▪ Hadda Brooks 1940s
▪ Chico Sesman 1949
▪ Phil Carreon 1950s
▪ Andy Russel 1954, and
▪ Cannibal & the Headhunter 1960s
Guardians of Our Heritage: The Living Archive
Our mission is sacred. We do not merely record the past; we honor the lives that shaped Boyle Heights’ soul. We believe that by remembering our pioneers with dignity and safeguarding the physical places that carry their stories, we protect our community’s identity for generations to come.
Innovative Oral Storytelling
At the core of our work as your historical society is the Living Archive. We are investing in high-fidelity video initiatives to ensure that history is not a static page in a book but a living, breathing voice. By documenting the narratives of those who define our heritage, we ensure that our pioneers continue to teach, lead, and inspire.
Our current efforts focus on capturing the foundational stories of our land and its people, especially our founding families, whose stories were shared with us on Sunday, November 9, 2025:
• Catherine López-Kurland: Whose family legacy preserves the memory of the land as it was before Andrew Boyle's arrival? Sharing the Deed of Sale from Petra Varelas and Leandro Lopez to Andrew A. Boyle in 1859.
• Andrew Boyle Workman: The great, great-grandson of Andrew Boyle, an original innovator and investor in the founding of Boyle Heights.
• Paul Spitzzeri: The Museum Director at the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum.
By connecting these threads—from the earliest inhabitants to the builders of our modern neighborhood—we create a comprehensive vision of our history.
The Technology of Remembrance
This is more than preservation; it is a defense against erasure. Your support provides essential funding for the high-definition technology and secure digital archives that keep these voices alive forever. We are not just saving stories; we are celebrating the legacies that continue to define Boyle Heights' resilience.
Live video's still to come
Presented by Catherine López-Kurland
From María del Sacramento López de Cummings, 1850-1930, George Cummings 1828-1903
William Workman, wearing his top hat on First Street, and the proprietor George Cummings, on the rooftop. 1889 Opened.
Claudio and Anita
A Historical Romance of San Gabriel’s Early Mission Days by Maria S. Lopez de Cummings
Published by J.F. Rowny Press, Los Angeles, California, 1921
This is a story about Don Francisco Lopez, the author's father, who loved telling his children stories and tales from his youth, especially about his grandfather, Claudio Lopez, the hero of this narrative.
The introductory note by John Steven McGrath, author of “The Mission Play,” states:
The pages of this book will tell a story of old San Gavriel. It is a true tale, and therefore the more alluring and fascinating because it is still the fact that “truth is stranger than fiction.”
But it still remains true, also, that it is a high and great art to clothe truth in that shining garb which fiction has immemorially worn to attract lovers to her train. And you will find when you have read this story that Mrs. Cummings is a new master of that old art of clothing truth in fiction’s shining garb.
Presented by Andrew Boyle Workman, named after his great, great grandfather
The naming of Boyle Heights in honor of Andrew Aoysius Boyle in 1875
Andrew Boyle, born in 1818 in County Mayo, Ireland, was an immigrant and one of eight children. He purchased 22 acres of land on Paredon Blanco, also known as the White Bluff, from the Lopez family in El Rio de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula, and cultivated the Lopez vineyards, manufacturing and selling wine under the name Paredon Blanco. He also operated a shoe store in Los Angeles and served on the city council.
The land included one of the Adobe Homes that the Lopez family built and occupied, which was later occupied by the Workman family.
With the success of his orchard of grapes he was able to sell to the San Francisco market, which they did not have any wineries at the time, and this was very profitable, and the vineyards were also sold to those winemakers in Northern California. To continue with the irrigation, they had to dig 75 feet to acquire water.
Presented by Paul Spitzzeri
Part II of III
Evolution of the East Side of the Los Angeles River: The Development of Boyle Heights, 1875-1930
Paul is the Museum Director at the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum in the City of Industry.
He is a prolific writer and an expert on California history.
His biography of the Workman and Temple families is an award of merit winner from the American Association for State and Local History, and he writes nearly daily about regional history on the Homestead Museum Blog.
…Boyle Heights Community Partners
…603 North Breed Street
…Los Angeles, California 90033