It's Wednesday. Los Angeles wants to bring attention to a dark chapter in the city's history. Plus, California started a new website that promotes the state's abortion services. |
 | | A view of Calle de los Negros in the old Chinatown section of Los Angeles in the 1880s.I.W. Taber/The Huntington |
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Their lives were taken swiftly and with indifference. At least 18 Chinese people, including a teenage boy, forging their way in a Los Angeles that was as rough as it was full of promise — all shot or hanged. The slayings snuffed out a significant swath of a tiny Chinese community. |
The October 1871 killings were the work of a mob of hundreds in part seeking vengeance for the death of a white man. An article published in The New York Times a few weeks later noted that "Chinese were hauled from their hiding places and forced into the street where the unfortunates were instantly seized by others outside, and ropes quickly encircled their necks." |
Commemorations of the massacre eventually shifted to the shadows. Today the killings and the victims are not widely known nor treated as essential to American history. |
But the city of Los Angeles is reconciling with its past and is now awaiting ideas for a memorial, one that might draw more attention than the small plaque tucked into the sidewalk near the Chinese American Museum downtown. |
 | | A Chinese New Year parade in Chinatown, in Los Angeles, date unknown (most likely between 1882-1917).U.S.C. Digital Library/Library Exhibits Collection. |
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The timing feels both opportune and overdue. The resentment and hostility that most likely simmered in plain sight more than 150 years ago echoes within the violence currently playing out against victims of Asian descent. |
I wanted to understand what value a memorial might offer so long after the fact and how it could influence the narrative. I spoke to Annie Chu, a veteran architect and interior designer who has worked with numerous museums and was on the memorial steering committee. She herself learned of the massacre only recently despite living in Los Angeles since 1990. Its invisibility was frustrating, but she was encouraged by the anecdotes of those who had offered shelter at the time — the worst of humanity calling forth the best. |
Chu, 63, said the committee studied other memorials and what made them work, such as a specific location or details like victims' names or something more abstract. |
"They're usually providing some kind of spatial experience, whether it envelops you or brings you into the space in a different way," she said. "Your body is involved, your senses are involved. That's why the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was so effective, because of the descending into the earth where, by the time you get way down, you're buried in there and that journey gives you time to almost decompress." |
Chu was born in Hong Kong but, when the territory was handed over to China, was placed in the care of an aunt in Watsonville, Calif. She intended to become a doctor until a summer program took her to France, where she visited the Rouen Cathedral. The majestic structure awed; it was as if she could feel the weight of the materials around her. |
When she envisions the memorial to the Chinese massacre, she hopes it will offer both an intimate and universal experience. "To have first a sense of invitation, of engagement, not something to just look at, like a statue, but some place to pause away from the movement of the sidewalk or the speed of the city," she said. |
The reach of a memorial can be wider than intentional visitors, she said. There are also the local passers-by, the tourists who happen upon it, the children on school field trips, the scrollers who find the hashtag on social media, the artists who use it as inspiration for literature or music or choreography — all of which helps spread thoughtfulness about a long-hidden tragedy. |
"The fundamental role of a memorial is to kind of act as a translator," Chu said. "It's a representation of how we want to remember the history, bringing the narrative to our time. It's something that inspires reflection and, hopefully, change." |
Corina Knoll is The Times' new Los Angeles bureau chief. She previously spent three years focused on narrative storytelling for the Metro desk. Before that, she spent more than a decade in Southern California as a reporter at The Los Angeles Times and KoreAm Journal, a California-based magazine that covered the Korean American experience. |
 | | People in front of City Hall in June.Mike Kai Chen for The New York Times |
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- Abortion: California started a publicly funded website to promote the state's abortion services, listing clinics, linking to financial help and letting teenagers know they don't need their parents' permission to get an abortion in the state, The Associated Press reports.
- Tax opposition: Gov. Gavin Newsom wants voters to reject a new tax on rich people that would pay for more electric vehicles in California, saying in a new statewide TV ad that a measure on the ballot won't help the environment, The Associated Press reports.
- Education grants: A pilot program offered about 3,000 people education grants worth $2,500 to help workers displaced by the pandemic acquire new job-related skills, CalMatters reports.
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- Reparations: An organization that pushed to create the first-in-the-nation African American reparations task force is urging Newsom to veto legislation extending the deadline for the committee to complete its work, The Associated Press reports.
- Mudslides: Cleanup efforts and damage assessments were underway east of Los Angeles after heavy rains unleashed mudslides, carrying away cars, and prompting evacuations and shelter-in-place orders, The Associated Press reports.
- Bankruptcy: A federal judge has closed out the bankruptcy case filed by San Bernardino, which grappled with a dire cash shortage a decade ago, The Associated Press reports.
- Floating brain: An art piece by Alejandro Rocha as part of an installation called "Aforo Nómada," or "Nomadic Gathering," showcased a red helium brain floating at the border as "an allegory to human migration," The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
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- Mobile home fire: An older woman died Tuesday after a fire inside a mobile home in rural Fresno County, The Fresno Bee reports.
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- Mosquito fire: Days after expressing fear that the Mosquito fire would rip through river canyons in the Sierra Nevada foothills, firefighters expressed cautious optimism as they gained greater control over the blaze.
- Illegal street vending: San Francisco began enforcing a recent law on illegal street vending, NBC Bay Area reports.
- Twitter overheats: Twitter's data center in Sacramento overheated last week on Sep. 5, causing the system to fail because of 115-degree heat, CBS Sacramento reports.
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 | | Chris Simpson for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Frances Boswell. |
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Today's tip comes from Ellen Covairt, who recommends a stunning outdoor sculpture garden near San Diego: |
"I love to visit a monumental and colorful work of sculpture: Queen Califa's Magical Circle Garden, located within Kit Carson Park, in Escondido. It was created by French artist Niki de Saint Phalle, who lived and worked in the San Diego area during the later years of her life. Her sculptures are famously featured in many European and American cities, including Paris, Stockholm and Nice. I was astonished to come upon this exuberant work of art in the suburban community of Escondido. It was opened in 2003, not long after Saint Phalle's death at age 71, which was likely premature due to exposure to the chemicals she used to create some of her sculptures. Entrance is free, but hours are restricted, so check the schedule before visiting. Currently a docent provides guidance on the second Saturday of each month (weather permitting)." |
Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We'll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter. |
And before you go, some good news |
Arcangeli Grocery Co. has been a mainstay of Pescadero since it opened in 1929. But being isolated near the coast, about 50 miles south of San Francisco, the store had a problem in the 1970s. Its supplier was delivering old loaves of bread, said Chris Benedetti, part of the fifth generation of the ownership family. |
The owners decided to make their own bread, starting with two loaves at a time, SF Gate reports. The experiment took off and eventually became Arcangeli's signature item. While it now offers nearly 70 varieties, the store in the heart of artichoke country is best known for its artichoke garlic-herb bread. |
"We don't make a lot of money doing what we do, we do it because we love what we do," Benedetti told SF Gate, adding: "We're not in it to get rich. We've never been rich. It's just kind of, really, we enjoy the food and we enjoy the people and we're in this to kind of be good people, you know, a positive influence in this world." |
Thanks for reading. We'll be back tomorrow. |
Soumya Karlamangla, Steven Moity and Briana Scalia contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com. |
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