Connecting L.A.'s History Through Art and Time

On September 4, 1781 present-day Los Angeles (inhabited at the time by Gabrielino tribes) was founded by a group of forty-four settlers known as " Los Pobladores'',   comprising eleven families of various Spanish  castas  ( castes ).   Felipe de Neve , a Spanish soldier who was one of the original founders of Los Angeles named the town  El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles  sobre el Rio Porciuncula, or The Town of Our Lady Queen of the Angels on the Porciuncula River.

By the late 1840s, the last Gabrielino towns were destroyed although Gabrielino-Tongva language was still in use up until the 1850s and continues to be spoken today.

How is identity illustrated through various forms of media? To what extent is our identity shaped by the society in which we grow up and live?

In Mercedes Dorame’s immersive AR experience “Portal for Tongvagaar,” the Indigenous artist centers the continued presence of Indigenous people and their connection to the land and histories of California. Dorame is fueled to recount the tribe’s history and legacy by the lack of federal recognition of the Tongva land, creating works that become permanent records of Indigenous presence in a city that sought to erase Indigenous peoples.

Learn more about "Portal to Tovaangar" in the Snap Chat video (link below) and by reading this  LACMA Unframed  blog post. Then, watch  These Lovely Streets  where the artist shares what it means to be an Indigenous person in L.A.

From 1910 to 1940, migration to Los Angeles and other larger cities occurred during the first wave of the  Great Migration . Scholars estimate that more than two million African Americans from the rural South left their homes to migrate North, in large part seeking employment as well as relief from the segregationist policies known as  Jim Crow laws  (1870–1965). 

Learn about the Great Migration through the words of Marcia Chatelain, Professor of History and African American Studies, Georgetown University:  "The Great Migration: Different Perspectives."  

What can you do to make your community a better place?

Jacob Lawrence references this time in history in his vibrant screen print,  The Migrants Arrive and Cast Their Ballots.  Lawrence’s parents participated in the Great Migration and in reflecting on the artwork’s subject, he stated that the freedom to vote was among the many advantages migrants found in the north. In his print, he brilliantly illustrates migrants expressing that freedom.

How have new modes of travel shaped our sense of time and place?

By the first half of the twentieth century, the rapid rise of population in L.A. made transportation essential. As a result, streetcars were constructed to connect surrounding neighborhoods such as Echo Park, Westlake, and Boyle Heights. In 1901 an electric cable railway known as  Angels Flight  was built in Downtown L.A. to transport pedestrians on Third Street in downtown L.A. up the steep hill from Hill Street to Olive, on the top of Bunker Hill.

Between 1900 and 1910, the population in L.A. tripled, and art made then reflected the resultant changing social and economic dynamics. In Millard Sheet’s interpretation of Angels Flight, the artist dramatically composed an inventive view of downtown L.A., providing a closer look at the United States' transformation into a modern industrialized society. 

Want to know more about this painting? Visit LACMA’s web pages below to get the full story and browse LACMA's collection to explore additional works on the subject.

 Angels Flight  curator notes

"From the Collection:  Angels Flight." LACMA Unframed 

How can clothing make a powerful statement?

The Industrial Revolution altered the U.S. economy and set the stage for the nation to dominate in technological growth and change, but the rapid increases of the multiethnic metropolis also produced considerable tensions like the 1943  Zoot Suit Riots , during which Latinos were brutally attacked by violent mobs of U.S. servicemen.

The zoot suit grew out of the “drape” suits that were popular in New York City’s Harlem dance halls in the mid 1930s and consisted of super-sized shoulder pads, sprawling lapels, peg-leg pants, and a hat called a porkpie that is akin to the example in LACMA’s collection. In the West, the suits were particularly associated with young Mexican American men who rebelled against their parents’ culture despite the fact that many white Americans still viewed them as foreigners.

In addition to reading the story on how LACMA acquired an  authentic zoot suit , we encourage you to watch the film  Zoot Suit Riots  to learn more about this moment in time. 

What roles do museums play in the preservation of history?

Stories of how cities have grown and how sites came to be represent rich histories across time and give places a shared sense of identity. Sites tell a story, and their preservation demonstrates a recognition of the importance of the past.

Museums play a vital role in the preservation of past and present cultures, as well as connect us to the larger world around us. Committed to showcasing a multitude of art histories, LACMA exhibits and interprets works of art from new and unexpected points of view that are informed by the region’s rich cultural heritage and diverse population.

