It was Los Angeles 1942 wartime tensions, an influx of servicemen, overzealous authority, rebellious youth and racial strife brought the city to its breaking point. At the center of the conflict were 50,000 sailors, itching to blow off steam before they shipped off to war, and Mexican American teens called “zoot suiters” for the baggy pants and long jackets they wore.

Vividly capturing the moment when tensions boiled over and the city erupted into some of the worst violence in its history, Zoot Suit Riots features evocative archival footage and interviews with a wide variety of eyewitnesses and historians.

The mood in wartime Los Angeles was one of tension and suspicion. Less than a century before, Los Angeles had been part of Mexico but by 1942, Mexican Americans were seen as racially inferior and vulnerable to manipulation by enemy agents. At the same time, Mexican American youth were rebelling against the culture of the tight-knit barrios of their parents. They punctuated their speech with jazz phrases like “hip” and “cool” and took fashion cues from African Americans, favoring the zoot suit’s exaggerated baggy pants and long jackets. Shocked by their outrageous clothes and cocky attitudes, their parents feared they were becoming pachucos or punks. 

On August 1, 1942, 19-year-old Hank Leyvas and a group of his friends from L.A.’s 38th Street crashed a party near a swimming hole dubbed the “Sleepy Lagoon.” Claiming the partygoers had beaten him and his girlfriend earlier, Leyvas was determined to get revenge. A brawl ensued. After Leyvas and his friends left the party, neighbors found Jose Diaz badly beaten and stabbed. His subsequent death was a call to action for the city’s police, for whom Mexican American youth crime had been a growing concern. 

Within 48 hours, a police dragnet snagged 600 young Mexican Americans; Leyvas and 21 others were indicted for Diaz’s murder. When the Sleepy Lagoon trial began in October 1942, it was the largest mass trial in California history. Judge Charles Fricke presided over the case. Overruling objections from the defense, he sat all the defendants together, isolated from their lawyers, and refused to permit them to clean up or change their clothes for the trial. 

Seventeen defendants were found guilty. Leyvas was sentenced to life in San Quentin prison. Believing the boys had been railroaded, a group of intellectuals and Hollywood celebrities — Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth among them — lent their names to the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee.

The Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee successfully appealed their case, claiming that they had been denied a fair trial. The 38th Street boys were released in October 1944 after serving two years in prison. Although the boys were not cleared of the murder charge, the LA authorities decided not to re-try the case.

Decades later, Lorena Encinas, who had been at Sleepy Lagoon, revealed a long-held secret to her children. Her brother Louie and his friends had attacked Jose Diaz and left him to die before Hank and his group even arrived at the party.

Hank Leyvas died in an East L.A. bar in 1971.

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Los Angeles, CA – Each spring, hundreds of actors, dancers, musicians, horses, cowboys, and representatives of the rich heritage of Southern California’s Native Tribes, come together to create the magical experience that is Ramona, a classic love story based on actual events that took place in early California during the 1850’s. Much more than just a love story however, Ramona is a representation of the tragic history of Southern California’s native people. It is a love story with a moral, a message that is as relevant and important today as it was when Ramona was first written over a century ago.

After a two-year absence, due to the global pandemic, The Ramona Pageant Association announced the return of Ramona the longest, continuously-running drama in the country, which will make its 99th appearance at The Ramona Bowl on April 23, 24, 30 and May 1, 2022. Tickets for the show are now available at www.ramonabowl.com

“As the Bowl returns to full operation after more than a year of closure due to COVID and numerous construction projects, some of which are still underway, we look forward to a return to our traditions and many new opportunities, too,” said Dee Cozart, President, Ramona Bowl Amphitheatre Board of Directors.

Ramona began as a novel, published in 1884 by Helen Hunt Jackson, one of America’s most popular women writers of her day. Though never one to get involved in social causes, in the year 1879 Jackson had suddenly emerged as one of America’s leading advocates of Indian rights. She called for changes in the government’s Indian policies and documented their past crimes in her 1881 book, “A Century of Dishonor”.

