La Fiesta de Los Angeles was an annual multi-day event celebrating Los Angeles and Southern California's cultural heritage. The first celebration was held in April 1894. Canceled during the Spanish-American War, it was revived in 1901 under the new name La Fiesta de las Flores, and it continued through the 1940s. Charles Fletcher Lummis helped organize the early festivals in Los Angeles. This collection consists of event programs, ephemera, financial reports, newspapers clippings and meeting minutes, and by-laws related to the La Fiesta de Los Angeles events from 1894-1947.

La Fiesta de Los Angeles was an annual multi-day event celebrating Los Angeles and Southern California's cultural heritage. The first celebration was held in April 1894. Canceled during the Spanish-American War, it was revived in 1901 under the new name La Fiesta de las Flores, and it continued through the 1940s. The festival was founded by Max Meyburg and sponsored by the Los Angeles Merchants Association. The Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade became joint sponsors in 1896. The festival celebrated the unique history and culture of Southern California. Advertisements for the 1896 event describe it as including a parade of “Spanish caballeros, Mexican vaqueros, Indians, and Chinese,” a pageant, a carnival of “30,000 maskers,” and a floral parade. The main parade that year included United States Marines, National Guard, local police, Spanish caballeros, Indians brought in from near Temecula, and a Chinese dragon. The fiesta was unusual for an event at the time in its celebration of multiculturalism.

0.75 Linear feet (2 document boxes, 6 oversized boxes)

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