The above photo is from a play last Sunday night, entitled Emmanuel: God is with us, at the House of Grace in Uptown Whittier. My youngest daughter Savannah played Mary.  I thought the photo captured the moment.

From my family to yours, to family and friends across the country, God Bless you and Merry Christmas.

Great Tamales I have Known……..

Juanito's Tamales

Jeri and I went to pick up our tamales today at Juanito’s in East L.A. It was chaotic and crowded and busy and I’m sure it will be even worse tomorrow. We had to wait an extra hour for the cheese and green chile tamales. We ordered a Champurrado, a hot thick drink made from masa and Mexican chocolate, and Bunelos, a flat crispy tortilla like desert topped with sugar and cinnamon. Both are very delicious and traditional. While we were waiting some guy came in to pick up his order, several dozen. The manager told him “I’m sorry but we gave your order away”, the guy seemed irritated but he agreed to come back later in the day, after being assured by the manager or owner that his order would be ready. Of course he said okay, the tamales are that good. The confusion is understandable because there was a constant flow of customers and they all wanted their tamales. It was better to humble yourself, bite your tongue and wait, rather than lose out on the tamales. We were there a few weeks earlier on the recommendation of Frank Baltazar Sr. and had already tried the tamales so we knew they were worth waiting for.

On the way home Jeri and I got to talking about all the great tamales we’ve had over the years from places that have either disappeared or changed hands. For years we have gone to Mary’s Mexican Deli on Whittier Blvd in Whittier for menudo and tamales, in fact I went there with my father when I was a young boy. A few years back the owner retired and someone else took over and it is no longer the same. They were at one time on par with Juanito’s but no more.

Another place was Yaqui’s in Santa Fe Springs, great tamales, in fact all their food was good and they made some really good salsa, hot just the way I like it. They too are a thing of the past.

La Pinata’s in Montebello is still in business and I still enjoy their food, especially the tamales. They fall just under Juanito’s and that’s no insult considering how good Juanito’s tamales are. Of course that’s subject to opinion. Their menudo is outstanding as well.

In 2003 Jeri and I were walking out of the market and heading for the truck when some guy standing next to a van said something to me in Spanish. I don’t speak Spanish so I looked at Jeri and she said “He selling tamales” “I’m not buying tamales from some guy in a van, let’s go” I said. He said something else to me and Jeri tells me “you can sample a few for free”. “Free?” says I. I looked at the van, a newer model, it was clean, and had the name of the business painted on the side. I looked at the guy, he seemed business like so I said “Free huh?” As it turns out I bought about four dozen tamales from him, red with pork, red with beef, green chile and cheese and whatever else he had. I prayed there wasn’t a Chihuahua in the bunch. These were tamales from Heaven. The corn husk was fresh and not dried. They were different than any tamale I have ever tasted. We got their card. The great thing about it was that they delivered. Couldn’t beat that.

Later that year, when we gave my son Andrew a going away party when he was leaving for the Coast Guard, I ordered a couple of hundred for the party. One day we called and the number was no longer in service. I don’t think I ever got over it. That as they say, was that.

About 1996, Jeri and I and the kids decided we were going to try to make our own tamales, with red chile with pork. We did a respectable job considering it was our first time. We gave some to our neighbors and they swore they were the best tamales they had ever tasted. I don’t know if they were being kind or if they were telling the truth but we thought they were good.

The worst tamales that I have ever had? I used to say to anyone and everyone that ”I never met a tamale I didn’t like”. I can’t say that anymore.

In 2003, Ed Hernandez and I were at work, finishing up our lunch, when some guy that I had never seen before walks up to us and says “Do you guys like tamales?” “Do we like tamales? Do birds fly?” Well“, he says “my son is a professional chef and he makes tamales. I’m taking orders”. He sounded so proud of his son. He gave us a list of the types of tamales his son made. He made them sound so good. I ordered four dozen at 60 bucks. Ed ordered three dozen, one for him and one each for his sons.

