- Post date
- 19 Apr 2018
- Caption
- “Un lugar 100% rocker!” That was El Tiankiz in Kuikatl (mercado del canto y poesía/Market of the song and poetry). This was another puesto inside a Broadway swap-meet which entrance was on 6th street. Yaokoatonal Saucedo, the owner of the “Tink” began selling rock merch on a banqueta in the Pico Union area. Due to the constant police harassment to street vendors (what is new?). Yao stopped selling merch on the streets and went to work on construction, until he finally saved enough money to open his own swap-meet puesto in Downtown LÁ in the late 1990s. Aside from selling all kinds of Latin American rock merch, Yao also fostered the sharing and teaching of the nauthal oral tradition, aztec dance, shell playing and other indigenous cultural practices. In addition, Yao led his own “mexikametal” band Tezkatlipoka.
El Tiankiz in Kuikatl was yet another casualty of the “redevelopment” of downtown. Again, referring to urban theorist Mike Davis, urban planners and developers have turned Downtown LA into a faux luxury urban lifestyle, that is akin to living in a residential mall. In the process, obliterating the vibrant commercial Latina/o commercial and cultural activity of the last decades.
The Tiankiz, along with La Cara del Rock, Ritmo Rock (part of Ritmo Latino), and Bolochos were often visited by the countless of Latin American bands that performed in Los Angeles in the 1990s and 2000s. This so they could sell their merch directly to the stores and also hold impromptu meet and greets with their LÁ fans. Check out the photos with Yao and Saúl Hernández, Alejandro Lora de El Tri, Luis Alvarez (El Haragán), Rebel d’ Punk. These are photos from the still extant Tripod Page of the Tiankiz. ????
- Location
- Downtown Los Angeles
- Type
- photograph
- View on Instagram
- https://www.instagram.com/p/Bhwv-4jhR5D/