The first Seal of the
County of Los Angeles
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is th ...
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 Structural basin, basin located in Southern California, in a region known as the Peninsular Ranges. The basin is also connected to an wikt:anomalous, anomalous group of east-west trending chains of mountai ...
, 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 contin ...
with the
San Gabriel Mountains 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- colline ...
and a
caliper
A caliper (British spelling also calliper, or in plurale tantum sense a pair of calipers) is a device used to measure the dimensions of an object.
Many types of calipers permit reading out a measurement on a ruled scale, a dial, or a digital d ...
(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, Can ...
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'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 len ...
(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 (representing the County's cultural activities) with two stars above it (to represent the motion picture and television industries), the
Mission San Gabriel Arcangel (representing the historic role of the missions in the settlement of the Los Angeles region), and the championship
cow
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...
Pearlette (representing the dairy industry).
History
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 r ...
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 bu ...
, 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 firs ...
on January 2, 1957, effective March 1, 1957. It included an image of
Pomona, 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 sa ...
and
oil derrick
A derrick is a lifting device composed at minimum of one guyed mast, as in a gin pole, which may be articulated over a load by adjusting its guys. Most derricks have at least two components, either a guyed mast or self-supporting tower, and ...
s.
Third and fifth seal: 2004–2014, 2016–present
In 2004, the seal was altered. A short time later, on May 25, 2004, the
ACLU alleged that the seal's
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 sa ...
(a reference to the
Hollywood Cross) 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 text ...
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
Hollywood Bowl (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
Mission San Gabriel Arcangel.
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, 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
Seal may refer to any of the following:
Common uses
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, or "true seal"
** Fur seal
* Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...
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 ...
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 ]
See also
*
Flag of the City of Los Angeles
*
List of U.S. county and city insignia
References
Further reading
*
External links
Seal of Los Angeles County, Californiaat 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