Originally, LACMA was part of the  Los Angeles County Museum of History and Science  in South L.A., and in 1963 into 1964 the museum hosted an exhibition on the Art of the ancestral Americas that the Mexican government organized. In 1965 LACMA opened its new, Wilshire Boulevard location to the public, and in that same year the history and science museum was renamed The Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History (NHM). 

Check out this  Sketchfab  site to see a 3-D model of an Olmec head like the one in the picture! Then, explore the foods and cultures of the ancestral Americas in this  Story Maps  page created by LACMA’s mobile team.

In what ways can architecture inspire imagination and creativity?

Cultural heritage comprises features of past accomplishments and continued existence that social groups recognize as an enduring symbol of its identity. These features are embodied in the form of artworks, collections, monuments, or buildings.

The  Watts Towers  or Nuestro Pueblo (“Our Village” in Spanish), is a Historic-Cultural Monument that was officially designated a Cultural Heritage Monument by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage commission in 1963, and a National Historic Landmark and a State of California Historic Monument in 1990.

The  Towers  were built by Italian artist Sabato (“Simon”) Rodia with the help of community members during the course of 33 years from 1921 to 1954. Conservator Elisabetta Perfetti and LACMA conservators are currently working together to conduct repairs to help  stabilize  the Watts Towers so that future generations can continue to enjoy this iconic landmark. 

How can photography help us perceive and document our own surroundings?

The appearance of high-quality professional aerial photography came along at a particularly opportune time for showing the massive, rapid growth of greater L.A. As in most urban areas, the construction of freeways in the region in the 1950s radically altered the city's geography, in this case, creating barriers between Black and white neighborhoods.

Residential segregation was linked to a higher propensity of civil unrest and housing inequality, particularly in South L.A. neighborhoods. On the heels of the repeal of the 1963  California Fair Housing Act , which protected the rights of people of color, and particularly Black people, to purchase housing without being subjected to discrimination, the  Watts Rebellion  broke out, becoming one of the largest and earliest episodes of civil unrest in the second half of the 1960s. 

How can every day objects and discarded materials become works of art?

The Watts Rebellion played a central role in the Black assemblage-art movement and in efforts to elevate the work of Black artists in mainstream museums. Artist Noah Purifoy who served as founding Director of the  Watts Art Center , John Outterbridge, and Ruth Saturensky (aka Charu Colorado), collaborated with other artists to create works of art that addressed the rebellion.

For  Race Baby,  Saturensky used charred wood, nails, and safety pins, as well as cherubic images of a Black baby and young children, suggesting not only the destruction wrought by the rebellion but also the ongoing challenges facing Black people growing up in America.

Explore the art of Noah Purifoy in this  StoryMaps  page created by Lara Schilling, LACMA Content Specialist for Teacher Programs.

How can art be a vehicle for civic action?

Throughout history Mexican Americans have endured decades of discrimination in the U.S. West. The  Chicano Civil Rights Movement , aka El Movimiento, was a response to the discrimination these people faced because of their ethnicity. Through cultural nationalism or chicanismo, its members advocated for social and political change and empowerment. Leaders of the Movement like  Dolores Huerta ,  Cesar Chavez , and  Rosalio Muñoz  pushed for changes, including labor rights and education reform and land reclamation.

In Barbara Carrasco's print Dolores, the artist honors Huerta and celebrates her labor as a civil rights activist and, historically, the most important negotiator for the  United Farm Workers , whom she co founded with Chavez. The brightly hued print urges viewers to recognize female leadership and the tireless labor leader as a new kind of icon.

Thinking of your own experience, what has fostered or inhibited a sense of belonging? When you think about belonging, what hopes do you have for your own community?

Another widely recognized Chicana icon is visual artist  Patssi Valdez  who co-founded the activist collective,  ASCO  (Spanish for nausea) becoming the only female member at the time. All four members of the group were disillusioned with the gender politics of the Chicano Civil Rights movement because of the marginalization, ostracism, and espousal of women’s issues within the movement.

Her work with ASCO contributed to a Chicana feminist critique of the sociopolitical and socioeconomic reality of the Chicano community living in the United States. In her visual art practice, the artist works to capture what is going on for her internally and spatially, and particularly what it means to be identified as an active member of the Chicano community.

In the screenprint, L.A./T.J., Valdez references two cities closely tied to the her identity: Los Angeles and Tijuana. As an American-born citizen with Mexican ancestry, Valdez feels she is constantly pulled toward the border.