In her book, Jackson described in vivid detail the broken treaties, brutal murders and evictions the Indians had endured. Forced onto reservations, disease and death soon took their toll. America’s Indians were heading towards extinction.

Jackson had hoped her book would lift the American people to the same sort of outrage she felt over the treatment of the Indians. However, when Jackson realized that most Americans were not sympathetic toward Indians, she decided to write a novel that would move people’s hearts by disguising her reform message as a love story. She called her novel Ramona.

And so, the story of Ramona was born. And the idea that more hearts could be won with pure emotion than with detailed information proved correct. And the novel’s success not only transformed the way people viewed the issue of Indian rights in America, it created a romantic vision of California that still lives on today. The book has never been out of print. And many movies and television versions have been created over the years, but it’s the Ramona that one experiences at The Ramona Bowl every spring since 1923, against the beautiful backdrop of the San Jacinto rolling hills and turquoise skies, that one truly feels the presence and spirit of Ramona.

Tickets are now available at www.ramonabowl.com

Follow us on Social Media:

Facebook: @ramonabowl

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Developed by Nicaraguan-American Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and based on Archie Comics, the series is a bold and subversive take on the wholesome town of Riverdale and some of its teen residents, including Archie, Betty, Veronica and Jughead, as they discover the darkness and dangers that bubble underneath their town’s wholesome façade.

The long-running series features two Latino actors in prominent roles, Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge and Mark Consuelos as Veronica’s father, Hiram Lodge. Main cast members also include K.J. Apa as Archie Andrews, Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper and Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones. Riverdale has brought recognition to Brazilian-American Mendes. The role of Veronica won her a Teen Choice Award and nominations to several other honors, including the People’s Choice Awards, MTV Movie + TV Awards and Kids’ Choice Awards.

The series was originally scheduled to return for its midseason premiere March 6.

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A new generation of students, some with dreams of becoming stars, enters Elite Way School, EWS, the campus where the Latin Grammy-nominated RBD was born almost two decades ago. Throughout eight episodes, Rebelde follows a group of high schoolers trying to win EWS’ Battle of the Bands, a key musical competition that could open big doors. Romance and friendship bloom between them while a mysterious secret society casts a shadow over their artistic dreams.

The series stars Azul Guaita Bracamontes, Giovanna Grigio, Franco Masini, Sergio Mayer Mori, Alejandro Puente, Jeronimo Cantillo, Lizeth Selene, Andrea Chaparro, Estefania Villarreal, Karla Cossío, Karla Sofía Gascón, Leonardo de Lozanne and Edwarda Gurrola. It is helmed by Santiago Limón, who was third assistant director in the 2011 action thriller Colombiana, starring Zoe Saldana. Co-directing is Yibran Asaud, whose credits include the comedic soap opera La Casa de las Flores and who last year won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Achievement at the Berlin Film Festival for the editing work in Una película de policías (A Cop Movie). 

Back in the early 2000’s, Rebelde became a hit in Mexico, launching the international career of the Rebelde, or RBD, composed by Anahí, Alfonso Herrera, Dulce María, Christopher von Uckermann, Maite Perroni and Christian Chávez. The group became an international sensation and sold more than 15 million records worldwide. That Mexican telenovela was an adaptation of the Argentinian soap opera Rebelde Way, created and produced by Chris Morena.

The new Rebelde series is based on the concept by Cris Morena Group and Dori Media Group that was later adapted by Televisa. It is produced by Woo Films and Propagate.

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Mercedes’ character, Fay, is a recently divorced woman who is looking to start fresh in the City of Angels. Fay’s friends in Grand Crew are: Noah (Echo Kellum), a hopeless romantic too eager to settle down; Nicky (Nicole Byer), a go-getter in real estate who is adventurous in romance; Sherm (Carl Tart), a low-key genius who plays the dating odds; Anthony (Aaron Jennings), whose true love is his career; and Wyatt (Justin Cunningham), who is relieved to be married and out of the dating scene.

