Perla Batalla Discoteca Batalla

Presented by UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance

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Throughout the '60s and '70s, Discoteca Batalla was a well-known landmark in the Latino community in Venice California. This mom and pop discoteca (Spanish for record store) was a haven for desperately homewick immigrants from all over Mexico and Latin America. It was a spot to gather, exchange news from home, buy the latest Spanish language pop exitos or maybe just enjoy sweet coffee and pan dulce with the proprieters, Barbara and Jorge Batalla. Jorge was a singer and radio DJ. He knew the lyrics to every traditional Spanish language song ever written. His wife Barbara hand wrote letters home for the working men and women separated for years at a time from their families. Perla Batalla is their daughter - a singer known for her decade-long work with Leonard Cohen, as well as with such artists as Lou Reed, Sonny Rollins, k.d. lang, Rufus Wainwright, Jackson Browne, and Laurie Anderson. While the record store closed its door over 40 years ago, the experiences and stories shared there as part of LA's heritage. Battala's new work, Discoteca Batalla, is an homage to this long lost moment in time. 

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City: Los Angeles

The Theatre at Ace Hotel

The Theatre at Ace Hotel

929 South Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90015
United States