Boyle Heights went out for Mexico Fc last Thursday, packing 1st Street at Mariachi Plaza in green jerseys to watch the team beat South Korea 1-0 in its second World Cup match. The crowd cheered through a block party that should have been all celebration, even as a massive frozen warehouse run by Lineage Logistics burned nearby for a second day.
That contrast is why the scene still matters a week later. Mexico was preparing to play its third match against the Czech Republic Wednesday night, but the fire was not fully out and questions about air quality and public health remained in the communities closest to the warehouse. On Tuesday morning, Cesar Chavez and 1st Streets were quiet and hazy, while street vendors and storefronts kept selling Mexico jerseys.
Anthony Correa said the neighborhood loves the World Cup, but he said it was awkward to have the fire because everyone wanted to be outside and the safest thing in the immediate area was to be inside. The block party on 1st Street was organized by the Boyle Heights Chamber of Commerce, and it drew people who wanted a public place to gather for Mexico’s run through the tournament.
The worry did not stop at the edge of the celebration. Outside Boyle Heights City Hall, residents lined up for help at tents set up by Councilmember Ysabel Jurado’s office, and Jurado said her constituents needed more information to decide what outdoor activities were safe. Alissa Walker attended the watch party and described a fine air quality index and no smoky smell, but she wrote that by Friday the shelter-in-place order was reissued and the ominous cloud was back.
For small businesses, the smoke turned a sports party into a practical problem. Rodrigo Luna said Brooklyn Avenue Pizza had been forced to close its outdoor area because of the smoke, though there was a big crowd inside for the Mexico game last week. He said he had itchy eyes and trouble breathing since the fire broke out, and he hoped it stopped pretty soon. Rudy Espinoza said many small businesses were struggling because of the Lineage fire, with some closing and wondering how they would pay their bills that month.
The scene in Boyle Heights showed how fast a neighborhood’s mood can change when a public celebration collides with a public-health alert. Mexico’s match pulled people into the street, but the fire kept forcing the community to weigh the joy of being outside against the risk of breathing the air around them.
