The Los Angeles City Council declared today “Gloria Molina Day.” John Cádiz Klemack reports for the NBC4 News at 5 a.m. on Aug. 29, 2024.
Los Angeles will honor a community trailblazer Thursday with a mural unveiling, new art exhibit and the premiere of a tribute play on Gloria Molina Day.
Molina, who died at 74 of cancer on May 14, 2023, was the first Latina to serve as a Los Angeles County supervisor, City Council member and Assembly member. The events come one day after the City Council officially proclaimed Aug. 29 as Gloria Molina Day.
Here's how she will be remembered Thursday in Los Angeles.
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Gloria Molina Day events
On Thursday at 5:15 p.m., Mayor Karen Bass and other dignitaries will attend the dedication of a mural honoring Molina that was commissioned to artist Margaret Garcia.
At 6:45 p.m., the Casa 0101 Theater will host a reception and viewing of a new art exhibit titled "Gloria Molina: Madrina of the Eastside."
Following the exhibit, guests will attend the premiere of playwright Josefina López's "A Woman Named Gloria" in the Gloria Molina Auditorium at 8 p.m.
About Gloria Molina
Molina, who grew up in Pico Rivera, was active in the early days of the Chicano movement, becoming an advocate for women's health issues -- which she continued into her time in elected office. She also founded a nurse mentoring program through local community colleges to address a nurse shortage at the time.
She first won elective office in 1982, capturing the 56th Assembly District seat and eventually leading a fight to quash a proposed prison in East LA.
Molina won the City Council's First District seat in 1987, and was elected to the Board of Supervisors from the county's First District in 1991. She served as a supervisor through 2014, becoming known as a sharp fiscal watchdog before being termed out. Her district encompassed Koreatown, Pico-Union, East Los Angeles and parts of the San Gabriel Valley.
Molina was also the first woman elected to the Board of Supervisors -- once known as the "Five Little Kings" -- though Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, who was appointed to fill a vacancy, was the first woman to serve on the board.
Prior to her elected positions, Molina worked as a deputy for presidential personnel in the Jimmy Carter White House.
In recognition of Molina's leadership, the Board of Supervisors in 2023 renamed Grand Park -- a project Molina also championed -- in her honor. It is now called Gloria Molina Grand Park.
