La Peña Cultural Center facts for kids

La Peña Cultural Center, often called just La Peña, is a special place in the United States that celebrates many different cultures. It was started in 1975 in Berkeley, California.

A group of people from Chile and California created La Peña after a military group took over the government in Chile in 1973. This event is known as a golpe de estado, which is Spanish for "coup d'état."

During the rule of the new leader, a dictator named Augusto Pinochet, La Peña was a safe and important place for Chileans who had to leave their country. A dictator is a ruler who has total power and wasn't elected by the people.

Today, La Peña is a nonprofit organization. This means its main goal is to help the community, not to make money. It works to support peace and fairness for everyone through art, music, dance, and community events. You can find La Peña at 3105 Shattuck Avenue in the Ashby neighborhood of South Berkeley, California.

How La Peña Began

The founders of La Peña included five Americans and three Chileans who had moved to the U.S. They wanted to create a place that would support the people of Chile. During the rule of the dictator Augusto Pinochet, the center became a gathering spot for Chileans who were living outside their home country and opposed his government.

The founders believed that art and culture could be a powerful way to bring about positive change. They wanted La Peña to be a place where people could gather, artists could create, and everyone could work together to build a stronger community through art and social activism.

Since it opened in 1975, La Peña has become a home for many different communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. It offers classes and events that celebrate cultural traditions from North, Central, and South America, as well as the Caribbean. Some of the classes include:

• Puerto Rican Bomba y Plena (music and dance)
• Afro-Peruvian cajón (a box-shaped drum) and dance
• Capoeira Angola from Brazil (a mix of martial arts and dance)
• Son Jarocho music and zapateo (foot-tapping dance) from Mexico
• Cuban Charanga and Salsa music groups for students

In the 1980s, La Peña also became an important meeting place for people who had to leave their homes in Central America because of conflict.

The Café at La Peña

Café Valparaíso was known for its colorful and unique decorations.

In 1976, a restaurant called Café Valparaíso opened inside La Peña. It became a popular spot in the neighborhood, known for its delicious food. The café was also called Café de la Peña.

The menu featured many tasty dishes from Chile, especially Chilean empanadas (stuffed pastries) and humitas (a corn-based dish). Over time, the café also started serving food from other Latin American countries like Cuba, Mexico, and Peru.

In the mid-2010s, the café moved out of La Peña to a new location but closed in 2018.

A Center for Arts and Community

La Peña is famous for celebrating many art forms, especially music and dance with African roots from places like Cuba and Puerto Rico. For example, it offers lessons and performances of plena and bomba, which are exciting, drum-heavy music and dance styles.

The center also has its own music groups, like the La Peña Chorus. It even has a special concert series with bilingual (Spanish and English) music for kids.

A Gathering Place

La Peña is a special place for the Chilean community to come together. They celebrate important Chilean holidays like Fiestas Patrias (Chile's independence day) and Christmas. They also gather to remember the events of the 1973 coup d'état.

The building itself is a work of art, with a large mural on the outside inspired by a musical movement called Nueva Canción (New Song).

As a registered charity, La Peña focuses on sharing art and culture with everyone. It's also used as a place to raise money for important causes, like supporting the local KPFA radio station or helping with relief efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

In 2010, La Peña held a benefit event called Mano a Mano (Hand in Hand) to raise money for people affected by the 2010 Chile earthquake. The goal was to raise $10,000 to help those in need.

See also

In Spanish: Centro Cultural de La Peña para niños