Backtrack west on Pico away from downtown.
Turn right (northeast) on Alvarado Street (NOT Alvarado Terrace) to MacArthur Park between 6th and 7th.
Stop #8: MacArthur Park (2124 W. 7th St.):
You are standing next to what was first called “Westlake Park” in the 1800s in this district that served as the western extension of an expanding Los Angeles. It became a beloved spot for family boating and other outdoor recreation and entertainment after the city, thankfully, decided not to sell the land. Wilshire Boulevard sliced through it in the 1930s and it was named to honor WWII General Douglas MacArthur in the 1950s. By the late 1900s, after gaining a reputation for “overcrowding, crime, homelessness, and drugs”, community members and businesses banded together to clean it up.
Enter neighborhood heroes such as Sandi “Mama” Romero. She recognized MacArthur Park as a vibrant, colorful neighborhood crying out for attention and full of turn-of-the-century opportunities. She established Mama’s Hot Tamales. Her co-op and restaurant encouraged local street vendors to legitimize their work. Aspiring chefs began using her kitchen to develop, sample, promote, and cater their recipes that included just about every style of tamale you can imagine. Meanwhile, she worked with community advocates and law enforcement officials to “take back our park”. Our visits to her restaurant were always rewarded with scrumptious tamales. And our walks across the street through the refreshing open spaces of a safer and cleaner MacArthur Park were just as rewarding during the first two decades of this century. By 2021, locals and city officials were again struggling with how to manage this park that had attracted another large homeless population and where a combination of drugs, crime, and prostitution had created another unsafe environment for families and their children searching for open spaces. As if to repeat recent conflicts with activists at nearby Echo Park, City officials and local residents supported “much- needed deferred maintenance” that included a “deep clean”.
By 2021, the park had again attracted a large homeless population and regained a reputation as a place where crime, drugs, and prostitution had become commonplace. Local families searching for safe open spaces for their children demanded action…again. City officials responded, promising another controversial “much- needed deferred maintenance” that included a “deep clean.”
Unfortunately, you will no longer find Mama, wearing her traditional Guatemalan blouse, greeting customers here. After a brief hiatus and legal struggles over her name and this business, new owners took control. Luckily, Mama’s International Tamales and Mamita’s continued to offer a wealth of eclectic tamale selections, including vegan and other healthy options. With or without her name, the legacy of Sandi “Mama” Romero lives on as an example of the positive change one person can make in local business and in the community.
Just up 7th to Alvarado (704 S. Alvarado St.), you will find Langer’s Delicatessen. This is often touted as the best Kosher-style deli west of New York and some claim Langer’s dishes (such as the hot pastrami sandwiches) rival those in the Big Apple. Since it opened in the 1940s, this has never been the first place you would expect to find a Jewish deli in L.A., but it has been a landmark ever since.
By now, you have already noticed the visually stimulating bazaar-like atmosphere along and around Alvarado. Here is your opportunity to digest your food with a walk around this colorful park in an attempt to understand what could be considered a sometimes challenging, gritty, and confusing urban landscape. Note the Westlake/MacArthur Park subway station (2230 W. 6th St.), part of the Metro Rail that is rapidly expanding to become one of the nation’s most extensive urban rail systems. Also note how these stations add access and transportation options that can transform neighborhoods in dramatic fashion.
