Rueben Martinez

Vocation

Mexican-American activist and businessman who established Librería Martinez Books & Art Gallery and Libros Para Niños, a children’s bookstore, which are recognized nationwide for showcasing Latino authors and artists. He has also had a passion for making Latino books available to children, and has promoted reading among children of all ages. Seeing no future for himself in the small mining town where he grew up, at the age of seventeen Martinez left Arizona for Southern California. He found a job at the massive Bethlehem Steel plant in Maywood, East Los Angeles, attended night school at Santa Ana College, married and began raising a family. He eventually quit Bethlehem Steel to explore a series of other jobs in Southern California until finally in the late 1970s he used his savings to open a barbershop in downtown Santa Ana and proceeded to cut hair full-time for over twenty years. In 1993, Martinez got an idea that grew from a customer novelty to a full flown national business. He realized that the Latino community in California did not have bookshops that focused on their culture. His small collection of books featuring imported books and Latino and Chicano artists soon outgrew his barbershop. He moved his business around the corner to an empty storefront and turned his attention to the books, thus founding Librería Martinez Books & Art Gallery and Libros Para Niños. Link to Wikipedia biography