Asociacion de Vendedores Ambulantes (Street Vendors Association) Records ,
1986-1995
Processed by Anayvette Bran and Jessica Aimee Rivera
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
6120 South Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90044
Phone: (323) 759-6063
Fax: (323) 759-2252
Email: archives@socallib.org
URL: http://www.socallib.org/
© 2001
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research. All rights reserved.
Register of the Asociacion de Vendedores Ambulantes (Street Vendors Association) Records ,
1986-1995
Collection number: MSS 053
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
Los Angeles, California
Contact Information:
- Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
- 6120 South Vermont Avenue
- Los Angeles, CA, 90044
- Phone: (323) 759-6063
- Fax: (323) 759-2252
- Email: archives@socallib.org
- URL: http://www.socallib.org/
- Processed by:
- Anayvette Bran and Jessica Aimee Rivera
- Date Completed:
-
August 2001
- Encoded by:
- Julia Bazar
© 2001 Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research. All rights reserved.
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
A copy of the collection register is kept in the first box of the collection (1/0).
Series 1.
Administration,
1987-1994
Physical Description:
2 legal boxes
Scope and Content Note
This series contains documents collected or created by the organization including the organization's mission statement, minutes,
correspondence, work notes, and any miscellaneous materials regarding the administration of the Street Vendors Association.
Also included in this series are two folders of materials entitled "divisions and troubles". These materials pertain to the
issues that led to the creation of two opposing factions within the Street Vendors Association and the problems that arose
as a result.
Box-folder 1/1
Miscellaneous documents and materials,
1987-1994
Box-folder 1/2
Incorporation Workshop,
n.d.
Box-folder 1/3
Mission statement, By-laws,
1993
Box-folder 1/4
Directorio de la Mesa Directiva,
n.d.
Box-folder 1/5
Reuniones y juntas de la mesa directiva,
1993-1994
Box-folder 1/6
Reuniones, juntas y agendas generales,
1992-1994
Box-folder 1/7
Minutes and treasury notes,
1994
Box-folder 1/8
Binder of documents regarding AVA and other organizations,
1993
Box-folder 2/1
"Early On",
May 1987-November 1987
Box-folder 2/3-2/4
Notes from vendors meetings, [two folders],
1989
Box-folder 2/5-2/6
Documents relating to "divisions and troubles" within and pertaining to AVA, [two folders],
1994
Box-folder 2/7
Reiko's report and papers,
n.d.
Box-folder 2/8
Clare Weber, CARECEN outreach coordinator's notes and miscellaneous documents,
1994
Series 2.
Finance,
1986-1994
Physical Description:
1 legal box
Scope and Content Note
This series includes financial reports, expenses, and proposals; miscellaneous grant related material, notes on fundraising,
and other materials pertaining to the financial management of the Street Vendors Association. The majority of the folders
include applications and information regarding different grants offered to non-profit organizations.
Box-folder 3/1
Financial reports, expenses, and proposals,
1993-1994
Box-folder 3/2
Notes on fundraising,
1994-1995
Box-folder 3/3
Miscellaneous grant related material,
1992-1995
Box-folder 3/5
California Community Foundation, .
n.d
Box-folder 3/6
Campaign for Human Development,
1994
Box-folder 3/7
Claretian Fathers Local and National Fund,
1993
Box-folder 3/8
The Gas Company Grant,
1993
Box-folder 3/9
Liberty Hill Fund and Grant,
1993
Box-folder 3/11
Peace Development Fund,
1986-1994
Box-folder 3/15
United Methodist Church Community Action Fund,
1993
Box-folder 3/17
Cooperativa de Prestamos,
1994
Box-folder 3/18
CARECEN's IRS letter and bank statement,
1993
Series 3.
Vendors Rights Movement,
1987-1995
Physical Description:
1 legal box and 4 audio cassettes
Scope and Content Note
This series is made up of clippings, news articles, handouts, reports, audio cassettes and other materials pertaining to the
vendor's rights movement organized by the Street Vendors Association. The majority of the material concerns the struggle to
pass a street vending ordinance and to form a special sidewalk-vending district. Other concerns ranged from documenting street
vendors testimonies against police abuse to providing educational resources for street vendors.
Box-folder 4/1
Press contact sheets and media strategy information,
n.d.
Box-folder 4/2-4/3
News articles, [two folders],
1987-1995
Box-folder 4/4-4/5
Original material aid, [two folders],
1987-1988
Box-folder 4/7
Documento de Trabajo para un Mercado en Pico Union, a report prepared by Gilda Haas,
1994
Box-folder 4/8
Street vending ordinance,
1994
Box-folder 4/9
Formation of a special sidewalk-vending district,
1993-1994
Box-folder 4/10
Sidewalk Vending Coalition,
1994
Box-folder 4/11
Task force report on street vending in Los Angeles,
1990
Box-folder 4/12
Schools offering classes directly or indirectly related to street vendors,
1993-1994
Box-folder 4/13
Street vendor's testimonies and declarations,
1987-1994
Box-folder 4/14
Prisoner's receipt, medical record, and property release documents for street vendors,
1987-1988
Box-folder 4/15
Brief on The People vs. Jesus del Carmen Villatoro and Sonya Hernandez,
1987
Box-folder 4/16
Forms for confiscation project,
1989
Box-folder 4/17
Letter to the Pope on behalf of women street vendors,
1987
Box-folder 4/18
AFSC/Immigration information,
1987
Box-folder 4/19
Four audiocassettes of Street Vendor Meetings
n.d.
