{"id":228875,"date":"2025-09-15T14:06:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T14:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/228875\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T14:06:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T14:06:18","slug":"city-council-honors-a-pioneer-of-l-a-s-mexican-cultural-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/228875\/","title":{"rendered":"City Council honors a pioneer of L.A.’s Mexican cultural life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There are certain first names that are also businesses that tap into the Angeleno collective unconsciousness and bring a smile of familiarity even to those who\u2019ve never patronized the place.<\/p>\n

Tommy\u2019s Burgers, especially. Frederick\u2019s of Hollywood. Phillippe the Original. Nate\u2019n Al\u2019s. Lupe\u2019s and Lucy\u2019s.<\/p>\n

And, of course, Leonardo\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The nightclub chain with five spots across Southern California has entertained patrons since 1972. Its cumbia nights, Mexican regional music performances and a general air of puro pinche parri bridged the gap in the cultural life of Latino L.A. between the days of the Million Dollar Theater<\/a> and today\u2019s corrido tumbado stars<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Its namesake, Leonardo Lopez, came to Santa Monica from Mexico in the late 1960s, at age 17, to work as a dishwasher and proceeded to create a cultural empire.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the Los Angeles City Council honored him in a celebration that reflected the joy and diversity \u2014 but especially the resilience \u2014 of Latino LA.<\/p>\n

His family members count at least 40 businesses among them, including restaurants, banquet halls, concert venues, equestrian sports teams, political firms that work Southern California\u2019s corridors of power, and the Pico Rivera Sports Arena, Southern California\u2019s cathedral of Mexican horse culture. They were one of the main forces in the 2023 fight that carved out exemptions for traditional Mexican horse competitions such as charrer\u00eda and escaramuza when the L.A. City Council banned rodeos<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur family is like a pyramid, with every person supporting each other at every level,\u201d said Leonardo\u2019s son, Fernando. \u201cAnd my dad is at the very top.\u201d<\/p>\n

A resplendent celebration<\/p>\n

He and about 40 other relatives went to Friday\u2019s City Council meeting to see their patriarch recognized. They strode through City Hall\u2019s august corridors in charro outfits and Stetsons, berets and hipster glasses, leopard-print blouses and sharp ties \u2014 the diversity of the Mexican American experience in an era where too many people want to demonize them<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Leonardo was the most resplendent of them all, sporting an outfit with his initials embroidered on his sleeves and his back. A silver cross on his billowing red necktie gleamed as much as his smile. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou work and work and work to hope you do something good, and it\u2019s a blessing when others recognize you for it,\u201d Lopez told me in Spanish as we waited in a packed conference room for the council meeting to start. He gestured to everyone. \u201cBut this is the true blessing in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sitting at the head of a long table, Lopez doted on his grandson but also greeted well-wishers like Esbardo Carre\u00f1o. He\u2019s a historian who works for the government of Durango, the state where Lopez was born in 1950.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon Leonardo came with a bigger vision than others,\u201d Carre\u00f1o said in Spanish. \u201cBut he never left his people back home,\u201d noting how Lopez has funded restoration projects in Durango\u2019s eponymous capital, a welcome arch at the entrance to the entrepreneur\u2019s hometown of La Noria and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy t\u00edo and dad and my other t\u00edos made it in L.A. because there was no Plan B,\u201d said Lopez\u2019s nephew, Lalo Lopez. He was shepherding guests toward his uncle while also talking up a fundraiser later that evening at the Sports Arena for L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath. \u201cThat\u2019s a lesson all us kids learned fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spanish-language reporters pulled Don Leonardo into the City Hall press room for an impromptu conference, where he talked about his career and offered child-rearing advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet them busy early,\u201d he joked, \u201cso they don\u2019t have that free time to do bad things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lopez motioned to Fernando and his son Fernando Jr. \u2014 both wearing charro suits \u2014 to join him at the podium.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got them to follow me\u201d to be proud of their Mexican heritage. \u201cToday, it\u2019s the reverse \u2014 now I follow them!\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilmember Monica Rodriguez<\/a> then grabbed Lopez. The meeting was about to start.<\/p>\n

Always the sharpest-dressed member of the council, Rodriguez didn\u2019t disappoint with a taupe-toned tejana that perfectly complemented her gray-streaked hair, black-framed glasses and white outfit.<\/p>\n

Her introduction of Lopez was even better.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis spaces have created a place where we [Latinos] can be authentically who we are,\u201d said Rodriguez, who represents the northeast San Fernando Valley. She praised Lopez\u2019s life\u2019s work as an important balm and corrective \u201cat a time especially when our community is under attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to thank you, Don Leonardo, for being that example of how we can really be the force of resilience and strength in the wake of adversity,\u201d the council member concluded. \u201cIt\u2019s a reminder to everyone who\u2019s feeling down that we will persevere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lopez offered a few words of thanks in English, tipping his sombrero to council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who had previously honored him in 2017 when each council member recognized an immigrant entrepreneur in their district.<\/p>\n

Harris-Dawson returned the respect.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are such angels in this city \u2014 L.A. is not L.A. without the Lopez family,\u201d he said, noting how two Leonardo\u2019s stood in his South L.A. district and \u201cy\u2019all never left\u201d even as other live music venues did. Harris-Dawson told attendees how the Lopez family had long catered jazz festivals and youth sports leagues without ever asking for anything in return.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only time I\u2019ve seen you closed was that weekend of the terrible ICE raids,\u201d Harris-Dawson said. \u201cAnd you all were back the next week ready to go and you had security out. … Thank you all for treating us like family.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lopez clan gathered around their jefe at the podium for one final photo op. Doctors and contractors, retirees and high schoolers: an all-American family and as Angeleno as they come. See ustedes soon at \u2014 where else? \u2014 Leonardo\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s top stories \"Colorado <\/p>\n

Colorado River water flows in the Central Arizona Project aqueduct beside a neighborhood in Phoenix.<\/p>\n

(Kelvin Kuo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

The dwindling Colorado River<\/p>\n