Location: San Diego, CA
Date: 1542
Story:
The ship was built by natives and African slaves in Guatemala and El Salvador destined to explore the coast of California. Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo sailed with 30 seaman and a total of 100 individuals including black and indigenous people from Central America.
Image: Replica at the Maritime Museum of San Diego
Angel Mora
Location: El Pueblo de Los Angeles
Date: 1857
Story:
In 1857, around the Gold Rush, Angel Mora, a Salvadoran young man submitted a Spanish-language letter to be published in the newspaper, El Clamor Público. The open-letter was about his broken heart and other hardships living in California.
Image:
US Civil War Soldiers
Location:
Date: 1863
Story:
Historical data reveals service records of U.S. Civil War soldiers born in Central America some of which were soldiers in the U.S. Colored Troops.
Image:
Joseph Molina
Location: LA National Cemetery
Date: 1863
Story:
Born in Honduras in 1841 and historical data reveals service records for his enlisting in the U.S. Civil War in 1863. He died 1919 and was buried at the Los Angeles National Cemetery.
Image: Los Angeles National Cemetary
Rafael Rodriguez
Location: WWI
Date: 1900
Story:
Born in Managua, Nicaragua. He enlisted on Oct 16, 1919 Siberian Replacement Troop. Wife's name Anibel Leal. The American Expeditionary Force, Siberia (AEF-Siberia) was established in 1918 and consisted of around 8,000 soldiers. Their main tasks were to guard the Trans-Siberian Railway and support the Czech Legion's withdrawal.
Cannery Workers
Location: Alaska
Date: 1910
Story:
Two Salvadorans are listed in the 1910 census, showing them as laborers for the Diamond O company in Bristol Bay, Alaska.
Image: US Census
Image: Los Angeles National Cemetary
Belen Quezada
Location: San Jose, CA
Date: 1911
Story:
Belen Quezada, daughter of an affluent Costa Rican coffee grower, was shot by her stable boy in College Park in 1911 where she lived with her family.
Image: Newspaper
Image: Los Angeles National Cemetary
George Meléndez Wright
Location: San Francisco, CA
Date: 1929
Story:
(June 20, 1904 – February 25, 1936) He was an American biologist who conceived of, then conducted, the first scientific survey of fauna for the National Park Service between 1929 and 1933. Wright was a pioneer in many ways, but especially for his holistic approach to wildlife management issues in the National Parks.
Image: only one in public domain
Image: Los Angeles National Cemetary
Manuel J. Sandoval
Location: Los Angeles
Date: 1930s
Story:
Sandoval was born in Nicaragua in 1898 and immigrated to the United States sometime around 1917. He had learned cabinetry from his father, and in 1932, after seeing Wright give a lecture in Chicago, he sent the architect a telegram. Sandoval later executed woodwork on key projects for Frank Lloyd Wright.
Image: Hyperallergic
Blanca Vischer
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Date: 1934
Story:
(Jan 5, 1915 – Nov 24, 1969) was a Guatemalan film actress who moved to the US where she made most of her films. Vischer generally played supporting or minor roles, but occasionally played more prominent characters particularly in Spanish-language films made by American studios such as The Tango on Broadway (1934) in which she was third billed.
Image:
Image: Los Angeles National Cemetary
Carlos Antonio Pineda
Location: San Francisco, CA
Date: 1934
Story:
He was born May 8, 1907 in Sonsonate, El Salvador to Pedro Pablo Pineda and Maria del Carmen Gutierrez. He was the youngest of seven children, and one of the first to board a ship destined for San Francisco in 1923, becoming the first Salvadoran ballet dancer to join the San Francisco Ballet Company as a Corps de Ballet member. He later moved to Hollywood to become a movie actor and dancer.
Image: Public Domain - National Registry
Image: Los Angeles National Cemetary
Luisa Moreno
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Date: 1938
Story:
Deported in 1950 for her social activism. Luisa Moreno (Blanca Rosa Rodríguez López; 1907 - 1992) was an astute US labor and civil rights activist. She was born in Guatemala and moved to the US in 1927 with her husband and child. She was a labor leader in the CIO and UCAPAWA and founded the 1939 El Congreso de Pueblos de Hablan Española that became the first national civil rights assembly for Latinos in the US.
