La Esperanza Bakery Coffee Cup
date: label: date made
content: 1950s
name: label: maker
content: TEPCO
notes: label: Description
content: This white stoneware coffee cup was manufactured by the Technical Porcelain and Chinaware Company (TEPCO) of El Cerrito, California. It was used at the La Esperanza Bakery in Los Angeles. The bakery’s founder, Ezequiel Moreno, came to Los Angeles in 1916 with his wife, Guadalupe de la Torre and settled in East Los Angeles, California. Trained as a baker in his native state, Zacatecas, Mexico, Moreno began selling Mexican breads and pastries from horse-drawn carts in the surrounding LA neighborhoods of Maravilla, Belvedere, and Boyle Heights before opening storefronts in Downtown Los Angeles and Watts.
label: Description
content: La Esperanza Bakery’s primary location was on the bottom floor of the Plaza House at 507 North Main Street, in downtown LA’s historic old Plaza district. During the week, it catered mostly to the office workers of the nearby Civic Center, serving “American style” lunches and breakfasts. On the weekends, the bakery was a hub for the local Mexican community serving up <i>menudo, huevos rancheros</i>, and other Mexican food specialties. In addition to La Esperanza Bakery, the Plaza district was home to a rich tapestry of businesses run by a multiethnic coalition of Japanese, Mexican, Chinese, and European immigrants. This network of restaurants, bakeries, theaters, and grocery stores became a central location for immigrants to mobilize around movements for rights and justice in the United States and in their homelands.
place: label: place made
content: United States: California, El Cerrito
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Ceramics and Glass
label: See more items in
content: Many Voices, One Nation
label: Exhibition
content: Many Voices, One Nation
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Elvira P. Moreno
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2015.0016.02B
label: catalog number
content: 2015.0016.02B
label: accession number
content: 2015.0016
objectType: label: Object Name
content: cup, coffee
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: stoneware (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 1/2 in x 4 3/8 in x 3 1/2 in; 6.35 cm x 11.1125 cm x 8.89 cm