> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Unpacking the History of LA’s Disappearing Chicano Murals
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/unpacking-the-history-of-las-disappearing-chicano-murals/
- Published: 2017-08-15T21:56:07.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:56:34.000Z
- Description: On August 20, Vroman's Bookstore is hosting a conversation around the Chicano murals of the 1960s and '70s, in advance of an exhibition at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes.
- Author: Matt Stromberg
- Tags: Art, Chicano art, Events, Murals, Street Art, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:30(2016, 2017, part 3)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/08/muralescvr_final1-rgb-v20170316-copy.jpg)

Murales Rebeldes!: L.A. Chicana/Chicano Murals under Siege (image courtesy Vroman’s)

Murals have long had a prominent place in the cultural life of Los Angeles, reaching an apogee with the Chicano murals of the 1960s and ’70s. More than mere decoration, these works of public art were intimately connected to the activism of the Chicano Movement, providing a voice for communities that had few other outlets to convey their struggles. In the ensuing decades, several of these murals have been covered over or destroyed, either by short-sighted municipal authorities or creeping gentrification, literally whitewashing the narratives that had been written on the city’s streets.

Next month, in conjunction with the city-wide initiative focused on Latinx and Latin American Art [PST: LALA](http://www.pacificstandardtime.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com), [*¡Murales Rebeldes! L.A. Chicana/o Murals under Siege* ](http://www.pacificstandardtime.org/en/exhibitions/exhibit/view/Murales-Rebeldes?ref=hyperallergic.com)will open at [LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes](http://www.lapca.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com), exploring the history and significance of these murals and their subsequent erasure. In advance of the exhibition, this Sunday, Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena will be hosting a [panel discussion ](http://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/gustavo-arellano-leads-panel-discussion-%C2%A1murales-rebeldes-la-chicanachicano-murals-under-siege?ref=hyperallergic.com)featuring the exhibition’s curators and catalogue contributors, Erin M. Curtis and Jessica Hough, alongside muralists [Barbara Carrasco](http://www.galeriadelaraza.org/eng/exhibits2/archive/artists.php?op=view&id=67&media=info&ref=hyperallergic.com), who got her start painting banners for the United Farm Workers in the mid-’70s and continues to suffuse her art with activism, and [David Botello](http://muralconservancy.org/artist/david-botello?ref=hyperallergic.com), founder of the influential mural collective [East Los Streetscapers.](http://www.muralconservancy.org/artist/east-los-streetscapers?ref=hyperallergic.com) The conversation will bemoderated by editor of the OC Weekly, [Gustavo Arellano](http://www.ocweekly.com/authors/gustavo-arellano-6205343?ref=hyperallergic.com).

**When:** Sunday, August 20, 4pm  
**Where:** Vroman’s Bookstore (695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, California)

*More info* [*here*](http://www.vromansbookstore.com/event/gustavo-arellano-leads-panel-discussion-%C2%A1murales-rebeldes-la-chicanachicano-murals-under-siege?ref=hyperallergic.com)*.*