Caine’s Arcade Is the Happiest Place in East L.A. Right Now [Video]

9-year-old Caine Monroy, who built an elaborate cardboard arcade inside his dad's used auto parts store.

By Jorge Rivas Apr 11, 2012

9 year-old Caine built an elaborate arcade out of cardboard boxes (located in his dad’s used auto parts store). Unfortunately, Caine had no customers. Then one day, the internet organized a surprise to make his day. [Caine’s Arcade is located at 538 N Mission Rd](https://www.facebook.com/cainesarcade/info), in Boyle Heights, CA 90033. He’s there on Saturday’s from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. If you can’t make it, drop by [his website](http://cainesarcade.com/) and give him a few dollars via PayPal for his college fund. [Boyle Heights is one of the neighborhoods with the highest densities](http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/neighborhood/boyle-heights/) in the county of Los Angeles. Boyle Heights is also overwhelmingly Latino with 94% of residents being Latino–81% of them of Mexican heritage. [In May 2011, Colorlines.com’s education reporter Julianne Hing looked at how East LA kids have some of the toughest times learning in Los Angeles schools.](https://colorlines.com/archives/2011/05/educationreform.html)