Patrons of the Fiesta Mini Mall, an affordable marketplace in South Los Angeles, are confronting the loss of their livelihood following an eviction notice from the city for the end of October.
The swap meet provides a communal space for residents of the South Park neighborhood to gather together and purchase low-cost goods, but is slated for demolition in order to create space for an affordable housing development. Vendors originally received a notice to vacate the premises by the end of May, but received two extensions that now place the deadline next month.
Maria Briseno, a vendor at the mall, told Annenberg Media about some of the services that the swap meet provides.
“The Mini Mall is important to South Central because it provides accessible merchandise to the community,” she said.
Briseno also shared her insight about the importance of communal spaces in neighborhoods like South Park. “It reduces vandalism and bad things that can happen in the community,” she said.
At a city council meeting on August 8, vendor Maria Francisca Peralez explained the importance of the mini mall location for the sellers.
“We have no place to go – where do we take our things? There’s a lot of sellers there of advanced age,” Peralez said. “It’s so expensive to move and we don’t have the resources.”
The closure of the swap meet would have dire ramifications for the neighborhood’s current residents, as the shopkeepers will need to find new locations for their shops. The stretch of South Main Street that the mall occupies already hosts a large number of street vendors, and Briseno worries that additional shops will draw complaints for removal.
South Park is home to a strong Latino community, and almost half of the residents were born outside of the United States, according to census data. Esmeralda Briseno, who works alongside her sister Maria as a vendor, worries about the impact for older residents.
“I see a lot of elderly people come every Saturday and Sunday to take a walk and buy water, their shampoo, their coffee or clothes. It’s the closest affordable store,” Esmerelda said. “This community is mostly low income. It’s important for them to have access to affordable things.”
As in many neighborhoods, people in South Park fear that new developments could lead to more expensive housing and the ultimate displacement of local residents.
“They want to close the Mini Mall to make the apartments supposedly affordable… It’s not going to be really affordable for low income people,” Esmerelda said.
Many apartment complexes enforce strict income checks for new applicants, and Esmerelda worries that current residents will be unable to meet the requirements. “It’s like they’re pushing the people away from this community,” she said.
Some people see a contradiction in City Hall, where Mayor Karen Bass – who is from South Los Angeles – has staked her first term on making progress against the housing crisis. The mayor’s “Inside Safe” initiative aims to create both temporary and permanent housing for people without either, but people who work and shop at the Fiesta Mini Mall fear that progress will come at their community’s expense.
“A message I have for Karen Bass is to help us, because she said that she was going to help,” Esmerelda said. “When she ran for her campaign she said she was going to end the homeless crisis, but soon, if this thing shuts down, there’s going to be a wave of Latino people being homeless.”