page_title: Mariachi Plaza
hierarchical_section_title: Mariachi Plaza
caption_attribution_description: Boyle Heights, where the Mexican influence of East Los Angeles continues to predominate, though there is a bit of Japanese presence from Little Tokyo across the Los Angeles River. Two underground Metro Gold Line stations, Soto and Mariachi Plaza, serve the neighborhood. Here at Mariachi Plaza, it's all Mexican. In fact, there are several mariachi bands from Michoacan, Mexico, who are available for hire, as seen here. The statue commemorates Lucha Reyes (1906-1944), a Mexican singer who was best known for singing the Ranchera Song.
context_page_description: Mariachi Plaza is located in the Boyle Heights district of the city of Los Angeles, east of downtown. Since the 1930s, mariachi musicians have gathered in hopes of being hired by visitors who are looking for a full band, trio or solo singer. The plaza resembles Mexico's famed Plaza Garibaldi in both form and function. This plaza is also an historic gateway to the neighborhood.
  Day or night, musicians wait around the plaza and hotel - now an affordable living complex - across the street to be hired. Local leaders hope to promote the plaza and for it to remain a sanctuary for musicians. There is a small kiosk located in the plaza, similar to those found in Mexico, donated in 1998 by the Mexican State of Jalisco, the birthplace of mariachi music. A bandstand was added in 2009.
  The plaza is bounded by E. 1st Street to the south, N. Boyle Avenue to the west, and a small residential street named Pleasant Avenue to its north. The Kiosk is ornamental and has been criticised for its poor acoustics. Lucha Reyes has a statue in the plaza as she visited the city many times during her career.
context_section_description: Mariachi Plaza is located in the Boyle Heights district of the city of Los Angeles, east of downtown. Since the 1930s, mariachi musicians have gathered in hopes of being hired by visitors who are looking for a full band, trio or solo singer. The plaza resembles Mexico's famed Plaza Garibaldi in both form and function. This plaza is also an historic gateway to the neighborhood.
  Day or night, musicians wait around the plaza and hotel - now an affordable living complex - across the street to be hired. Local leaders hope to promote the plaza and for it to remain a sanctuary for musicians. There is a small kiosk located in the plaza, similar to those found in Mexico, donated in 1998 by the Mexican State of Jalisco, the birthplace of mariachi music. A bandstand was added in 2009.
  The plaza is bounded by E. 1st Street to the south, N. Boyle Avenue to the west, and a small residential street named Pleasant Avenue to its north. The Kiosk is ornamental and has been criticised for its poor acoustics. Lucha Reyes has a statue in the plaza as she visited the city many times during her career.
caption: Mariachi bands, who are available for hire, wait at the plaza
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D5000", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 9.0 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2011:01:29 19:30:11", "Image ExifOffset": "228", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1006", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6336", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "11", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Unknown", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:01:29 15:44:57", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:01:29 15:44:57", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1120723/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "6918863/1000000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "43/10", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "56/25", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "28", "EXIF SubSecTime": "50", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "50", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "50", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "664", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 2, 0, 1]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "42", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "3517011", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[18, 55, 7/2, 28/5]", "EXIF LensModel": "18.0-55.0 mm f/3.5-5.6"}