Mercedes is a Dominican-American actress from New York City who has relocated to Los Angeles. A former improviser and sketch comedy actor, she has appeared in the shows 9-1-1, Good Trouble, Southland, The Affair and Criminal Minds. Mercedes also recently wrapped season two of her podcast Not (Blank) Enough.

The Jan. 4 episode three of Grand Crew will air at 8:30 p.m. ahead of the final season premiere of the multiple-Emmy winning series This Is Us.

To watch the first two episodes click here.

Featured Photo: Grand Crew cast members at the show’s premiere party. From left: Dan Goor, Carl Tart, Nicole Byer, Grasie Mercedes, Justin Cunningham, Aaron Jennings, Echo Kellum, Phil Augusta Jackson at Alta Adams in Los Angeles. (Photo: Trae Patton/NBC)

Check out this video featuring the cast and their characters:

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Actress Lindsay Navarro will star in Lifetime’s Girl in the Shed: The Kidnapping of Abby Hernandez, a film about the 14-year-old North Conway, New Hampshire who survived nine months of captivity and abuse at the hands of her captor. The survivor herself, Abigail Hernandez, will executive produce the dramatic movie.

Girl in the Shed: The Kidnapping of Abby Hernandez is, according to a press release from the cable channel, the true story of high school freshman Abby, who vanished while walking home from school. Her disappearance kicked off her home state’s largest search and left her family, investigators and the community mystified of her whereabouts. The teen was kept in soundproof container and forced to wear a shock collar while enduring psychological, sexual and emotional abuse. Despite suffering daily torture, Abby kept hope alive that she would one day be able to see her family again.

Canadian-born Navarro is known for her roles in the web series Life XP and the Netflix series Haters Back Off.

Playing Abby’s mother Zenya is Erica Durance, best known for her role as Louis Lane in the WB’s
Superman series Smallville as well as Kryptonian Alura in the CW’s Supergirl. The kidnapper Nathaniel Kibby is portrayed by Ben Savage, star of both the ABC series Boy Meets World and Girl Meets World.

Girl in the Shed: The Kidnapping of Abby Hernandez is produced by Sprott Productions Inc. in association with Johnson Production Group. Joining Navarro as co-executive producers are Stacy Mandelberg and Michael Vickerman, who also wrote the script. Jessica Harmon directs.

The movie is set to premiere Feb. 26.

Featured Photo: Lindsay Navarro and Ben Savage in ‘Girl in the Shed: The Kidnapping of Abby Hernandez’ (Credit: Lifetime)

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The National Association of Hispanic Publications recently named Bel Hernandez Publisher of the Year for her demonstrated excellence in publishing and service to the Latino community in the entertainment industry through her Latin Heat Entertainment, an online trade publication. The recognition couldn’t be more timely as it coincides with Latin Heat’s 30th anniversary.

In celebration of its three decades of service, Latin Heat has launched the Latin Heat Rising Star Award honoring a talent who is stepping into the spotlight in a major way. The award’s first recipient is actress Annie Gonzalez, a proud Chicana artist from East Los Angeles. Her breakout role came in Netflix’s Gentefied, which led to a starring role in Eva Longoria’s directorial feature film debut Flamin’ Hot.  Furthermore, Gonzalez recently landed another starring role, George Lopez’s Once Upon a Time in Aztlan for Amazon Prime Video. The budding actress is currently seen in in season two of Gentefied, which debuted in November.

Both Hernandez’s NAHP Published of the Year and Gonzalez’s Latin Heat Rising Star awards will be presented at an industry event Wed., Dec. 17 in Los Angeles County.

Credited with expanding the coverage of Latinos in Hollywood, Hernandez, dubbed as “The Godmother of Latino Hollywood” by MovieMaker Magazine, has received many recognitions and forged many alliances throughout the years, most notably with her mentor and former publisher of The Hollywood Reporter to promote the “crossover” coverage of Latinos. She was recently named to Credentials Committee of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the producer the Golden Globe Awards.

