Statue of Bradley to Be Unveiled at Cemetery

Family and friends of former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley will unveil a bronze statue of the pioneering city leader Wednesday, the first anniversary of his death.

The public is welcome at the unveiling ceremony, according to attorney Melanie Lomax, who commissioned the statue of her longtime friend and mentor. The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. at Inglewood Park Cemetery, 720 E. Florence Ave.

Bradley, the grandson of slaves, broke color barriers growing up in Los Angeles, where he was a police officer and attorney before becoming the first black to win election to the Los Angeles City Council.

He forged a multiracial political coalition that swept him into the mayor’s office in 1973 as the first African American to win the city’s top post and kept him there for an unprecedented five terms.

“I wanted people to see for always what he looked like,” Lomax said in explaining why she commissioned the statue at Bradley’s burial site. “His family very much wanted to see his likeness preserved for future generations.”

The sculptor, Serge Sarkis, also created the bust of the former mayor at Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport.

Bradley’s widow, Ethel, and his daughters, Lorraine and Phyllis, will attend the unveiling, Lomax said.

They will be joined by some of Los Angeles’ top political leaders, including county Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, City Atty. James K. Hahn, City Council members Mark Ridley-Thomas and Rita Walters and Police Chief Bernard C. Parks, Lomax said.