One afternoon in January of last year, Luis Valdivia opened a letter from his new landlord with the worst nightmare for an L.A. renter: a monthly rent increase of $800.
Luis and his younger brother Enrique are mariachis who have shared a Boyle Heights apartment for the past 22 years. Their apartment building is located just a block from Mariachi Plaza, a gathering point since the 1930s for mariachis seeking work performing at private parties, restaurants, and public events.
Luis calls the plaza “headquarters,” and says that had the amount of the rent increase stood, he and his brother would have had to move away from the main source of their livelihood. “It was beyond our reach,” he said of the amount of the increase.
Representatives of the property owner, B.J. Turner, did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Mariachis occupy nearly a third of the 25 units in the apartment building, and they say living close to the plaza is essential to their livelihoods.