Swing

By the 1940s, jazz and swing became popular among Mexican American youth throughout California. Young Mexican Americans joined integrated school bands with white and black musicians and danced to the likes of Duke Ellington, Jimmy Dorsey, and Cab Calloway. East Los Angeles boasted more than a dozen jazz bands composed mostly of Mexican musicians, including the Sal Cervantes Orchestra and the Don Tosti Orchestra. The Zenda Ballroom and Hollywood Palladium were important venues for big band music in Los Angeles, while El Monte’s Rainbow Gardens drew eager Mexican audiences from the San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys.