You’ve seen them hanging on the walls of your favorite taqueria, corner bodega, and local laundromat: calendarios de varilla are the traditional Mexican calendars featuring religious themes, Aztec warriors, or beautiful women in any number of alluring yet chaste poses. Calendarios enthusiast and Alta Journal contributor Gustavo Arellano sits down with Calendarios Landin CEO Julian Urquiza to talk about the community history of these holiday keepsakes, flip through some classic calendar imagery, and discuss the “flex” of a business having its own custom calendarios de varilla.
About the guest:
Julian Urquiza has been the chief executive officer of Calendarios Landin for over 26 years. Based in Mexico, Calendarios Landin ships more than a million calendars to the United States each year.
About the moderator:
Gustavo Arellano is the author of Orange County: A Personal History and Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. He is a features writer for the Los Angeles Times and has been an essayist and reporter for various publications as well as a frequent commentator on radio and television. He was formerly the editor of OC Weekly, an alternative newspaper in Orange County, and penned the award-winning “¡Ask a Mexican!,” a nationally syndicated column in which he answered any and all questions about America’s spiciest and largest minority. Arellano is the recipient of awards ranging from the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Best Columnist to the Los Angeles Press Club President’s Award to an Impacto Award from the National Hispanic Media Coalition, and he was recognized by the California Latino Legislative Caucus with a 2008 Spirit Award for his “exceptional vision, creativity, and work ethic.” Arellano is a lifelong resident of Orange County and is the proud son of two Mexican immigrants, one of whom came to this country in the trunk of a Chevy.•
