Pandemic DTLA Is Waking Up. Latino DTLA Never Slept

Latino L.A. has been hit harder by the pandemic than any other Los Angeles population.

Photo by Jenna Pittaway/Neon Tommy.

On March 15th, museums, gyms, and restaurant dining rooms opened again all over Los Angeles. No, this wasn’t a full reopening of the city, but at least many establishments resumed business at 25% capacity.

This news bodes well, especially for downtown L.A. This part of the city took a serious blow when museums, theaters, and dining rooms closed a year ago due to the pandemic.

Overnight, afternoon trips to the Broad, MOCA Grand, or the Geffen Contemporary disappeared as did evenings at theaters like the Mark Taper Forum or REDCAT. We said goodbye to concerts at the Regent and Disney Hall and stopped going out to eat at the multitude of world-class restaurants once open to us in downtown L.A.

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Sure, we could still order takeout but it just wasn't the same. Unfortunately, not all restaurants survived. Some of my favorite DTLA eateries, like Baco Mercat, closed for good.

With downtown's attractions shuttered for the foreseeable future—many permanently—some people began to claim that DTLA was dead for good and would never recover.

I never agreed with this. Downtown L.A. never died. It just went into hibernation.

What's more, while many sectors of the downtown economy went to sleep, Latino DTLA never even napped.

What is Latino DTLA?

There’s a part of downtown L.A. that is primarily patronized by Latinos, especially immigrants: the Fashion District and the Toy District.

These parts of downtown never closed their doors. It was like the pandemic never even happened there.

A crowded Santee Alley last October, three months before the surge of December 2020. Photo by author.

People did mask up, but I witnessed both the Fashion and Toy Districts packed with people all summer and fall. Even around Christmas, as coronavirus cases skyrocketed in Los Angeles, many were out shopping.

Folks filled this part of town in droves to buy clothing, food, and other products from the many vendors. Sure, parts of DTLA became a "ghost town"—the museum district and the Historic Core—just not this part of DTLA.

Latino L.A. has been hit hardest by the coronavirus.

Yes, Latino DTLA has been alive and kicking throughout the pandemic. But at the same time, Latinos have undeniably been hardest hit by the coronavirus in this city.

L.A.'s Latino population has reeled with over 560,000 cases since the onset of the pandemic. The city's white population has only seen slightly over 118,000 cases, the Asian population around 52,000, and the Black population, just over 41,000.

Graph by County of Los Angeles Public Health.

Sure, going out to mix and mingle even during the height of the pandemic couldn't have been a good thing. Still, Latinos have many other reasons for experiencing the highest number of coronavirus cases in L.A.

Latinos are more likely to live in multi-family residences and work essential jobs. Immigrants—especially the undocumented—have continued to work high-risk jobs throughout the pandemic.

Latinos are also overrepresented in L.A.'s clothing industry, working in factories that exist in this city because so many Latinos live here. While apparel manufacturers throughout the U.S. have moved overseas in search of cheap labor, L.A. continues to offer access to a large, Latino workforce, many of whom are undocumented.

L.A. Apparel, one of this city's biggest clothing factories, where workers pack the floors to make trendy garb, has been shut down not once but twice for not enforcing proper safety precautions. Unfortunately, the failure to enforce proper COVID protocols led to 375 confirmed coronavirus cases and four deaths among the factory's employees.

Latinos are also disproportionately employed in food-service industries, such as the restaurant businesses where they have not always been provided proper protective gear.

And of course, there’s a large number of incarcerated Latinos. Terminal Island federal prison has had some of the highest numbers of coronavirus cases in this city.

Latinos have had more contact with the coronavirus for all these reasons.

What's the future of downtown L.A.?

Downtown L.A.'s economy has undoubtedly been depressed during the pandemic. With all the attractions shuttered and more people than ever working from home, many well-heeled, creative types that once called DTLA home fled to the suburbs.

Still, as coronavirus cases continue to fall across L.A., the city has returned to the red tier. Finally, museums, restaurant dining rooms, and other attractions can once again be opened after an entire year of closure.

Graph by Los Angeles County.

No, these establishments can't reopen to pre-pandemic capacity. Still, downtown Los Angeles is returning to some semblance of its past self. A chilly outdoor dining experience at Casa India in the Historic Core on Saturday became a much warmer indoor, socially distant experience on Monday. But linking both of these dining experiences was the CD-jukebox booming out the Cumbias of Aniceto Molina and others, emphatically reminding us of the unfailing spirit of Latino DTLA that carries on, pandemic or no pandemic.