How ICE raids crashed the Eastside party industry

This story was originally published by Boyle Heights Beat on Aug. 27, 2025.

Sonia Landeros, co-owner of Party Planet Supplies in East L.A., said fewer people are buying decorations like balloons and streamers. She said sales at her store have dropped nearly 70%.

“We have to adapt to this new economy,” she said.

Even those who still rent party equipment are planning for smaller gatherings, reserving fewer tables and chairs.

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“They celebrate but they celebrate with fear,” Landeros said as she masterfully sliced pieces of cardboard for a piñata she was assembling.

Even sales of piñatas at her store have been impacted. The family business would normally sell around 30 piñatas a week before the raids began. Now, they struggle to sell more than 10, leaving colorful piñatas shaped as mermaids, estrellas and even tequila bottles hanging from the ceiling.

When Mariana Ramirez earned her PhD this summer, she planned to celebrate with friends and family in City Terrace. But just weeks before the party, ICE raids swept across Los Angeles, sparking fear throughout communities.

“I just didn’t feel it was the right moment to celebrate,” she said. “There was so much violence going on outside and attacks against my community.”

Ramirez canceled the event, joining a number of families who have had to do the same.

Across Boyle Heights and East L.A. families have scaled back or scrapped celebrations altogether out of fear that masked immigration agents will descend on their homes. Local party supply businesses, from jumper rentals to piñata makers, say they’re losing thousands as a result.

Changes in partygoer behavior 

For brick-and-mortar party supply and gear rental stores, even ones that have been around for decades, business has dramatically dropped.

Piñatas at Party Planet Supply.

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Andrew Lopez

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Boyle Heights Beat

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The economic toll of the ICE raids has also gripped downtown L.A.’s Piñata District, where a lack of customers has forced business owners to adapt. One business reported a 90% drop in sales.
To Melissa Arreola, Landeros’ adult niece, who has helped out at the shop since she was 12, the area around Party Planet Supplies has resembled a ghost town for more than two months.

“Nobody wants to go out right now because they don’t know if they’re gonna be profiled and taken because it’s unpredictable,” the now 35-year-old said, referring to the tactics seen used by immigration enforcement agents despite a court order banning detention stops without “reasonable suspicion.”

ICE raids rain on summer profits

Just a few blocks north past El Pino, Carlos Martinez, owner of CM Event Rentals, said his summer profits vanished after the raids began. His company rents out jumpers, tables, chairs, tents, and other party equipment, mostly to clients Boyle Heights, East L.A., Montebello and surrounding Eastside neighborhoods.

“After May, our sales just went down dramatically. We were used to having like at least 10 to 20 rentals every weekend, and now we’re just having like one or two… They just didn’t want to have parties,” Martinez said.

Martinez estimates he’s lost upwards of $22,000 due to event cancellations.

Nearly all of his clients who cancelled their celebrations for birthdays or quinceñeras said their decisions were based on fear brought on by the ICE raids in Southern California, Martinez said.

But instead of keeping deposits and totally cancelling bookings, Martinez has been giving his clients up to one year to reschedule, because he, too, understands the fear of immigration enforcement.

“We live in a Hispanic community… It’s scary to be out there. We’re going through a scary moment,” he said.

Even the caterer Ramirez booked for her party was relieved she canceled. Commuting to East L.A. from her home in Orange County would have put her at risk due to her immigration status.

Instead, she celebrated quietly with her parents and siblings.

“I got so much love and support from my community and so much understanding,” Ramirez said. “I felt celebrated even without a party.”

A woman walks along 1st Street in East L.A. outside of Party Planet Supplies on Aug. 25, 2025.

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Andrew Lopez

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Boyle Heights Beat

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Celebrations as “an act of rebellion”

Still, not everyone is canceling. Carlos Tinoco, 36, says his East L.A.neighbors continue to hold their usual weekend celebrations with loud banda horns and reggaeton beats pouring from speakers hours into the night.

He admits the gatherings made him nervous at first. “I remember one weekend I was thinking to myself, ‘Maybe they really should [take a break],’” he said.

But to him, it’s a part of the culture in East L.A.

“With everything going on, I see it as an act of rebellion to keep going.”