In our 74th episode, we chat with Oscar Monroy, a father of four from Echo Park and owner of the recently closed Cuscatleca Bakery along Sunset boulevard. Oscar and I discuss his family’s roots in Los Angeles since the 1970s, and how his parents (hailing from Mexico and El Salvador) first came to establish Panaderia Cuscatleca in the Pico-Union area in the early 2000s. We also discuss being Latinx in L.A. (including as “Mexidorans”), the future of the Latinx demographic in the U.S. (whose population currently numbers at 60.6 million), the current struggle for families like Oscar’s in the midst of gentrifying Echo Park, and much more. A can’t-miss session for any and all ‘coming up’ in the city of Los Angeles, and the first installment of a three-part discussion for Los Cuentos.
J.T.