Walk around Olvera Street and you’ll notice it: A large stuffed donkey with a cart, draped in traditional colorful serapes, greeting you as you walk into the plaza.
Known as La Carreta, the family-run attraction has been around for 57 years. It’s a popular photo op for visitors, but its owner says it’s also a beloved callback to Los Angeles’ Mexican roots.
Its legacy is at risk as the family has been served an order to vacate from Olvera Street. The attention has prompted the L.A. City Council to put forth a motion to save the donkey.
Jesus “Don Chuy” Hernandez, who was born in Durango, Mexico, in 1930 was a traveling birria seller. Through his journeys, he met and married Trancito “Tancho” Valazquez and the two immigrated to L.A. where they began a custom jewelry business on Olvera Street.
They remained inspired by the donkeys that pulled carts back home in Tijuana, so they made it happen here. They painted a colorful cart, got sombreros and put other things around the stand that echoed Mexican life.
The early El Burrito y La Carreta was a live donkey. Trancito’s son, Richard Hernandez, remembers walking the animal from Eagle Rock to Olvera Street. But today, what stands in the small 10-foot space near the entrance of Olvera Street is a stuffed version.
“When I see people walk in for the first time, they go, 'Oh wow, a little donkey,’” Hernandez said. “‘Is it real? Oh no, it's fake. How cool. Let's get a picture.' And they put on their hats. They hold a tequila bottle.”
Hernandez said that while it’s just a place for fun, people have taken it as a tradition. He’s had repeat customers over the years who will come back and show photos of them on the donkey when they were children.
At issue is the contract that allows for the stand’s operation.
Hernandez’s mother died on April 16, leaving the stand without an alive signee on the paperwork that gives them the right to do business in Olvera Street.
Hernandez said his mother gave Olvera Street management notarized paperwork to add him to the contract in 2019, but, fast forward to today, the contract was never updated and Hernandez is not listed.
Hernandez’s eviction deadline was slated for Thursday, though he says his family has no plans to leave.
Olvera street management, which is overseen by a city board of commissioners, had no public comment, according to city employee Carlos Morales.
The El Pueblo Commission will be taking up a discussion on the contract next week on May 23.
But the city council may take action sooner. Hernandez and his family have been in touch with Councilmember Kevin de León’s office, since the area is under his district. On Friday, de León introduced a motion to request the city commission to consider transferring ownership to Hernandez and to consider his mother's paperwork. That motion is expected to go for a vote next week.
Keep an eye out for the motion on Friday’s City Council agenda. Public comment is accepted in person and over the phone. You can also share your thoughts through LACouncilComment.com.
The board of commissioners for Olvera Street will discuss the agreement on May 23 at 2 p.m. Public comment will be accepted in person.
“Why don't we just extend it?” de León told reporters on Thursday. “Why do we have to go out our way to make it much more difficult and onerous and bureaucratic?”
De León hadn’t yet spoken directly with City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto as of Thursday, but he understood that she believed the eviction process to be legitimate. However, given the donkey’s relationship to Olvera Street — and its small use of space — he wanted to save the stand.
“I sat down with Mr. Hernandez yesterday and went through all the data that was presented to me,” de León told reporters. “I just came to my conclusion that irrespective of what the city attorney's perspective may be, irrespective of what the general manager of El Pueblo may be, the donkey has been here for decades.”
