State Gives $1 Million for Chinese, Italian Heritage Museums

To those who aren’t familiar with local history, it might have seemed peculiar that Chinese Americans and Italian Americans chose downtown’s Olvera Street to celebrate the acquisition of new funding for institutions that will document their contributions to the city.

But that ignorance is exactly what the two groups hope to correct with planned ethnic museums that, in the next two years, are expected to to open near Olvera Street, where Italian and Chinese districts once thrived.

Community members and politicians gathered Thursday in front of the El Pueblo Historical Monument to announce $1 million in state funding to be split between the Chinese American Museum, which now has only traveling exhibits, and the Italian Hall, a two-story brick building that will be converted into a museum.

“This is an opportunity for us to tell the stories of the significant contributions of ethnic minorities,” said Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, standing with Assemblyman Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) and Mayor Richard Riordan.

Robert Kwan, president-elect of the Friends of the Chinese American Museum, said it has been a struggle to keep supporters interested in the 15-year-old project, which will be housed in the Garnier Building.

The state funding “really puts us over,” he said.

Gloria Ricci Lothrop said she hopes the state funding persuades more Italian Americans to support the 2-year-old Italian Hall project.

The gift will help renovate the hall, which was a gathering place for local Italian Americans until 1931.