“Looking back, I reflect on where we were back then as a creative community, it was the independent Latino directors creating the opportunities for Latinos–Gregory Nava with Selena and El Norte), Robert Rodriguez with El Mariachi and Desperado), Miguel Arteta with Star Maps), Edward James Olmos with Stand and Deliver and American Me, and others”, Hernandez reflected. “Fast forward 30 years and now there is a cadre of Latino creatives who continue to cast authentically and create the future stars of Hollywood who happen to be Latino”.

NAHP’s founding president Kirk Whisler will present the Publisher of the Year Award to Hernandez at Wednesday’s invitation-only industry event. Gentefied’s Gonzalez will also be presented with the Latin Heat Rising Star Award.

The celebrity red carpet event is sponsored by Neft Vodka and will benefit Brighter Future Charity, a non-profit organization devoted to enriching and empowering the lives of youth, adults and families within the autism community.

Herdandez is also CEO of Latin Heat Media, a multi-media company whose mission is to create content by Latinos and about Latinos for universal audiences. The parent company of this website, Latin Heat. LHM also produces TheTRENDTalk Show and LATINAFest, a festival that celebrates all things Latina.

In addition to running her own media company, Hernandez is also involved in various community causes. She serves on the advisory boards for Farmworker Justice and the Mexican American Cultural Education Foundation. Hernandez has been recognized for her journalist endeavors with an ALMA Award and a Mujeres Destacadas Award from La Opinión Newspaper. Additionally, she has been honored by the Hispanic Public Relations Association, Latina Style Magazine, Hispanic Lifestyle, National Hispanic Health Foundation, National Hispanic Media Coalition, the City of Los Angeles and Women in Theater Festival.

Featured Photo: Bel Hernandez (Credit: Latin Heat Media) 

The post Latin Heat’s Bel Hernandez Has Much to Celebrate first appeared on .

Submissions are open for the 14th Annual Student Film Festival, a short film competition of the Latin American Cinemateca of Los Angeles that will take place online early next year. The deadline for entries is Dec. 31.

The fest’s purpose is to encourage and acknowledge young filmmakers from middle and high schools and media programs in the L.A. Greater Area, “from the (San Fernando) Valley to South L.A.; and from East L.A. to Venice,” according to organizers. 

Film entries must be of a length of 5 minutes or less and have been made during 2020-2021. Students must submit with the consent of teachers or mentors. Accepted genres include animation, commercial, documentary, experimental, narrative, newscast and public service announcement, or PSA.

There is no charge to enter films. 

The festival will take place Jan. 22.

Three winners will be selected for three categories: Best Film, Best Documentary and Most Creative.

LACLA is a nonprofit institute of cinema exhibition with the year-round programming of Chicano, Latino and Latin American films. It was founded in 1997 by a group of L.A.-based Latino cultural activists and cinéastes in response to the lack of local, as well as national, exhibition spaces for Latino and Latin American cinemas. 

For more competition rules and information, visit www.lacla.org.

Check out below Age of Consequences, a short about global warming by young director Salvador Garcia from Bell High School, in Bell, California, that was screened by LACLA.

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All screenings of Encanto, including the one on Sunday, include a live performance featuring Maribel–the film’s central character–on the movie theater stage before each show. Moviegoers can also take a picture at a themed photo op in the lobby and purchase Encanto-themed concession items.
El Capitan shows first-run films from Disney.

Encanto tells the tale of an extraordinary family, the Madrigals, who live hidden in the mountains of Colombia, in a magical house, vibrant town, a wondrous, charming place called an Encanto. The magic of the Encanto has blessed every child in the family with a unique gift from super strength to the power to heal—every child except one, Mirabel, voiced by Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine). But when she discovers that the magic surrounding the Encanto is in danger, Mirabel decides that she, the only ordinary Madrigal, might just be her exceptional family’s last hope. The film is directed by Jared Bush (Zootopia) and Byron Howard (Zootopia, Tangled), co-directed by Charise Castro Smith (writer, The Death of Eva Sofia Valdez), and produced by Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer. The screenplay is by Castro Smith and Bush. Encanto features original songs by Emmy, Grammy and Tony award-winner Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, Moana); Germaine Franco (Dora and the Lost City of Gold) composed the original score.

