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Memories were on the menu as the Pasadena Mexican American History Association (PMAHA) held its annual honoree luncheon for nearly 100 friends, families and supporters at Mijares Mexican Restaurant on Saturday, October 17, 2021. [Photography by Eddie Rivera]
Memories were on the menu as the Pasadena Mexican American History Association (PMAHA) held its annual honoree luncheon for nearly 100 friends, families and supporters at Mijares Mexican Restaurant on Saturday, October 17, 2021. [Photography by Eddie Rivera]
Memories were on the menu as the Pasadena Mexican American History Association (PMAHA) held its annual honoree luncheon for nearly 100 friends, families and supporters at Mijares Mexican Restaurant on Saturday, October 17, 2021. [Photography by Eddie Rivera]
Memories were on the menu as the Pasadena Mexican American History Association (PMAHA) held its annual honoree luncheon for nearly 100 friends, families and supporters at Mijares Mexican Restaurant on Saturday, October 17, 2021. [Photography by Eddie Rivera]
Memories were on the menu as the Pasadena Mexican American History Association (PMAHA) held its annual honoree luncheon for nearly 100 friends, families and supporters at Mijares Mexican Restaurant on Saturday, October 17, 2021. [Photography by Eddie Rivera]
Memories were on the menu as the Pasadena Mexican American History Association (PMAHA) held its annual honoree luncheon for nearly 100 friends, families and supporters at Mijares Mexican Restaurant on Saturday, October 17, 2021. [Photography by Eddie Rivera]
Memories were on the menu as the Pasadena Mexican American History Association (PMAHA) held its annual honoree luncheon for nearly 100 friends, families and supporters at Mijares Mexican Restaurant on Saturday, October 17, 2021. [Photography by Eddie Rivera]
Memories were on the menu as the Pasadena Mexican American History Association (PMAHA) held its annual honoree luncheon for nearly 100 friends, families and supporters at Mijares Mexican Restaurant on Saturday, October 17, 2021. [Photography by Eddie Rivera]
Memories were on the menu as the Pasadena Mexican American History Association (PMAHA) held its annual honoree luncheon for nearly 100 friends, families and supporters at Mijares Mexican Restaurant on Saturday, October 17, 2021. [Photography by Eddie Rivera]
Memories were on the menu as the Pasadena Mexican American History Association (PMAHA) held its annual honoree luncheon for nearly 100 friends, families and supporters at Mijares Mexican Restaurant on Saturday, October 17, 2021. [Photography by Eddie Rivera]
Memories were on the menu as the Pasadena Mexican American History Association (PMAHA) held its annual honoree luncheon for nearly 100 friends, families and supporters at Mijares Mexican Restaurant on Saturday, October 17, 2021. [Photography by Eddie Rivera]
Memories were on the menu as the Pasadena Mexican American History Association (PMAHA) held its annual honoree luncheon for nearly 100 friends, families and supporters at Mijares Mexican Restaurant on Saturday, October 17, 2021. [Photography by Eddie Rivera]
Memories were on the menu as the Pasadena Mexican American History Association (PMAHA) held its annual honoree luncheon for nearly 100 friends, families and supporters at Mijares Mexican Restaurant on Saturday, October 17, 2021. [Photography by Eddie Rivera]
Memories were on the menu Saturday afternoon as the Pasadena Mexican American History Association (PMAHA) hosted an honoree luncheon for nearly 100 friends, families and supporters—after more than a year of pandemic isolation—at Mijares Mexican Restaurant.
The event honored longtime PHAMA historian Rachel Heredia, who passed away earlier this year, as well as the Mijares family, which celebrated their restaurant’s 100th year of operation last year in the middle of the pandemic.
The restaurant, an original supporter of the PHAMA organization, returned the honor by hosting the event, as well as donating $2,000 to the group.
Mayor Victor Gordo stopped by the event, saluting not only the honorees but the members as well, saying that the success of Mexican-Americans in Pasadena only helped pave his own path to becoming mayor of the city in November of 2020. Gordo has talked frequently about growing up in a Pasadena garage, as the son of a restaurant waiter/cook father and seamstress mother.
“I like to say that Pasadena is the ‘center of the universe,’ Gordo told the audience, “and it’s hard-working people like you who make it that way.”
Artist and longtime PMAHA member Vibiana Aparicio-Chamberlin created a special “domestic altar” for Heredia’s memory. She explained that the altar was similar to the types of altars that would be found in local homes, as opposed to larger, more commercial Dia De Los Muertes displays now showing up in a wide range of locations from retail shops to large department stores.
“Rachel was one of the biggest leaders here in our organization,” said Sandi Mejia, event co-organizer. “She really worked to make things happen.”
Heredia worked to create the Canto Robledo project, explained Mejia, which resulted in the 2010 installation of a bronze plaque at Villa Park Recreation center to honor the former bantamweight champion boxer, who turned to training after an injury in the ring left him blinded.
Robledo’s son, Joe, who emceed the event, is author of a book detailing Pasadena’s unique boxing history, Blood on the Canvas: The Life & Legacy of Boxing Icon, Canto “TNT” Robledo.
R-lene Mijares de Lang and Alice Mijares, granddaughters of Jesucita Mijares, were also honored for the family’s more than 100 years of service to the Pasadena community.
Mejia recounted how Jesucita, the matriarch of the Mijares family, took in boarders at her Pasadena home to help meet expenses after moving to the U.S. in the early 1900s. She also fed those boarders, which led to the opening of the family’s first tortilla shop and Mexicatessen, which of course, eventually led to the opening of one of Pasadena’s oldest and most venerable eateries.
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