COMPLIMENTARY COPY
Remembering Charles Gilb on Veterans Day
Monrovia Community Welcomes New City Manager, Dylan Feik
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Go to MonroviaWeekly.com for Monrovia Specific News THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14 - NOVEMBER 20, 2019
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MONROVIAWEEKLY
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VOL. 3, NO. 46
MONROVIA’S HISTORY OF SEGREGATION Art in Public Places to be considered at next Monrovia Council meeting Felix GUTIERREZ Guest Contributor ffgutier@usc.edu
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etailed plans for public art landmarks honoring Monrovians Francisco J. Gutiérrez and Félix J. Gutiérrez, a father and son who were early 20th century civil rights advocates and role models, may be considered at next Tuesday’s City Council meeting. The Monrovia they lived in was racially diverse, but not integrated. Segregation was enforced. Advocating integration was a challenge. In 1938 Félix wrote he lived in a “polyglot neighborhood of many paisanos, Negroes, a few Italians, Jews, Spaniards, Americans and a Japanese family” and “encountered the small town segregations imposed upon Mexicans, Negroes and Filipinos.” In Monrovia this meant: “In schools by attending ‘their own,’ they could not feel American. In the municipal plunge, a day was reserved for ‘Mexicans.’ In the theater the right side was reserved for ‘them.’ Certain restaurants would not cater to ‘Mexicans,’” he wrote in 1942. Both challenged prejudice to “show what a Mexican can do.” Francisco was a cement contractor and businessman. Félix was a youth organizer and founder of The Mexican Voice, an “inspirational educational youth magazine.” Francisco’s cement work includes the Monroe Memorial, Monrovia plunge and tennis courts, Immaculate Conception Church and School and sidewalks and driveways with his 1920s imprint “F.J. GUTIERREZ CONTRACTOR.” While completing municipal plunge work in 1925, Francisco learned swimming would be segregated. So the night before it opened he unlocked the gates with his contractor’s key for his sons and friends to swim before others. In 1938 teenager Félix and the Monrovia Latin-American Club he organized urged the Monrovia City Council to end segregation in the plunge and movie theaters. A year later The Mexican Voice reported no changes. Francisco Gutiérrez came to Monrovia in 1905 as a construction foreman for the B.R. Davisson Company. By the 1920s he headed Frank Gutierrez and Son, one of two Spanishsurnamed business owners, doing cement projects across Monrovia and the San Gabriel Valley. He built a home on Huntington Drive “south of the tracks,” Monrovia’s segregation line, and was an integration role model across the city: playing baseball for the Monrovia Merchants, active in the Knights of
Robert Edmonds - Photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News
Monrovia Honors Veterans in Annual Ceremony on Nov. 11 Terry MILLER tmiller@beaconmedianews.com
- Courtesy photo
Columbus and joining Immaculate Conception Church. Francisco was born in 1871 to Félix Gutiérrez and Dolores Cruz Gutiérrez in the original San Gabriel Mission. His father lived in Alta California before the 1846 United States war declaration that took land and people in 1848. He opened an El Monte blacksmith shop, repairing covered wagons of Yanqui newcomers, some who treated Californios as “strangers in their own land.” Francisco married Isabelle López in 1905. Their son Frank was born in 1908. After Isabelle’s 1914 death he wed Mercedes García in 1917. Their son Félix was born in 1918
and she died in 1924. Frank worked with his father, then the City of Monrovia into the 1950s: construction workers spanning 50-plus years. Both lived in Monrovia until their death: Francisco in 1952 and Frank in 1973. Félix J. Gutiérrez was born in 1918 and became a nationally-recognized artist, journalist, group worker and civil rights leader. Read More at, MonroviaWeekly.com, under Featured
The traditional Veterans Day Observance in Monrovia’s Library Park was conducted by Scott Sinclair, president of the Allied Veterans Council. Veterans Day in the U.S., and Remembrance Day in England, is a time for us to pay our respects to those who have served. For one day, most of the civilized world stands united in respect for our veterans. Hundreds from not only Monrovia attended the traditional observance. Arcadia’s Mayor, April Verlato, made a powerful speech after Monrovia dignitaries, led by Mayor Pro Tem Larry Spicer, reminded us all of the importance of thanking each and every one of our veterans, not just on Nov. 11 but every day. This holiday started as a day to reflect upon the heroism of those who died in our country's service and was originally called Armistice Day. It fell on Nov. 11 because that is the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. However, in 1954 the holiday was changed to "Veterans Day" in order to account for all veterans in all wars. We celebrate and honor America's veterans for their patriotism, love of country and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.