Southwest Museum Day of Mourning, July 15, 2006
Day of Mourning
Photographs: Scott Rubel
There are 51 photographs
in this gallery.
They are indexed by only 25 thumbnails here, but you can view
them all by clicking right and left
arrows once you are on the main pages.
COMMUNITY MOURNS DEATH OF SOUTHWEST MUSEUM WITH FUNERAL PROCESSION, CANDLELIGHT VIGIL
Los Angeles mourned the death Saturday of the Southwest Museum—the city’s oldest museum—with a morning funeral procession from the MTA Gold Line Southwest Museum station to the gates of the museum and an evening candlelight vigil beginning at Sycamore Grove Park and proceeding to the corner of Marmion Way and Museum Drive.
Over 150 “mourners” particpated in the two events.
The “Day of Mourning” was organized by an ad hoc group of Northeast Los Angeles community residents with the support of the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition and other community organizations. The events were held in recognition of the museum’s closure by its owner, the Autry National Center, without an effective plan for reopening as a public destination with a museum use.
Community residents expressed outrage at claims of the Autry
National Center—which acquired the historic
Southwest Museum three years ago-- that the museum “remains open,” when
all but a store and two small galleries are available to the public two days
per
week. Participants at the events demanded that any
expansion of the Autry National Center’s operations at Griffith Park
be tied to the Autry's assumption of responsibility for maintaining and operating
the Mount
Washington facilities in a museum capacity.
- Eliot Sekuler
