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Mexicali Millennials Organize First Jane's Walk
July 2016
By Maria E Curry
 The group on a Jane's Walk Tour of Mexicali stops in front of the closed Curto movie theater. |
 Activities included coloring and drawing historic sites. |
 The group hears about the history of downtown Mexicali in front of the Cali Theater. All photos courtesy Nicolasa Ruiz |
In May, a Mexicali group organized a free tour called Jane's Walk in celebration of the centennial of the birth of Jane Jacobs, the urban activist and author of the classic book Life and Death of American Cities (1961). The group "Algo por El Centro" (Something Through Downtown) promoted a walking visit to the city's historical downtown that put local tourists in conversation with people who live or work in the area. Jane's Walks are held all over the world to help community members discover their city through personal and shared observation. This was the first Jane's Walk in Mexicali, a city of one million that retains a rural atmosphere mixed with urban modernism.
The old movie theaters were chosen as the walk's focus because "they are part of the imagination of Mexicalenses," Denahi Valdez, the event's organizer and an architect and transportation consultant said. Almost 80 people joined in, including local residents, downtown merchants and historians, sharing personal anecdotes about the golden years of cinema. Some of the movie theaters visited were the Reforma, Rex, Curto, Bujazan, Variedades, California 70, and Cali, which either have new uses or have been abandoned.
Mexicali, a city bordering with Calexico, Calif. And the capital of Baja California, grew in the 1900s out of a development project by the U.S.-based California Development Company that used the Colorado River to create fertile lands for farming on both sides of the border. Many Chinese laborers came to work, populating the valley with more Asians than Mexicans at one point. "The Chinesca" an area of downtown Mexicali, is famous for its restaurants and businesses with secret tunnels and basements. These cavities provided hiding places for the Chinese to avoid social discrimination, to preserve their cultural traditions, to gamble, or even to correct misbehavior by using one as a jail.
Algo por El Centro (APC) promotes the appreciation of downtown history, as well as economic renewal by helping adapt spaces for housing, work, or leisure. The organization already rents a beautiful old house in the historical center for their weekly meetings. They are also learning from other urban activists, invited to share ideas by APC's Hector Herrera, a former professor at the University of Baja California.
The organization was born in 2015 when the downtown native Minoru Kiyota, a 32-year-old chef and owner of the restaurant La Cenaduría, invited friends-most of them Millennials with different backgrounds-to discuss the area's physical and social situation. The group included professionals in cultural promotion, architecture, international relations, urban planning, gastronomy, higher education, videography, community organizing, and industrial design.
After brainstorming, the group agreed to become a citizens' platform to promote progressive projects and be agents of change by coordinating efforts for downtown redevelopment. APC's main objective is to generate urban transformation that promotes the historical center's cultural, economic and social strengths and values through actions based on the zone's own dynamics. The group also wants to be a catalyst for reviving downtown as the city's lively heart.
APC has ambitious plans to produce publications, recordings, short movies, cultural events, and public interventions that can be shared through presentations or digital media. Inspired by Jane Jacobs, these creative Millennials want to make a difference that also helps the planet: promoting downtown as a walkable and bikable place for all.
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