We all have our favorite neighborhood joint, a place where we not only eat and drink but also make lasting memories, meet with friends and family, and feel truly at home. For a few decades in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Echo Park, that place was the Nayarit. It was a space for all Angelenos to enjoy dishes from the Mexican state of Nayarit: the restaurant was frequented by the rich and famous; the working-class Mexican community, especially from Nayarit itself; the late-night hordes who packed the restaurant until it closed each day at 4 a.m.; and the burgeoning LGBTQ+ community of Echo Park and the broader region.
Natalia Molina’s text is partly a history of the Nayarit’s role as an urban anchor in Echo Park during the 1950s and 1960s, and partly a personal journey of self-discovery—the owner of the eatery was author Molina’s namesake and grandmother, lovingly referred...
University of California Press