Since Rodell Sanders was a teenager, Bronzeville has changed a lot. But one thing remains the same-every summer weekend, he can find Maria Salamanca selling Kahn Asada tacos in a nearby park.

For about 40 years, every summer weekend, Salamanca and her husband would drive from their home in Barktown to Bronzeville to sell tacos and tortillas, first at Dunbar Park on 31st Street and Indiana Avenue. In recent years, Vincennes Avenue near 37th Street, and then to Ellis Park.

Sanders tried her tacos for the first time in Dunbar Park when she was "15, 14, and 13 years old," he said. After a long time, he now considers her family.

Sanders said: "I have her phone number in my phone, it's OG." "We know her name, but I just call her OG, (or) mother."

Over the years, her customers have also been called grandmothers, aunts or taco ladies. Salamanca has witnessed generations of teenagers like Sanders grow up and build their own families.

She also saw changes in the community as the Ida B. Wells Homes between King Drive and Vincennes Avenue south of 35th Street was demolished, as the community began to rebuild in recent years.

On a recent Sunday, the 73-year-old Salamanca stood behind her usual arrangement on the last Sunday of the season: two folding tables, a grill to keep the tacos hot, and The second grill for tacos. Weather permitting, she sells her food from May to early October.

Salamanca prepares tacos dorados (or tacos) with potatoes and steak or grilled chicken. She accepts payment and keeps a stock of toppings.

She keeps gloves, soap, and a portable water dispenser nearby to wash her hands and wash vegetables between payment and handling of food.

Her nephew, Jorge Hernandez, grilled and sliced ​​the steak, then put it in warm tortillas before handing the plate to hungry customers. Her husband Aurelio Salamanca also helped, replenishing goods from their truck.

On a table, Salamanca arranged her homemade jalapeno sauce, the jalapeno sauce she prepared in the park, shredded lettuce, vegetables soaked in chili and vinegar, and bottles of mayonnaise and sour cream. Row. Customers can enjoy two large bottles of Valentina hot sauce. Salamanca will chop coriander or add shredded cheese to tacos upon request.

Once people choose their toppings, tacos don't always follow the tradition, because Salamanca caters to what she knows what customers like. She said that another key to her success is the high-quality arrachera or skirt steak, which forms the flavor basis of every taco.

She sells soft Asada tacos for $4 each and only accepts cash. The tacos are stuffed with a lot of meat and there is almost no room for toppings. She said that she eats about 80 pounds of steak every weekend.

Long-term customers say that another ingredient also exists.

"It's made with love," Sanders said. "No one can sit here without making damn tacos. That won't work."

Salamanca and her husband moved from Mexico City to Chicago as newlyweds in 1969 when she was 21 years old. She has always liked cooking. After living in Chicago for nearly a year, she suggested that her husband start selling food to earn extra money.

She said they started selling tacos at Humboldt Park, where there are football leagues that include Mexican players. In those days, she used plastic foam coolers to sell tacos with ground beef, potatoes, and carrots. She said that soon after, she started making Kahn Chaotian tacos in Humboldt Park.

When a new league of Hispanic players was formed and the team played in several parks around the city, Salamanca decided to follow them. That weekend, she brought food to wherever the league was, including Dunbar Park, where she found loyal customers.

She has been following the football league to different parks, including Ellis Park in Bronzeville, but eventually stayed in Dunbar, returning here every summer for more than 20 years, and then moved to Ellis Park.

She doesn't remember how long she stayed in Ellis Park, but she remembers that she was there when some of the houses of Ada B. Wells were standing near the park. These houses were demolished between 2002 and 2011.

She said that she was very happy to see the people she met in her teenage years grow up, build careers, and achieve success. But when she heard that one of her customers had become a victim of gun violence, she also felt sad, she said.

Salamanca said in Spanish: "I met some young people. When we came back to sell again in the summer, I didn't see them. I knew something happened to them." "It makes me sad because they are Part of us, because they have always supported us."

Whether it is Dunbar Parker or Ellis Parker, most of her customers will look for her almost every weekend in the summer. Some people later moved to northwest Indiana, other suburbs of Chicago, or different communities, but still visited her and ate her food.

Salamanca said that selling tacos every weekend gave her some expectations and helped her relieve stress.

"Because I know they are part of my family, everyone in the neighborhood," she said. "I feel healthy for a few hours here, and when thinking about the upcoming week, because they treat me, I treat them like family."

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Salamanca said that for many years, her customers, especially young people who wandered in the park a few hours after eating, made her feel safe.

"I am very grateful to my clients for taking care of us, they protect us," she said. "My husband and I are very grateful that we can do business with them."

Salamanca has close relationships with some of the long-term clients she often attends, and sometimes cooks for their children's birthday parties. She advises children to maintain their grades, find what they like to do, and then go to college or pursue a career based on their passion.

On a recent Sunday, a boy and a young woman gave Salamanca a hug and reminded her that the boy’s birthday was approaching. She pulled up the label on the back of his shirt and checked whether his clothes fit his gift.

He said that Sanders, who founded the non-profit organization Children Matters Corp., now has a pair of 13-year-old twin boys who are also starting to like Salamanca's tacos. He said that his diet has changed since he was a teenager. Now he is mainly a vegetarian, but occasionally eats fish.

Salamanca continued to cook for him on summer weekends, buy and prepare salmon for him, and then sell him a salmon tortilla.

On the last Sunday of the season in Salamanca, Sanders sat on a camping chair and ate his tortillas-a sub-shaped sandwich made from fluffy oval bread-and occasionally met him Others are hanging out nearby.

Whenever the breeze blows, colorful leaves will fall from above and spread on the leaves that have already covered the grass.

Thick gray clouds threatened to burst, but the park was full of music and cheers, young people kicking flag balls, friends and family watching.

From noon to 5 pm—the time she usually sells food in the park—Salamanca rarely exceeds five minutes without new customers—usually in groups.

"Mum, hello," a man said as he approached her.

"Hello how are you?" she said.

She speaks enough English, and her Spanish accent is incorporated into these words.

"Wonderful. I miss you," he told Salamanca.

"I miss you too," she said.

"Damn it, the last day," the other said, sprinkling shredded cheese on his tacos.

One third tried to persuade her to come back next weekend.

Christopher Madison, 45, was about 8 or 9 years old when he met Salamanca in Dunbar Park. He said he and his family look forward to her tacos every summer.

Madison said: "When summer comes, you will look forward to tacos on Saturday and Sunday."

He said that as a young boy who grew up in a historic black community like Bronzeville, it was eye-opening to see a Mexican family come nearby on the weekend and become like family.

"My community is all black," he said. "So they were the first culture to come to our community, and we accepted it."

Salamanca hopes to open a burrito shop next summer or in the near future. She wants to name the company "Taco Lady" because many of her clients know her.

She said that as she got older, she discussed with her daughters about opening a store, passing on recipes, and letting her daughter take over the restaurant.

She is still looking for a location to open the shop, but it must be in Bronzeville.

"After so many years here, we will not struggle because they know the kind of food we sell," she said. "And we will do it happily as always."

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