Whatever the changes are called, poor renters here are likely to suffer, said Leonardo Vilchis, an organizer with Union de Vecinos, a tenant rights organization.

“People want to pretend that their actions don’t have an impact on the people already living here, but when the prices go up, the poor have to go someplace else,” Mr. Vilchis said during a recent discussion at Self Help Graphics. “Coming back is emblematic of some kind of opportunism. We had children going to college two decades ago, but back then it wasn’t cool to live here.”

Mr. Uribe and others see change as inevitable — and say that if they do not take advantage of the opportunities, somebody else will. For years, he wanted to open a bar that would appeal to people like him: native Angelenos and the children of Mexican immigrants who listened to performers like Morrissey as well as mariachis. Unable to find a place he could afford downtown, he jumped at the small spot in Boyle Heights. Now, hundreds pack the bar for karaoke nights that also feature songs from David Bowie, Juan Gabriel and Selena.

“If we want to preserve the cultural integrity, the pride we have, the only shot we have is to do it ourselves,” he said. “My grandmother here covered everything in plastic because there wasn’t extra money to go buy another couch if one of us messed it up. That’s something we should celebrate now. I want to be amongst people who understand that and get it.”

When he was a child in East Los Angeles, just outside official city limits, Mr. Uribe said, the implicit goal was always to move out to the suburbs. Now he sees customers with six-figure salaries looking for homes here.

The residential real estate market has changed rapidly from boom to bust and now back to boom, said Maria Cabildo, the executive director of the East Los Angeles Community Corporation, which works to create low-price housing and helps first-time buyers in the area. These days, investors are making cash offers and quickly flipping homes for nearly double what they paid.