Henry Bañuelos, barber at Henry’s Barbershop, discusses changes in Santa Monica’s Mexican community. Most of his customers used to be Mexican, but that is not longer the case in that many have been displaced to cities like Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lennox, and Lawndale. Rent prices became unaffordable so communities moved where it was affordable; a displacement similar to that of Venice. He remembers things like the Mexican Independence Day celebrations and the Mexican patriotic civic committee. He also remembers children learning English in public schools was problematic in that they were isolated from the rest of the students which is why his kids weren’t taught Spanish and went to a private school. He remembers the police department collaborating with immigration in detaining and deporting drunk Mexican men that were hanging out in the streets in the 1970’s.
