Rancho Los Cerritos’s newly-debuted yearlong exhibit “Roots in California: Concepts of Home” focuses on the experiences of Mexicans and Mexican Americans living in California both past and present.
“Mexican history is part of California history, it’s part of American history,” said Sylvana Uribe, a spokesperson for the historic site.
The multi-media exhibition includes historical artifacts, an installation resembling a living room with family pictures surrounding a fireplace by artist Gloria Gem Sanchez and video recordings of five Mexican people speaking about how they define “home.”
“The personal stories from participants in the exhibition and the events that Mexican and Mexican American tenants at the Rancho experienced are key to understanding California’s history,” curator Carlos Ortega said in a statement. “By centering historically silenced voices, we can better understand how present-day California came to be and challenge our previous assumptions.”
The exhibit compares the oral histories of Mexican and Mexican American tenants who resided and worked at Rancho Los Cerritos from 1890 to 1930 with the five subjects depicted in the videos.
“They would see the area around them being rapidly developed, gentrified, and sometimes having to relocate to find work,” Uribe said of Mexican tenants living at the rancho 100 years ago. “These are issues around development, gentrification and labor that are still relevant to us today.”
While the area that is now known as California was part of Mexico until 1850, after the Mexican-American War, people of Mexican descent living in the state were treated as second-class citizens.
Racist sentimentents against Mexican people festered during the Great Depression in the 1930s, and around 82,000 people of Mexican descent were deported to Mexico, many of them U.S. citizens.
“Roots in California: Concepts of Home” draws parallels between the displacement of Mexican people in the past and in modern day.
One of the subjects of the video stories in the exhibit is Daniel Olivares, who grew up in Echo Park but was pushed out by gentrification. After relocating to South Gate he opened the coffee shop El Cielito Cafe in his new city and began using his business to try to uplift the community.
“We really hope visitors can see through this exhibition that whether it’s 100 years ago or present day, people continue to overcome these obstacles, and the ways that they define home for themselves does play a role in that,” Uribe said.
Other subjects in the videos define “home” through their memories, relationships, family and more.
According to a statement by Rancho Los Cerritos, the subject of the videos included in the exhibit were found through a questionnaire that was sent to over 200 nonprofits in Los Angeles County. Five individuals were selected out of more than 30 applications.
“We’re excited to reopen our Visitor Center for guests to experience an exhibition created alongside community that explores the meaning of home through personal stories and through the histories of Mexicans and Mexican Americans who lived at Rancho Los Cerritos a century ago,” said Alison Bruesehoff, executive director of the Rancho Los Cerritos Museum, in a statement.
“Roots in California: Concepts of Home” will be on display at Rancho Los Cerritos, located at 4600 Virginia Rd., until March 12, 2023.
