Olvera Street, 1970

Photo by L. Reid. Olvera Street, 1970.

While looking back at old slides converted to digital, I stumbled onto a shot taken by my Granny during their trip West in the summer of 1970. The shot above is historic Olvera Street in Los Angeles, a place I visited in January 2016, and a place where my 5th-great-grandfather Francisco Suastegui may have walked in 1835. While Cinco de Mayo takes on a new time for celebration in the US, it is also a time for reflection back on my Mexican side of the tree, and this photo by my Granny brings back a similar to feel for what I experienced walking down Olvera Street 46 years after she did.