez,

Nick Diaz, and Nate Diaz,

three of the greatest mixed martial artists

to ever fight in an octagon.

Gilbert holds the distinction

of being one of the few MMA fighters

to be ranked number one in the world

in two weight classes.

Nate and his older brother Nick

are both vicious strikers and grapplers,

and about as tough as it gets in a professional setting

or on the street.

Neither particularly likes to fight they say,

but should the situation call for it,

well, let's put it this way, they will.

Nick and Nate grew up in Stockton

and still live there and train there.

Conor McGregor mocked Nate

for teaching kids jujitsu in his hometown.

That was before Nate chased him around the octagon

like a little deer in his last close decision.

In one of the greatest fights in UFC history,

Nate Diaz shocked the world

when, on very short notice,

he stepped in and submitted McGregor

in two rounds.

Nate Diaz.

He lost the second bout by decision,

but there will surely be a third,

and no matter what happens,

Nate Diaz always brings it.

Mariscos Chente on South Centinela.

What did you... what do you eat growing up? Like, what do you-

in your house, when you were little kids,

what kind of food were you eating?

What's lunch?

Macaroni and cheese and hot dogs.

Yeah, man, hot dogs, right.

That was basically, like, Top Ramen.

Every day.

- Yeah. - Hot dogs, mac and cheese?

- Some ghetto juice. - What about you?

You know, rice and beans and some sort of Mexican dish.

Some sort of protein with it and everything, you know.

- Right. - I'm not vegetarian,

but I learned a lot from them though.

I was, like, pretty much vegan for...

For years really. Even as a kid? No.

Like, I stopped eating land animals period.

Like, I was... I'm a vegetarian,

but I've been eating seafood on and off,

but I've been a vegetarian since I was, like,

since I was 18 years old.

I just would be better cutting weight when I would just go

on [inaudible] vegetarian diet.

- Right. - I end up, you know,

nice and light, and then I get stronger.

And then once he started fighting pro too,

I think he kind of started doing the same type of thing.

When you eat in LA, if you're going out for food,

what are you going out for, Asian?

You're going out for Pad Thai food...

Good food's pretty convenient around here, of course.

I go to... I go to Venice Beach.

I go to Café Gratitude, and that's a really good place.

What do you eat there?

It's, like, vegan, vegetarian all the way.

I get off the plane, I go right to In-N-Out Burger.

And the last thing I do while I'm in town

is I stop at In-N-Out Burger.

That stuff is like crack for me.

I got to have it.

Oh, it's so good.

Mariscos Chente serves shrimp.

Lots and lots of shrimp.

The house special, camarones borrachos,

or drunken shrimp,

sautéed in butter and garlic over high heat.

Add cilantro, and crushed peppers,

and finish with tequila.

♪

So when was your first fight, like, in school?

Like, what grade?

- First. - First grade?

- Just kidding. - No.

Yeah, [inaudible] my first fight, right?

One time I was in sixth grade,

and I went down to the baseball field

waiting for foul balls

because when you catch a foul ball you get free soda

or a bag of chips or something.

And I caught the ball, and one of the baseball players was mad

because a littler kid was trying to run up and get it.

Like, "What's up? Why didn't you let him get the ball?"

I'm like, "Shut up. I've been waiting all day for this ball."

You know what I'm saying. I was a little kid.

And he tried to get in a fight with me,

but I'm with these guys and they're all hard core.

And I'm in my head like, "Man, why they gonna make me

fight this guy, because..." in my head, right?

I was, "Man, they're making me fight this guy."

And we're, like, going at it,

and I've never been punched in my face

so many times in my life, right?

I was just a little kid. He used to swing kind of wide

back then. I was all heart.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why you make me fight?

That's mean. Why you make me fight this guy?

Street tacos are a not guilty at all pleasure for me,

something of an obsession, they always make me happy.

But Mexican food has been redefining itself

in significant ways for years,

here and in Mexico.

Across the city, young, extremely talented chefs

are taking Mexican traditions to the next level and beyond.

Maybe the most exciting new frontier of modern cooking.

Chef Ray Garcia, a native Angelino

is one of those pioneers.

Located in the heart of downtown is Broken Spanish,

a higher-end,

higher-priced Mexican restaurant

than most are accustomed to.

Chef Eddie Ruiz and Robin Chopra are childhood friends

who opened the wonderful, but short-lived

Alta California Gastro Pub

Corazon y Miel,

which put them both on the map in LA's burgeoning,

modern Mexican dining scene.

I absolutely believe that the next big thing

is a re-evaluation of Mexican flavors and ingredients,

and a re-evaluation of how much you should pay.

