In L.A.: From a Mariachi 5K to a Mexican Standoff

A historic but largely overlooked square in Los Angeles known as Mariachi Plaza isn’t a big attraction on any of the city’s tourist maps or tourist bus rides.

It is named for the mariachi musicians who traditionally gathered there in their Mexican charro suits looking to be hired to serenade at restaurants, parties or any celebration of the city’s Spanish culture.

But today it is known primarily as a place east of downtown where you can pick up cheap day laborers because they congregate there each morning hoping someone offers them small construction or home improvement jobs.

The small businesses in the area would like to see more prosperity for Mariachi Plaza, especially with the growing pedestrian traffic from a metro station recently built underneath.

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So when a running event promoter offered to organize a mariachi-themed race Sunday, Aug. 24 that would begin and end at Mariachi Plaza – and be called the Mariachi 5K – businesses were thrilled at the prospect of crowds lining the local streets to watch hundreds of runners and the improved image of the area as a happening place.

But who would have known that mariachis guard the plaza named after them with such protectiveness that they would have the plug pulled on the race, alleging that the Mariachi 5K was disrespecting them, their culture and tradition and what they stand for.

Certainly not the race promoter Carlos Gaspar, a Mexican transplant and former middle school teacher in suburban Los Angeles who has had successes with staging running events in other parts of Southern California.

“Here, it’s all politics,” says Gaspar, who had to suspend the planned event just days before the race.

What has happened is that Gaspar ran into a group that is effectively a mariachi union — the Los Angeles United Mariachis Organization — whose president, Arturo Ramirez, who petitioned city officials to stop the race.

“We wear our suits with pride,” Ramirez told reporters as he made a last stand this week, projecting a vision of participants running the 5K dressed as mariachis with sombreros and sarapes. “They represent a culture, a nation.

“No one should ever come here and ridicule us in the streets.”

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On closer examination, though, the opposition to the Mariachi 5K may not be so much about protecting culture and tradition as much as jobs and who is going to have their pockets lined.

And it may be that the promoter might not have had this headache on his hands had he had the smarts to hire the mariachis who live and work out off Mariachi Plaza to entertain at the event.

Ramirez lists that as one of his gripes about the race, and other musicians agree.

“I don’t think it’s okay (that) he’s hired mariachi from other cities not from the plaza,” says Jesus Zamora, a mariachi musician at the plaza.

The promoter originally had the support of business owners in the area and perhaps thought that was enough.

“To me, it was just have a 5K… and listen to mariachi music — that was the whole concept of it,” says Gaspar.

But he admits he hired mariachis from outside the area because they were cheaper and claims there had been infighting among Mariachi Plaza musicians.

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But instead of a Mariachi 5K, it’s wound up being a Mexican Standoff.

Gaspar hasn’t secured a permit to shut down the streets for the race, and local Councilman Jose Huizar and the city say they plan to sponsor a separate 5K race in the community in October.

“I have to learn the hard way from the community that there are people bigger than the community,” says an exasperated Gaspar.

“A few people… have gotten together to show that only people with power can hold events in this city.”