Backyard Punk-Inspired ‘BYO Gaming’ Lounge Offers East L.A. Youth Another Way to Fight

Talk to any working adult who grew up in the heart of East Los Angeles or Boyle Heights and they will all have one thing in common: something that kept them “off the streets” while they were growing up—away from gangbanging. 

For a lot of us, it was East L.A.’s active backyard punk scene. For others, it was immersing themselves in school. More recently, it has been the extremely competitive world of online gaming.

“This is a safe space where you can smack talk freely in the ‘hood,” jokes Joannalyn Villanueva, the 28-year-old co-owner of BYO GAMES, the brand new gaming space that opened less than a week ago on 1st and Hicks. Chuck Solis, 38, her partner both in life and in this new venture, also laughs. 

It’s midnight and there is no other business open—aside from liquor stores, fast food chains, and taco stands—for blocks around the new business. They are both born and raised in East L.A. and Boyle Heights, and emptied their life savings for the venture, with no help from investors. “It’s just us two funding this, so we built a lot of the gaming towers ourselves and remodeled everything, too,” Solis says. 

They are getting ready to host their next big Super Smash Bros tournament with over 120 competitors with a buy-in of $15 to play. First place gets 60 percent of the pool, second gets 30  percent, and third place gets 10 percent. They’ve successfully hosted a couple of underground tournaments in their cave-like gaming center already.  

Their BYO “plug-and-play” philosophy embodies the punk ethos they both grew up in. ‘BYO GAMES’ is directly named for and inspired by the acronym BYOB (bring your own booze) found on nearly every single flyer for a backyard punk rock show in the area since the first such gig in the late 70s. 

Joannalyn’s older brother is the guitarist for the popular East L.A. punk band Corrupted Youth. They also take a page from the infamous “No Snappers” or “Snappers Will Get Snapped On” slogan seen on punk flyers, which warn about respecting the space and keeping things peaceful. “I grew up going to backyard gigs my whole life and gamers are all about that DIY mentality, too,” Villanueva says.

“Gamers come to play our Smash tournament for bragging rights and obviously, money, and our gaming community regulates any snappers or anyone that goes out of place,” Solis warns. 

The tournaments at BYO GAMES earn competitors points for competing in the super major international “Smash World Tour” tournament, where the first prize gets a quarter-million dollars.

The neighborhood they grew up in and set up shop in has a median household income of $50k a year, so they have two arcade-like gaming consoles in the front of their shop that are free to use for the children who live nearby. Aside from these free arcades, Solis and Villanueva charge $8 per hour to use one of their five big screens to play, if people bring their own console and $10 an hour if they rent from them. For their smaller screen, it is $3 an hour for BYO and $5 if you rent a console from them. They also offer night-long buyouts where you can game all night long with friends. 

“I was very fortunate to grow up with a home computer and gaming console, but a lot of people don’t, or even have the space in their home for it, so we want to be here for them,” says Villanueva. 

Esports has been on the rise over the last decade, with reports predicting that annual viewers will be in the 84 million, compared to 79 million MLB viewers or 63 million NBA viewers. Last year, Bronny James (son of LeBron James) made the cover of Sports Illustrated for his gaming and streaming career. In 2019, colleges started creating degrees in esports.  

The decade-old topic of gentefication vs. gentrification naturally comes up, but under a less-critical lens when talking about space for playing Mario Kart rather than sipping an IPA or a $6 oat milk latte. And if their immediate acceptance into the neighborhood is any indication of their long-term success, the local community would much rather have a space like BYO GAMES over the old furniture store and thrift shop that occupied the space.   

“I mean El Mercadito de East Los Angeles is right down the street,” Solis says of the iconic Latino marketplace that has been open since 1968 but as of recently has been neglected.   “And if we don’t revitalize our own historic streets, who will?” 

BYO GAMES, 3555 E 1st St. Los Angeles, CA 90063. Open every day from 2:30 PM to 10:30 PM.