An Excerpt from a Work in Progress by Clodomiro Calvo, Part 2 Canter Brother's Delicatessen along with the Breed Street Shul, were the social centers of the local residents. Eventually, if you lived in Boyle Heights, you would visit Canter Brothers. The display case was on the left side of the delicatessen, and small tables for four were on the right side of the room. A wooden partition separated the tables from the display case area. Two booths were located at the far end of the room, just beyond the tables.      As Tony opened the door, a loud chorus of voices reached his ears. His eyes scanned the warm room, and as he entered the aroma of sautéed onions and baked bread reminded him of his hunger. He noticed that all of the customers were men; the only female was the cashier.     Tony walked over to the cashier and said, "I'm looking for Howard Pensick." The cashier stared at this stranger, and then pointed to a man sitting in one of the booths...

By Abel Salas Written by Mercedes Floresislas and directed by Edward Padilla, Tamales de Puerco is a taut, emotionally driven examination of volatile community issues. That it also celebrates the resiliency of the human spirit with healthy doses of love, joy and humor makes it a near perfect production. At the center of what is essentially a good vs. evil drama, a beautiful, resolute young mother of a deaf child stands up against an abusive husband, takes on a society that rejects and persecutes her as an undocumented immigrant and overcomes the difficulties faced by the community of hearing impaired Latinos. Written as part of a Boyle Heights writing workshop led by Josefina López, the play was originally staged by CASA 0101 in 2008. For the current production, the script has been revisited with more attention to characterization. Things that worked well in the first incarnation have been kept and some of the clunky dialogue present in the early version has been streamline...

During the recent city elections, voter turn-out was, from all evidence, dismal. Too few people saw fit to exercise their civic responsibility. We won't go into the reasons we suspect were at the root of the record low turn-out at the ballot box here. For mayoral candidate Eric Garcett i, now locked in a run-off with W endy Greuel , the vote still managed to underscore his status as the front runner. Despite an impressive showing by newcomer Emanuel Pleitez , and a strong following among the city's Latino population for Wendy Greuel, Garcetti won most all of the precincts on the East Side where Latinos were the majority. It probably didn't hurt to have someone like Salma Hayek loving on him so openly in campaign commercials. Mayoral candidate Jan Perry , who terms out this summer as the Council Member from the Ninth District and still has considerable influence among her constituents, has endorsed Garcetti. Greuel, on the other hand, has picked up an endorsement f...