A Mighty Fortress

It’s a Sunday, and the crowd gathered on the third floor of the mosaic-tiled building in Boyle Heights is rejoicing in the music. It’s not exactly a resounding rendition of “A Mighty Fortress Is Our Lord,” but what it lacks in reverence it makes up for by the beatific smiles of the seated listeners.

“I don’t think it’s a sin,” says Luis Carbajal, one hand on the arm of his wife, Maria, and the other tapping on his beer bottle to the beat of one of the three mariachi bands around him.

The Carbajals and their three children are among the many families that come straight from their Eastside church to El Mercado de Los Angeles, near the corner of First and Lorena streets. It’s a Sabbath ritual for many Boyle Heights residents. Olvera Street may be historic (OK, contrived historic), but this place--around since 1968--is lived. The two bottom floors are a maze of eateries and small shops that sell Mexican candy, fruit, pottery, clothing and crafts, which all give that flea market feel of a small-town Main Street. There’s also a grocery store and meat market.

Upstairs are four restaurants that offer as many as three mariachi bands intermittently taking turns on three different stages. The music--played by an assortment of five- and six-piece groups--starts at 7 p.m. during the week (though smaller combos perform at noon) and around 12 on Saturdays and Sundays.

“I’m here with family and friends, having a good time,” Carbajal says. “I think that’s sort of what the Sabbath day was made for.”

“It’s just a nice, relaxing place to sit and talk,” says Julia Gomez, a friend of the Carbajals. “The food’s good and the music’s great. That makes for a pretty good afternoon, I think. And I did go to church, so I’ve got nothing to worry about.”