From afar, it is seen without pretensions: rows of multicolored tents full of customers. But closely, it is an appreciated but common scene that dominates summer dinner in Los Angeles: street vendors cut juicy the shepherd of a rotating splash, cut with a long knife and throwing the meat into a freshly pressed tortilla covered with a stack of chopped white onion and coriander. The families crowded around the stand, some recording the show with their phones, colorful fresh waters in their hand.
Families are frequent customers in the Night Market cat, where they drink fresh waters and eat street tacos.
(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)
On the Westlake and Pico-Union border is El Cat's night market, a destination for various kitchens and Latin communities that takes care of an empty parking lot every Thursday to Sunday. On a typical night, approximately 70 to 80 vendors, many of them immigrants, fill the air with a cheerful mixture of reggaeton music and flesh of meat that comes out of their grills.
But on June 28, the cat was reduced to only 45 vendors. Two days before, there were about 25. After closing for two weeks in early June, when the immigration and customs' immigration raids began to extend through Los Angeles, the market is slowly recovering its balance.
The night market reopened on June 20, in a much smaller lot on the other side of the street of its usual home, the same lot where it opened for the first time in July 2022, when it only had a handful of cabins, according to the supplier Geofrey Mejia.
“It seems that [ICE agents] They are just picking up someone, ”said Geofrey Mejia, who sells ice cream in El Cat's night market.
(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)
“With luck, next week we return to normal, slow but safe,” Mejia, owner of craft snows, said the ice cream car of his family that sells classic Mexican flavors such as nut or Walnut. “Everyone is fighting at this time. Many of these vendors actually live on this, do nothing more.”
The high degree of visibility of street vendors, especially in night markets, is part of what makes them such an integral aspect of the Los Angeles food scene: immigrants find home tastes in markets such as the cat. They also play an important role in keeping the Los Angeles food scene accessible, but the simple act of coming to work and establishing their cars on the sidewalks of the city puts them at risk of being arrested by ICE.
“It seems that [ICE agents] They are just picking up someone, “Mejia said.” You feel more than they are profiling at that time. “
Some street vendors have been directly involved in the protest efforts against the ice, such as the trio behind a fresh waters stall that poured milk on the faces of the protesters with tears like a ointment. But as the cat and other food companies in Los Angeles face an increasing customer base due to the presence of ice, sellers are forced to choose between their safety and their main source of income.
Favian Salas serves stray tacos in tacos El Champ, an El Cat night market.
(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)
“People have been afraid to buy, and that really affects vendors like us,” said Favian Salas of Tacos El Champ in the cat. “If we don't sell, there is no economy … and it is affecting everyone.”
Now, the scene in the Night Market cat is an act of balance: sellers, many of whom care about their safety and the future of their businesses, are presented for work out of necessity, but also to provide comfort and familiarity for customers, most Latinos already often bring their young children.
Knowing that many suppliers depend largely on El Cat to obtain income, Cristian Bautista, one of the organizers of the night market, was reluctant to temporarily close the market last month. The supplier's security has long been a priority for Bautista, who intentionally chose a closed private parking lot as the location for the cat and hires a security guard during the hours of operation of the night market. Bautista is also the owner of Pasta Mr. Cat, a position at the entrance of the night market where he greets customers with smoking pans from Fettuccine Alfredo and Seafood Spaghetti.
“The community feels like a family,” said Bautista about sellers, mainly Latin but also in Oriental Asia. “In several places, there are usually only tacos and Mexican food … [At El Gato] There are many people from different countries. … that's why it's popular. “
Inside, the night market feels isolated from the city around it, since the sellers deliver free samples of sweet and wrapped carnitas in soft tortillas and the families fill standing tables with smoked ribs, fried rice of hibachi and enrolled ice cream.
Mejia, one of El Cat's first suppliers, has seen the market grow from less than 10 vendors to a night destination. Dozens of vendors can draw between 800 and 1,000 customers on a given night, according to Bautista, a number that has been significantly reduced since the cat reopened on June 20.
Mejia estimates that around 30% to 40% of clients in the night market are tourists. Savanna Deyro, a Las Vegas visitor, arrived at El Cat on June 26 with her boyfriend and child son after the couple saw a video market video on Tiktok.
“We always like to support local businesses and help the community as much as we can,” Deyro said after buying vicky pupusic pupusa, a Salvadoran food post. “We know they are fighting and we want to support them in any way possible, even if we don't know them.”
Located in the first corridor of El Cat's night market, Tacos El Champ is one of the most popular sellers in the market, which serves Tijuana style.
(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)
Like Jocelyn Arevalo, who has been in expectation with Vicky's pupusas in the cat for about four months, he shape mass for pupusas and threw them into a flat grill, said that the last weeks have brought financial uncertainty for sellers.
“We are afraid that something happens,” Arevalo said. “Customers are a bit [scared] also.”
Located on the outskirts of the center of Los Angeles, the cat also serves several locals in neighborhoods. Jonothan Vásquez has been taking dinner in the night market, which is on the street from where he lives, every week for more than a year. On June 26, among the snacks of a taco of tacos El Champ, he said that the night market had remarkably less customers since he reopened.
“I love supporting because it means the difference,” said Vásquez, who added that good food and customer service is what continues to bring it back. “This whole country is based on immigrants … Many people do not realize the impact.”
One of El Cat's most popular suppliers, Tacos El Champ usually attracts large crowds while Salas you say roasted meat and another employee uses an tortilla press to flatten the fresh dough. On June 26, Salas seemed discouraged by the lack of customers. But two days later, when a bustling crowd filled the halls of the night market, the vendors seemed to coincide with the energy: the music was stronger and the food and drink exhibitions on their front tables were larger. He was not as busy as before June 6, but it was a first step, said Salas, who is proud of his Tijuana style tacos.
Tacos El Champ Taquero Favian Salas ends a taco with sauce in El Cat's night market.
(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)
“When people try [our tacos]They practically feel they are in Mexico, “Salas said.” We hope [the night market] It is filled as before. “
Like many Los Angeles companies, El Cat's suppliers implore customers to support them while navigating the reopening of the night market with uncertainty about their future.
“People should come since we have food from all countries, from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico,” said Arevalo, turning fresh pupusas and tanned tangy portion covered with red fresh sauce. “They should support us. It is the only source of income we have at this time.”
