Photos Fill Gap in L.A.’s Ethnic History : Heritage: Contributions of family snapshots are helping public library assemble record of the city’s past.

Angelica Lozano’s family kept the tattered, fading photographs hidden away in boxes at their Los Angeles home for years. But on Saturday she decided to take out the black-and-white snapshots and show them off.

With photos in hand, Lozano arrived at the Hollenbeck Recreation Center eager to tell her family story to the team of librarians gathered to uncover pieces of Los Angeles’ ethnic past.

“My grandfather arrived here in 1915 from Mexico,” Lozano said. “He started one of the first bakeries in Los Angeles. He made all kinds of Mexican pastries--egg bread, wedding cakes.

“Our roots go back pretty far here,” said Lozano, holding an old picture of her mother outside the family bakery on Main Street. “I wanted to share that.”

Until recently, the Los Angeles library has had few photographs of the city’s African-American, Latino and Asian-American residents from 1860 to 1960.

But in October, library officials decided to ask ethnic communities to help them fill the gap by bringing family photographs to be reproduced and placed in the photo collection at the Central Library.

Saturday’s effort--attended by about a dozen Latinos, including City Councilman Richard Alatorre--was part of the series of daylong sessions between library staff and community members.

“The city has a very rich and wonderful past,” said project coordinator Carolyn Kozo. “The photographs will give people an idea of what Los Angeles looked like in 1940 through the eyes of different ethnic groups.”

A sampling of pictures collected from city’s African-American community last fall will be on display April 1 at the Vernon branch of the Los Angeles public library.

Kozo said members of the Latino community will have other chances to share their photographs on Saturday at the San Fernando Mission in Mission Hills; on March 21 at the San Pedro branch library, and on March 28 at Plaza de la Raza in Los Angeles.

Officials hope to begin gathering Asian-Americans’ photographs in the fall.

The project, Kozo said, is being funded with $43,000 in grants from Security Pacific Bank and Sunlaw energy company.

Among the photographs were everything from wedding pictures to snapshots of summer vacations.

Ed Soto, now a Montebello resident, proudly showed off a 1952 picture of himself riding a motorcycle along the back streets of East Los Angeles.

“I used to be the member of a Mexican-American motorcycle club called the Flamingos,” Soto said. “We were the first Mexican-American motorcycle club to be recognized by the American Motorcycle Assn.”

“This is an important step for our kids,” Alatorre said. “When you look at the real lack of recorded history of Latinos in Los Angeles, it’s important to be able to have this for generations to come.”