Inside Carlos Eric Lopez’s Dia de Muertos Gala With Camila Cabello, Miguel and Nicole Richie

Los Angeles River Center and Gardens — a public park praised for its Mission Revival architecture, lush gardens and peaceful setting — transformed into a Día de Muertos oasis Thursday night as a way to honor the past, present and future thanks to Carlos Eric Lopez.

The milestone 5th annual gala was presented by Lopez, a Mexican-American photographer, entrepreneur, influencer and Hollywood insider, as a way to shine a light on Latino culture in celebration of the traditional holiday. And he pulled out a roster of boldfaced names to fight traffic and make the escape into what turned out to be a poignant and impactful event. The guest list included Camila Cabello, Nicole Richie, Miguel, Edgar Ramirez, Lele Pons, Diego Boneta and Renata Notini, Max Greenfield and Tess Sanchez, Kelly Sawyer, Jamie Mizrahi, Taylor Zakhar Perez, Nezza, Natalie Morales, Michael Cimino, Xochitl Gomez, Valentina, Desi Perkins, Gloria Calderon Kellett, David Collins, Elsa Collins and more.

Following a Tequila Don Julio-fueled cocktail hour —as guests mixed and mingled with staff members that were decked out for the occasion with authentic Calavera makeup to help set the mood — Lopez kicked off the program by taking the stage to explain why everyone got an invite for that particular venue.

“We are at the Los Angeles River Center and Gardens, located in Lincoln Heights,” said the Cura Lita founder. “Behind us, the lights that you see are from Home Depot. That’s the Home Depot where the largest ICE raid happened in Los Angeles. It is where they took a lot of people as they were working, as they were shopping. It was the beginning of something as Latinos started to see a different world that we’re living in. What I wanted to do tonight is leave the lights in the past as they are behind me and create the lights of the future Latinos and Latinos that we are, so that we can shine. What we are and who we are is love and familia.”

Reflections of love and family were everywhere on the grounds. Traditional Día de Muertos ofrendas —altars designed to honor departed loved ones through images, offerings, mementos and personal treasures — were placed throughout the Los Angeles River Center and Gardens. Also on the program too, as the night’s marquee award, the Abuelita Award, was presented by Cabello to her grandmother, Mercedes Rodriguez.

“My grandma is not a woman who waits for happiness to come and sit on her lap,” Cabello praised of her Rodriguez who flew in for the event. “Since she was young, she was the first one to come on and last one to leave the dance floor and she’ll be the first to tell you that as she gets older, her spirit only feels younger.”

That spirit has influenced Cabello. “Being bold didn’t come naturally to me,” she explained. “She will tell you of the time I visited her in Cuba and made her stand in the closet with her eyes closed while I sang her a song on my guitar because I didn’t want her to look at me. Every woman in my family has had a huge pair of balls. And seeing them in action has given me the courage to do it myself.”

She traced a little of her grandmother’s career path as a check translator, screenwriter, CEO of a movie production company, record label executive, novel author and more. “My grandma and I are really alike, and we always talk about it. We are both of all of these things, artists, writers, overdramatic, too sensitive, bossy, clingy, and we put our family on the pedestal above everybody else.”

Lopez also had his chosen family well represented on the invite list with Richie, Sawyer, Mizrahi and others. “Carlos is like my brother,” Richie explained. “I’ve been to every gala he’s thrown and been able to experience all these venue changes and see L.A. through his eyes. It’s incredible and I’m saying that as someone who is born and raised in L.A. We don’t get to do this a lot.”

Cimino, decked out in traditional makeup with his pal Zakhar Perez, said meeting Lopez and attending the Día de Muertos galas has changed his life. “Carlos brought me together with some of my closest friends five years ago at one of these. These events have weirdly changed my life because it was one of the first big Latino events I went to. Since then it’s spiraled into this whole other thing, whether it’s the Día de Muertos parties or the other events he’s helped organize, he’s inadvertently changed a lot of lives with what he’s done.”

He’s hoping to change more. Lopez announced during the gala that he had launched TúTomorrow, a nonprofit meant to “empower the next generation of Latino creatives and entrepreneurs.” In partnership with the Hispanic Federation, he presented two grants to Los Angeles residents to help with their creative pursuits. He honored Jesus Perez, founder of Lucky Athletes, for his dedication to creating opportunities for Latino youth through sports in partnership with the Mar Vista Family Center. Julieta Ramos also received an award for her work as a student and aspiring filmmaker.

Even with music superstars like Cabello and Miguel in the audience, the program featured musical moments with two other talents. Lupita Infante and DannyLux treated the crowd to brief sets, both paying tribute to family and the forgotten in their time in the lights. The latter performed his song “Ya No Estás” as a way to honor the spirit of remembrance while Infante paid tribute to her father and grandfather for paving the way for her musically.

But it was Cabello who summed up what the experience meant to her as a first-time attendee: “This is a night that my family and I will never forget.”