Holiday cheer is everywhere, which can be both heartwarming and nerve wracking. Get in the spirit by making a holiday-themed piñata, falling into a folklórico and mariachi trance or joining Las Posadas at the oldest celebration of its kind in L.A. Squeeze in your last-minute shopping at the many markets popping up all over town again this weekend, including SELA Marketplace’s Holiday Market & Annual Toy Drive and Por Vida’s Los Angeles Market’s Posada Navideña. Stock up on some emergency gifts while you’re at it. You don’t want to end up receiving a gift from someone you have absolutely nothing for.
HOLIDAY MARKETS
SELA Marketplace Holiday Market & Annual Toy Drive: Bell’s Latinx-owned Beer Thug Brewing Co. is host to this family and pet-friendly holiday market, featuring vendors, DJs, beer and more. There’s a toy drive, so bring an unwrapped toy for someone ages 4 to 14 and help a local family in need.
When: Noon to 5 p.m. Saturday
Where: Beer Thug Brewing Co., 4400 E. Gage Ave., Bell
Admission: Free
Whether you’re looking for self-care essentials, indoor plants or records for the collectors in your life, we’ve got ideas to help you shop small across L.A. County.
The Queer Mercado: East L.A.’s first LGBTQ+ mercado has evolved into a safe space to support and celebrate queer-owned small businesses while stocking up on fresh organic produce from the farmers market and perusing a plethora of resource tables. Come here for one-of-a-kind holiday gifts for whoever’s left on your list. Resident M.C. ChiChi La Pinga was just selected to be on L.A.’s Transgender Advisory Council (TAC) and always brings the fun and fabulous vibes.
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every third Saturday
Where: East LA Civic Center, 4801 E. 3rd St., Los Angeles
Admission: Free
Eastside Café Mercado del Pueblo: This El Sereno community space has been promoting solidarity economies for 21 years. Its OG anti-mall mercado is the brainchild of Eastside Cafe co-founder Laura Palomares and will feature vendors like T-shirt designer Saldivarte, grandmother-granddaughter jewelry duo Lulucita and Por La Mano Press y Arte. Admission proceeds will go toward the collective’s fundraiser to buy its corner unit and turn it into a cooperative market with organic produce and Native foods.
When: Noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Where: Eastside Cafe, 5469 N. Huntington Drive, Los Angeles
Admission: $5-$10 sliding scale; no one turned away for lack of funds
Mujeres Market: Go small or go home at this quirky queer and trans BIPOC-centered pop-up featuring local artisans, tattoos by Reseda-based artist Not Jade Tattoo, a drag performance by L.A.’s country western king Manny Oakley and poetry by De Los contributor Yesika Salgado. Enjoy music by GFunkTrece, Chulita Vinyl Club’s Santa Ana DJs Yellow Blackbird and Blue Collar Scholar .
When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Where: Void Studios, 677 Imperial St., Los Angeles
Admission: Free
Por Vida Los Angeles Posada Navideña: This lowrider-friendly market features food, music, drinks and more than 60 vendors selling everything from tacos to chilaquiles. Donate gently used or new blankets, beanies, gloves, sweaters, socks, clothes, open top canned food for a drive benefiting Border Kindness, which provides asylum-seekers, refugees and the displaced with food, shelter, clothing, transportation and medical and legal services.
When: 4 to 10:30 p.m. Friday
Where: 677 Imperial St., Los Angeles
Admission: Free before 6 p.m., $3 after
HOLIDAY EVENTS
Nochebuena: A Christmas Spectacular: Ballet Folklórico de Los Ángeles and Mariachi Garibaldi de Jaime Cuéllar join forces to celebrate the holidays Mexico style. The Soraya Christmas spectacular blends music, dance and culture to evoke spirited folktales. Make the drive to be serenaded by the Bakersfield-bred mariachi group founded by Jimmy Cuéllar, who began his career as a teenager singing alongside his father Jaime Cuéllar, and L.A.’s own folklórico troupe who’ve played with everyone from Morrissey to Las Cafeteras.
When: 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday
Where: The Soraya, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge
Admission: Tickets start at $39
Although drinks like rompope and champurrado have a specific country where they originated, other countries in the region have adapted their own variations.
Party Girl Piñatas’ Christmas Piñata Party: What started as a DIY Selena piñata for her daughter’s birthday party turned into an Etsy business, shipping 12-inch piñatas worldwide to people who don’t have a Piñata District nearby. Artist Amorette Crespo makes Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, marijuana leaf and Bad Bunny emo heart piñatas that resonate with today’s party animals. She’s currently hosting holiday-themed mini piñata-making workshops where you can decorate a pre-made gingerbread figure, Christmas tree, stocking or gingerbread house. There will be piñata-themed trivia, piñata smashing and a chance to win your very own custom piñata. Stocking stuffers will also be sold to fill your creation.
