The kiosk plaza at Olvera Street filled up over the evening as performers in mariachi outfits, skeleton costumes and Aztec garbs began their preparations for the growing crowds of people there to attend the first night of the Día de los Muertos nine-day event, going from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Olvera Street has a long-standing tradition of being the gathering place of people of Mexican descent and as time passed its reach has grown. Olvera as it is known now was founded by Christine Sterling, a socialite from the East Coast when Los Angeles was still mostly nature and was marketed as a health getaway for wealthy people.
To get to the plaza on the metro from Long Beach it’s just a ride on the A (blue) line to the 7th street transfer center and then the red or purple line to Union Station. Olvera street is located right across the street from the train station.
It’s lined with vendors during the day and many food stalls that stay open until the end of the event.
Olvera street is home to Cielito Lindo, a rolled taco restaurant that has been making the same rolled tacos smothered in a green sauce since 1934. Their combo plate of three rolled tacos and beans is just $8 dollars. A perfectly affordable dish, one that has people from all over coming to DTLA to try.
Olvera has been a GoPass destination featured by the Viking before, but the Dia de Los Muertos event is a whole destination in itself.
“The Novenario event is our (Olvera Street) second biggest event that focuses on communities and the families, it pulls people from all over Los Angeles and its nearby communities,” said Priscilla Bravo of the Placita Olvera History Department, “the families that put it on have been here for at most 100 years, the most recent family that is actively putting on events came about 30 years ago.”
The night starts after all the stands close, rows of wooden sheds with their windows shut and an emcee takes the microphone standing in the kiosk elevated above the crowd.
The first performance is put on by the Teatro del Barrio L.A., a community-based organization that has been performing for the holiday for over 20 years. Their act contains almost 10 different segments all acted out by performers in full body skeleton costumes, most with traditional Mexican outfits and some propped up on stilts and even a unicycle.
Their plays and dances cover death, indigenous cultures and myths, a comedic skit about crossing the border and not being welcome, the underworld as seen by their ancestors and the Catholic church coming over and demonizing their practices. The actors interact with the crowds, playing pranks on the attendees and even taking the kids up to the stage to perform a segment with them.
“It’s been a tradition for my family for years, I’ve been coming since the 70’s,” said Chuy Tovar Barraza, a Mexican coffee importer and Angeleno for about 50 years, “It’s important to remember our culture and our family that has passed on and to pass on these lessons to our children and their children.”
Once the theater troupe has finished their acts, a procession led by a banda, a Mexican musician group, volunteers all dressed in costumes with skull face paint and Aztec dancers is followed by all the attendees of the event.
They start at the kiosk plaza, go down the whole street and double back, finishing back at the kiosk forming a large circle. The band plays music the whole time while community members burn incense and religious leaders give blessings to the children.
After the procession the Aztec dancers begin their performance and lead into a blessing by the chosen community member of the night.
Every night of the whole event they choose a group of people to remember, on Tuesday the group were people that died at war.
They offer prayers and spread cempasúchil petals to honor and remember the ones that have passed. Cempasúchil, or Aztec marigolds, are often referred to as flowers of the dead and are said to attract souls to their altars and line the path to the way to the underworld.
To signify the end of the event all audience members are invited to partake in a simple dance with the Aztec dancers, weaving through the crowds in a line while drums and shakers are being played.
The last prayer is said and then everybody can visit a table set up where they give out free pan de muerto, a type of Mexican sweet bread, and champurrado, a Mexican beverage like hot chocolate but made with masa for a thicker consistency.
The event will be held until Nov. 2 with the last two days expected to be the biggest and most lively. As the event gets closer to the end, more and more vendors stay open, more people set up stands selling food and crafts and more people come out for the festivities. The event goes on for about two hours and it’s only a pair of trains to Olvera and back to Long Beach.