Photo proof

By Staff
Like browsing through a family scrapbook, Mexicans in Scottsdale ($19.99, Arcadia Publishing) is a visual journey through early days of the 20th century to the near present. Along the way you’ll meet the Tomas Corral family, whose descendents founded Los Olivos Restaurant; grocer Jay Chew Song, an Asian American who was bicultural, bilingual and served the Scottsdale area’s minority communities; and the 1946 Boy Scout troop of Cruz Medina Jr.

Written by well-known community activist Jose Burruel, the book is fun to read, thanks to the author’s light touch with captions. Divided into five sections, Burruel describes the people and life in the “Eskatel Barrio,” the name its denizens called it. There were horse pastures, adobe houses, and a cool stream from the Salt River, plus jobs in the cotton fields where workers dreamed of working inside at the nearby Tovrea Meat Packing plant.

Arcadia is known for publishing histories of local communities across the nation. Mexicans in Scottsdale is the latest look back to join the rediscovery of the Latino community’s contributions to the Valley of the Sun, a rich history filled with close families, loyalty and determination to succeed in spite of the poverty and obstacles handed to them. To order a copy of Mexicans in Scottsdale, visit www.arcadiapublishing.com or look for it in your local Barnes and Noble.



This article appears in the December 2007 issue of Latino Perspectives Magazine.

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