Listen and dance to musica Mexicana at these 7 venues in Los Angeles - Los Angeles Times
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(Elana Marie / For De Los )
De Los

The 7 best spots in L.A. to get your música Mexicana fix

By Cerys Davies
 and Daniel Eduardo Hernandez
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To many, the upbeat sounds of música Mexicana are synonymous with a night of partying in L.A.

Between the genre’s roaring trumpets, high-pitched guitars and resounding bass lines, its distinct sounds almost demand dancing. Catering to the evolving and now mainstream soundscape, Los Angeles nightlife offers a mix of pop-up dance parties, iconic concert venues and nightclubs where everyone — including its nearly 5 million Latino residents — can indulge in the regional Mexican sound.

Collage of different singers, musicians, dancers, instruments.

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Música Mexicana has been pushed into the mainstream over the last five years by Gen Z and millennial Latino audiences. Here’s a guide on the genre’s essential instruments, where to find the best música Mexicana-themed parties, where to shop for the perfect vaquero outfit and more.

Hot spots throughout the city like the Pico Rivera Sports Arena and the Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet offer bigger spaces that create more of a music festival feel. In addition to charrerías, the Sports Arena is notorious for its Picolandia nights where bandas, norteños and tamborazos come together to create one of L.A.’s biggest regional Mexican music dance parties.

Whether you’re looking to sip on a michelada, find the perfect banda dancing partner or even ride a mechanical bull, these themed outings are more extensive than one might think. Here’s our list of seven venues and parties that offer the best música Mexicana nightlife.

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Fans stand yelling and waving Mexican flags
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet

Live Music Venue
If you’re driving along the 5 freeway between Los Angeles and Anaheim, it’s impossible to miss the large sign that reads “Swap Meet.†Since 1965, the 17-acre Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet has doubled as both a bazaar and a concert venue. Every weekend, its outdoor stage becomes the scene of an immense música Mexicana dance party. As international and local norteño, tamborazo and banda groups like La Septima Banda and Los Nuevos Rebeldes take the stage, fans are quick to crowd the area in order to get the best view. Toward the back, where the audience is less dense, people of all ages move to the steady beat — throwing their hands in the air, moving their hips from side to side and enjoying the party-centric spirit of música Mexicana.
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An artistic black-and-white photo of couples dancing at La Zona Rosa
(Aurelio José Barrera / Los Angeles Times)

La Zona Rosa

Boyle Heights Nightclub
La Zona Rosa has the look and feel of a typical nightclub: alluring neon signs, crowded sweaty bodies and a bustling bar. What sets this Boyle Heights establishment apart is that these clubgoers aren’t overcrowding a DJ booth; instead, they’re getting up close and personal with many of L.A.’s local música Mexicana acts, who play everything from norteño sax to banda. Opened in 2008, the inimitable rowdy energy found at La Zona Rosa draws a mix of multigenerational music lovers looking to hear both corridos tumbados and old-school huapangos. Want to know which bands are playing? Make sure you follow La Zona Rosa on Instagram.
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Scenes from First Fridays.
(Julian Mercado)

First Fridays with I Love Micheladas

Florence Party
Start the month off the right way by listening to live música Mexicana with a michelada. Keeping the party spirit of the beer cocktail alive, the family-owned Michelada brand hosts a boisterous pop-up party every first Friday of the month. The Lopez family (owners of Oaxacan restaurant Guelaguetza) began this tradition as a series of cumbia parties at local breweries for people to test their product. But as the event gained popularity, they began to rent out the Beehive, an event space in South L.A., to create a more immersive festival-like experience.

Across several stages, DJs and live bandas play a lively mix of classic artists like Los Tucanas de Tijuana and newer groups like Fuerza Regida to a vast crowd. Over the years, First Fridays has become more than a vibrant dance floor, offering flash tattoo artists, hat vendors, a mechanical bull and a selection of local Mexican food. When exploring the open-air venue, odds are high you might run into their mascot, “the Miche Man,†someone dressed in a michelada piñata, responsible for keeping the vibrations high.
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A person playing an accordion onstage with other musicians at Noche de Cumbia at the Ford Theater on Sept. 1, 2023.
(Maryjane Joya)

Cumbiatón

Party
Whether under the hot sun of a day party or the flashing lights of a concert venue, Cumbiatón emphasizes inclusivity. Started in 2017 in Boyle Heights by DJ Sizzle Fantastic and Normz la Oaxaqueña, the monthly pop-up party is focused on creating a safe space for women and queer people of color to freely enjoy the tropical beats. Hosted at different venues around the city, Cumbiatón consists of different DJ sets, live instrumentalists and a crowded dance floor where the subgenre’s distinct, hissing rhythms take charge.
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A man reins in a horse on the dirt field of a largely empty arena
(Ariana Drehsler / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Pico Rivera Sports Arena

Pico Rivera Entertainment Venue
The Pico Rivera Sports Arena is one of the most iconic venues in the county for música Mexicana because of its historic cultural presence. The 6,000-seat arena, with a round pen full of dirt in the center, opened in 1978 and was made specifically for charreadas or Mexican rodeos, according to a PBS report. Through the years, the entertainment space has hosted legends like Vicente Fernandez, Antonio Aguilar and Juan Gabriel—who once told The Times that he would rather perform in the venue to “humble families†than a “luxurious theater.†More recently, the venue has hosted a slew of smaller norteño acts like Banda Tierra Mojada and pop acts like Omar Apollo and Kali Uchis. In terms of its fanbase, the arena attracts Latinos wearing their favorite jaripeo outfits—posting videos of their looks on social media— to the dirt-filled dance floors that feature spectacular showcases.
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People dance against an artistically blurred colorful neon background
(Carlin Stiehl / For De Los)

La Cita

Downtown L.A. Bar
Across from the Angels Flight Railway in downtown, La Cita Bar sticks out thanks to its bright yellow and red sign with two Mexican flags painted right above the entrance. The venue attracts a multigenerational crowd who come to dance to everything from hip-hop to reggaeton to rock en español. Thursdays, however, belong to cumbia — every week, La Cita hosts Cumbia Fever, a dance party that features a rotating list of DJs.
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Two men dance together to live music at Tempo.
(JJ Geiger / For The Times)

Club Tempo

East Hollywood Nightclub
Open since the early 1990s, Club Tempo is one of the city’s few remaining Latino gay clubs, and the only one that caters to vaqueros. The nightclub celebrates Mexican cowboy culture; partygoers are known to don jaripeo-esque clothing like tejanas, Levi’s jeans and leather boots. The two-floor venue hosts banda groups, go-go dancers and drag shows almost every day of the week.
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