THE FAVORITE AUNT ARTISTS, ENTREPRENEURS HAVE TRANSFORMED TIA CHUCHA'S INTO A THRIVING LATINO CULTURAL CENTER.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

Everybody has a crazy relative, and author/lecturer Luis Rodriguez is no exception.

``The one that breaks the mold and maybe doesn't want to go along with the program,'' says Rodriguez. ``My aunt never wanted to get married because she didn't want anybody to tell her what to do. She used to play guitar, do poetry and tell these stupid jokes. She even made her own perfume from colognes which honestly stunk really bad. That was her character.''

Rodriguez's Tia Chucha was as eccentric as she was inspirational. When he was living in Chicago, Rodriguez - the author of eight books - named his publishing company after her. And the Sylmar coffeehouse and bookstore that serves as a Latino cultural center and its nonprofit arm bear her name as well.

Rodriguez, who founded Tia Chucha's Cafe Cultural with his wife, Maria Trinidad ``Trini'' Rodriguez, and his brother-in-law Enrique Sanchez, figures his venture is perhaps a bit mold-breaking as well.

``When I got older, I realized I wanted to honor (my aunt's) spirit because in some ways that's what keeps me going,'' he says. ``I can't be as crazy as my aunt, but I can be crazy and artistic enough to do something like this.''

``This'' doesn't seem especially crazy anymore.

Now nearly three years running, the coffeehouse located next to a Pizza Hut in a Glenoaks Boulevard strip mall is also a bookstore, Internet cafe and art gallery. People meet for poetry readings, Aztec dance lessons, author appearances, plays or just to have a latte or a tamale.

A full plate

Sitting outside the cafe, Rodriguez is temporarily separate from the bustle inside. It's a late Saturday afternoon in August and the Cafe Cultural is preparing for a CD release party that will end up drawing more than 200 people. Inside, bookshelves are being shifted around to accommodate more chairs. Sound systems are being set up and tested.

Crowds are manageable. In the past, a visit from author Sandra Cisneros created lines around the building. The traditional Mexican folk group Los Cojolites also was a huge draw.

Rodriguez harkened back to when the space was a long-vacant, somewhat run-down office that the Tia Chucha's brain trust gutted and redid from floor to ceiling. Upon its opening in 2001, it took days before anybody came in.

``I don't think we actually planned it that well,'' says Rodriguez. ``Things started rolling and people realized we were serious. We got someone to help us with our business plan. We got the permits and leased the space, We got a Mayan guy from Guatemala who did a lot of the construction work inside.''

Rodriguez was raised in L.A. and spent several years in Chicago. His wife is from Pacoima, and the couple wanted to start their new venture close to home in order to serve the community's needs. A second mortgage on their house helped make the venture a reality. The cafe staff is small and all money generated goes directly back into the business, according to Rodriguez.

``I think you almost kind of have to be consciously aware of what's needed even if most people don't know they need it,'' he says. ``People love taquerias. Even with a shoe store, we'd make more money. But that's not our purpose.''

The cafe walls make up the gallery, displaying the works of artists local to the northeast Valley communities of Sylmar, San Fernando and Pacoima. From the beginning, Luis and Trini insist, Tia Chucha's has thrived on family devotion, volunteer manpower, outstanding word of mouth and a kind of ``consider us your canvas'' mentality.

People with artistic capabilities have frequently approached one of the Rodriguezes with a ``hey, how about we try ...'' scenario only to see their idea - once it's explained and accepted - come quickly to fruition. Future Tia Chucha event organizers have floated an idea and found the cafe owners calling them back, pressing them to make it happen.

For Joe Luis Cedillo, it was plays and live theater. Sylmar native Michael Centero once remarked how easy it would be to hold film screenings, because all that would be needed would be a projector and a screen.

``I got a call like a week or two later,'' recalls Centero, who now coordinates weekly screenings and organizes film actors or directors to come for Q&As. `` 'Hey, we've got the projector and we've got the screen too.' I guess I was pretty much committed.''

Drawing young crowds

Willy Villegas developed his own kind of artistic display at Tia Chucha's: a hip-hop graffiti slam that brought more than 40 taggers from the area and beyond to the cafe to decorate wood panels. Villegas, 16, followed up the event with a fund-raising raffle of some of the pieces, which will lead to a ``Graffiti Skillz & MC Competition'' on Sept. 17.

Villegas is a member of Tia Chucha's Youth Council - operators recently received authorization for nonprofit status for the adjacent Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural - and he's been looking for ways to bring more young people into the cafe and center. He hit upon the series of graffiti events, emphasizing the act of creation, and promotes positive messages instead of competition.

``There's only one Tia Chucha's,'' he says. ``If Tia Chucha's wasn't here, I don't know where I'd be. I'd probably be out tagging like I used to be. They give a lot of chances to youth coming up. So that's what's cool about it.''

The events and activities have become so wide-ranging that newcomers walk in and don't necessarily know what to do, says Trini Rodriguez. Now that the coffee bar and Internet cafe are running smoothly, she says, the next area of emphasis will be beefing up the book supply so Tia Chucha's book store component will be a larger draw. Students from California State University, Northridge, and Mission College have been regular visitors of late to pick up books in anticipation of the fall semester.

``I've always liked the idea that there's a space where people can reflect and just pass the time in a way that's not frantic and stressed,'' she says. ``Obviously, this isn't just a hangout. It's also a place where we create a lot of situations where people are learning from authors, performers, musicians, all kinds of people.

``To me, the classroom isn't just confined to one institution,'' continues Trini, a former Glendale and Los Angeles Unified School District teacher. ``It really should be what you find in your neighborhood and also in the place where you live and grow. So that's what we wanted to create.''

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

TIA CHUCHA'S CAFE CULTURAL

Where: 12737 Glenoaks Blvd., No. 22, Sylmar.

When: Open noon to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, noon to 11 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Information: [phone] or www.tiachucha.com.

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) All in la familia 

Sylmar Latino cultural center an inspired idea that inspires a community

(2 -- 3) Crowds come to hear poetry, above, and music, right, at Tia Chucha's Cafe Cultural in Sylmar, which has become a popular gathering place for the Latino community.

(4 -- 5) In addition to providing food and entertainment, Tia Chucha's offers a bookstore and Internet cafe.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News