ancient cities

60 Barrio
marginalized families with limited desire for
improving their lifestyle. Regressive ethnic stereotypes
reinforced situating Latina/o culture as a
legitimation for the evolution of systemic residential
apartheid and social repression.
Two typologies of barrios evolved during this
period. Barrios in close proximity to civic centers,
which were enclosed by rapid urbanization, experienced
improvements in basic infrastructure associated
with the conventional extension of urban
systems. San Antonio, Denver, Phoenix, and El
Paso typify this type of barrio–city relationship.
Streets, sewers, water, and electricity were generally
provided in these barrios. Although the quality
and maintenance suffered from disparity in the
allocation of government resources, the provision
of these services was necessary in relation to the
economy of the city.
Conversely, barrios located on the periphery of
urban zones or in outlying semirural areas lacked
most basic urban amenities. While labor was
essential to the local economy, segregated residential
zones governed spatial patterns. Many barrios
exhibited dirt streets well into the 1960s. Cities in
the South Rio Grande Valley, and other cities along
the frontera, are prominent examples of this type
of neglect. Colonias in these areas relied on remedial
septic systems, water delivery, wood and propane
for cooking and heating, haphazard electrical
service, and informal trash collection. Flood control,
street curbs, and connections with local sewer
systems did not occur until well after World War
II. This acute lack of urban infrastructure was
especially problematic in mid-size and small cities
in which the structural condition of the barrio was
not deemed essential. This legacy of deficient infrastructure
continued to characterize numerous barrios
into the 1990s, especially in Texas. In numerous
barrios, even in major cities, there are some residential
streets without curbs and sidewalks. This is
a legacy of discrimination in public works policy
that began during the initial era of urban growth.
East Los Angeles, California
During the late 1910s and early 1920s, the increasing
demand for industrial labor changed the urban
character of cities. For example, one of Los
Angeles’s earliest urban barrios was centered along
Mateo and Seventh Streets, which is currently in a
major manufacturing zone east of the civic center.
This demand for manufacturing space resulted in
the eventual deconstruction of numerous barrios
in the Southwest.
In this instance, the evolution of the most significant
urban barrio in the United States, East Los
Angeles, provides a perspective on this type of
urban transition. The initial Chicana/o households
migrating east of the Los Angeles River was related
to being forced out of Sonora Town (now
Chinatown) and the industrial center, into the
Belvedere barrio. Another barrio, Joyo Maravilla,
was established farther east. This community was
east of Boyle Heights, which during the early
1920s exhibited a resistance to Chicana/o mobility.
Demands for improved housing opportunities
led to increased Latina/o migration into this area.
Thus, the initial cultural transition of the East Los
Angeles barrio was followed by a tradition of
urban ethnic ascendancy that characterizes urban
expansion in this society. By the early 1930s, the
influx of Chicanas/os had a significant impact on
the cultural dynamics of this community. Within
20 years (1920–1940) East Los Angeles became
the largest barrio in the United States. Since that
period it has evolved into the most substantial
minority urban enclave in U.S. history: a conurban
zone that Valle and Torres label as the “Greater
Eastside.” This zone of cultural influence extends
over 20 miles east of downtown and is approximately
1,000 square miles.
Post-1970s and the Evolution
of the Modern Barrio
The spatial limitations of barrios historically turned
them into dense, overcrowded social and physical
environments. Prior to 1960, population growth
rates severely tested the geographic confines of barrio
space. However, social sanctions reinforced by
racism in real estate practices could not be sustained
during the rapid population expansion related to
Latina/o household growth rates. The initial working-class
suburban migration, not distant in historic
terms from the traditional barrio, was a response to
this demographic transformation. Older neighborhoods
directly adjacent to barrios were the first
zones that Latina/os pioneered.
East Los Angeles, due to its immense size, was the
precursor for the dynamic urbanization occurring in