In a pastel yellow two-story home on the Internal West Aspect, Jaime Macias has created his personal slice of group. The home had been a part of the Macias household for almost 50 years when, in October 2020, it turned residence to Jaime’s Place: equal elements bar, music venue and gathering place.
“The West Aspect has traditionally been the place the place the poor have been concentrated,” says Macias, explaining that he was intentional about making a welcoming ambiance for the neighborhood.
The outcome, he says, was divestment from and stigmatization of the area people. Macias wished to vary that, however he didn’t wish to promote the gentrification he’s watched different downtown adjoining neighborhoods expertise, by which essentially the most susceptible locals are pressured out of their houses. As a substitute, he sees Jaime’s Place as a part of what he calls “conscientious growth.” “It’s about threading the needle—placing a steadiness between financial progress and retaining the vibrancy and the culturally wealthy heritage of the Internal West Aspect alive,” he says.
With Jaime’s Place, it appears he’s been in a position to accomplish simply that, creating an area he describes as “constructed for the barrio and past.”
Simply 100 ft from the historic website of Patio Andaluz, the enduring hotbed for the West Aspect Sound from the Nineteen Fifties by ’70s, Jaime’s Place can also be working exhausting to proceed the legacy of music within the neighborhood. The bar has turn into a vacation spot for Chicano bands from across the nation, like The Sinseers, The Altons and Thee Sacred Souls, and Macias says he’s at all times looking out for brand new expertise from the group.
Just like the constructing itself, Jaime’s Place is a household affair. All 4 of Macias’ kids assist run the enterprise. Aracely, a pc analyst, arrange the bar’s digital infrastructure, Gabriela is the social media director, Patricio is normal supervisor and Jacob helps any time they’re short-staffed. Macias says Dorothy, his spouse of 33 years and a registered nurse, is the true spine of the household and Jaime’s Place.
The venue has turn into a cease for locals from all through town, however Macias says their regulars are “simply good folks desirous to take pleasure in a superb time in their very own yard.”
