West Adams' Día de los Muertos Block Party Started in a Mariscos Restaurant's Driveway

On a regular day at 5640 W Adams Blvd, you might walk right past the concrete path between Mariscos Marias, a blue seafood restaurant, and Persona The Shop, a boutique. Since 2020, that driveway has hosted Midcity Mercado's market of vendors, DJs and micheladas. Los Angeles Magazine described that market as a backyard space connecting the family's restaurant with Jasmine Maldonado's shop, where more than 80 vendors gather.

This Sunday, November 1, the event outgrows the driveway completely. Midcity Mercado's 4th Annual Día de los Muertos Festival Block Party runs from noon to 8 p.m. on West Adams Boulevard between Fairfax Avenue and Hauser Boulevard. It's free, and families and pets are welcome. On its own festival page, the Mercado calls the stretch "the heart of Mid City."

The whole festival traces back to one family business at that one address, and the day is easiest to plan around it.

The address behind the block party

Mariscos Marias started out as a food truck long before there was a market or a festival. Here's how the property turned into the festival's home base:

• 1987: The family bought the first Mariscos Marias food truck in the Vermont-Adams area and sold camarones, tostadas and ceviche, according to L.A. TACO.
• 2000: Maria Del Pilar Cuevas opened the restaurant as a brick-and-mortar location.
• 2008: Her son Giovanny Maldonado took over operations.
• 2020: Jasmine opened her boutique that year, and in August the family lent the outdoor space for a friend's small-business launch. The first Mercado had three vendors.
• Afterward: Jasmine gave other vendors a rack, a table and a pop-up, Giovanny started making micheladas in the parking lot, and friends brought DJs. In L.A. TACO's words, the Mercado was born "organically, without anyone planning it."

The same L.A. TACO profile explains why the market matters to the building it sits behind. The Mercado's foot traffic helps keep the restaurant going, and Jasmine has since turned the Mercado into a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a mission of preserving culture. When the Mercado started, Jasmine described its purpose to Los Angeles Magazine this way:

"Amplify our culture, amplify creatives, and just create a very supportive safe space where our community can gather and have a good time."

Four Novembers on Adams, each one shaped a little differently

Council District 10 partnered on the first festival and backs this year's as well, and the details have shifted from year to year.

The first edition's five blocks come from Los Angeles Magazine's photo caption. The 2024 location comes from the Beverly Press announcement, and the Los Angeles Times' 2026 guide confirms this year is the fourth edition, running noon to 8 p.m.

If you went in 2024, keep in mind that the stretch has moved. That year the festival filled Adams between Spaulding and Hauser. This year's listing runs it from Hauser to Fairfax, so if you head to last year's spot by habit, you could end up at the wrong end. The calendar has changed too. The 2024 and 2025 editions fell on Saturdays, and this one comes the day after Halloween. The Mercado describes the weekend as Halloween on Saturday and Día de los Muertos on Sunday.

Begin at the community altar

The carnival games and Ferris wheels are what make the event look big in photos. The Mercado describes the community altar as "the heart of the whole day," a space for collective grief and healing that "grows bigger every year with the photos community members bring."

That's a practical tip as much as a sentiment. The festival FAQ invites visitors to bring framed photos or small offerings for the Community Altar. If you're honoring someone, pack the frame before you leave home. Getting there in the early afternoon gives you time at the altar before the evening crowd builds.

The altar starts before Sunday, too. Midcity Mercado lists a Noche de Altares on October 29, the Thursday before the festival. Check the festival page or the Mercado's Instagram for the time and location before you go.

What changed at 5640 W Adams this year

The family and the festival are the same story, and this year the family made its biggest change yet. According to L.A. TACO's September profile, Jasmine Maldonado stepped into ownership of Mariscos Marias in 2026. She closed her clothing store "for a bit" so she could focus on keeping the restaurant open and getting the Día de los Muertos celebration ready. She hopes to buy the property someday and send a steadier income back into the nonprofit.

That means the festival's host is now the restaurant first. The boutique that shared the driveway is on pause, and the restaurant, the market and the block party all lead back to one owner and one address. Jasmine summed it up for L.A. TACO: "What pours right back into us and keeps us going is really the community."

For you, that turns lunch into the simplest way to support the festival. Mariscos Marias' online ordering menu includes seafood plates, tostadas, shrimp and fish plates, cocktails and soups. Featured dishes include fish ceviche, fish tacos and a mixed seafood molcajete. Those dishes go back to the original truck, which sold tostadas and ceviche starting in 1987.

Planning Sunday around the address

Here's a sequence that fits the noon-to-8 window and the festival's layout:

1. Leave the car at the E Line. The festival FAQ warns that street parking will be very limited on West Adams and nearby streets. It recommends taking the Metro E Line to La Cienega/Jefferson, which has parking and sits a short distance from the festival. Metro lists the station at 5664 W Jefferson Blvd. with 494 paid parking spaces. Check Metro's parking page for weekend rates.
2. Go to the altar early. Bring your framed photo or offering in the first part of the afternoon.
3. Eat at the host. Order ceviche or tostadas at Mariscos Marias, 5640 W Adams Blvd.
4. Walk the vendor rows and the stages. This year's listing promises 80+ vendors, live performances, free carnival games and free workshops.
5. Stay into the evening. On September 24, 2026, the West Adams Business Improvement District celebrated new string lighting along West Adams Blvd with Councilwoman Heather Hutt and an ice cream social at Yochill Froyo. The BID said the lights would "bring more visitors at night." The festival's last hours run after dark.
6. Have a backup dinner plan. If the food truck lines get long, MIZLALA's West Adams location at 5400 W Adams Blvd. lists hours of 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

The Mercado is also taking volunteers for this year's festival through its Get Involved page, and returning volunteers get first pick of teams. To bring something to the altar, carry it on the E Line, get off at La Cienega/Jefferson and head up to Adams between Fairfax and Hauser any time after noon on Sunday.

Southeast LA's family businesses and community traditions are part of what makes these neighborhoods home, and Celeste Castillo is glad to celebrate them in English or Spanish. If this weekend has you thinking about your own place in Mid City, start with a clear, no-pressure picture of where you stand. Get your instant home valuation.