For the last several years, Los Angeles County has been restoring the Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial. It’s the largest bas relief military monument in the U.S. sitting on the site it commemorates. The memorial, on Hill Street between Chinatown and Civic Center, was originally dedicated in 1958, and includes a terra-cotta wall that depicts the Mormon Battalion raising the first U.S. flag over Los Angeles in 1847, along with scenes of the L.A. settlement after the Mexican-American War. The memorial also includes an 80-foot wide waterfall and a pylon and flagpole.
Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial recalls a patriotic moment in LA’s history just before California became part of the United States. Photo by Avishay Artsy/KCRW
At the base of the flagpole, conservators removed a time capsule last July that included historical images of the memorial, the dedication ceremony program, the speech that County Supervisor John Anson Ford delivered at the dedication, a manuscript that tells the history of the construction of the memorial, as well as city and county budgets, and the Department of Water and Power’s annual report.
The LA County Arts Commission -- now renamed the LA County Department of Arts and Culture -- put out a public call for entries for a new time capsule, which will be interred on Wednesday.
This photograph “Snapshot of Ciclavia” was submitted by Cat Lukaszewski to the time capsule.
“Diversity and the cultural heritage of the region is one of our greatest assets and how wonderful that we now have a chance to have a really inclusive, open process where folks get to propose what they'd like to see in the time capsule to reflect 2019 in Los Angeles city and Los Angeles County, and how that reflects, really, who we are today in all of our amazing, varied lives and cultural heritage,” said department head Kristin Sakoda.
Mia Cardeña at her quinceanera. She submitted her crown, invitation, speech and a gift for attendees to the time capsule.
The county received nearly 100 submissions that cover a diversity of ethnic and geographic backgrounds.
DnA producer Avishay Artsy spoke with some of the people who submitted objects, photographers and stories about their entries and what they say about LA in 2019, from a quinceanera crown to photos of a woman’s dog around LA County.