LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes
LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes
LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, a museum and cultural center dedicated to the history, art, and culture of the Mexican experience in Los Angeles, announced plans today to expand its offerings with the opening of LA Plaza Cocina, the country’s first museum/teaching kitchen dedicated to Mexican cuisine.
La Cocina is scheduled to open in first quarter 2019 in the new LA Plaza Village mixed-used project now rising adjacent to the museum. LA Plaza Village is a $160 million residential-retail complex being developed by LA Plaza in conjunction with the County of Los Angeles, Trammell Crow, High Street Residential, and the Cesar Chavez Foundation.
“Mexican food is one of our greatest cultural contributions to the world,” said LA Plaza founder and Board member Gloria Molina. “La Cocina will serve as a central space where we can experience, share, savor, and explore the rich history and contemporary interpretations of Mexican culinary arts.”
“La Cocina will be a place where we celebrate Mexican culinary arts through exhibitions, cooking classes, lectures, demonstrations, festivals, and much more,” said John Echeveste, LA Plaza CEO. “It will be a space where chefs from throughout Mexico and the United States can share the treasures of their craft with Mexican food aficionados.”
LA Plaza Cocina expands LA Plaza’s role in celebrating and showcasing the rich and diverse Mexican history, art and culture of Los Angeles. It will have a flexible format to support multi-disciplinary programming including exhibition space, a state-of-the-art test kitchen, leasable space for a Mexican food-oriented vendor, and retail space. It will also be equipped with audio-visual capabilities to support live and taped broadcasts. Programs will include: a Mexican Culinary Museum, tracing the rich history and evolving art of Mexican Cuisine; Culinary Arts Public Programs, currently being offered at LA Plaza, expanded to include a year-round series of experiences; a Chef in Residence to be selected annually to collaborate with staff on programming; LA Tiendita, a retail space offering hard-to-find Mexican foods, books and cooking utensils; and rentable spaces for meetings, events, and pop-up restaurants.
LA Plaza Cocina will be located in LA Plaza Village, the first major new development in the El Pueblo Historical Monument area of downtown Los Angeles. The 3.7-acres project is being developed by LA Plaza, High Street Residential, Trammell Crow Company, the Cesar Chavez Foundation, Principal Real Estate Investors, and the County of Los Angeles. The mixed-use complex includes 355 apartments, including 20% priced at affordable rates, and more than 43,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space.
La Cocina interior design and space planning is being developed by Rodrigo Vargas Designs of Los Angeles.
LA Plaza is a Los Angeles County museum serving the public since 2011 with a diverse menu of exhibitions, programming and educational programs exploring the local Latino experience. LA Plaza Cocina expands LA Plaza’s current California Museum Association award-winning Edible Teaching Garden and Culinary Arts program, where students from kindergarten through 12th grade are invited to explore topics such as food origins, exercise, and gardening. Garden and Culinary workshops provide hands-on instruction on healthy eating and cooking skills to more than 7,000 students annually, and more than 43,000 children since LA Plaza opened in 2011. The workshops are free; most students are transported to LA Plaza free of charge as well.
ABOUT LA PLAZA: LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes celebrates the past and inspires the future by sharing the untold stories about the history, culture, values, and traditions of Mexican, Mexican American, and all Latinos in the founding and continuing evolution of Southern California through compelling and culturally enriching exhibitions, educational programs, and public programming. Located near the site where Los Angeles was founded in 1781, LA Plaza’s 2.2-acre campus includes two historic and renovated buildings (the Vickrey-Brunswig Building and Plaza House) surrounded by 30,000 square feet of public space that includes an outdoor stage and edible teaching garden. LA Plaza is a Smithsonian affiliate and Los Angeles County museum.
LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, 501 North Main Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Hours: M, W, & Th, 12-5 pm, Fri-Sun 12-6 pm
Admission: FREE
Website: www.lapca.org
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