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A Great Day In East LA

The Portraits

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A Great Day In East LA

The Portraits

Videos

About

Contact

Shop

Supporters

A Great Day In East LA

Shop

THANK YOU TO PROJECT SUPPORTERS

BLACK EYED PEAS · 2025 Taboo, Will.i.am, Apl.De.Ap

NOT ONE SOUND.

NOT ONE GENERATION.

BRENTON WOOD · 2016

CÉSAR CASTRO, CAMBALACHE · 2017

A HISTORY WITHOUT BOUNDARIES.

A Great Day In East LA® documents generations of musicians whose stories cross genres, neighborhoods and eras. Rock and roll, R&B, soul, punk, hip-hop, Latin music, alternative music and sounds that resist easy classification exist within the same larger history.

East Los Angeles is the project's center, but its story does not stop at a geographic boundary. The musicians, communities and cultural movements documented through the archive reveal how East LA has intersected with, influenced and helped shape the broader musical history of Los Angeles.

THEE COUNTS · 2016

RUDY SALAS, TIERRA · 2014

BERTHA OROPEZA · 2016

STEVE SALAS, TIERRA · 2016

TERESA COVARRUBIAS, THE BRAT · 2016

2017

STEPPING INTO PUBLIC VIEW.

A GREAT DAY IN EAST LA:
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH SOUND, SPACE & STORIES

In 2017, Professor Martha González invited Piero F. Giunti and Mark Guerrero to bring A Great Day In East LA into an exhibition setting for the first time.

Giunti and Guerrero led the curation of the exhibition, drawing from the photography, oral histories, historical research and relationships they had been building through the project since 2014.

Presented at the Clark Humanities Museum at Scripps College, A Great Day In East LA: Building Relationships Through Sound, Space & Stories featured 20 photographic portraits alongside 80 rare historical memorabilia, bringing the people, objects and stories of the archive together in a physical space for the first time. Scripps students contributed additional written wall text to the exhibition.

The exhibition extended beyond the gallery through panel discussions and live musical performances, including appearances by Alice Bag, Irene Diaz and La Santa Cecilia.

Though modest in scale, the 2017 exhibition marked a monumental moment in the history of A Great Day In East LA®. For the first time, the independent project became a curated exhibition, establishing a model that would expand dramatically in the years ahead.

CLARK HUMANITIES MUSEUM SCRIPPS COLLEGE · 2017

INSTALLATION VIEWS · A GREAT DAY IN EAST LA: BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH SPACE AND SOUND · SCRIPPS COLLEGE · 2017

THE PROJECT NEVER STOPPED.

After the 2017 exhibition, A Great Day In East LA® continued to grow.

New portraits were made. New video oral histories were recorded. One musician led to another. One generation opened the door to the next. What had begun with a handful of conversations expanded year after year into an increasingly interconnected record of Los Angeles music.

Much of that growth happened quietly, one relationship at a time. There was no institution building the archive. The work continued independently through years of photography, filming, research, travel and conversations with the people who lived this history.

By the time the project approached its next major exhibition, A Great Day In East LA® had become something far larger than its original idea: more than 450 musicians documented, hundreds of portraits, and more than 250 recorded video oral histories spanning over seven decades of Los Angeles music.

MELLOW MAN ACE · 2015 A Great Day In East LA® oral history

LONNIE JORDAN, WAR · 2016 A Great Day In East LA® oral history

JOHN AVILA, Oingo Boingo · 2016 A Great Day In East LA® oral history

ANTHONY BARAY, The Emeralds · 2017 A Great Day In East LA® oral history

SAL MURILLO, Blendells · 2016 A Great Day In East LA® oral history

ROCO PACHUCOTE, LA MALDITA VECINDAD · 2020 CUERNAVACA, MEXICO A Great Day In East LA® oral history (Cross Border Connection MX to East Los)

2025

TEN YEARS OF WORK.

ONE MAJOR EXHIBITION.

A GREAT DAY IN EAST LA®:
CELEBRANDO THE EASTSIDE SOUND

LA PLAZA DE CULTURA Y ARTES · LOS ANGELES 2025–2026

Credit & Courtesy of : Los Angeles Times, Creator: Robert Gauthier 2025

THE INDEPENDENT PROJECT BECAME THE FOUNDATION FOR A MAJOR MUSEUM EXHIBITION.

Piero F. Giunti, creator of A Great Day In East LA®, served as a lead curator of the exhibition, bringing more than a decade of independent photography, recorded video oral histories, research and community relationships into what became an exhibition unprecedented in scale at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes.

Musician and historian Mark Guerrero, co-founder of A Great Day In East LA® and Giunti's collaborator from the project's earliest days, joined Giunti in developing the exhibition's historical narrative and documenting generations of East Los Angeles music history.

The exhibition brought the project's portraits and oral histories into conversation with with over 850+ historical objects secured specifically for the exhibition from musicians, families, artists and private collections. In both physical footprint and the number of objects presented, A Great Day In East LA®: Celebrando the Eastside Sound became the largest exhibition ever mounted at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes. It would also become the museum's longest-running exhibition.

The exhibition opened on June 28, 2025, at an extraordinary moment for Los Angeles. The city was in the midst of widespread protests responding to federal immigration enforcement actions and ICE raids that had brought fear, anger and uncertainty to communities across Los Angeles.

Against that backdrop, thousands of people came together in downtown Los Angeles to celebrate the musicians, families and communities whose histories filled the exhibition.

Opening night reached the museum's approximately 3,000-person capacity. For the first time in the museum's history, exhibition doors had to be closed because capacity had been reached, while a long line of people remained outside and continued around the block waiting to enter.

