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THE HISTORY COLLECTION ISSUE featuring the LA ESPERANZA BAKERY
Ezequiel Moreno, along with his wife Cruz "Crucita" Moreno operated one of the city's earliest Mexican bakery-restaurant chains, La Esperanza Bakery. Founded in 1918, La Esperanza had three locations in the city with its main location in the historic Plaza area of Downtown until closing in 1973. Cruz recently passed away on March 28 at age 107 at Santa Teresita nursing home in the City of Duarte. Through the years the Moreno family provided the museum with significant donations pertaining to their iconic bakery & restaurant.
The Moreno family donations are maintained by the History Department, and both the Seaver Center's flat, two-dimensional and Material Culture's three-dimensioned collections are great examples for how the two individual research centers support similar subject areas - the documents, manuscripts, and photographs provide context for the objects.
THE COLLECTIONS
La Esperanza Bakery Sign
A two-sided, neon business sign, a long-time beacon of the Plaza bakery at 507 No. Main Street, came to the museum in 1997, through one of the granddaughters, Beverly Moreno-Bonney. Not only did the sign draw hungry customers, but every sector of the community, from Hollywood movie stars, politicians, judges, mobsters, white and blue collar workers and immigrants converged there during the restaurant's 50-year span.
The care and management of the sign became the responsibility of Material Culture Collections Manager, Beth Werling. Nearly nine feet high and five feet across, the hollow metal sign was once considered for inclusion in the museum's exhibition, "Becoming Los Angeles." It was given a new purpose across the country in Washington, D.C., featured as one of 90 loaned objects in a long-term exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. “Many Voices, One Nation” exploring the role of immigration in the larger story of the nation opened June 28, 2017. Over 30 members of Cruz' family attended its opening along with Dr. Estrada who contributed to the narrative of the permanent exhibition. Dr. Estrada also conducted several interviews with Crucita and other Moreno family members, and the story of the famous bakery is featured in a chapter in his 2008 book The Los Angeles Plaza: Sacred and Contested Space, University of Texas Press.
 
L to R: Sign after overall restoration in 2009; sign test lighting after neon repair. (Images courtesy of the Natural History Museum, Conservation Department)
"Many Voices, One Nation" is described as a chronological journey of the cultural geography of the country. The La Esperanza Bakery sign grabs visitor attention while telling one of the stories in the section Creating Community, Chicago and Los Angeles.
La Esperanza Bakery Menu and Photographs
The National Museum of American History included three additional items to convey the Moreno story - a restaurant menu and two photographs were reproduced for exhibition. The originals are now housed in the Seaver Center after the same donor delivered them in 2014.
Ezequiel Moreno pictured (GC-1350-12)
(GC-1350-6)
Laminated four-page menu, ca. 1945-1950 (GC-1350-2)
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