Letter from Frida Kahlo to her mother Matilde Calderón de Kahlo, November 10, 1930 Letter from Frida Kahlo to her mother Matilde Calderón de Kahlo, November 10, 1930 (page 2 of 6)

…in a marvelous location. It has such fine buildings. The beach is magnificent, but the gringas look just horrible. The movie stars aren’t worth a Popsicle. Only rich people live in Los Angeles. The poor have a very hard life. Just imagine! A square meter of land in the center of the city costs five thousand dollars, which is more than ten thousand pesos. The beautiful houses are only for multi-millionaires and movie stars. All the other houses are “pinchurrientas” and made out of wood. There are three thousand Mexicans living in Los Angeles. They have to work like mules to compete with gringo businesses.

After Los Angeles you pass through San Jose and San Bruno and then you arrive in San Francisco. It’s an enormous city. Diego says it’s a lot like London because there’s fog during this time of year and the industrial neighborhoods -- according to Diego-- look just like the alleys in London.

Yesterday afternoon, we were invited for cocktails at the home of the director of the Stock Exchange, where Diego is going to work. They have a magnificent house and you can see all of San Francisco, the bay, and the lights of Berkeley (another city…