The library has an archive of over 7,000 photographs representing the contemporary and historic diversity of families in Los Angeles. Images were chosen from family albums and copied in a project sponsored by Photo Friends, a library support group. They include daily life, social organizations, work, personal, and holiday celebrations. In addition to the images, there are oral histories about living in Southern California.
SHADES OF LA PHOTO COLLECTION
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Upcoming Events
Free
Calle Principal: Mi México en Los Ángeles
This interactive and educational permanent exhibition invites families to explore the sights, sounds and smells of downtown Los Angeles during the 1920s. Calle Principal is an immersive recreation of Main Street, the one-time heart of Los Angeles’s Mexican, Mexican-American, and immigrant communities—and the street where LA Plaza sits on today.
Free
La Plaza de Cultura y Artes: Community Hub
To kick off PST ART Community Hub activities at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, our community partners will come together at LA Plaza to commemorate Fiestas Patrias Family Day. Fiestas Patrias is among the most significant celebrations in Mexican and Mexican American culture, providing families with an occasion to reaffirm their heritage and identity. A calendar with the specific dates for all the activities will be included in the PST ART Community Hub landing page on lapca.org.
Free
Jaime Muñoz: Truth is a Moving Target
This is the artist’s first solo museum exhibition featuring large-scale mixed-media paintings and ink diagram drawings. Muñoz’s body of work navigates themes of labor commodification, the conflict between colonial history, notions of modernity, and reveals nuanced narratives often overlooked. Through his decorative and symbolic imagery, he challenges myths about the American experience.
Free
The View from Here – Los Angeles 1853 by Mario Hernández
In 1781, the Pobladores, a group of 44 people recruited from Mexico by the Spanish, established a new pueblo next to a river and in view of the San Gabriel Mountains on unceded native Tongva land. This mural was based on a chromolithograph created by Charles Koppel, an artist on the Robert S. Williamson expedition of 1853 of the U.S. Pacific Railroad Surveys. It is one of the earliest views of Los Angeles, looking east from Fort Moore Hill to…
Free
Sangre De Nopal/Blood of the Nopal: Tanya Aguiñiga & Porfirio Gutiérrez En Conversación/In Conversation
Sangre de Nopal/Blood of the Nopal is a multi-site project offering an expanded understanding of cochineal’s scientific and Indigenous origins, a red dye developed by the Zapotec people. This multivocal exhibition will center ancestral knowledge and technical experimentation and bring a special focus to issues of immigration and labor justice.