The Mexican Heritage Plaza - Centro Cultural de San José is a

Chicano Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American ident ...

/ Mexican-American cultural center in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

, located in the Mayfair neighborhood of

East San Jose East San Jose (abbreviated as ESJ), commonly called The East Side and less commonly as the East Valley, is the eastern region of the city of San Jose, California. The East Side is made up of numerous neighborhoods grouped into two larger distric ...

History

Mexican Heritage Plaza opened in 1999. It is operated by the School of Arts and Culture.

Facilities

The plaza includes a 500-seat

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

s, classrooms, and meeting spaces.

Art

The ''Corazón y Espíritu de Mayfair'' mural was painted in 2004 by Precita Eyes Muralists. A series of mosaic tributes to

and Mexican-American artists lines the north western entrance to the plaza. Tributes include guitarist Carlos Santana (Bay Area native), musical group

Los Tigres del Norte Los Tigres del Norte (English: ''The Tigers of the North'') are a norteño band from San Jose, California. Originally founded in Mocorito, Sinaloa, Mexico, with sales of 60 million albums, the band is one of the most recognized groups in the ...

(who began their recording career in San Jose), playwright

Luis Valdez Luis Miguel Valdez (born June 26, 1940) is an American playwright, screenwriter, film director and actor. Regarded as the father of Chicano film and theater, Valdez is best known for his play '' Zoot Suit'', his movie '' La Bamba'', and his cre ...

(who grew up in San Jose), and singer

Linda Ronstadt Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...

(who serves as the honorary chair of the SJ Mexican Heritage Festival). File:Corazón y Espíritu de Mayfair 1120.jpg, ''Corazón y Espíritu de Mayfair'' mural File:Mosaic Tribute to Carlos Santana at Mexican Heritage Plaza, San Jose.jpg, Tribute to Carlos Santana File:Mosaic Tribute to Los Tigres del Norte at Mexican Heritage Plaza, San Jose.jpg, Tribute to

File:Mosaic Tribute to Linda Ronstadt at Mexican Heritage Plaza, San Jose.jpg, Tribute to

File:Mosaic Tribute to Luis Valdez at Mexican Heritage Plaza, San Jose.jpg, Tribute to

File:Mexican Heritage Plaza 1117.jpg, Aztec-inspired ironwork

External links

Official websiteOnline video tour of Mexican Heritage Plaza
(scrolling the image may not work on all browsers) Buildings and structures in San Jose, California Culture of San Jose, California Mexican-American culture in California Chicano art {{California-museum-stub