As a community and cultural center of Boyle Heights, Mariachi Plaza would be an obvious place for families to gather on Father’s Day.
But the normally bustling plaza was all but deserted when Mayor Karen Bass visited Sunday morning.
More than a week after President Trump’s immigration raids first instilled terror in Los Angeles communities, the federal sweeps have had a profound chilling effect in the overwhelmingly Latino, working-class neighborhood just east of downtown.
“Mariachi Plaza was completely empty. There was not a soul there,” Bass recalled a few hours later. “One restaurant, there were a handful of people. The other restaurant, there was literally nobody there.”
Bass visited a number of small businesses in Boyle Heights with Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez (D-Los Angeles), including Casa Fina, Distrito Catorce, Yeya’s and Birrieria De Don Boni, as well as the Estrada Courts public housing project, where Bass and Gonzalez both said residents were reluctant to come outside of their homes for a Father’s Day celebration.
“It’s the uncertainty that continues that has an absolute economic impact. But it is pretty profound to walk up and down the streets and to see the empty streets, it reminded me of COVID,” Bass told The Times on Sunday afternoon.
Bass said restaurant operators in Boyle Heights told her current circumstances were actually worse than what they had faced during COVID-19, because unlike during the pandemic, there had been no ensuing bump in to-go orders. She hypothesized that the issue was compounded by the fact that many people were not going in to work, meaning they didn’t have disposable income to eat out.
“They said people aren’t ordering, and people probably aren’t ordering because they’re not working,” Bass said.
Gonzalez said the proprietor of one of the restaurants they visited was crying.
“He said, ‘It’s so empty. I’ve never seen it like this, and I don’t know how we can survive this,’ ” Gonzalez recalled.
Asked about his message to Trump, Gonzalez spoke about the centrality of immigrants to California’s economy.
“For somebody who’s supposed to be business oriented, he sure is allowing local businesses to sink and have the effect that these raids are having,” Gonzalez said.
Entire sectors of the city’s economy cannot function without immigrant labor, Bass said, citing the Fashion District in downtown Los Angeles, where raids have instilled acute fears and muffled business.
Bass also said she worried about how the disquiet would affect rebuilding in the fire-ravaged Pacific Palisades, if a significant quotient of the immigrant-heavy construction workforce is scared to show up to job sites.
The mayor underscored similar points in a Sunday morning interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, describing the disruption and fear as “a body blow to our economy.”
In a post on X, she urged Angelenos to visit small businesses like those in Boyle Heights, writing, “Let’s show up, support them and send a message: LA stands with you.”
The aftereffects of the ensuing mass protests have also pummeled restaurants and bars in the downtown area, with widespread vandalism in the Civic Center and Little Tokyo areas.
The indefinite 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew imposed on downtown Los Angeles has transformed the nightlife hub into a virtual ghost town after dark, walloping business at establishments that have already faced years of financial and operational setbacks in the wake of the pandemic and entertainment industry strikes.
However, the mayor said the downtown business community “made a strong appeal for the curfew,” given the disruption in the area.