La Peña Cultural Center
 La Peña façade as seen from across Shattuck Avenue. |
La Peña Cultural Center or La Peña for short, is a Chilean-American culture center in the United States. It was founded in 1975 by two Chilean expatriates on Shattuck Avenue in the Ashby neighborhood of Berkeley, California in response to the 1973 golpe de estado. The center was a focal point for the opposition-in-exile to dictator Augusto Pinochet during his rule, and later evolved into a community gathering place, artist center, entertainment venue, retail store, and left-leaning meeting place which aims to promote community through artists and social activism.
In 1975 two Chilean expatriates, along with community members and $10,000, opened La Peña as a reaction to the downfall of democracy and the Salvador Allende administration in Chile. The center began its life as the center of the anti-Pinochet dictatorship movement in the United States.
A restaurant was added in the 1980s, Café Valparaíso, that has added itself to the neighborhood's Gourmet Ghetto and is award winning. It is also known as Café de la Peña. The cafe also sells endemic Chilean foodstuffs and novelties. Valpo's menu focuses heavily on Chilean empanadas. The menu has evolved over the years adding other Latin American cuisine such as food from Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru. The menu does however continue serving many Chilean dishes such as Humitas.
In 2005 the center was noted for its involvement in and being a center of several forms of art forms that descended from African slaves in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean. These were lessons in and performances of two dances. These dances are the percussion driven plena and bomba. The peña also has its own music groups: La Peña Chorus and Lab Hip Hop Ensemble. It has also been noted for its Little Friends of La Peña concert series of bilingual children's musical offerings.
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