Alberto Sanchez says he has been working for 69 years of his life. At 80-years-old, he’s still at it, working seven days a week, pushing a cart full of paletas through the Mission.
“Paletas. Paletas. Ricas paletas,” he called out on a recent Wednesday as he walked on 21st Street toward Valencia Street with paletas in every flavor – strawberry, coconut, pineapple and more. A couple of parents with their children walked toward him.
“My legs are tired now. I just don’t have the same energy as before. But, I gotta keep the energy up. I gotta work because that’s how I sustain myself,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez has been selling paleteras since he migrated to the United States in 2002 at the age of 54. In his more than two decades living in this country, he has also worked at a car wash, a hotel and a restaurant. He never, however, stopped selling paletas, even if it was a day or two a week.
About 10 years ago, Sanchez decided to go back to the business full time. Difficulties finding another job at his age and his beloved customers, he said, prompted his decision.
Sanchez said that his favorite part of selling paletas is the interactions with customers and the smiles he brings to children, all while he exercises.
“My job keeps me young,” Sanchez said in Spanish.
Under the shade of a ceanothus bush on a hot Mission day, Sanchez recalled how he started working at 11-years-old.
It was his favorite time of the year in Colonia Portales in Mexico City where he grew up with his sister and brother. The circus was in town and he, and his friends, wanted to see the show.
“I went to my dad and I asked if I could have five pesos to go to the circus with my friends,” Sanchez recalled. “He looked at me and gave me the money.”
Two weeks later, Sanchez’s dad came up to him and told him he had a present that would allow him to never again ask for money.
“Wowwww! Pull out the fortune,” he remembered thinking.
Sanchez’s dad then gave him a wooden shoeshine box with all the products he needed to start polishing shoes. For 50 cents, he polished the shoes of policemen, businessmen and lawyers.
From that moment on, he never stopped working. In 1988, he visited a friend in San Francisco for three months. He remembers liking the city and the Mission District, but he never suspected that 14 years later he’d call the city his new home.
But in 2002, he followed a friend to Tijuana who wanted to come to the United States. His friend decided to turn back, but Sanchez persisted. He eventually arrived in Los Angeles, and shortly after, in San Francisco.
Nowadays, Sanchez sells an average of 60 paletas a day. The most popular flavor? coconut.
Sanchez said he wasn’t sure how much longer he would like to work. His concerns are not unlike those of many 80-year-olds. He’s tired, but he doesn’t want to be a burden to his children.
As for something he’d wish to have? The ability to speak English fluently, he said.
