Join Director and Producer Patricia Nazario for a conversation on the American Dream through food trucks. Nazario will be joined by Dr. Alvaro Huerta, Religion and Public Life Organizing Fellow at Harvard Divinity School and Associate Professor at Cal Poly Pomona, and June Berk, JANM Volunteer and World War II US concentration camp survivor for a lively conversation around food, race, and Los Angeles.

Enjoy food from Savage Tacos from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. and the first 50 guests will get free tacos!

About the film

Backstreet to the American Dream is a modern look at the classic American Dream through the quintessential twenty-first century entrepreneurial endeavor—food trucks. This deep dive into Los Angeles—the birthplace of this $2 billion dollar global industry—juxtaposes the experiences of a gourmet burger truck and 2010 winner of the Food Network’s The Great Food Truck Race, Grill ‘Em All, and a mariscos lonchera (seafood truck), El Pescadito, that has parked at the same swap meet since 1982. Additionally, a four-minute animated open in English, Spanish, and the indigenous Náhuatl language traces street food from South LA back to ancient Mexico and reveals many Náhuatl names still used for food today.

Running time: 90 minutes

Presented as part of

Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past in Los Angeles

Part of the Smithsonian’s national initiative, Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past