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# Pico Youth & Family Center Hosts Dia de los Muertos Community Event
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/110504-story-20041105-2/
- Published: 2004-11-05T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T05:26:05.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Community, Pico, #archive-import

importance of every life to our own existence.”

The free community event will feature ballet folkorico dance by Herencia Mexicana, musical performances from five bands including Horny Toad, Viva Malpache, LA-based Inner City Soul, Upground and Columbian-based Very Be Careful. Traditional altars will be on display. Vendors will be selling jewelry, clothing, art work and traditional food. Acknowledgment of youth and community leaders will occur during the event.

“The movement to establish the Pico Youth & Family Center was born when we responded to violence on this day with a vigil for peace and organized our first Dia de los Muertos event in 1998,” said Oscar de la Torre, founder and director of the Pico Youth & Family Center. “Having its roots in indigenous tradition, this event is truly American.

“Unlike Halloween, we intend to call back the spirits of those who have passed on,” he added. “This event is about peace and unity with the past and the present.”

The Pico Youth & Family Center’s mission is to: “Equip disenfranchised youth and their families with the leadership and advocacy skills needed to strengthen and sustain the community in which they live. To promote peace, unity and social justice by modeling cooperation and advancing educational and economic opportunity. We work to instill hope in our youth by engaging them in creating solutions to our community’s problems.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 5, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/110504.pdf?ref=smdp.com)