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The shrine to Mexican horse culture that’s now a sanctuary from the fires – Jobsmaa.com

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When Fernando Lopez Sr. saw live footage of the wildfires that swept across Southern California last week, he immediately thought of horses.

The 47-year-old is the general manager Pico Rivera StadiumThe rodeo ring next to the San Gabriel River has been a sacred place for Mexican horse culture for decades. The Lopez conglomerate, which runs nightclubs and restaurants and promotes concerts throughout Southern California, owes their American Dream to generations of Latinos wearing the open-air, 6,000-seat venue to watch Stetson-clad horse-riding shows and singers. , jeans and boots.

“We are horse people,” he told me recently. “And horse people help each other.”

Lopez tried to drive cattle trailers from his Tarzana home to Sylmar The Hurst fire roared But all the roads were said to be blocked. He then called Pico Rivera City Manager Steve Carmona and suggested opening the playhouse to anyone who needed to evacuate large animals.

Her cousin, Lalo Lopez, posted messages on social and local media and got politicians like LA Council Member Monica Rodriguez to spread the word. Fernando's son, Fernando Jr., took calls from frantic horse owners, who soon began dropping off their four-hoofed friends in the arena, including a pot-bellied pig named Elle.

A shrine for horses has become a sanctuary for them.

“Imagine your horse is stuck – you go and try to save him,” said Fernando Sr. “And then imagine you no longer have a place to put them. You're going to look for a safe place.”

We stood outside the entrance of the sports hall. Banners for upcoming shows adorn one wall. They will soon be joined by two more: a benefit concert for fire victims on Saturday and a party for Mexican firefighters who helped at Pacific Palisades. Further fundraising is underway.

Horse evacuations happen every time there is a wildfire in Southern California because they are flammable in horse country. This time, it was a one-horse Dunkirk, with explosions in Malibu, Altadena and Sylmar.

Pierce College's Equestrian Center and Hansen Dam Horse Park quickly filled to capacity with 200 horses each. From the Inland Empire to Compton to L.A. County's seven equestrian counties, horse owners opened their properties and helped affected areas with recovery efforts.

Those places were used to help in disasters; No sports center.

47-year-old Fernando Sr. said. “We brought some horses from Malibu in 2018. “But this…” he trailed off.

“I was in South Central and Northridge during the '92 riots [1994] Earthquake,” said 52-year-old Lalo. “What we saw this time, there are no words.”

Pico Rivera Stadium

Aerial view of the Pico Rivera Sports Arena.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

We were accompanied by Fernando Jr., Carmona and Pico Rivera Mayor John Garcia. The city is coordinating donations to ensure the evacuated horses are fed and receive medical attention. Thirty have arrived so far, eight to go.

“For the victims, the last thing they want to worry about is their animals,” said Carmona, Pico Rivera's city manager since 2019. “They're like family to them. People know the gym and trust it, so we appreciate opening our doors.

“Their hearts are in the right place to want to help,” said Pico Rivera Mayor Garcia. “It's important to help because you never know when misfortune will strike you, and if we can give hope to those affected by the fire, we've done our job.”

This is not the first time Las Lopez used the theater to stage something other than entertainment. During the pandemic, they turned it into a Covid-19 testing station and drop-off point. When Los Angeles authorities chased down street vendors The popular night market at 26 Lincoln Heights Avenue in 2021The stadium offered them its parking space. Since then the market has been successful there.

At his El Mariachi restaurant in Encino, Fernando Sr. made 600 burritos for the crew at Los Angeles Fire Department Station 87 in Granada Hills. “My mom would take us to church growing up, and then she'd always say, 'Vengan Ayudhar,'' he said.

Come help.

His father, Leonardo, came to the United States from La Noria, Durango, in the 1960s and worked as braceros and dishwashers before opening a chain of nightclubs bearing Leonardo's name with four brothers. The clan took over the running of the sports arena in 2012, and Fernando Sr. is now president of the family's company, La Noria Entertainment.

Lalo said his late father and uncles taught him and his relatives a simple mantra: Simbre una mano bal paisano. Always lend a helping hand to your countryman. “What we would do if you were from Rancho,” he said before pointing out My family's own rural Mexican roots. “You know how it is.”

We walked to the cattle holding area of ​​the stadium. The Lopez family's herd of small horses and steers roamed an open corral to accommodate “their visitors,” as Fernando Sr. jokingly described the horses that had been turned out. Eight neighboring horses stood across from them in their usual stalls. On the doors of each shop was a paper with the date of their arrival and hometown: Altadena, 1/9. Eaton, 1/10. Sylmar, 1/11.

“These guys aren't comfortable,” Fernando Jr. said as he approached the evacuees. The 20-year-old heads La Noria Entertainment Sarria Team. “They want to go home.”

“See if their eyelids are burnt,” said his father. “And their ears.”

Garcia saw a brown stallion. “What does it mean if their eyes are really red?” the mayor asked loudly.

“I mean they're really nervous,” Fernando Jr. replied. Then he went to a pregnant mare.

“When she was first here, she wouldn't go near anyone,” he said. Now, she was crushing his hand.

Pico Rivera is a horse in the arena

A Hurst fire extinguisher looks out from a stall at the Pico Rivera Sports Arena.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

Workers are available 24 hours a day to care for the horses and walk them, although Fernando Jr. said their owners prefer to come and do it themselves. Some have admitted to losing everything, he said; Others keep their circumstances private.

It's a way for owners to get horses to trot, even in unfamiliar territory.

“They don't know where the water is. “They don't know where the food is,” said Fernando Jr. “They don't know where anything is because it's not where they're based. It's like letting someone borrow your shoes.

He tested another horse. “But the owners appreciate all this. They say, 'Can we pay you for your help?' But no, no.”

El Monte resident Baltazar Almanza went from stall to stall with a wheelbarrow stacked with small alfalfa bales. He hangs them on dog racks. The horses ate quietly.

“It's very sad,” the 79-year-old said in Spanish. He has worked in the sports industry for over 20 years. “Life is hard – don't think it's easy. But we're moving forward – the only thing to do.”

Fernando Sr. showed me a video on his phone from the Hurst fire. In the darkness lit only by flames, people rushed to get the horses out of the inferno.

“You think they're not scared? They're not shocked?” “I feel bad, but I'm relieved now that they're here,” he said of the horses. They are cool.

He worries about the coming weeks and months. During epidemics, sports arena workers often found half-starved horses wandering along the banks of the San Gabriel River and its trails. They take in strays, nurse them back to health, and then transfer them to horse nonprofits.

“I can see people losing everything and giving up their horses,” Fernando Sr. said. “But you don't leave a horse like that. You don't do that to any animal.

We stopped next to a large horse trailer. He looked back at the guests. “Ahora sí se pone cabrón.”

Now it becomes very difficult.

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