Maggie Lopez

September 25, 2020 - Interview between Scott Morris and Magdalena “Maggie” Lopez

Maggie owns the Mi Barrio restaurant with her family. The restaurant has operated at Memorial Drive and Boulevard for around 20 years.

Okay, great. Alright. So, um, like I explained, we're just kind of working with Dashboard and Marta, um, collecting some interviews and oral histories from community members. Um, in the area kind of around this Grant Street Tunnel. I'm sorry. Over there by, um, the King Memorial Station. And so, um, you're with Mi Barrio. Oh, have you been there since the restaurant started?

Yes, I was actually a child when the restaurant actually opened. I was about 10 years old.

And what do you kinda remember from that time?

Uh, I just remember, um, abandoned buildings and, um, not really, like a lot of traffic in the area.

Very calm.  You know, you would see people on the street, but, you know, everybody had their own place to go.

Um, And what drew y'all to that to that space. Or do you remember why your family decided to open a restaurant there?

Uh, yeah. Uh, we actually have a house in Taco Town. 

Yeah, we first started in Taco Town. Um, my parents, when they came to Atlanta, when they were younger in their twenties, uh, they arrived in Taco Town and they were first living in an apartment in Taco Town.  And then they, uh, got a house, and they started selling food in the house. And so a couple of years later, around 2000, they decided to find a location which was down the street from the house, which is Memorial Drive.  And, um, from there, uh, it took, like, a couple of years too, like, renovate and all that stuff because the building was, uh, it was like a grocery store at the time.  So we had to renovate and, you know, so we opened around 2000 and four.

Was it open in, like, 2000 with the grocery store? I'm sorry. Like when you were when you had first moved over, was it still selling groceries?

No, it was an abandoned building.

Oh, wow, And where did your parents move to Taco Town from?

From Mexico. They arrived from Mexico.

Oh, cool. Cool. And so then when y'all were selling food, uh, out of the house, who was the customer base?

Uh, our customer base was a lot of construction workers that arrived from Mexico. Um,

Basically the community, Uh, a lot of Mexicans lived in Taco Town. We named it Taco Town because it was full of Mexicans.  Yeah, and we were the only people selling food. So it was like a whole restaurant in my house, Like I was little. I can remember just a lot of grown men coming in families and stuff. And we only had about four tables to seat six people. And we have, like, a lot of people coming in until this day.  Um, those same guys come to the restaurant.

Yeah, the people that've been going to the house. They've been coming and supporting us here at the restaurant. But unfortunately, right now, we're not open due to the pandemic. But we will open it back up in 2021.

And so did your family have a history in that before they got to Atlanta. Or is that something that they were like, they saw a need and started doing?

It was just like something random. I mean, like I said, they came  in their twenties, and they didn't have a job or anything like that. So my dad had got a job at a factory up the street from, uh, where they were living at. And then my mom had to figure out where she was gonna work? But she decided to start making food and feed the community and make money. And from there she just dedicated her life to cooking and, you know, making her own recipes and stuff like that.

And then how did you … were you working from when you were little in the restaurant?

Uh, yeah. Well, I started, uh, just helping out at the restaurant, just like cleaning tables, cleaning the bathroom, just like simple stuff. Um, my mom was the chef, and we had a couple of employees, but it was just mostly family members. Um, And as time went by, I just started learning from there just by watching my mom and I just took over the business.

My mom just stopped cooking, and I just continue her legacy.

Oh, that's so cool.

So, yeah, this is, like, 20 years then of history for Mi Barrio there. Um, what have you seen? Both from, like in the restaurant, maybe your customers and and things, and then, like in the larger community... What kind of changes have you seen in your life? Watching all that happen?

Just everything has just grown, like everything happening so fast. Um, more people just started coming into the community, like in the area, which was great. But now it's just like there's a lot of competition going on. You know, there's a lot of restaurants. It's a big change in, um, this is different.

Okay. Yeah. And then, um, specifically the… you might not, because most of the people I've talked to, um, kind of like … because I'm working specifically in this tunnel. I have a lot of thoughts about it because I'm, like, you know, I'm working with the artist who's doing the installation, but do you have any kind of like, memories or thoughts about that? That stretch right there, Grant Street, that goes pretty much from Memorial over to Decatur Street, like through that tunnel. Is there any stories or anything that, like, kind of draws you to that space in particular?

Uh, yeah. I mean, I would walk every day through that tunnel. You know, like, I would see homeless people. I would see all different types of people in that area. Uh, just like going to the MARTA station. Um, just different. You know, uh, I got robbed once in that tunnel when I'm getting off at the MARTA station. Um, I was actually coming from school. And, um, yeah, just, you know, just got caught up at the wrong time. And, you know, I really couldn't do much, so I just had to keep it moving, because that's what happens every day in Atlanta. You know, you're in the city.

