Restaurateur given honors

Hispanic group celebrates Matta’s fight against bias 

By T.M. Shultz

Tribune writer, 1991

Growing up and trying to raise a family in Texas in the early to middle part of this century, Manuel N. Matta knew the sting of discrimination. When Matta’s nieces and nephews wanted to learn to swim, the town fathers in Pecos refused to let the children into the public pool because they were Hispanic. When Matta and others took the matter to the state level to fight it, the town decided to close the pool rather than let non-Anglos in.

When Matta moved to Mesa in 1953 and opened Matta’s Restaurant, 932 E. Main St, he vowed to fight such prejudice wherever he found it. He didn’t have long to wait. Shortly after opening the restaurant he was looking out the window when he saw two farmers pull up in a truck. One farmer came in the front door and sat down. Matta watched as the farmer’s friend entered by the back door. Asked why he came in the back way, the man said it was because black people weren’t allowed to sit in front and eat with whites.

Matta would have none of that in his place.

“If you’re gonna eat both of you are gonna eat together,” Matta told the black man as he ushered him to his friend’s table.

For a lifetime of similar efforts, the 72- year-old Matta was honored Friday by nearly 300 friends, relatives and state dignitaries at a banquet at the Mesa Hilton Pavilion sponsored by the Mesa Association of Hispanic Citizens Pedro W. Guerrero Fund.

The fund sponsors scholarships for high-risk students while honoring Hispanics who contribute to the enhancement of Mesa and the East Valley.

Almost 200 such students and nine programs dedicated to drop-out prevention have benefited from these fund-raising efforts.

May 17, 1991 MESA, ARIZ. THE PEDRO W. GUERRERO EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIP FUND. MESA ASSOCIATION OF HISPANIC CITIZENS HONORS MANUAL N MATTA 

Matta to be honored for rights work

From staff reports, 1991

Manuel N. Matta, a longtime Mesa businessman and community leader who has worked to improve civil rights and the plights of the underprivileged, will be honored in May by the Mesa Association of Hispanic Citizens Pedro W. Guerrero Fund.

A Cinco de Mayo reception and banquet for Matta is planned on May 17 at the Mesa Hilton Pavilion. The reception is slated for 6 p.m., with dinner at 7 p.m.

Matta, 72, is the third Mesa citizen to be honored by the Guerrero fund. Guerrero, who died last April, was the founder of the Rosarita Mexican Food company and the honor’s first recipient. The second honoree was former Mesa Police Chief Ramon Mendoza.

Phil Austin, vice president of the association and Matta’s stepson, said Matta was chosen because of the work he has done on local, state and national levels.

“It’s no single thing, but the culmination of his work,” Austin said. “He is recognized nationally in the area of civil rights, and he’s always been there for the community.”

Matta, a native of Texas who worked on his father’s farm as a boy, attended school only through the seventh grade because high schools prohibited Hispanics. He moved with his first wife, Mary Lou, to Mesa in 1950 and established Matta’s Restaurant, 932 E. Main St., in 1953.

The eatery started out as a $25-a-day business, but last year it produced $3 million in sales, Matta said. Matta’s father told him and his brothers to always work for themselves.

“I was brought up with discrimination, and we have been fighting it since we were kids,” he said. “I have been thrown out of restaurants, but as long as I didn’t speak Spanish, they didn’t throw me out.”

Matta said he is most proud of his work with the Mesa Optimists Club and the Sunshine Acres Children's Home for underprivileged children and in helping the League of United Latin American Citizens establish English classes for Hispanic children.

TICKETS FOR THE BANQUET ARE $35 FOR INDIVIDUALS $65 FOR COUPLES AND $325 FOR A TABLE OF 10. TAX-DEDUCTIBLE CORPORATE RATES ALSO ARE AVAILABLE AT $500 AND $1,000 PER TABLE. TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE BY CALLING 542-5263

Mesa Association of Hispanic Citizens