Neither Static nor Stoic

Two weeks ago while touring a local adobe I met a man whose grandfather was the minister at El Buen Samaritano Methodist Church in Chihuahuita. Walter Dominguez is a director/producer and historian who has a wealth of knowledge of his family's history and of the history of Southern California. He has produced a feature length documentary on his grandfather's life - you can learn more via http://www.weavingthepast.com/

Walter has generously shared this and other images of church members. Walter shared that this is a photo from the 1930s. I look forward to hearing them and learning more about the Chihuahuita Colonia from him and from the archival resources he'll be sharing.
On the same day I met Walter I had a telephone conversation with Sergio Lopez. Hs shared that his father had been part owner of the Danzon Supper Club which was located on Union, in what was now call Old Pasadena. He contacted me after reading my book "Latinos in Pasadena".

Mr. Lopez has pictures and posters of the club and the patrons and performers who filled it with song and dance. It seems it flourished during the 1950s.

His father's life is a fascinating story that is international in scope, connected with cinema, and has chapters that are filled with rags to riches stories. I can barely wait to look at posters he has that will give a much fuller picture of club and tell more about who the performers were.

If someone had told me when I was studying music history in college that I would find myself studying the history of Pasadena or the history of Latinos in Pasadena I would have had a good guffaw or two.

And yet it keeps finding me and keeps insisting to be shared.