We Love You, Gustavo Robles, aka “Kaboom,” and raise your name before all of our Neighborhood

J.T.1 Comment
Gustavo Robles, second from the left, with life-long childhood friends mourning the sudden loss of another giant in our community, Sergio Rios, in 2024.

“Every Pueblito has a coranzito, an inimitable essence for its people. A deep glow from above and below.”

Wherever Gustavo went, raucous laughter tended to ensue, along with an unmistakable camaraderie for and from the people around him. The fact is that it was a special gift how he went so naturally from goofing off with the homeboys to sliding off in front of the homegirls, then still finding time to offer a helping hand to the Señoras of our Pueblito. Together with his entirely contagious smile, these qualities made him a central figure anywhere in our neighborhood one of us was fortunate enough to find him.

Love is a flame; one that kindles more love from everything it touches. Gustavo embodied it every day and in every direction, so now in every direction we mourn and hold and uplift each other as he would have us do. In a world still dividing our families between borders and tearing away at our roots at every turn, it’s a gift to connect with those who still abide by everyone they meet as a sacred code of conduct; that’s what this young man was and what he will live indefinitely in our memories for.

We will have even more to recount in the wake of this champion’s sudden passing via Making a Neighborhood. Please subscribe to the Newsletter to be sure you don’t miss it.

Above all, our deepest condolences go to his friends, family, and everyone else who treasured Gustavo with us.

J.T.

A Candle for Sergio Rios Jr. and his family, our family

J.T.4 Comments

This is and will always be Sergio Rios Jr., born and raised in our neighborhood; a soul who took care of every last one of us, including me when I was 16 years old in the pit cheering for Rage Against the Machine at Rock the Bells in 2007.

Seven years later, I was fortunate enough to take the lot of these photos during your birthday party at the “Black” bar on Santa Monica Blvd on October 24th, 2014, when you turned 24 years old just a few weeks ahead of me.

Now, there are countless people reeling and whose lives are upended mourning for you and Ricky; now, there are so many eyes across the city worn from tears, so many of our voices gripped by the salt, so many childhoods belonging to the next generation which will only get to hear about you and your other half’s light in every room we got to share with you all.

Now there’s this family you leave behind, and a lifetime of missing you facing us like Mount Wilson in the distance; for your boys, our brothers, now there’s this manhood unlike anything we could ever imagine in our boyhood.

But because I know you wouldn’t back down if the roles were reversed, I promise to take it on to the best of my ability; I trust with everyone else who loves you that you and your people’s name will never, ever be in vain so long as we have a chance to yell it out.

From our neighborhood to the top of Mount Wilson, this is and will always be Sergio Rios Jr.

J.T.