Olvera Street’s donkey may be forced to hit the road after eviction

One of Olvera Street’s most photographed icons may soon vanish from his post because of a ruling by a Los Angeles city commission.

Jorge, the stuffed donkey known as “El Burro� who greets guests entering Olvera Street, and his manager, Richard Hernandez, were given a 30-day eviction notice on Thursday. Hernandez owns and operates a Mexican restaurant there called La Carreta.

The notice was handed out by the Board of Commissioners for the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument Authority.

The board manages the historic and commercial resources of Olvera Street, a venerable thoroughfare whose origin dates back to when the city was founded as a Spanish pueblo. In 1930, the street was officially repurposed as a Mexican marketplace.

The board listed ownership issues and delinquency concerns as the primary drivers for voting in favor of eviction, according to board records.

Hernandez’s troubles began years ago when his mother, Maria Trancito Hernandez, tried to add his name to the lease for the spot occupied by La Carreta. According to the commissioners, Maria Trancito was the sole individual on the lease agreement.

Jesus Hernandez, a merchant who owns a gift shop on Olvera Street, waits for a key to store his uncle’s life-size stuffed donkey, Jorge, in downtown Los Angeles on Dec. 16, 2020.

(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

Maria Trancito Hernandez passed away on April 16 and was buried on May 9. That day, the board sent a notice to the family that the lease was terminated, giving them one week to vacate. After family and community members objected at a board meeting, a vote on whether to carry out the eviction was placed on the July 11 agenda.

In the eviction notice, the board acknowledged that Maria Trancito Hernandez attended a meeting on Oct. 9, 2019, with El Pueblo’s previous general manager. She requested that her son Richard, who was managing the “El Burro� stand and restaurant, and her daughter Patricia Hernandez be added to the agreement.

Olvera Street’s general manager expressed concern then about adding Richard Hernandez, citing a “record of nonpayment of rent, inconsistent business insurance, aggressive and threatening behavior and making false accusations against city staff and merchants.�

There was no documentation of Hernandez’s alleged failings or any explanation of what constituted the “aggressive and threatening behavior.�

A call to current general manager Arturo Chavez was not immediately returned, nor were calls to the Hernandez family.

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Richard Hernandez was placed on a one-year hold to give him an opportunity to improve his behavior. The board eventually found that his aggressiveness continued from 2019 through 2023, but it offered no examples.

When shops returned to business in the summer of 2021, there was no further progress on amending the lease, according to the board.

Nicole Macias, niece of Richard and granddaughter of Maria Trancita, called the issue a “clerical error� in a TikTok post on May 10 and said she didn’t understand why Olvera Street wasn’t working on a new lease.

Pete Brown, a spokesperson for Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de León, who represents Olvera Street, said that the board has the power to enter into contracts for services and leases as it deems necessary.

“As of today, our office was not made aware of any extenuating circumstances preventing the commission from providing a lease agreement,� he said. “Therefore, it’s disappointing to see that the El Pueblo Commission could not find a way to amicably resolve the situation with Mr. Hernandez. This leaves El Pueblo with one less legacy-family business to uphold the history and traditions of our city’s birthplace.�

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Though Richard Hernandez has been running the business since the 1990s, La Carreta dates to the late 1960s, when Hernandez’s father, Jesus “Don Chuy� Hernandez, originally set up on Olvera Street.

In those day, Don Chuy employed a live donkey from Pomona named Cirila.

In the early 1970s, a photo with Cirila cost $2, and the animal drew crowds of visitors. Cirila was also used in Olvera Street’s traditional Christmas posadas.

Cirila was retired in 1972 and replaced with the stuffed donkey Jorge, who was shipped from Mexico City. The erstwhile beast of burden sat for six months in a customs warehouse before agents cleared its passage.

Jorge has become an iconic feature on Olvera Street, with generations of locals and visitors taking photos.

A petition to save Jorge is nearing 5,000 signatures.