(Flickr pic by Fire Monkey Fish.)
Wilshire loses yet another institution: The mariachi band-themed La Fonda restaurant, which recently lost its ongoing battle against the building's landlord, officially shut its doors on Sunday.
The L.A. Times was there:
The closing of La Fonda marks the end of a cultural landmark in Los Angeles. It was home to Los Camperos, a nationally known group that toured and recorded with singer Linda Ronstadt. In the audience, mariachi musicians from around the state gathered to pay their respects to a place that is considered a mecca for Mexico's foremost style of folk, or country, music, which uses trumpets, violins and guitars to create background music for powerful vocalists.
"This is history for us," said Samuel Yanez, a 24-year-old violinist and third-generation mariachi musician from Sacramento. "La Fonda is to mariachi music what the early clubs in New Orleans or the Cotton Club [in New York] was to jazz."
Cano and his group Los Camperos lost the restaurant after a four-year legal battle to block the building's new owners from evicting the tenants.
Owner Natividad Cano hopes to open in another location.
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