REYNALDO RIVERA, born ib this date, is a photographer known for capturing historic queer, transgender, and predominantly  Latinx scenes, such as clubs and house parties in late 20th-century Los Angeles. He photographed clubs including La Plaza, the Silverlake Lounge, Mugy’s, and Little Joy. Rivera’s black and white photographs are known for their intimate documentation and focus on the everyday life and private moments of Latinx women, artists, and drag performers of the time. Rivera considers this a type of activism against the forms cultural erasure that continuously inflicts these communities. Citing gentrification, violence, and a lack of public record-keeping as reasons that have led to their marginalization and erasure. In this way, Rivera is known for bringing visibility to queer, Latinx-Angeleno history.

Reynaldo Rivera was born in 1964 in Mexicali, though he ended up moving to many places in the United States and Mexico growing up. He now resides permanently in East Los Angeles, the site of the queer history he documents through his photos.

Rivera cites photography as a way for him to find stability. His first camera was a Pentax K1000. He began his career by photographing hotel cleaners. Rivera credits the employee at the film development spot he used for explaining the mechanics of his camera to him after his initial pictures were coming out blank. During his early pursuit of photography, Rivera did not have enough money to afford all the film he needed, which he credits with necessitating the development of his editing skills. His first piece was a 1983 selection aimed at bringing life to the site in Mexico City where his step-grandfather was murdered.

Rivera’s first professional gig when he entered his 20s was photographing live punk and rock music, such as that performed by Depeche Mode, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Sonic Youth. He then transitioned to photographing drag bars, house parties, and queer clubs, especially in East Los Angeles, including La Plaza during the 1980s and 1990s.

His photographs—which are included in MoMA’s collection—are informed by the drama and deep emotion of boleros and rancheras, the glamor of Old Hollywood and the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, and earlier trailblazers in photography like Nadar, Brassaï and Henri Cartier-Bresson.

We do not have a date for his actual birth other than the year. So we are including him today.