The Music

As a deeply multicultural city, Los Angeles brought Mexican artists and audiences into contact with other subcultures. Whether it was the mainstream popular culture of the big bands or the jump blues coming out of South Los Angeles’ African American clubs, the city’s cultural diversity left a strong imprint on the music that Mexicans produced in Los Angeles from the 1930s onward. With homegrown styles like Latin swing, pachuco boogie, and Chicano rock and roll, LA was the heart of California Mexican music in the middle of the century.