The extraordinary response did not end with opening night. Throughout its extended 14 month run, Celebrando the Eastside Sound became the most popular exhibition in the museum's history, while also becoming its first longest-running, its largest in both physical exhibition space and the number of historical objects presented.

Its scale and extraordinary public response transformed what began as an independent community project into one of the most significant exhibitions in the museum's history.

The significance of the opening extended beyond attendance records. At a moment when immigrant and Latino communities throughout Los Angeles were confronting fear, uncertainty and questions of belonging, thousands of people gathered in one place to celebrate generations of music, memory, creativity and cultural survival.

The exhibition opened in a moment of protest. The community answered by showing up.

INSTALLATION VIEWS
A Great Day In East LA®: Celebrando the Eastside Sound LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes · Los Angeles · 2025–2026

THE PROJECT
CAME FIRST.

“The entirety of ‘A Great Day in East L.A.,’ lives at the intersection of art, Latinx identity and political revolution.”
— Los Angeles Times 2025

“The transition … to the centerpiece gallery filled with Giunti’s portraits is perhaps the most visually shocking jump in the showcase.”
— Los Angeles Times 2025

“ Giunti’s photography document East LA’s musical identity and history.”
—Cal State L.A. 2025

“A lovingly curated galaxy of albums, instruments, flyers, posters, stage costumes, band t-shirts, lyric sheets, videos and much more.”

—Los Angeles Public Library 2026

“The portraits form the visual centerpiece of the exhibition…The largest Eastside music exhibition ever assembled.”
— Boyle Heights Beat / LAist 2025

“Seeing Black and brown people feel represented and entertained by their history is exactly what Giunti wanted.”
— Los Angeles Times 2025

“The exhibition centers on the portraits and oral histories of musicians taken by award-winning photographer and filmmaker Piero F. Giunti.”
— LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes 2025

Take a Virtual Tour

THE FUTURE

The story is far from over.

As A Great Day in East LA® enters its next chapter, the vision is to continue expanding the project through new portraits, oral histories, documentary storytelling, future exhibitions, and educational opportunities.

One of the most exciting steps forward is the development of A Great Day in East LA® book, bringing together photography, music, history, and the voices of the artists who helped shape generations. A visual and cultural record intended to live far beyond the walls of an exhibition.

Looking ahead, the goal is to make this growing archive more accessible, reach new audiences, and continue documenting the generations carrying this musical legacy forward.

THANK YOU TO PROJECT SUPPORTERS

NOT ONE SOUND.

NOT ONE GENERATION.

A HISTORY WITHOUT BOUNDARIES.

2017

STEPPING INTO PUBLIC VIEW.

A GREAT DAY IN EAST LA:
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH SOUND, SPACE & STORIES

THE PROJECT NEVER STOPPED.

2025

TEN YEARS OF WORK.

ONE MAJOR EXHIBITION.

THE INDEPENDENT PROJECT BECAME THE FOUNDATION FOR A MAJOR MUSEUM EXHIBITION.

INSTALLATION VIEWS
A Great Day In East LA®: Celebrando the Eastside Sound LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes · Los Angeles · 2025–2026

THE PROJECT
CAME FIRST.

Take a Virtual Tour

THE FUTURE

The story is far from over.

As A Great Day in East LA® enters its next chapter, the vision is to continue expanding the project through new portraits, oral histories, documentary storytelling, future exhibitions, and educational opportunities.

One of the most exciting steps forward is the development of A Great Day in East LA® book, bringing together photography, music, history, and the voices of the artists who helped shape generations. A visual and cultural record intended to live far beyond the walls of an exhibition.

Looking ahead, the goal is to make this growing archive more accessible, reach new audiences, and continue documenting the generations carrying this musical legacy forward.

There are still stories to tell, voices to preserve, and history to make.

And we're just getting started.

A Great Day In East L.A.

AGreatDayInEastLA@Gmail.com

THANK YOU TO PROJECT SUPPORTERS

NOT ONE SOUND.

NOT ONE GENERATION.

A HISTORY WITHOUT BOUNDARIES.

2017

STEPPING INTO PUBLIC VIEW.

A GREAT DAY IN EAST LA:BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH SOUND, SPACE & STORIES

THE PROJECT NEVER STOPPED.

2025

TEN YEARS OF WORK.

ONE MAJOR EXHIBITION.

THE INDEPENDENT PROJECT BECAME THE FOUNDATION FOR A MAJOR MUSEUM EXHIBITION.

INSTALLATION VIEWSA Great Day In East LA®: Celebrando the Eastside Sound LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes · Los Angeles · 2025–2026

THE PROJECTCAME FIRST.

Take a Virtual Tour

THE FUTURE

The story is far from over.

As A Great Day in East LA® enters its next chapter, the vision is to continue expanding the project through new portraits, oral histories, documentary storytelling, future exhibitions, and educational opportunities.

One of the most exciting steps forward is the development of A Great Day in East LA® book, bringing together photography, music, history, and the voices of the artists who helped shape generations. A visual and cultural record intended to live far beyond the walls of an exhibition.

Looking ahead, the goal is to make this growing archive more accessible, reach new audiences, and continue documenting the generations carrying this musical legacy forward.

There are still stories to tell, voices to preserve, and history to make.

And we're just getting started.

A Great Day In East L.A.

AGreatDayInEastLA@Gmail.com

A GREAT DAY IN EAST LA:
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH SOUND, SPACE & STORIES

INSTALLATION VIEWS
A Great Day In East LA®: Celebrando the Eastside Sound LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes · Los Angeles · 2025–2026

THE PROJECT
CAME FIRST.