Mamita's House: A True Tale of Tortilla Flat

Mamita's House is about an extended California Indian family that lived during the depression years in a neighborhood in Carmel, California called Tortilla Flat. It was to this neighborhood that John Steinbeck came to learn about the life of the paisanos. While Steinbeck used characters from Tortilla Flat in his book of that name, he told a different story from the equally compelling true one. The true one focuses on Mamita as a family heroine with the strength and fire to bring her family through tumultuous times. This account brings the reader an insight into the experience of California Indian People as they moved from tribal life to the urban life they enjoy today. Recent photographs connect today's descendants with those who lived in and around Mamita's House at the turn of the last century.