On Saturday July 29, 2017 from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., the Pico Youth & Family Center (PYFC) will be partnering with the West- Los The Documentary to host their 2nd Annual Unity Car Show.
The event's goal is to raise cultural awareness of the Chicanx/Latinx community that remains prominent in the West Los Angeles area today. Tickets are $10 at the door, children 12 and under are free.
The show will be held at John Adams Middle School, featuring over 100 classic cars of various years and models. These cars will compete for first, second, and third place based on model year beginning from the 1930’s. To enter a car into the show, there is a $25 pre-registration fee or a $35 fee for cars registered the day of. Alongside the competition, there will be various activities for guests of all ages to enjoy.
“Well it's a family friendly event that's exciting for those who want to see classic cars restored. There's music, live entertainment, you know we have food — there will be some food trucks and there'll be some cultural dance like Baile Folklorico and stuff like that. Yeah, so it's a really culturally inspiring event for the entire family,” said PYFC CEO, Oscar de la Torre.
He also describes the important learning opportunities for the public that come with attending this particular event. Guests will have the opportunity to ask car owners first-hand about the unique history of each individual car and how it came to be.
“We also have a keynote speaker that's going to talk briefly about culture and history, the history of the Chicano/Latino community on the Westside,” he said.
Santa Monica serves as a suitable location for this event because it is home to the PYFC, an organization that promotes peace, unity, and social justice not only within the community.
“Santa Monica is a great city for us to host it in, it's a little harder everywhere else,” he said. “The reality is, is that Santa Monica has the Pico Youth and Family Center for the Latino community. There's no equivalent throughout the Westside of LA of a cultural organization like ours, and so really the PYFC is a source of support for all the Latinos in west LA.”
The community wide event welcomes all to enjoy this form of art as well as other festivities that celebrate the Hispanic culture in the West Los Angeles region.
“We want people to know that we call it the Unity Car Show because we're building bridges across neighborhoods that have a history of violence between them,” he said. “We’re doing it through something that's a common thing in all these communities, it’s that people love cars and people love working on restoring these cars. It's more than just a hobby it's a lifestyle for many in our community, and we feel like it's a perfect fit for our mission which is to bring unity. So, it is about the cars, but it's more than that.”
For more information or to register a car for this event, visit http://www.picoyouth.org/
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