Yeah. I grew up here, too, and I've definitely been...

Like, you know, like a Caucasian homeless people that were there. You really didn't see, like, you know, a diversity of people. So it was just, like, different cause, different parts of town. It was just like a group of race, you know, like Taco Town. It's like Mexican people, uh, Cabbagetown, like white, and then a different side was like black, so yeah, Yeah. 

Um I mean, I assume kind of like through time, and maybe I shouldn't make this assumption, but the people sold … sold their houses and Taco town or, or, or moved out. Where did, like a lot of the Mexican community that was there … Are they still there? I feel like a lot of people might have moved on to other places now.

Oh, yeah. Uh, well, back in the day, like all the houses were crack houses, people were selling drugs. People were, you know, alcoholics, Uh, the people now they moved away either to back home to Mexico or up north, like Lawrenceville. That type of area. So they don't live here anymore. We're... it's only like a few. I just say, like, four, like, five houses that are still here from the same people that've been living here.

People sold their houses because they needed, you know, money. And it was just time to move on from this community and start something new. But us, you know we love this. You know we love this area. We grew up here, everything around us was close … school, and then my restaurant, which is … it was perfect. So we're gonna stay here. We're not, going nowhere.

Yeah. Um Then... what? Like what part of Mexico are your parents from?

Uh, Guadalajara, Jalisco.

Oh, wow. Okay. Cool. And so the cuisine is that, like, Is that, like, indicative of that? Like, Is that like regional for that area? Like what you are cooking?

Yeah, kind of. You know, it's just, like different cooking. You know, everybody has their own ways to cooking stuff, so it all depends on the season and stuff like that. So it's like you can have a restaurant that sells the same exact food as us, but it's not gonna taste the same, you know?

Yeah. No, I've been to a lot of Mexican restaurants and Mi Barrio is definitely up there for me. One of my favorites.

Yeah, because we're not like, you know, we're not fancy. We're not, uh we don't have a perfect location. We rather be like, you know what I'm saying? A little spot downtown, like everything is not brand new in our restaurant. You know, it's an old building. We like to keep it old school we want. We want you to make you know, you can feel like you're at my house in Mexico.

That's what we have that feeling. We always make sure our customers are part of our family. We make you feel like family.

We treat you like family. So that's why you know, we're different from, like, all these other restaurants, because the other restaurants are just like chain restaurants that are just, you know what I'm saying? Trying to make their money and go. We want to make you feel like home, like family. That's why a lot of people support us to this day because we have always been like that.

We might be a little rude sometimes, but, you know, it's just the days, okay?

No, I definitely get the family vibe out of the place, are there? Uh, so that it sounds to me. And maybe you can, uh, well, could you just speak on Like what? What goals? You, you have from Mi Barrio for the future.

Oh, for the future. Well, we are trying to plan to get, like, a taco truck stuff like that. Um, we're not really going anywhere. We're gonna stay there. Probably like five more years. Maybe 10 depending on how my parents do. Uh, if not, we'll go back home to Mexico, right now, you can. I can't really say because of what's going on.

So you are just trying to get back open? I'm sure.

Yeah. I'm just trying to get this over with. It's too much. Like being called on by the police when the pandemic first started. Really changed my life around.

Police being called. What? What do you mean?

Like when the pandemic started, we were already following social distancing rules. And, like, people will call the police and say, you know, we had too many people and we couldn't do this, we couldn't do that.  So that changed my life around because we had to close down and really show them, like, you know what? Cool. You want us close down, We'll give you all a break, right?

Um Well, gosh, I'm sorry that that happened.

I remember like, because yeah, you would like to start and stop. I didn't realize that that was what was going on. Whenever, uh, it started because I know I felt safe getting my food there. Um.. and then I was gonna ask … back to the history. And like, would you say most of the folks in Taco Town were from Guadalajara? Was everybody kind of like from different parts? Or how was the community? Like, What was it like? As far as the backgrounds of the Mexican folks that were living in Taco Town?

Yeah, everybody was from different parts of Mexico, and nobody didn't know each other. You know, people just, you know, uh, worry about where they were, like, you know, coming to Atlanta because California, Texas, it was already too much going on. You know, it was a lot of Mexicans there, so they were like, Let's spread our, you know, our genes and stuff. Let's go to Atlanta. Let's go to a different state. So when they came here, it was just like different people. It was like people from Guatemala, people from, uh, Mexico City, just like different parts of Mexico. And then they came together, and now they became, like, one family. But everybody has to go separate ways. People died, you know, that’s change in life.

A project by Dashboard and MARTA | Artbound.