Rubén “Funkahuatl” Guevara

Rubén “Funkahuatl” Guevara is a native Angelino and over the past 50 years has worked as a musician, record producer, journalist, poet, film actor, playwright-performance-theater artist, teacher, and activist. He is a UCLA graduate in World Arts & Cultures and lives and works in Boyle Heights. www.tantrikfunk.net.

Updated October 2014

Stories from This Author

3rd Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest

“MERRY CHRISTMAS, MARIO-SAN”

Oct. 3, 2016 • Rubén “Funkahuatl” Guevara

Little Tokyo, 1989 One night, Mario Martinez, a struggling musician from Boyle Heights, was sitting in a booth at the Atomic Café in Little Tokyo when punk god Sid Vicious walked in with his entourage and ordered fried rice. Suddenly rice balls were flying through the air but no one seemed to mind or notice. It wasn’t unusual for that kind of craziness. Other punk bands would come by such as X, The Bags, The Ramones, even David Bowie and …

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2nd Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest

Masao and the Bronze Nightingale

Sept. 14, 2015 • Rubén “Funkahuatl” Guevara

Boyle Heights, 1940 “Hey Masao, where did you score those fine drapes, ese?” “Over on Brooklyn and Soto. Manny Garcia’s uncle has a tailor shop there.” “Órale pues, you’re lookin’ sharp, vato!” “Thanks, Lil’ Joe, ay te watcho, catch you later, carnal!” Yeah, Masao Imoto knew how to dress sharp alright. He was a Japanese American nisei zoot suitor, a pachuke, Japanese slang for pachuco. The older generation called them yógore “those that get dirty drinking and gambling hanging out …

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1st Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest

Yuriko & Carlos

Oct. 20, 2014 • Rubén “Funkahuatl” Guevara

Little Tokyo, 1941 As I walked toward Little Tokyo over the First Street Bridge from Boyle Heights, I felt the bracing power of the fiery sunset embrace me with more love than my own family gave me. The sky and the air filled me with hope, filled me with big dreams. My father only filled me with anger. One day as I was leaving my job, I heard loud taiko drums and bamboo flutes wailing away outside a temple on …