When: 7 p.m. Thursday, every hour from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: Zingo Tacos, 5234 Valley Blvd., Los Angeles
Admission: $35 per person, 12+
Plaza de La Raza Holiday Celebration: Lincoln Heights’ longtime cultural arts center transforms into a winter wonderland for this annual holiday fiesta. If you’re looking for a place to take the kids, this is it. Snow will be dumped to create a white Christmas in L.A. and craft workshops include ornament and poinsettia making, sugar cookie, tree and stocking decorating. Live performances by Plaza de la Raza’s very own mariachi singers and dancers, local Aztec dancers and many more entertainers. Don’t miss a chance to take a picture with Pancho Claus, the Latinx answer to Santa.
When: 5 to 9:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Plaza de la Raza, 3540 N. Mission Road, Los Angeles
Admission: Free
Las Posadas on Olvera Street: Whether you’re a believer or just like to partake in this reenactment of the pilgrimage of Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem, Olvera Street is the place to be. The event is the oldest celebration of its kind in the city, featuring entertainment and a candlelight procession starting at the Avila Adobe. There will be singing, lodging requests and eventually pan dulce, champurrado and piñata breaking.
When: 5:30 p.m. Dec. 16 to Dec. 24
Where: Olvera Street, 10 Olvera St., Los Angeles
Admission: Free
MUSIC, ART & CULTURE
Bardo with Xiuhtezcatl: Chicano Batman lead singer and guitarist Bardo Martinez takes to the stage of this OG Echo Park music venue known for its killer sound system alongside his latest collaborator Xiuhtezcatl Tonatiuh. In September, the two released “We’re All Just Stars,” a dreamy feel-good song about not letting anyone steal your sunshine and surrendering to nature. The single is accompanied by a video featuring them vibing together in local wildlands and downtown lofts, making for quite the Chicano hippie duo.
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: The Echo, 1822 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles
Admission: Tickets $22
Meet Sad Breakfast, the Mexican band influenced by L.A. that you might not know (but maybe you should)
Sad Breakfast was one of the first bands in Latin America to push hard against record label controls. It dreamed of a world where people could listen to the music and bands they liked without any filters.
Irene Diaz at the Hotel Cafe: L.A.’s soulful sweetheart Irene Diaz performs at this cozy Hollywood singer-songwriter hot spot on the eve of her Ensenada performance with Tijuana indie rockeros Ramona. Her hit “Crazy in Love” is the anthem for many loca lovebirds. Catch her this Friday for an intimate show being billed as “The Piano Diaries,” where she’ll do what she does best: sing love songs on her piano that resonate with anyone who’s ever fallen hard.
When: 9:30 p.m. Friday
Where: The Hotel Cafe, 1623 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Los Angeles
Admission: Tickets $25
Brown is Beautiful Poetry Showcase: Some of the most powerful voices in Latinx poetry gather beneath the same Latinx With Plants patio for a night of unapologetic expression benefiting the Egyptian Red Crescent, a non-governmental organization providing aid for the people of Gaza. The lineup includes “Promises of Gold” author José Olivarez, L.A.’s beloved Yesika Salgado, Barrio Fuerza founder Alma Rosa Rivera, “Hood Creatura” author and trans and queer BIPOC spiritual practitioner féi hernandez, 2023 L.A. Pride Poet Meliza Bañales and Espacio 1839 co-founder Nico Avina. Bundle up for this outdoor event that’s guaranteed to warm your soul.
When: 8:30 to 11 p.m. Friday
Where: Latinx With Plants, 2208 E. Cesar Chavez Ave., Los Angeles
Admission: $5-$10 sliding scale admission; no one turned away for lack of funds.
Victor M. Valle’s Book Launch: Chicano author, professor and former L.A. Times journalist Victor M. Valle, who in 1984 won a Pulitzer Prize for his contributions to a series called “Southern California’s Latino Community,” is back with new nonfiction. In “The Poetics of Fire: Metaphors of Chile Eating in the Borderlands” Valle centers the chile as a decolonizing lens to analyze pre-Conquest Mesoamerican cosmology, early European exploration, the forced conversion of Natives to Catholicism and how food defines place. Food writer Patricia Escárcega joins the author for an evening of food by Mercado La Paloma restaurant Oaxacalifornia and sounds by San Fernando Valley producer El Keamo.
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, 681 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles
Admission: Free
L.A. is too big for us to know about all the events happening this weekend. If we missed something you think we should know about, let us know.
Kamren Curiel is a fourth-generation Xicana born in East L.A. and raised in Monterey Park and South San Gabriel. She’s written for L.A. Taco, Latina magazine, LAist, KCET, Alta and the Huffington Post, and was the senior editor at Remezcla and Sí TV.