Image:
Image: Los Angeles National Cemetary
José Arturo Castellanos Contreras
Location:
Date: 1938
Story:
He is compared to Schindler for saving so many lives. Jose Arturo (23 December 1893 — 18 June 1977) was a Salvadoran army colonel and diplomat who, while working as El Salvador's Consul General for Geneva during World War II, and in conjunction with a Jewish-Romanian businessman named György Mandl, helped save up to 40,000 Central European Jews
Image:
Image: Los Angeles National Cemetary
Amalia Chilín Castro
Location: San Francisco, CA
Date: 1943
Story:
She was born on July 15, 1911 in Santa Ana, El Salvador. She was a nurse who lived and worked in San Francisco in the 1940s caring for soldiers returning home from the war. She was part of a group of nurses allowed to join the U.S. labor force to alleviate the nurse shortage during WWII. She is also a descendant of the original peoples' of Central America.
Image:
Image: Los Angeles National Cemetary
Mario Farrar Paniagua
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Date: 1953
Story:
Mario Farrar was born on December 23, 1926 in San Salvador, El Salvador. He was an actor, known for The Bill Dana Show (1963) and The Danny Thomas Show (1953). He died on May 9, 2017.
Image:
Image: Los Angeles National Cemetary
Maribel Arrieta Gálvez
Location: 2401 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90057
Date: 1955
Story:
As Miss El Salvador 1955, she represented her country at Miss Universe 1955 in Long Beach, California. She studied at the Los Angeles Art College and was a member of the Los Angeles Watercolor Society.
Image:
La Adelita Restaurant (Bakery)
Location: 1287 S. Union Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90006
Date: 1976
Story:
Don Jorge and Doña Alba Aguel, Nicaragua. It was back in the 1970s when they decided to settle in Los Angeles, after suspending their business trips to Nicaragua due to the insecurity that the country presented with the arrival of the Sandinistas to power.
Image:
Guatemalteca Bakery
Location: 4032 Beverly Blvd. Los Angeles, CA
Date: 1976
Story:
Served the Central American community in East Hollywood since 1976
Image:
El Turco Meat Market
Location: 1101 S Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90006
Date: 1970s
Story:
Mauricio A. Zedan (Salvadoran) was among the first to import and sell Central-American products in Los Angeles.
Image:
The Church of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels
Location: 535 N. Main Street
Date: 1980s -1990s
Story:
The church has been the venue for a number of notable causes including the Sanctuary Movement and Father Luis Olivares
Image:
La Plaza United Methodist Church
Location: 115 Paseo de la Plaza Los Angeles, CA 90012
Date: 1980s -1990s
Story:
The church has been the venue for a number of notable causes including the Sanctuary Movement and Father
Image:
Blessed Sacrament
Location: 6657 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028
Date: 1980s -1990s
Story:
The church has been the venue for a number of notable causes including the Sanctuary Movement and Father Bob Fabrini
Image:
Dora Alicia Alarcon
Location: Westlake
Date: 1980s
Story:
Her efforts to testify against police brutality and support of council member Michael Woo changed the LA landscape for Street Vendors.
Image:
Roland Palencia
Location: Los Angeles
Date: 1980s
Story:
LGBTQ activist pioneer, and founded a number of Queer Latin organizations in the 1980s, including Gay and Lesbian Latinos Unidos and VIVA!, an arts organization.
Image:
Isabel Cardenas
Location: Los Angeles
Date: 1980s
Story:
Start of the Central American Solidarity Movement and helped support many other organizations like the Romero Clinic and El Rescate.
Image: Newspaper
CSUN, Central American Studies Program
Location: Northridge, CA
Date: 1990s
Story:
Pioneering founding faculty include Dr Alberto Garcia, Rossana Perez, Aquiles Magaña and Roberto Lovato.
Image: Perez family collection
Luis Antonio Dominguez
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Date: 2021
Story:
NASA engineer and team members made history with the launch of the Perseverance rover to Mars at Pasadena's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Mexican/Honduran-American.