but everybody just calls it the bean. but you know what chicago is not known for? latinos. cause when you think mexican, you think what? texas or cali? and puerto ricans, you think new york city immediately. but nope, they re right here in chi town. that s right, chicago has the second-largest mexican population of any u.s. city and a very, very large, thriving puerto rican community. latinos have been here longer than wrigley field, and they ve brought their amazing culture with them. i m talking food from michoacán and salsa from san juan. waves of latinos came to america s heartland and they worked in its factories, farms, and service industries and they turned chicagoland into chicagolandia. so i m here to find out what kind of impact decades of latinx influence have had on the windy city. and i m gonna have some amazing food, because you know that happens a lot on this show. it s right here in my contract. feed john. [tracks clacking] [upbeat horn-driven music]
ok, i know it s really called cloud gate, but everybody just calls it the bean. but you know what chicago is not known for? latinos. cause when you think mexican, you think what? texas or cali? and puerto ricans, you think new york city immediately. but nope, they re right here in chi town. that s right, chicago has the second-largest mexican population of any u.s. city and a very, very large, thriving puerto rican community. latinos have been here longer than wrigley field, and they ve brought their amazing culture with them. i m talking food from michoacán and salsa from san juan. waves of latinos came to america s heartland and they worked in its factories, farms, and service industries and they turned chicagoland into chicagolandia. so i m here to find out what kind of impact decades of latinx influence have had on the windy city. and i m gonna have some amazing food, because you know that happens a lot on this show. it s right here in my contract. feed john. [t
but you know what chicago is not known for? latinos. cause when you think mexican, you think what? texas or cali? and puerto ricans, you think new york city immediately. but nope, they re right here in chi town. that s right, chicago has the second-largest mexican population of any u.s. city and a very, very large, thriving puerto rican community. latinos have been here longer than wrigley field, and they ve brought their amazing culture with them. i m talking food from michoacán and salsa from san juan. waves of latinos came to america s heartland and they worked in its factories, farms, and service industries and they turned chicagoland into chicagolandia. so i m here to find out what kind of impact decades of latinx influence have had on the windy city. and i m gonna have some amazing food, because you know that happens a lot on this show. it s right here in my contract. feed john. [tracks clacking] [upbeat horn-driven music] - [trills] [upbeat music] i m h
Waves of latinos came to americas heartland and they worked in its factories, farms, and Service Industries and they turned chicagoland into chicagolandia. So im here to find out what kind of impact decades of latinx influence have had on the windy city. And im gonna have some amazing food, because you know that happens a lot on this show. Its right here in my contract. Feed john. [tracks clacking] [upbeat horndriven music] [trills] [upbeat music] im here on chicagos west side in la villita, or Little Village, where theres one of the largest Mexican American communities in the midwest. The mexicans who settled here came looking for work and ended up creating the secondbiggest economy in chicago right here on 26th street, the mexican magnificent mile. With over hundreds of shops, i needed a local guide, so im meeting up with hollywood legend and chicago native, michael pena. You might have seen him in his breakout role in crash. You talking about that bullet that came through your windo
[upbeat music] - chicago s a pilsen neighborhoode is known for its art, thanks to the mexican americans who painted murals all over this barrio starting back in the 1960s. before long, pilsen became hip and the property values then went up and so did the rent. over the last 20 years, thousands of mexican americans have had to move out. gentrification strikes again. but the murals they left behind continue to tell their stories, and mario, a tour guide from the national museum of mexican art, knows what s up. how are you doing? - hey, john, how are you? - so you re an expert on pilsen murals? - i like to believe i know a little bit. - [laughs] - mario grew up in pilsen and has been fighting every day to preserve the heritage of this community. - we have a lot of public art here in pilsen, murals that deal with social issues such as violence, but also celebrate the heritage of méxicanos. so this first mural was done by an artist named héctor duarte, and it s painted on his actual house