The Los Angeles Plaza: Sacred and Contested Space

9. The Persistence of Memory

259 C h a p t e r n i n e The Persistence of Memory Today, the Plaza continues to grow in cultural significance, especially for Latinos, who have become the city’s majority population. The site is also going through an interpretive revival among other ethnic groups that are rightfully reclaiming visible representation in El Pueblo’s expanding historical narrative.1 Administratively, the problems of managing El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument have often taken on nightmarish proportions , and not surprisingly, preservation of the resources has occasionally been compromised. In addition, the bureaucratic problems of how to manage the resources are compounded by the more esoteric problems of what to preserve. In 1981, after generations of misinformation and organized denial regarding the racial origins of the original founders of the city, Miriam Matthews , the first black librarian in the city and an expert on African American history and culture, led a community-wide effort to install a founders plaque in the Plaza for the city’s bicentennial. The plaque correctly lists the names and racial identities of the forty-four pobladores and today is the starting point for all walking tours of El Pueblo Monument. In addition, many of El Pueblo’s buildings have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places, and many needed physical improvements have been made. 260 ˚ the los angeles plaza Other preservation efforts, however, have been far less comprehensive. In 1986 the Gabrielino people, who had been largely missing from the Plaza’s historical narrative, were memorialized with the so-called Indian Garden, a small fenced-off flowerbed and a bronze plaque on the northeast side of the Plaza. The intent of the garden was to point out to visitors important indigenous plant life perhaps more than indigenous people. It was dedicated with a public ceremony attended by Mayor Tom Bradley and other local politicos and celebrities, as well as a sacred blessing by Hollywood’s own faux but sincere Chief “Iron Eyes” Cody, who actually was a second-generation Italian American. Today the Gabrielinos, numbering more than two thousand in Southern California, are at a crossroads in their history. Some are trying to reclaim their lost or forgotten history and culture, some are fighting to protect ancestral burial grounds and other sacred sites, and some are seeking federal tribal recognition in part to secure rights to open gambling casinos.2 Many also have incorporated the name Tongva with Gabrielino as an acknowledgment of earlier terms of linguistic and cultural identity. During the 1990s, a group of stargazers came up with plans (which later died) for a Latino Hollywood walk of fame to encircle the Plaza. In their plan, everyone from Ricky Ricardo to Selena would be enshrined right next to the plaques of the pobladores, Pico House, and Zanja Madre. During this same period, a local veterans group won the approval from the City Council to erect a twenty-foot-tall war memorial in the shape of an Aztec pyramid. Recently , one of El Pueblo’s seemingly endless stream of administrative heads decided it would be a good idea to plant a row of palm trees on the east end of the Plaza to enhance the “L.A. look.” However, what these projects reveal is that El Pueblo Monument today is actually an eclectic combination of physical, historical, and cultural resources that have been created as much by myth and the current political agenda as they have by real history. But far beyond the administrative challenges and the predictable tourist experience on Olvera Street, the Plaza, as symbolized through Father Olivares and La Gran Marcha, has witnessed a rebirth among Latino immigrants. Street vendors sell everything from bootleg CDs to tamales, fresh fruit, Mexican ice cream, T-shirts, and plastic images of Juan Diego, the recently canonized Mexican-Indian saint. According to Mexican Catholic tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared to Diego, an Indian peasant, in 1531 as the Virgin of Guadalupe. She was La Morenita (the beloved dark virgin), and since the six- Site map, 2004, of El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument, a 44-acre historic district managed as a City of Los Angeles department. Map by Jean and Phil Orozco; courtesy of El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument. The founders plaque at the Plaza, dedicated in 1981 City of Los Angeles bicentennial commemoration, correctly listing names and racial backgrounds of the original pobladores. Photo...