I mean, people love it, but their expectations is,

Mexican food should be cheap,

and the fact is there's always

gonna be new arrivals from Mexico

who are perfectly willing to sell you,

unfortunately or fortunately,

really good Mexican food for very cheap,

but not the kind of deep flavors

that, you know, you find,

or I've found in my travels there.

Well, sometimes in the Mexican world

the only thing that's passed down,

it's not a home, it's not a necklace,

what it is is a recipe passed down

from generation to generation.

It all comes from these rustic dishes that our grandmothers

and grandpas cooked for us.

Do you have any responsibility to preserve

and protect the traditional flavors

and ingredients of Mexico

or do you- or not?

Yeah, of course.

Everything that you see here

in front of you is inspired

by something that we had as a child,

but how do we present that with our training,

and how do we present that with our experience

that's gonna give people value to want to pay more for it?

I think that Los Angeles is kind of a stage

for that next level,

and Chef Ray is doing a really good job of that.

He's presenting stuff like this,

and that's what's gonna elevate people's mind-set

in terms of what you can do with this food.

Chicharrones, skin on pork, cured and salted,

cooked sous vide for 36 hours,

then deep fried and served

with elephant garlic mojo and radish sprouts.

♪

Tamales of slow-cooked lamb neck

with oyster mushrooms and queso Oaxaca.

Camote, an Okinawan sweet potato filled with pork,

the ears, tails and snout,

topped with a drizzle of piloncillo syrup.

I got one more present for you guys here.

A little pre-dessert, Eddie.

I know it's your favorite, Eddie.

It's my favorite.

We have the foie gras rebanada here.

So it's sort of like a pre-dessert.

It's my take on a very traditional

and simple Mexican pan dulce.

Which is, like, a brioche with butter

and sugar is just the basic pan dulce.

So this here, we have foie gras in our butter,

we kind of up the ante a little bit,

and then some piloncillo.

Sweet. Thank you.

Man, I am loving... I am loving this meal.

- Thank you. - I mean, big-time.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

This is the most nostalgic dish

I've ever had at a restaurant in Los Angeles.

In Mexican panaderías, this is called rebanada.

- Wow. - Nothing says my childhood

like this dish right here.

I've worked in French and Italian restaurants

my whole career.

Right.

But, I mean, really, if I think about it,

they're Mexican restaurants and Ecuadorian restaurants

because the majority of the cooks

and the people working with me were from those countries.

That's who, you know, picked me up when I fell down,

who showed me what to do when I walked in

and didn't know anything, and nobody knew my name.

Right, it's just the way our culture is.

We're so family oriented that that's what matters to us.

At the same time I feel like our job as chefs

is to bring in our unique,

Latin American experience to dining,

family, tradition, food, culture,

and LA's the heart of that right now.

It really is.

And hopefully that resonates

throughout the rest of the country.

Gang violence has been part of LA's story

for the better part of a century now.

Also part of the story,

police corruption and brutality.

Former police officer Alex Salazar was a bad cop.

By his own admission, very bad.

Like a lot of once good police,

the streets changed him.

He saw a lot of ugliness,

the lines became blurred,

the job ground him down,

and he crossed the line... repeatedly.

To quote Nietzsche,

"Those who chase monsters need to be careful

that they don't become monsters."

I thought I was gonna arrest the bad guys.

I never thought I would become a bad guy myself.

- Did you become a bad guy? - Oh, I did, yes.

- How bad? - I became very aggressive,

beating people, losing control,

and using excessive force

when there really wasn't any need for me to do that.

I mean, I worked the most infamous police station

ever known. It was called Rampart.

Won best picture for Denzel Washington

for his betrayal of this really bad police officer.

I'm the police.

I run shit here. You just live here.

Was that an understatement?

Were there cops that bad?

Yes, there were, yes, there were.

I was one of them.

The problem was very systemic.

We don't have so much that problem anymore.

It does happen. Is it not the nature of

the job when you're asked to every day go in

and look at people

at their most desperate and ugly

that you become desensitized

and maybe even turn into a monster?

Just think about it.

Every day they're looking at the worst of society,

and maybe they have a partner that gets killed or shot.

It's all very overwhelming.

Many turn to alcohol and drugs to medicate.

And I'm not trying to be an apologist for the police,

because, you know, they do need to be held accountable,

but, you know, we need to help them, we really do,

because they are out there,

and they're the ones that are gonna show up at your home.

Mexican American, living in East LA,

and a victim of a crime,

you calling on the police

expecting a sympathetic response?

I mean, generally speaking, what do you think the...

I think most police officers show up

being ready to help out.

They certainly have to do their job, take a report.

But, I mean, what do you think the victim thinks

when they place a phone call?

Do you think they have high hopes that,

"I believe, like, my call is gonna be handled

"with the same fervor

as somebody calling from Beverly Hills?"

