Mexicantown (Southwest)
Link: City Spirit - Mexicantown

Mexicantown has been called by a lot of names over the years - Little Puerto Rico, Havana South - but most people have settled on "Mexicantown."  The main inhabitants are Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Mexicans, Nicaraguans, Colombians, and Salvadorans - but natives of every country in Central and South America can be found here.  Most of the area is fairly run-down and squalid residential neighborhoods.  Here and there residents with money have tried to improve things a bit, even building some duplexes amid the sea of tenements and apartment buildings.  Most will tell you these "upper class" Hispanics got their money dealing drugs; for their part, the residents of Mexicantown dismiss this as discrimination - "if he's a drug dealer, why don't they come and arrest him, huh?"

But the truth is that Mexicantown has a major crime problem - so much of one that in the Nineties, a few Hispanic gangs have found backing by the Colombian and Mexican drug cartels.  Gangs like Los Reyes (the "Latin Kings") and the Mexican Mafia often fight each other.  It's a constantly-shifting battlefield where life is short, teenagers get rich dealing coke and crack, and innocent bystanders get caught in the crossfire.  Besides the drug dealing, "businesses" catering to other vices, such as the sex trade, have also sprung up.

Anglos rarely cross into Mexicantown; it's obvious with every stare they receive that they're regarded with suspicion, fear and hatred.  However, a few brave souls go there for the restaurants (many of which are undiscovered gems, with food prepared by native chefs) and the Latin nightclubs.  None of the residents dislike anglos so much that they'll turn down their money.

(OC: This write up is from another gaming source and used for Detroit's Mexican as we deviate just a bit from the true Mexicantown of Detroit)