A Call To End Amigo Stores
Used guitars hang in the window of a pawnshop in downtown Baldwin Park. City leaders this year enacted a moratorium on new payday loan and check-cashing stores. A project of mixed-income housing, theaters and mainstream restaurants such as Claim Jumper, Applebees and Chilis is in the works. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
Greg Tuttle owns and operates a machine shop in Baldwin Park. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
Workers refurbish engine parts at Greg Tuttle’s machine shop in Baldwin Park. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
A child plays in a pool in the driveway of an apartment complex in Baldwin Park. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
Some in Baldwin Park, including Mary Valencia, worry that development downtown will push out older residents unable to afford new housing. The mayor believes mainstream projects now fit better with the citys younger Latino residents. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
For decades, cities like Baldwin Park attracted working-class and immigrant-centric retailers: check-cashing businesses, Latino supermarkets, discount gift stores, bridal shops and Mexican western wear stores. But many residents are second-, third- and even fourth-generation Latinos with little interest in stores aimed at immigrants. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
