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When I Think of Home: Images from L.A. Archives

Hoy Marchamos Mañana Votamos (Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote), 2006

Los Angeles is home to millions of migrants and immigrants, many of whom are undocumented. A photograph of the March 25, 2006 demonstration for immigrant rights—the largest demonstration in California history with more than one million participants—promoted the May 1, 2006 immigrant rights march, attended by approximately 500,000. It opposed HR 4437, The Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (passed in the House, defeated in the Senate).

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Contents of this tag:
1. Life in the Rancho Los Cerritos Courtyard
2. Returning evacuated Japanese Americans, 1945
3. Hoy Marchamos Mañana Votamos (Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote), 2006 Los Angeles is home to millions of migrants and immigrants, many of whom are undocumented. A photograph of the March 25, 2006 demonstration for immigrant rights—the largest demonstration in California history with more than one million participants—promoted the May 1, 2006 immigrant rights march, attended by approximately 500,000. It opposed HR 4437, The Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (passed in the House, defeated in the Senate).
4. Wong Family in front of Home, 1960 Henry and Heong Wong are pictured here with their children, Violet, Rose, Howard, and Edward in front of their family home on 10th Street in Los Angeles (not pictured is their son Morland). The family were the owners of Henry’s Market, a small grocery store in LA. New economic opportunities provided generations of Chinese American families to build a life in Los Angeles and a long-term future in America.
5. Happy to be in Los Angeles, California Los Angeles in 1949 meant a lot of ex-military personnel were finding a new life for their families. Many of my Romero uncles, aunts, grandparents and cousins had migrated to LA from Albuquerque by this time. The Romeros had been in NM since 1751. They chose the neighborhoods close to Downtown and each other. My father's first house was 160 W. 76 St., South Los Angeles. Genealogy helped me tell this story. —Cathy Romero
6. Happy to be in Los Angeles, California Los Angeles in 1949 meant a lot of ex-military personnel were finding a new life for their families. Many of my Romero uncles, aunts, grandparents and cousins had migrated to LA from Albuquerque by this time. The Romeros had been in NM since 1751. They chose the neighborhoods close to Downtown and each other. My father's first house was 160 W. 76 St., South Los Angeles. Genealogy helped me tell this story. —Cathy Romero
7. The Writer Speaks: Garry Marshall Garry Marshall (1934-2016) was a prolific and successful film and television writer, director and producer. He is known for creating the TV series Happy Days and its spins-offs and directing such classic films as Pretty Woman, Beaches and The Princess Diaries. Originally from New York, Marshall describes in this excerpt his early career writing jokes and the writing job that brought him to Los Angeles.
8. Funeral at Manzanar Incarceration Camp
9. Lanterman House Courtyard, c. 1915
10. Silver Lake Terrace promotional pamphlet
11. El Exmo. Sr. Presidente interino de los Estados-Unidos Mexicanos ... Se erige en ciudad el pueblo de los Angeles de la Alta California ... In the 1830s, Mexican California was embroiled in power struggles between north and south. This decree documents competition for the provincial capital. It not only elevated the pueblo of Los Angeles to the dignity of a city, the first in Alta California, but also designated Los Angeles as the capital. This measure passed the National congress due to the efforts of Carlos Antonio CarriIlo, provincial deputy from California to the Mexican congress and the author of the Exposition of 1831.
12. Manuel Liera, ca. 1925
The Center for the Study of Political Graphics is an educational and research archive that collects, preserves, documents, and exhibits domestic and international poster art. The Center’s domestic and international collection of more than 90,000 political posters dates from the early 20th century to the present, and includes the largest collection of post World War II political posters in the United States. The posters are produced in a variety of artistic mediums— offset, silk screen, lithography, woodblock, linocut, stencil, photocopy, and computer-generated prints. The collection is focused on international, domestic, and Los Angeles-specific human rights issues, with an emphasis on progressive movements in the United States, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Poster topics include the women’s movement, racism, peace, apartheid, labor, liberation theology, AIDS, gay and lesbian rights, immigrants’ rights, children’s rights, and ecology. Between one and two thousand posters are acquired annually, primarily through donation. Approximately half of these are given by collectors in Los Angeles and reflect the diverse political interests of the donors. This has yielded a collection that, in part, documents important but often underrepresented aspects of local history and life in the Los Angeles area. The collection contains approximately three thousand human rights and protest posters produced in Los Angeles from 1965 to the present. The earliest of these came out of the Watts Uprising of 1965, while the more recent posters not only reflect prevailing concerns but commemorate older events, such as the U.S. government’s internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Altogether, the posters illustrate the commitment of many Los Angeles-based artists, organizations, and individuals to a variety of social and political issues over the last five decades. http://www.politicalgraphics.org/
Contents of this tag:
1. March for Community, 2013 Wyvernwood Garden Apartments, built in 1939, was the first garden apartment complex in Los Angeles backed by the Federal Housing Administration. Intended for whites only, it continued housing segregation policies. Decades later, residents were primarily working-class people of color. The complex is a successful example of affordable housing designed to build community. Activists used this poster to challenge redevelopment plans. As of 2019, Wyvernwood’s 6,000 residents have successfully resisted efforts to demolish their homes.
2. Hoy Marchamos Mañana Votamos (Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote), 2006 Los Angeles is home to millions of migrants and immigrants, many of whom are undocumented. A photograph of the March 25, 2006 demonstration for immigrant rights—the largest demonstration in California history with more than one million participants—promoted the May 1, 2006 immigrant rights march, attended by approximately 500,000. It opposed HR 4437, The Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (passed in the House, defeated in the Senate).
3. "Stop Demolition" This poster opposes the demolition of public housing in Los Angeles. Gentrification and a lack of affordable housing creates life-threatening conditions in Los Angeles and throughout the world. Posters are key for organizing resistance. Whether the residents win or lose, they become empowered by the process of fighting for the stability of their communities—and posters such as this one record their struggle and empowerment.