Under the soft fluorescent lights at Sonido Del Valle, community members squeezed between record shelves on Wednesday evening for una “Noche de Comedia,” the record store’s first comedy night event.
Comedians Anna Valenzuela, Ronald Metellus, Jamel Johnson, CJ Price, and Marcelina Chavira entertained the audience of nearly 30 people with personal stories and jokes about family, colonization, Elon Musk, Latinidad, working in the service industry, and yes, even running on Latino time.
Entry to the all-ages event was donation based, and beverages and local vegan treats from Cake Girl were also available for a small donation.
Gerardo Perez, 32, lives just a few blocks away from the record store on 1st Street near St. Louis. He said he had been to comedy shows in more central parts of Los Angeles, but never in Boyle Heights, to which he said was important for the community.
“All we have here is music shows like metal, punk, and stuff like that. We’ve never had a comedy [show] here. It makes people come together and makes people laugh,” he said.
Ben and Kelly Vargas commuted from Pasadena to enjoy the evening event. They said they connected with the personal stories and intimate atmosphere of the space, and would come back to the community record store if they hosted another comedy-focused event.
“It was really great to see the diversity of comics, from male, female and all sorts of walks of life. Just really funny,” Vargas said.
And diversity was something Stephen Loh, 39, had in mind when booking and organizing the event with Rene Perez, owner of Sonido Del Valle.
“Having something where people can see someone that looks like them up on stage doing comedy is what I was trying to go for,” Loh said. Loh, who also served as the show’s host, remembered not seeing people who looked like him growing up in comedy spaces across Southern California.
Loh also noted the significance of holding space in a neighborhood like Boyle Heights, where for as long as he’s been doing comedy, never saw anyone organize a show in the Eastside.
“I feel that like Hollywood and Downtown LA is so over-served and over-flooded with stuff that this is like an underserved community when it comes to stand-up comedy. And you have people like Felipe Esparza that came out of this community,” Loh said, referencing the renowned comedian with multiple bilingual specials on Netflix.
Looking to 2024, Loh hopes to make the event a monthly occurrence starting in February.
“I think people will eventually see it as something they didn’t know they wanted, and something pretty cool, hopefully.”
