In East Los Angeles, handsome young Diego works at his family’s restaurant while secretly having an affair with a hunky but super-closeted real estate agent, Pedro. For the largely Latino neighborhood, the landscape is literally changing as white folks move in, including gay couple Wesley and Jonathan. Diego, increasingly frustrated with his hush-hush situation with Pedro (who, making matters worse, romantically pursues a female relative of Diego’s!), falls for Wesley. But racist and homophobic friends, relatives and, in Wesley’s case, a pissy ex-boyfriend guarantee this affair will be no picnic. Almost a companion piece to Quinceañera, director Carlos Portugal’s East Side Story employs a perfect blend of humor, drama and soap opera-worthy plot twists in telling this very timely tale of a neighborhood -- and some of its residents’ lives -- in flux.
