Maids & Cholas — SNL Celebrates Latin Heritage Month
Late this past Saturday night, I was curled up on the couch with my sleeping cats and snoring husband (he reluctantly approved this characterization), scrolling social media on my phone. With Saturday Night Live on in the background, I was only half paying attention when I heard “…reporting live from Pico Park”. Whoa! What a blast from the past. I couldn’t believe my ears. Were they talking about the Pico Park … my Pico Park? (By the way, when Hollywood makes a movie about my life, they’ll play a record scratch sound at this point: Sofía Vergara will sexily pick up the remote to rewind the TV just like I did. She looks exactly like me. Like, exactly.)
Born and raised in Pico Rivera, any time I hear “Pico” I think of Pico Rivera. Pico Rivera is a small suburb on the outskirts of Los Angeles, where the name “Pico” is used generously for streets, parks, schools, and at least one drug den (if you go there, tell Shorty my name and he’ll hook you up!) Interesting thing about Pico Rivera: no one seems to ever have heard of it. I live in Colorado now, but when I lived in Southern California, almost nobody knew Pico Rivera existed. I’d have to say it was near Whittier, Montebello, or Downey. Even then I’d mostly get a, “Huh.” So, hearing my hometown…
