In Alta Journal’s latest issue, Gustavo Arellano recounts the 1965 Hollywood Bowl concert where a Chicano rock group outplayed the Beatles. For one reader, the story prompted a flood of memories. Got something to say? We’d love to hear from you. Email letters@altaonline.com. Please include your name, city, state, and phone number so we can contact you. Letters may be edited for brevity and clarity.
PLAY IT AGAIN
I grew up as a white kid in a barrio in the Inland Empire, which has been alive with music and the arts at least since the 1920s and through the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s. From a historical perspective, these four decades, rich in their own musical styles, culminated in the ’60s. During this decade, the Inland Empire experienced a convergence of culture and social trends that exploded into one of the richest regional microcosms of music and creativity in the United States.
Those of us who remember the ’60s know it wasn’t just the Inland Empire; it was a time of musical activity and innovation everywhere. The difference in the Inland Empire was the sheer number of people who took to the stage, instrument in hand, to express themselves live and in person, with a depth and breadth of cultural references unparalleled in other locations.
Yes, surf music was everywhere. Dick Dale often played at the Fairmont Park Armory, and 45 minutes down the Riverside Freeway, we were at the beach.
The British Invasion made a considerable impact, with the Rolling Stones playing their first American concert at the Swing Auditorium at the Orange Show Grounds. The Swing hosted an incredible array of ’60s rock and roll royalty, including Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Buffalo Springfield, and an endless parade of San Francisco bands and musicians.
But before all that were the Latin dance parties at the Kaiser Dome, a smaller venue at the Orange Show Grounds. In the early ’60s, musical groups included the Bob Velasquez Orchestra and the Ralph Laguna Orchestra, and recording artists René Touzet and Eddie Encinas headlined there.
As rock and roll’s influence on Latin music began to emerge through Ritchie Valens and other Eastside Sound musicians, the Inland Empire’s Hispanic community took notice, and the Dome shifted toward more popular Latin artists. Thee Midniters became a staple at these dance parties, blending Latin tradition and rock and roll.
Underneath it all, as the whole world of music was changing and the Inland Empire spawned hundreds of garage bands, the Chicano sound became a foundation on which an entire genre of music was built.
It is no wonder to me that I knew every band you mentioned in your article, and Los Lobos is my favorite. Thanks for your great work in surfacing this critical area of entertainment.
Gary Petersen
Nevada City, California•