Well, there are good officers that come in, and they do help.

There's also many who lose that empathetic feeling

of looking at someone with brown skin

or very dark skin and they say,

"Well, you know, why am I helping out this person?

This is a stupid Mexican,"

and I saw that being projected upon these people

who all they wanted was help.

♪

Elisa Sol Garcia grew up in Boyle Heights

and is no stranger to the challenges

facing the Latino community.

The Boyle Heights Running Club

started as a safety in numbers project.

The small group of community members

starting running the bridges of Boyle Heights,

making their presence known,

and simply by being there, by being a presence,

taking their streets back from the gangs

and the criminals who too often

are the default company in a one-company neighborhood.

♪

Tacos Indiana Street Cart on 4th and Clarence Street...

What are you guys having? I'm gonna do a asada.

- You're gonna do a asada? - Yeah.

Frequented by Elisa and fellow Running Club member

Rolli Cruz.

Carne asada, the slow-grilled,

marinated beef classic served

as a burrito with rice and beans,

or simply on a tortilla as a taco.

- Gracias. - Tacos lengua,

beef tongue braised with garlic and onions.

And tacos al pastor,

stacked guajillo chili rubbed pork

shoulder slices with your choice of toppings.

Oh, hell, yeah.

Cheap, yet supremely satisfying, street taco trucks

like this one have served the Latino community

of Boyle Heights for years,

but the neighborhood is changing.

Let's say, it's diversifying.

Well, first come the coffee shops,

a couple of smart, like, hip restaurants,

hipsters arrive, the rents go up.

How do you stop that?

Well, that, what you explained in a nutshell

is what has been going on throughout Los Angeles.

The gentrification of downtown, it's spreading here,

and in a neighborhood like this, gentrification,

not to be dramatic, but the population of families

that are homeless is growing.

Little by little, like, the block is the security.

Whether it's deportation, whether it's gentrification,

you know, it's barely now coming to the forefront,

but for the people that live and work here every day

it's been a reality.

There's a lot of struggles here that,

if you're gonna be a part of the of this community,

like, you have to recognize that struggle.

I think that the reality is that LA

is always changing, right?

So, like, we are in the battle of LA,

and who's gonna win in this has yet to be determined,

but the fight is still gonna go on.

One, two, three...

There has been, since the beginning,

a tradition of Mexican rock

and roll with its own unique sound.

Richie Valens, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs,

Cannibal and the Headhunters, Las Cruzados,

and Question Mark and the Mysterians.

It should come as no surprise

that rockabilly is enjoying a resurgence of sorts

in the Chicano community.

♪ Someone else is always to blame, baby ♪

♪

There is a long and glorious tradition

of Chicano rock, garage,

and punk boiling away under

and over the surface for years,

and egregiously overlooked.

♪

But what is it with the Morrissey thing?

What is it about Morrissey,

the Irish singer via England

who sang melancholic, pathos-filled ballads

that were a backdrop for a million post-breakups

during the '80s that so speaks to the Chicano soul?

♪

I asked musicians and concert promoters

Oscar Agrecho and Albert Gamboa.

Oscar thrives in the rockabilly world,

while Albert is all-things punk.

What's up with the Morrissey thing?

In the Chicano community, like, Morrissey is, like, huge, huge.

It's a matter of the heart.

It's a matter of the heart, man. You've got to admit it.

Why... why of all the bands

in the world did Morrissey

and The Smiths resonate in this community?

It was a convergence of music

and people that did not connect

to what was being said.

He connected with his lyrics,

and I think everything was going so pop

and so mainstream,

and he was the alternative to that.

And I think there is a lyrical element

to his words that resonated with the Latino community.

And people said that his lyrics,

his songs resonated

with traditional mariachi in that sense.

- Right. - And the songs are so much

about finding something beautiful or even funny,

about getting relentlessly [...] over

and having shit go wrong; I mean...

I think Morrissey really speaks... you know,

it's so odd, he's this white guy...

About, like, displacement and this longing for, like,

for a mythic home

because when I go to Mexico,

I'm like a sore thumb there, you know?

My Spanish is horrible,

the way I dress, the way I talk,

but there's just something about it.

Like, Morrissey really articulates that experience.

He himself is an immigrant.

He is Irish.

You know, he feels displaced.

♪ Irish blood, English heart

♪ This I'm made of

This is the thing about being a Mexican in the States.

You're never white enough for this country,

and you're never brown enough for Mexico.

It is a big issue about that pocho and all that,

but I know that we are...

Californians inherently,

and I am Los Angeles.

♪ I've been dreaming of a time when ♪

♪ To be English is not to be baneful ♪

♪ To be standing by the flag not feeling shameful ♪

♪ Racist or partial

♪ Forever

♪