What is
Rock Archivo?
Rock Archivo LÁ is a public history repository that collects, examines, and shares Latina/o/x youth cultures ephemera.
While it primarily focuses on 1990s Rock Angelino, the collective archive incorporates many other music cultures and scenes such as punk, ska, dark-gothic, metal, rock urbano, and more. The materials collected by the Rock Archivo LÁ are as vast as the Latinx immigrant and US Latinx experiences: flyers, posters, documents, photos, stickers, printed set-lists, lyrics, cassettes, CDs among other items.
These items are kernels of knowledge that collectively allow us to reassess the key significance of Latinx cultural expressions in Southern California and Latin American history. Submissions to the Rock Archivo LÁ are welcome!
Who is Jorge Leal?
Jorge N. Leal is the curator of the Rock Archivo LÁ!
He is a cultural and urban historian of the ethnic Mexican and Latinx experience in Southern California. He is currently an Assistant Professor of History at the University of California, Riverside.
Dr, Leal received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism and History and his master’s degree in History at California State University, Northridge. He earned his Ph.D. in U.S. history at the University of California, San Diego.
Before his academic training, Dr. Leal was an active participant in the L.A. Latina/o music scene both as rock critic, tv writer, and concert producer.
But first, let’s take it to Jorge’s first days in Los Angeles. Jorge migrated from Guadalajara, Mexico with his family during his teenage years in the 1990s. Shortly after, he immersed himself in the Rock Angelino scene. First as a reporter during his CSUN college years, and then as a concert producer.
Jorge would go on to work as a journalist covering Los Angeles politics and Latina/o cultural topics for publications in Southern California, Mexico, and Spain. He then transitioned to TV, where he became a writer for shows in the bilingual network mun2, as a producer for PBS and event production for Telemundo, Univision, and other media companies.
Prior to his appointment at UC Riverside, Dr. Leal was a Postdoctoral Scholar and Teaching Fellow in the History and the American Studies and Ethnicity Departments at the University of Southern California. He has also taught courses on urban history, race, gender, and culture for the CSUN Department of History and for the Chicana/o Latina/o Studies Department at Cal State University, Los Angeles.