Currently the number one film in the U.S., Encanto topped the box office on its premiere weekend with $27.2 million.

The Dec. 5 Encanto event will be historic for El Capitan. It will be the first time that the theatre holds a screening en español of a Disney feature, according to Teresa Saenz, senior manager of sales and marketing at Walt Disney Studios.

Special Disney movie presentations at El Capitan are often preceded by a live stage show, a feature unique to the historic theatre. Previous Latino-theme films screened include Coco, which held its world premiere at El Capitan. Another movie with some Latino flavor slated for screening there in December is West Side Story, a remake of the acclaimed musical film directed by Academy Award-winner Steven Spielberg for 20th Century Fox. Unlike the 1961 original, Spielberg’s version includes a large Latino cast properly in the roles of Puerto Rican characters. Disney is now a distributor of 20th Century Fox features.  

All seats for Encanto’s Dec. 5 engagement need to be reserved. Tickets cost $24 for adults and $18 for children of age 3 through 11 and seniors of age 60 and above. 

Family packs are also available for $75 each and include four reserved tickets, four 64-oz popcorn tubs, four bottle beverages and parking at Hollywood & Highland. Additional tickets can be added by calling 1-800-Disney6 (347-6396). 

Daily showtimes for Encanto are 10 a.m. and 1, 4, 7 and 9:55 p.m.  

For tickets visit www.elcapitantickets.com and https://www.fandango.com/el-capitan-theatre-aacon/theater-page.  

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The program’s operatic stars include the visually and vocally voluptuous soprano Shana Blake Hill; the dark and hypnotic mezzo-soprano Audry Babcock; tenor great Alex Boyer and world-renowned baritone Robert Perlas Gomez will headline the Verdi Chorus on Nov. 12 & 13.

Joining this season’s stellar talents are the stars of tomorrow’s opera stages and recital halls, namely the members of the Chorus’s Apprentice Singers program which includes soprano Ariana Flores, mezzo Bianca Gutierrez and tenor Cesar Ballardin.  Each of these up-and-coming artists will receive a scholarship to broaden their music studies. Of the opportunity to sing alongside such musical luminaries, Ms. Gutierrerz says, “It means a lot for me. I feel blessed with this amazing opportunity because I’m learning a lot. It’s completely different than other courses or masterclasses that I’ve taken. The Verdi Chorus is an excellent organization. Full of good energy and positivism.”  

Following the many months of COVID shut-down, conductor Anne Marie Ketchum says, “I am so excited for this upcoming concert, and profoundly grateful that the Verdi Chorus can once again safely sing in person. It’s something our Verdi Chorus family has longed for continually over the past year and a half,” she told us. “The title of our concert, Ritorna Vincitori! is taken from one of the most famous and recognizable arias in Verdi’s Aida, in which Aida wishes for the victorious return of her lover. And now music has returned victoriously in the most personal way. Through these past weeks of rehearsal, it has become clearer than ever how much we need the arts, and in particular, the ability to experience the arts in person. It is through this experience we maintain not only our sanity but the very core of what makes us human.”

Following the long COVID shut-down, all the performers are anxious about their return to live performing. Especially Mr. Ballardin who said, “I am thrilled to see people filling the seats in the house. Being able to sing for a live audience completes the opera experience. Without the audience, it just feels like a rehearsal. The audience plays a huge role in how we perform because we feed off of their energy.”

If you’re ready for an energizing evening of world-class voices singing the greatest music ever written, log onto: www.verdichorus.org

Featured Photo: Bianca Gutierrez and César Ballardin (Photo: Verdi Chorus)

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