2025 ENDANGERED LATINX LANDMARKS
Year Built:
Tucson, Arizona
Anitas Street Market
1936
Built in 1936, Anita's Street Market first served as a Chinese-owned grocery store, reflecting the historic ties between Chinese and Mexican communities in Barrio Anita. In the 1980s, Grace and Mario Soto transformed it into a tortilla shop, carrying forward family recipes and creating one of Tucson's most beloved Latinx legacy businesses.
For decades, it has nourished the community with handmade tortillas, burritos, and traditional flavors, embodying Tucson's UNESCO City of Gastronomy status. Today, it faces urgent threats, including roof leaks, water intrusion, and a broken HVAC system. Preserving Anita's Street Market means safeguarding a neighborhood anchor and the intertwined cultural and culinary traditions that make Tucson's heritage unique.
“Anita Street Market has fought to survive in the face of displacement, gentrification, and predatory lending in Barrio Anita—one of Tucson’s oldest barrios. What kept us going was the unwavering support of our community, our loyal customers, and the strength my grandparents instilled in me.”
— Grace Soto, Restaurant Owner
The Abuelas
Project
The Abuelas Project collects, curates, and amplifies stories of important Latinx movements, sites, and people across the country.
This GIS project encourages intergenerational storytelling through Storymaps that focus on Braceros, abandoned Mexican cemeteries, Route 66, and more.
Latinx Preservation Toolkit
The Toolkit is a bilingual booklet that empowers Latinx communities by demystifying historic preservation. The Texas Toolkit highlights four Latinx heritage success stories across the state, defines preservation terms, and provides guidance on how students, community members, and youth can preserve their communities.
Our next Toolkit will feature diverse stories across the borderlands.
Nuestra Herencia
Grant Program
We launched Nuestra Herencia Grant Program in 2024, providing $600,000 annually for Latinx heritage and historic preservation projects. This funding initiative focuses on empowering grassroots, Latinx-centered nonprofits.
It is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, in partnership with the Social Impact Fund, which has contributed $1.8 million over three years.