Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Organizational History
Scope and Content
Related Material at the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
Descriptive Summary
Title: Asociacion de Vendedores Ambulantes (Street Vendors Association) Records ,
Date (inclusive): 1986-1995
Collection number: MSS 053
Creator:
Asociacion de Vendedores Ambulantes
Extent:
4 legal boxes and 4 audiocassetes
1 1/3 linear feet
Repository:
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
Abstract: This collection contains materials created or collected by the Asociacion de Vendedores Ambulantes [A.V.A.] also known as
the Street Vendors Association, an organization, which mobilized the street vendors fight to legalize street vending in Los
Angeles. It includes significant Spanish language materials.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Provenance
Donated to Library by unknown donor, c. 1996.
Access
The collection is available for research only at the Library's facility in Los Angeles. The Library is open from 10 a.m. to
4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Researchers are encouraged to call or email the Library indicating the nature of their research
query prior to making a visit.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research. Researchers may make single
copies of any portion of the collection, but publication from the collection will be allowed only with the express written
permission of the Library's director. It is not necessary to obtain written permission to quote from a collection. When the
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research gives permission for publication, it is as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Asociacion de Vendedores Ambulantes (Street Vendors Association) Records , Southern California Library
for Social Studies and Research, Los Angeles, California.
Organizational History
In the late 1980's, street vendors began organizing to legalize street vending in Los Angeles, the only major city in the
United States that had outlawed such street sales. Due to a rise in Latin American immigration in the 1980's, street vending
in Los Angeles increased, as many new immigrants struggled to make a daily living through street vending. Thousands of vendors
risked arrest since vending in Los Angeles was a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. Vendors
also risked having their goods confiscated by police and would often experience police abuse and harassment. As a result,
vendors and their advocates organized a vendor's rights movement, which fought to legalize street vending in Los Angeles.
The Street Vendors Association; La Asociacion de Vendedores Ambulantes (A.V.A.) was organized by the street vendors themselves
to help mobilize other street vendors in the fight for street vendor's rights. The organization not only organized around
such issues as passing a street vending ordinance but also aided street vendors by providing them with loans and educational
resources
Scope and Content
This collection contains minutes, correspondence, flyers, testimony, reports, articles, clippings, notes, newsletters, financial
statements, and proposals. It contains materials created or collected by the Street Vendors Association during the 1980's
and 1990's. The Street Vendors Association, which mobilized the street vendors in Los Angeles, organized grants, reports,
letter writing, street vendor testimonies, large informational and protest meetings, and proposals regarding the street vendor's
struggle to legalize street vending in Los Angeles.
Three quarters of the material pertain to the administration and financing of the Street Vendors Association, including minutes,
work notes, correspondence, financial statements, etc. The majority of the rest concerns the Street Vendor's Association's
activities in organizing street vendors around issues regarding the passage of a street vending ordinance and the formation
of a special sidewalk vending district. Other concerns ranged from documenting street vendors testimonies against police abuse
to providing educational resources for street vendors. Approximately fifty percent of the documents in this collection are
in Spanish.
Arrangement
The collection is divided into three series: 1.
Administration, 2.
Finance, and 3.
Vendor's Rights Movement.
Related Material at the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
Physical Location: Subject File
- See following
Title: "Labor"
- Various sub-topics and unions, by name
Physical Location: Contemporary Heritage File
- See following
Title: Various immigrant organizations