Barrios Project | Mexican Players Videos SEPT24 Hispanic Heritage Month

In Celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month - Una Noche de Cultura: A Celebration of Hispanic Heritage at the Historic Padua Hills Theatre, September 18, 2024. The following films produced by Claremont Heritage were shown:

o Stories from the East and West Barrios - produced by Olivia Klipfel, recognizes the two barrio neighborhoods as a vital part of the Claremont community and its history. This project first developed in collaboration with community consultants John Dominguez and Lydia Henry, both long-time residents of Arbol Verde the historic name of the east Barrio. With generous grant funding from the California Humanities, we have now conducted 13 oral histories, digitized over 300 photographs, curated a comprehensive historical exhibition, and created a short documentary film on the barrios. These materials will be made available to the public to view through the Claremont Colleges Digital Library and the Online Archive of California, where community members, researchers, and students can learn about this history through primary sources.
o The Mexican Players - produced by Eddie Gonzalez, were a community theater group of local Mexican American youth and adults who were both staff and performers at the Padua Hills Theatre, a small community dinner theater in the foothills above Claremont, built in 1930 by Herman and Bess Garner. The group performed Spanish language plays, romantic comedies and historical dramas with a Mexican­theme from 1931 to 1974 (Garcia, 2001). The Mexican Players were the longest running Mexican theater group in the history of the United States.