La Opinion Celebrates 75th Anniversary.

La Opinion celebrates its Diamond anniversary with 75 years of continuous service to the city of Los Angeles.

Founded on Sept. 16, 1926, by Ignacio E. Lozano, La Opinion began as a modest daily newspaper serving the needs of a small but growing Mexican community.

La Opinion has since grown to become not only the largest Spanish- language daily newspaper in the country, but also one of the top 100 largest dailies in the United States, internationally recognized for its excellence in journalism and community service.

This September, La Opinion will celebrate this great milestone by hosting a series of events in Southern California. The events include a traveling photo exhibit, symposia on the history of Latinos in California, and a community event in honor of the newspaper’s founder.

The exhibit presents a historical timeline of La Opinion with particular insight into significant moments over the last 75 years. It will travel from September 2001 through spring 2002 to museums, libraries and other locations in East Los Angeles, the Pico Union District, Santa Ana, Long Beach, the San Fernando Valley and Huntington Park.

In conjunction with the photo exhibit, La Opinion will conduct six symposia, each highlighting an event of historical significance. Led by La Opinion’s editorial staff, the symposia will feature historians and other experts exploring the dramatic impact these particular events had on Los Angeles’ Latino community. The topics will range from the Great Depression and its effect on Latinos in the United States to the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-Vietnam War movement and the Latino political mobilization of the 1990s.

La Opinion’s 75 years of success is rooted in its founder’s passion for journalism and freedom of the press. Fleeing from the social injustice and political turmoil that led to the Mexican Revolution, Ignacio brought his family to San Antonio, Texas, where in 1913 he founded his first independent Spanish-language newspaper, La Prensa.

In 1926, Ignacio brought his journalistic passion and skill to Los Angeles, and on Sept. 16 founded La Opinion, the same day that Mexico celebrates its independence. In 1953, Ignacio passed away while on a visit to Los Angeles. Upon his death, his son, Ignacio E. Lozano Jr., assumed the role of publisher, a post he held until his retirement in 1986.

Today, the founder’s grandchildren continue his legacy, with Jose I. Lozano, a 25-year veteran of the newspaper, serving as publisher and CEO, and his sister, Monica, serving as the company’s president and COO. Monica and Jose continue to carry on the ideals of service to the Latino community initiated by their grandfather, striving to continually provide La Opinion’s unique brand of service-oriented journalism that speaks directly to the Latino community’s needs and interests.