They came just before Christmas. I took them home and Jeri steamed them and put them on the plate. There are no words to describe just how horrible these tamales were. I’m still gagging. We threw them all in the trash. There are some things that a professional chef should never touch; a good burger, good fried chicken, burritos of any type and last but not least, tamales! I called Ed to see how his tamales were. He hadn’t tried his yet. I told him about mine. He didn’t sound too happy about it. When I talked to him later, he said he just tossed his tamales after we talked. A few months later the guy came around to see how we liked the tamales. Again, he was so proud of his son, I just didn’t have the heart to tell him. So I lied.

Juanito's Tamales
4214 E. Floral Dr
Los Angeles, California
Tel: 323-268-2365
Fax: 323-263-8830

My Favorite Childhood Christmas Memory….

My father and I - Christmas 1962

It’s important to me that I write down this memory. My mother and my sister have long since forgotten about it and my brother was yet to be born, and the Rio Hondo Hospital no longer exists. It’s part of my father’s history and a part of our family genealogy and history as well. Certain moments in a persons life should not be forgotten. With that in mind, I would like to share this memory.

We moved into our new home in Pico Rivera in November, 1962, a day before Thanksgiving. Christmas came quickly for us that year, adjusting to a new home, making new friends and getting to know our new neighbors and trying hard to return to a normal pattern. Christmas that year was a blur. It came and went without much ado.

The next year was a busy one for my parents, especially the second half, as they prepared to open a women’s clothing store, “Ann’s Dress Shop” at the old Hickory Hop Center in Pico Rivera. The store opened sometime in late fall or early winter of that year. I can’t quite recall exactly.

In the early part of December, 1963, my father was sick with the flu. I think he was worn out from the last year, between moving into the new house, working at his job and opening the store. His birthday on the 16th came and went, he turned forty that year. Not too many days after that I was awakened by my mother, it was very late at night. She told me that she had taken my father to the hospital and that he was sick with pneumonia. She seemed pretty shaken up.

It was just my Mother, sister Evelyn and me, my brother Dennis would be born the following December.. The house was lonely and quiet without my father. He was really sick and for a time we weren’t 100% sure that he was going to make it. We all prayed privately for my father. We continued to prepare for Christmas to keep busy, my mother did the Christmas shopping and my sister and her wrapped all the gifts and we waited.


A day came when I was able to go to the hospital to see him. It was the Rio Hondo Hospital in Downey. I wasn’t allowed to go to the room with my mother and sister, I think it was my age, I was nine. As I was sitting in the waiting room my mother called out to me and when I looked up, my father was standing at the doorway. I wasn’t allowed to go to him but we did talk for a minute before he went back to his room.

Christmas came and I made a decision that none of us would open our presents until my father came home from the hospital. It wasn’t negotiable. It was just another day of either moping around and waiting or keeping busy and waiting.

It was a few days after Christmas, December 28th, when my mother brought my father home. He was home. I couldn’t run out of the house to greet him fast enough. He was still in his pajamas and robe. I wasn’t used to seeing my father like this but I was just glad to have him home. By the time I reached my father I was in tears. We hugged and I just couldn’t let go of him, neither could my sister. I still remember his exact words “This is the best Christmas present I ever had”. We were all together again. December 28th was Christmas day for us that year. The following December, 1964 ,on the 26th, my brother Dennis would be born and twenty-four years later on the 28th, to the exact day, my youngest daughter Savannah was born.

When it comes to Christmas songs I’m old school. I still like the traditional songs I grew up with. I don’t care much for the newer stuff. It’s a generational thing. Below is a play list of some of the Christmas songs that our family enjoys.

Andrew and Anita De La O - Circa 1948

My parents Andrew and Anita De La O, Circa 1948. The sign in the photo says the Long Beach Saloon but it could be anywhere in Los Angeles.

Today December 16, is my father's birthday. He would have been 87 this year. Happy Birthday Dad!