A Letter From the Publisher

By Robert L. Miller

Actor Edward James Olmos, a familiar face to fans of Miami Vice and his recent movie Stand and Deliver, is an especially familiar face to pedestrians on Cheesbrough's Lane in East Los Angeles. For our special issue on Hispanic- American culture, TIME's art department came up with an ingenious way of portraying Olmos on the cover. In predominantly Hispanic East Los Angeles, Artist Joe Gonzalez has promoted a renaissance by painting uplifting murals on the sides of buildings. "So we asked ourselves," says Executive Art Director Nigel Holmes, " 'Why not have Gonzalez paint us a mural that depicted Olmos?' "

Gonzalez found the perfect canvas: a gray concrete-block wall just off Cheesbrough's Lane in the parking lot of El Mercado, a Hispanic gathering place for shopping, food stalls and mariachi bands. Olmos grew up in a house just down the street. Gonzalez and fellow Muralists Tony Ramirez and Xavier Quijas got to work with their acrylic paints. Then Photographer Harry Benson captured the image that appears on the cover.

With TIME's deadline approaching, Holmes and his fellow art directors grew a little nervous. Normally they watch the work in progress. "In this case," recalls Holmes, "we couldn't say, 'Hey, please send over your concrete wall, so that we can have a look at the mural.' We were going on faith."

To Staff Writer Guy D. Garcia, who wrote the story, the cover image could not have been more appropriate. "Olmos is a symbol of Hispanic Americans' newfound self-assurance," says Garcia, an East Los Angeles native and author of a novel set in the barrio (Skin Deep, to be published this fall by Farrar, Straus & Giroux). "Because the muralists are part of the Hispanic cultural movement, the medium really is part of the message."

Gonzalez, 48, started painting murals in 1963. "We wanted to help instill pride," says Gonzalez. "Eddie Olmos is the perfect example. He grew up in the barrio and became somebody. That gives inspiration to kids who might otherwise give up." And if they require further inspiration, they need only stroll down Cheesbrough's Lane.