If it weren't for the vacant storefronts along Broadway Avenue in Beechview, a Mexican restaurant and two small Mexican stores might not stand out. As it is, Maya, Tienda La Jimenez and La Azteca attest to change afoot in one of Pittsburgh's most traditional neighborhoods.

	Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette Samantha Franco holds her son Angelo, 3, as she talks with customers at her Mexican grocery store, Pienda La Jimenez. Click photo for larger image. Outreach ministry The Catholic Diocese's Latino outreach ministry can be reached at 412-578-0402.

And stand out they do, for good and ill. Samantha Franco has heard derogatory references to Mexicans in the store she owns with her husband, Saul Jimenez, and some in Beechview say they haven't dined at Maya because they see too many Mexicans inside.

But there also is support for the neighborhood's most rapidly growing minority, which recently petitioned for a Spanish-language Mass they can walk to. St. Catherine of Siena Church on Broadway is obliging. The Rev. Daniel Vallecorsa will celebrate Beechview's first Spanish Mass at 2 p.m. Sunday, in serendipitous concurrence with Beechview's 100th anniversary celebration.

In just a few years, Latinos -- mostly Mexicans -- moving into Beechview have created the most concentrated Latino population in the city, according to several sources.

This is a watershed moment for Pittsburgh, where the Latino presence, small by any U.S. large-city standards, has grown steadily but never established an enclave. Jim Bryce estimates the population to be "several hundred, at least, just in Beechview," based on the names he recognizes as Latino on mail he delivers for the U.S. Postal Service.

Luis Lomas, PNC Bank's outreach manager to the Latino community for the past 2 1/2 years, said his demographic information shows Beechview's concentration has taken the lead since the last census.

"When I get accounts to be opened," he said, "I notice addresses and the ZIP code. It's unbelievable how much this population has grown."

The reasons it has grown in Beechview include word of mouth, the light-rail line that runs right down Broadway for a quick ride Downtown and rents that are lower than in fluid neighborhoods more amenable to internationals, like Oakland and Squirrel Hill, both of which had higher percentages of Latinos than Beechview in the 2000 census.

In 2000, Allegheny County had 11,166 Latinos, up from 8,700 in 1990. In Beechview, the count was 147 of 8,772 people.

Lomas said the number has at least doubled since then and bases this claim solely on the number of people with accounts at PNC Bank branches. Within two miles of PNC branches in Dormont, Green Tree and on Beverly Road in Mt. Lebanon, he said, there are at least 747 Latinos.

With them has come a growing need for assistance. On July 5, the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh made Vallecorsa's chaplaincy for Latinos a full-time mission.

"We do get extremely busy and the numbers continue to grow," said Vallecorsa. With his pastoral assistant, Janice Vanderneck, and about 25 volunteers, he helps Latinos who haven't learned the ropes or don't have health insurance, a good command of English or, in many cases, admissible documents.

Palmo Cicchino, who himself emigrated from Italy 26 years ago, owns P.C. Auto Repair on Broadway Avenue.

"They remind me of the people, like the Italians, who came to America and were hard workers who never said 'no' to work," and saved and improved their lot, he said. He said he's concerned about how those who don't speak English will fare, though.

"This Mass will be a fact-finding mission to see what their needs are in Beechview," said Vallecorsa, who celebrates Mass in Spanish at St. Hyacinth Church in Oakland every Sunday and another Mass in Washington County. The church "needs to help in any way we can, to welcome them, help make them good citizens. ... I think it's an exciting prospect for the city, a city of immigrants."

Some longtime residents are far from excited about the new immigrants.

Don Bell, president of the Beechview Merchants Association, said residents at a recent Weed and Seed meeting "expressed concern about the rapid influx of Mexicans, of the illegals who have no rights and can be easily exploited, and issues such as over-occupancy and health code violations."

"Someone asked, 'How do we know there aren't ads in grocery stores in Mexico that say 'Move to Beechview,' " he said.

Concerns rise more easily when you have a commercial street that is "moribund," he said. When for food you have two Mexican grocery stores, a Mexican restaurant and a Foodland, he said, "it's like, 'Whoa, what's happening? It's rapidly going in one direction.' "

Even the Foodland is playing to the growing market. It displays corn husks for tamales right inside the entrance. Besides the regular Mexican food section, more authentic provisions sit on shelves prominently near the checkout.

Both small Mexican stores on each end of Broadway's business zone compete for the Mexican customer by selling groceries and other goods from Mexico.

Jimenez and Franco established Tienda La Jimenez three years ago, down the street from where it is now. Carlos Martinez opened Maya last year and La Azteca five months ago. La Azteca is open for free English classes every Saturday morning at 10 a.m.

Martinez worked at numerous restaurants when he first came to Pittsburgh five years ago, he said. Besides Maya, he owns Cielito Lindo, a restaurant on Smithfield Street, Downtown. He owns a home in West Mifflin, where the Jimenezes also live. They opened Mi Mexico, a taqueria in Squirrel Hill, in May.

Beechview resident Alfonso Barquera works four jobs, three of which pay. The one that doesn't is his passion -- volunteering in Vallecorsa's outreach mission.

He earned a psychology degree in Mexico and wants to study here for a master's in anthropology. He is a sushi chef trainee in the daytime, a janitor at night and, between those jobs, works part time for a UPMC Latino outreach project.

"My wish is to try to improve the lives of Mexicans here," he said. "When I came here the first time, they helped me so much.

"In my spare time," he said, chuckling, "I am studying Beechview's Mexican population," hoping to turn the research into a larger portfolio for a postgraduate degree.

Most Mexicans who work two jobs work one for themselves and one for money to send home, he said. A side benefit of working so much, he said, is to stay busy to keep depression at bay. Depression and drinking can be problems, he said.

"Most Mexicans in Beechview are men and single," Barquera said. "We have some children, but not a lot. Sometimes we feel lonely -- no, not sometimes, always. People with insurance can get Prozac, but most Mexicans don't have insurance and pills are expensive."

During an interview Downtown, he pulled from his backpack the book "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and joked that Beechview's Mexicans are the solitude and Beechview is the 100 years.

"We want to be part of Beechview," he said, "to show that we are good people and good workers trying to improve our lives."