The first Seal of the County of Los Angeles was established in 1887 and has been changed three times since then. It is used on official county documents, vehicular decals, on buildings, and is displayed on the bear-top shield badge worn by uniformed county officers. It is also featured prominently on the county's flag. The current seal was adopted in 2016 and is identical to a design initially adopted in 2004.

Design

The current form of the seal, adopted in January 2014, portrays an image of a Tongvan woman, representing the early inhabitants of the

Los Angeles Basin The Los Angeles Basin is a sedimentary basin located in Southern California, in a region known as the Peninsular Ranges. The basin is also connected to an anomalous group of east-west trending chains of mountains collectively known as the T ...

, surrounded by six smaller iconic images, with three on each side. The words “County of Los Angeles, California” surround the seal. The woman stands on the shore of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

with the

San Gabriel Mountains The San Gabriel Mountains ( es, Sierra de San Gabriel) are a mountain range located in northern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Transverse Ranges and lies between ...

and the sun in the background. On her right, there are the engineering instruments of a

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, any three points, when non- colli ...

and a caliper (representing the industrial construction complex of the county and its vital contribution to the exploration of space), a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

galleon Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch W ...

(specifically

Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo ( pt, João Rodrigues Cabrilho; c. 1499 – January 3, 1543) was an Iberian maritime explorer best known for investigations of the West Coast of North America, undertaken on behalf of the Spanish Empire. He was the firs ...

's ship the ''San Salvador'', which sailed into San Pedro Harbor on October 8, 1542), and a

tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae ( mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max le ...

(representing the

fishing industry The fishing industry includes any industry or activity concerned with taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting, marketing or selling fish or fish products. It is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as including ...

). On her left, the images of The

Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018. The Hollywood Bowl is known for its disti ...

(representing the County's cultural activities) with two stars above it (to represent the motion picture and television industries), the

Mission San Gabriel Arcangel Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

(representing the historic role of the missions in the settlement of the Los Angeles region), and the championship cow Pearlette (representing the dairy industry).

History

FEMA - 15297 - Photograph by Jocelyn Augustino taken on 09-10-2005 in Louisiana

First seal: 1887–1957

The original 1887 county seal displayed grapes, surrounded by the words "Board of Supervisors – Los Angeles Co. Cal."

Second seal: 1957–2004

Former L.A. County Supervisor

Kenneth Hahn Kenneth Hahn (August 19, 1920 – October 12, 1997) was a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for forty years, from 1952 to 1992. Hahn was on the Los Angeles City Council from 1947 to 1952. He was an ardent supporter of civil ...

designed a new seal, which was drawn by

Millard Sheets Millard Owen Sheets (June 24, 1907 – March 31, 1989) was an American artist, teacher, and architectural designer. He was one of the earliest of the California Scene Painting artists and helped define the art movement. Many of his large-scale bui ...

, and adopted by the

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (LACBOS) is the five-member governing body of Los Angeles County, California, United States. History On April 1, 1850 the citizens of Los Angeles elected a three-man Court of Sessions as their first ...

on January 2, 1957, effective March 1, 1957. It included an image of

Pomona Pomona may refer to: Places Argentina * Pomona, Río Negro Australia * Pomona, Queensland, Australia, a town in the Shire of Noosa * Pomona, New South Wales, Australia Belize * Pomona, Belize, a municipality in Stann Creek District Mexico ...

, the Roman goddess of fruit trees, and the symbols of a

cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a s ...

and oil derricks.

Third and fifth seal: 2004–2014, 2016–present

In 2004, the seal was altered. A short time later, on May 25, 2004, the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". ...

alleged that the seal's

(a reference to the

Hollywood Cross The Hollywood Cross (also known as the Hollywood Pilgrimage Memorial Monument) is a 32-foot high, steel cross and historic-cultural monument (#617) in Hollywood, California. Located just above the Ford Amphitheatre and overlooking the Cahuenga Pa ...

) was a violation of the

Establishment Clause In United States law, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, together with that Amendment's Free Exercise Clause, form the constitutional right of freedom of religion. The relevant constitutional tex ...

of the Constitution. The Board's new seal had also voluntarily eliminated Pomona and the oil derricks, without references by the ACLU. In the current seal, the stars and an image of the

(originally in the middle right column, also where the cross was originally placed) replaced the oil towers. The cross was removed, and replaced with an image of the

. Some official L.A. County buildings and older county vehicles still use old seals, probably due to lack of effort in removing the seals. Uniformed county officers issued badges before 2004 did not receive new badges when the seal was updated, and thus continue to wear the older design. Occasionally, when a new seal is adopted, old ones may continue to be used until they are no longer usable due to wear, as in Mississippi's case when it adopted a new state seal in 2014.

Fourth seal: 2014–2016

On Tuesday, January 7, 2014, the Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to put a cross back on top of the mission depicted on the County seal, stating that it more correctly reflected the history of the San Gabriel Mission. The cross on the mission was removed during renovation. The ACLU of Southern California expressed opposition, alleging the action would violate both the Californian and United States Constitution. A federal lawsuit was filed against Los Angeles County on February 6, 2014. Critics of the change, including Supervisor

Sheila Kuehl Sheila James Kuehl (born February 9, 1941) is an American politician and retired actress, and served as the member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for the 3rd District and as board chair and chair pro tem. Kuehl was California's ...

, stated that the time and money spent defending the county seal was wasted when there were many other issues requiring the Board of Supervisors' attention. Kuehl proposed replacement of the seal with a graphic of a seal as an

April Fools' Day April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is an annual custom on 1 April consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fools!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved in these pranks, which may b ...

joke. In April 2016, the addition of the cross to the seal was ruled unconstitutional by U.S. District Court Judge Christina A. Snyder. The county accepted the ruling. As part of the court order, the 2014 seal was covered up at County sites and replaced with the 2004 seal, and badges, uniforms, and materials printed with the 2014 seal were removed and replaced with those depicting the 2004 seal.http://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/bos/bc/1005896_ValidationofReplacementoftheCountySealinUse.pdf#search=%22county%20seal%22

References

External links

Seal of Los Angeles County, California
at the County of Los Angeles (lacounty.gov) {{DEFAULTSORT:Los Angeles County, California, Seal Of 1957 establishments in California Los Angeles County, California Official seals of places in California Symbols introduced in 1957