Hispanics Culture

Politics and the arts have always been intertwined in the Chicano movement--El Movimiento. Cesar Chavez's efforts beginning in the mid-'60s in Central California to unionize farm workers were dramatized by Luis Valdez's Teatro Campesino--a company that was founded in 1965 and inspired countless Chicano theater groups, which used the stage to explore other political issues, including the Vietnam War, job discrimination and immigration policies.

Has the time finally arrived for an arena-sized festival of Spanish-language rock 'n' roll to succeed in a region of more than 3 million Latinos? The organizers of a 10-hour Festival de Rock en Espanol concert Sunday at the Los Angeles Sports Arena hope so. Felix Mejorado, a Mexican-born singer who has fronted a Los Angeles-based rock band for more than a decade, likes to think the event will open a new era for the Spanish-language audience and groups such as his.

The Northridge earthquake cracked two major freeways, collapsed towering parking structures and turned fragile glassware into so much confetti, but it's difficult to imagine a casualty of the 1994 disaster that has been more sorely missed by the surrounding community than the Boathouse Gallery at Plaza de la Raza.

Nick Inzunza, scion of a prominent border family, did not speak more than a few words of Spanish until he was an adult. But not long ago, Inzunza stood up before dozens of his Mexican fiancee's relatives and solemnly asked for her hand in an emotional Tijuana ceremony that seemed worlds away from the freeways and strip malls of Southern California.

Between a morning spent working with a sound mixer and an evening counseling pregnant teens in South-Central, independent filmmaker Vincent Jay Miller takes time for a late lunch in Van Nuys to talk about "Gabriela." As his pasta gets cold, he describes how he pieced together the resources to produce his first feature film. How he unabashedly solicited funds from family, friends and acquaintances, including his optometrist and high school wrestling coach.

If a 7-year-old can be poised, professional and irresistibly adorable at the same time, Kelly Reynaga pulled it off. With butterfly barrettes in her hair and a few teeth missing, the pint-sized mariachi player didn't look the least bit anxious performing in front of 100 people Sunday at the Festival Juvenil del Mariachi at San Fernando High School. As Kelly stood on stage with her 20-piece band, the only thing that seemed a little amiss was that her violin bow was as long as her leg.

About the same time the mariachi music started playing here last weekend, the Puerto Rican flags began flying en masse. The buildup for tonight's welterweight title fight at the Mandalay Bay Events Center between Mexican American Oscar De La Hoya and Puerto Rican Felix Trinidad has given a new meaning to the phrase "Viva Las Vegas."

Oscar Vargas, 16, isn't reluctant to talk about sex. "It ain't a big thing anymore," he says. "It's just normal." He and his girlfriend, Rosario Parra, started going together when he was 12 and she was 14. After a year or so, their friends began to talk. Why, they wondered, hadn't Oscar and his lady had a baby yet? Oscar wanted to get a job first. His dad was rarely around while he was growing up, and he wanted to be a better father to his kids.

Thirteen years ago, Robert Rendon's brother was murdered in a gang shooting on Rosita Place in Garden Grove. Earlier this month, around the corner on La Bonita Street, Rendon's 26-year-old son lost a leg in another drive-by shooting. "We're strong people, but this takes a lot out of you," said Rendon, 54, a carpenter who grew up in the neighborhood, which straddles Westminster Avenue--also called 17th Street--and includes a few blocks of both Santa Ana and Garden Grove.

Two NBC series, "L.A. Law" and "Shannon's Deal," were cited for advancing positive images of Latinos at the seventh annual Imagen Hispanic Media Image Awards luncheon Friday at the Regent Beverly Wilshire. It was the third Imagen for "L.A. Law" and the first for the canceled "Shannon's Deal." The awards are sponsored by the National Conference of Christians & Jews and the Wilkerson Foundation. Cesar Romero received a special lifetime achievement award.