Today’s newsletter is presented by Harriet Tubman Village Charter School.
Hello, La Mesa!
Last week I caught up with La Mesa vice mayor Lauren Cazares while she was in Sacramento.
She told me about her work at Equality California, the state’s biggest nonprofit focused on electing LGBTQ+ people, and what it means for her to be a symbol of growing LGBTQ+ acceptance in La Mesa and East County.
I want to note that the past two Q&As have been written responses from the subject, only changed for grammar and length. This is more heavily edited because Cazares and I spoke over the phone, so a lot was condensed and reordered to make sense in a newsletter.
Bonus: We had such a long conversation that none of her answers here made it into our main article. Unique content!
In addition to serving as vice mayor, you also work as Equality California’s associate director of political affairs. What does that work entail?
LC: We decide on which folks [Equality California] will support and endorse, and then how PAC money gets spent.
In the San Diego region, our number one priority is electing Marni von Wilpert to Congress in the 48th congressional district. So I get to work very closely with her and her campaign.
I’ve worked on PACs before, but it’s very cool that I get to do it for Equality California, for an organization that supported me and that I really believe in.
How have you seen La Mesa and East County change in its treatment of the LGBTQ+ community in your lifetime?
LC: What I remember growing up is seas and seas of bright yellow yard signs: “Yes on Prop 8, yes to the traditional family.” Just all across La Mesa.
La Mesa has really changed and become a more welcoming space in the last 15 years, but it took a lot of pain and suffering for me to decide to come out.
The change that has happened in La Mesa, and that it is happening across East County, is hard to pinpoint. There’s not an image of it necessarily.
When I was elected and now serving as the first and only LGBTQ+ vice mayor in East County, I think that I have become a symbol for the progress that has been happening long before I was in office. And I’m really proud to be one of those symbols.
Queerness does not diminish your light or your talent or your drive. It certainly, above all, does not diminish the love and care that you have for your community, especially the community of La Mesa, because we love you right back.
Describe a perfect day in La Mesa.
LC: First, take my dog Taylor to Aztec Park then go with her to Sheldon’s. I like an iced vanilla latte and their avocado toast. Then I would go and wander around the downtown area. Our large Antique Mall and Sara’s boutique are my two go-tos.
Next, going with my mom to Angel’s Nail Salon on Lake Murray Boulevard. I love doing that.
Then I would want to have my partner come with me and we would go and get dinner at Tour de Tapas and get the mussels and cream sauce because it is, in my opinion, the best dish on La Mesa Boulevard. After our amazing dinner, we would go to Curbside for dessert.
Drew Sitton
La Mesa Courier newsletter host
La Mesa story spotlight
Grossmont Center reels in Bass Pro Shops
By Drew Sitton • Times of San Diego
Bass Pro Shops announced plans to bring a mega destination retail store to La Mesa’s Grossmont Center in 2028.
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