Commentary: My East L.A. celebrity: The Sion Water owner

One Saturday evening I was strolling toward First, Gage and Ford Streets to a little store by the name of Sion Water. The day was so hot it felt as though the season skirted to summer. In spite of that, it was a short separation walk when I arrived; I was sweating practically as though I had ran a mile.

The warmth was excessive to the point that I felt as though I was amidst an abandoned betray. Strolling to my destination I saw numerous youngsters dashing towards Obregon Park. As I was touching base to my goal I saw my East Los Angeles celebrity, she was helping a handicapped elderly carry her water gallon into her truck.

As I watched her help the handicapped elderly, I offered my help and sympathetically helped the poor elderly women. Soon afterwards, I requested her authorization to meeting her for a school project and she generously acknowledged.

I initially presented myself as she did the same, she gave me her name, Esperanza Lopez. She then revealed that she’s been working at Sion Water for 17 years.

I then asked her a few questions. The first question being what did she think makes East Los Angeles special?

She responded with confident and said, “I think what makes East Los Angeles so special to me is the people in the community, the people make East L.A. special. All the murals and culture we have here, I couldn’t find anywhere else other than my home country.”

Leading on to the same topic I then asked where is she from and she responded, “I’m from Chile, Mexico.”

I asked was how long have you been living in East Los Angeles and what lead you to come here?

She replied sympathetically, “I’ve lived here in East Los Angeles ever since I was child, 30 years specifically. I came here because I’ve always dreamt of a better future for my children and I. At the time the United States was known as the land of opportunities, the land where dreams come true, and the land of the free.”

I later asked what were some challenges she has faced living in East Los Angeles.

She responded, “living in East L.A. has been hard. I’ve faced many hardships of living expenses trying to support my family and me.”

In addition I asked what she is most proud of.

With confidence she replied “I am most proud of my store. I’ve owned it for 7 years now.”

Last I asked if she liked working there and why.

With joy and pride she said, “I love working here because I make my prices affordable and many people in the community come to get water with full of joy and energy; there always so happy to come here and it makes me happy that I can help others by having affordable prices because I know what it takes to be in poverty.”

Lopez is a celebrity in East Los Angeles because she helps the community by having affordable prices and sometimes even giving out free gifts.