Latino Museum Finds a Home : Art: A Downtown Bank of America site is targeted for the project. Supporters say it could become a hub of the Latino community.

After a decade of dreams, the Latino Museum of History, Art and Culture has put its name on a building in Downtown Los Angeles. Signs that formerly identified the facility at 112 S. Main St. as a Bank of America branch are shrouded in dark fabric, while the museum announces itself in big black letters on a 93-foot-long facade.

“It might not look like much to anyone who walks in off the street, but to us, it’s home,” said California state Sen. Charles M. Calderon (D-Whittier), president of the museum’s board of trustees, who has spearheaded a campaign to establish the institution.

“My hope is that the museum will bring an identity to Los Angeles, not only in terms of its Hispanic culture and unique history, but that it also will reach out to Central America, South America, Spain and Portugal. The museum has great potential,” Calderon said.

Trustees of the long-promised museum had hoped to secure a grander or more gracious edifice--such as the historic Herald Examiner building or Lawry’s California Center--but those sites proved to be too expensive. Now, after two years of negotiations, the board has agreed to purchase the Bank of America property, valued at about $900,000 to $1 million, for the bargain price of $600,000.

An unidentified museum supporter is providing interim funding for the purchase, to be paid back in two years, according to Calderon. Trustees expect to reimburse the patron with $300,000 in county funds and an equal amount from the city.

County Supervisor Gloria Molina has pledged $300,000 in county money to help buy the building and she has challenged the city to match the figure, according to City Councilman Mike Hernandez. He said that the city’s portion has been approved by committees and that he expects confirmation by the full council.

The 20,000-square-foot building--including 8,900 square feet of exhibition space on the ground floor, plus offices, storage and classrooms in the basement--is expected to open around the first of the year, after undergoing a $200,000-renovation by architect Jesse Camberos. He drew up plans more than two years ago and recently roughed out walls for display of artworks, but most work has been delayed until construction funds are released. Camberos says he expects the project to get off the ground in the next few weeks.

From the outside, the building appears to be just one more abandoned space on a dispiriting street. Inside are cavernous empty spaces and rooms filled with used office furniture. Signs of life mainly emanate from the basement office of art historian Dennies Lugo, the museum’s director and only paid employee, who fields queries and coordinates volunteer help.

While conceding that Southern California’s economic problems have forced them to lower their expectations, Calderon and other museum supporters say that they are delighted with the building’s potential for expansion and with its central location, less than a block from City Hall.

The museum could become a hub of the Latino community, they say, pointing out the proximity of St. Vibiana’s Cathedral, which will be razed and replaced with a new $45-million cathedral and conference center, to be completed by 2000. Trustees also talk about the possibility of developing a vibrant Latino plaza around the museum, on the block bounded by Main, Los Angeles, First and Second streets. Most of the property is currently occupied by parking lots owned by Cal Trans.

For the moment, however, museum backers face the challenge of raising operating funds at a time when money is tight--particularly for the arts.

“Everything we have done so far is transitional,” Hernandez said. “Now we have to prove our ability to raise money . . . to make this a permanent thing.”

One possible obstacle is competition from San Francisco’s 20-year-old Mexican Museum, which is about to launch a $12-million campaign for a new building.

Supporters of the two institutions point out that their missions differ--the Latino Museum will address history, culture and art over a wide geographic area, while the Mexican Museum focuses on the art of one country--and that each museum has a distinct local constituency. But they concede that they are likely to go after some of the same potential donors, particularly major foundations.

“We will compete for funds, but there’s money for both,” Hernandez said.

Calderon projects an annual operating budget of $1.3 million for the museum, including public programs. At present, the museum has about $700,000 in donations and committed funds--including the city and county pledges--and much of that will be needed to purchase the building. The museum also has received significant in-kind donations of goods and services, he said.

Calderon is trying to establish a museum foundation, to be supported by major business leaders. Initial responses have been encouraging, he said, but he declined to name likely backers. Support from the Latino entertainment community is also being solicited, he said. Actors Edward James Olmos and Rosana DeSoto are members of the board of trustees.

The building offers visible proof that a 10-year effort to establish a Latino museum hasn’t been made in vain. Calderon in 1986 introduced legislation to launch a museum with $10 million in state funds. The effort failed, as did another attempt, in 1988, to appropriate $8 million in state funds.

Calderon succeeded in 1989, but at a far more modest level, when the California legislature voted to grant the museum $300,000 in seed money, which has been used in the interim to conduct feasibility studies for various sites and to pay a director. Former news anchor Frank Cruz was the museum’s first director from 1991-92 and he was followed by Dennis Ferguson-Acosta, who served in that capacity until recently.

Much of the delay has been because of the search for a home, Calderon said. Lawry’s California Center--a 17-acre Mexican hacienda-style facility, northeast of Downtown Los Angeles--emerged as the prime contender in 1991, but disappeared when Disney Studios indicated an interest in the property. Although Disney did not buy the center, it proved to be too costly for the fledgling museum.

Trustees subsequently considered a former Water and Power building, a site near Olvera Street as well as the Herald Examiner building on South Broadway, finally settling on the Bank of America building.

Not having a home has inhibited the museum’s ability to raise funds, build excitement and attract collections. But those days are over, according to the trustees, and they hope to build enthusiasm by staging programs in the building during the remodeling. The first event was a celebration on June 10 that introduced the museum’s home to the community and raised about $30,000.

Meanwhile, Lugo, who has taught art history for the past 10 years at Cal State Los Angeles and local community colleges, is hoping to launch a program featuring Chicano, Mexican and Latin American art, with exhibitions based on professional research and scholarship.

Imagining the role that the museum might play is exciting, she said, but the challenge can seem overwhelming. Lest she lose her head in the clouds of future exhibitions, she occasionally strolls through the basement, stopping at a room stacked with used lumber and debris. “This is the reality,” she said. “I come here to remind myself of the harsh reality.”