A corner booth near the entryway of a Monrovia restaurant where Los Angeles Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela frequented is now emblazoned with his name, iconic No. 34 and a mural.
Max’s Mexican Cuisine, near Huntington Drive and Mountain Avenue, hosted an evening of memories Tuesday, Nov.12, about not just a legendary baseball figure but a friend.
In an outside patio area members of the community, friends of Valenzuela and local elected officials sat and stood around tables draped blue tablecloths.
Angelica Arteaga, the CEO of Max’s, and whose family founded the restaurant said the idea for the event came about as friends shared memories of Valenzuela shortly after his death.
Valenzuela ate breakfast at Max’s frequently. Sometimes once a week, sometimes three times a week. Valenzuela died at age 63 last month.
“We feel his presence there.” Arteaga said of the booth.
People watch as a mural of the late Dodger great Fernando Valenzuela is unveiled over the booth he use to sit at during an event to remember him at Max’s Mexican Cuisine in Monrovia on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. Valenzuela was a frequent visitor to the restaurant. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Valenzuela also took part in fundraisers put on by the restaurant, where he met members of the community. Arteaga got to know Valenzuela through the restaurant and described him as genuine, respectful and someone who enjoyed joking around.
“Aside from him being a legend and known everywhere he was just a normal person,” Arteaga said. “He was just so kind and he treated us like friends.”
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Trio Corazon, a mariachi group, provided the soundtrack for the evening, which included stories shared by friends of Valenzuela and remarks from local elected officials.
Jaime Jarrin, the longtime Spanish-language voice of the Dodgers and broadcast partner of Valenzuela, said he still expects to go to the ballpark and see Valenzuela there.
“I spent so many days, so many hours with him that I consider him a younger brother to me,” Jarrin said. “I can’t believe that he is gone.”
Jarrin recalled Valenzuela’s arrival to the Dodgers in September 1980. While most people associate Valenzuela’s remarkable 1981 season with “Fernandomania,” Jarrin said the left-hander’s appearances in 1980 showed the Dodgers that he belonged.
“He was really an icon,” Jarrin said. “Not only in sports, not only in baseball but with the community.”
Ray Lara, one of Valenzuela’s closest friends told more stories about spending time with Valenzuela at Max’s and other restaurants talking and laughing for hours on end.
“Let’s please, please forever and ever let’s let Fernando live in our hearts and every chance we can let’s remember him positively because really there’s no other way you could remember Fernando,” Lara said.
A select group of people from a group of about 150 people in attendance packed around the booth to get the first glimpse of the mural. Dozens of phones were held aloft as the black cloth was removed revealing a large image of Valenzuela mid pitch delivery and surrounded by several snapshots of his career.
Related story: Mural honoring late Dodgers great Fernando Valenzuela unveiled in Boyle Heights
They included newspaper clippings and an image of his iconic look to the sky that was part of Valenzuela’s wind up.
Ryan Burch, the mural’s artist, who hails from Monrovia, said he put a lot of heart and emotion into the piece. He said Valenzuela was a man of action and he wanted the mural to reflect that.
“We wanted to encapsulate what he meant to the Dodgers and then what he meant to this community,” Burch said.
Patrons of Max’s will see the mural change over time, Burch said, as more and more memories will be included as time goes by. After the unveiling, a ribbon cutting commemorated a new placard placed on the table which read, “In Tribute ‘El Toro’ Fernando Valenzuela #34.”
On Nov. 1, the date of what would have been his 64th birthday, more than 200,000 people descended on downtown Los Angeles for Dodgers World Series championship parade.
Two days earlier the Dodgers completed a 4-1 series victory over the New York Yankees 43 years after Valenzuela and the 1981 Dodgers bested the Yankees in the World Series.
As at every Dodger home game, Valenzuela’s number 34 jerseys were just as frequent as jerseys of the current team. Fans hailing from Pomona, Norwalk, La Verne and all over Southern California shared their memories and personal connections to Valenzuela.
Max’s Monrovia location opened in 2011 after the original restaurant was founded in Azusa in 2000.
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