SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - The opening of a new bookstore along Del Paso Boulevard is reviving a significant piece of Sacramento’s history tied to Hispanic literature and arts, Chicano culture and social movements.

La Cultura Bookstore at 2017 Del Paso Blvd. celebrated its grand opening Nov. 8 and invited the community to enjoy a day filled with tradition and art in forms that reflect both Mexican American and Chicano culture.

The celebration marked the launch of both the Sembrando Semillas Day Laborer Worker Center and the bookstore, an effort cultivated by local advocates Richard Alcala, Fatima Garcia and Christina Alvarez.

The event drew support from local leaders and public officials, including Sacramento City Councilmember Eric Guerra and a representative from Congressman Ami Bera’s office. Senator Angelique Ashby’s office presented the founders with a certificate recognizing their efforts to bring a meaningful resource to residents in District 8.

 

Sembrando Semillas Day Laborer Worker Center and La Cultura Bookstore founders pose for pictures during the Nov. 8 ribbon-cutting ceremony with community members, Danza Azteca performers and the North Sacramento Chamber of Commerce.

North Sacramento Chamber Vice Chair Mina Perez helped guide the ribbon-cutting and welcomed the store into the business community, thanking attending officials for their support.

While Southern California is home to several bookstores that cater to Chicano culture, La Cultura Bookstore is now one of the few in the northern part of the state.

Inside, vibrant artwork and rows of new and used books create a space for visitors to browse, buy or simply connect with Sacramento’s Chicano culture. Its shelves feature books by local authors across a variety of genres as well as textbooks on the history of Mexico, Mexican American movements and Indigenous and Native American topics.

Books range from $1 to $20, with varied and affordable pricing for artwork. The shop is open six days a week from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and closed on Mondays.

Anthony “Tony” Perez, long active in Sacramento’s Chicano scene, told Messenger Publishing Group that La Cultura Bookstore pays homage to La Raza Bookstore, a former Chicano literary hub that made a lasting cultural impact on the region. According to the National Center for Cultural Competence, the term Chicano most often refers to Mexican Americans, although it also describes a political identity tied to the farmworkers’ movement under César Chavez and, for many, a symbol of Mexican Indian ancestry pride.

Perez began volunteering at La Raza Bookstore in 1973, launching a decades-long commitment to Chicano advocacy in the area. Perez attended the Nov. 8 opening as a consultant, drawing on his experience with La Raza and his time on the Elk Grove school board.

“I am very familiar with what a bookstore can do for the community. It exposes you to a variety of things: art, music. You can have a bilingual, bicultural reading program here for students in the summertime or after school program to educate students,” Perez said. “That’s why I’m here as a consultant, advisor, as a supporter because I believe in this concept of this kind of space within your community you can walk to.”

 

Inside the newly-opened La Cultura Bookstore, vibrant artwork and rows of new and used books create a space for visitors to browse, buy or simply connect with Sacramento’s Chicano culture.

Alcala, a local veteran and Chicano advocate, said that the bookstore aims to provide a platform for artists and authors to share their literature, poetry and art. Plans include monthly book signings and poetry readings for creators seeking a space to present their work and connect with others who want to support the community, a space he said hasn’t been available for quite a while. 

“There hasn’t been one since La Raza Bookstore and that was in the ’70s,” Alcala said.

La Raza Bookstore, formerly located on F Street, later expanded into what is now the Latino Center of Art and Culture. The original bookstore offered literature, art and resources that helped residents navigate struggles tied to the Chicano civil rights movement taking place at the time.

“We got to help our people. Our culture, we have to keep it alive,” Alcala said. “At first, I had no intention of opening a bookstore but I said we got to do something now, so this was my way of doing it.”

He said partnering with Garcia and Alvarez was essential in creating a safe place where community members could confide in one another amid ongoing pressures.

Award-winning children’s book illustrator Felipe Dávalos attended the opening, where several of his works, including pieces published in National Geographic, were on display. A native of Mexico, Dávalos first came to the United States to work with Dumbarton Oaks in Washington on a project focused on pre-Columbian civilizations. He later moved to Sacramento about 25 years ago to help lead an art foundation.

 

Illustrator Felipe Dávalos at the La Cultura Bookstore grand opening Nov. 8 shows his work to an attendee. 

Dávalos said his experience in the United States differed from that of many others, noting he did not encounter discrimination based on nationality or language. Still, as he took on more illustration projects tied to Chicano culture, Dávalos said his work expanded his own understanding of the community and movement.

“I became a cultural illustrator for children’s books, I got a lot of people asking to illustrate books with a lot of different subjects that enriched and enlarged my own point of view in that area,” Dávalos said. “Language and images together provide knowledge, memory and communication; that’s what you can see in my works for books and magazines.”

The event included Aztec blessings to honor and bless La Cultura Bookstore as it carries forward the legacy of La Raza Bookstore by providing access to literature, art and resources. Like its predecessor, the bookstore aims to create a safe space for community members while offering new opportunities for visitors to connect, learn and celebrate the region’s rich Chicano and Hispanic heritage.