The supervisors held an emotional debate Tuesday before deciding to replace the cross with another image -- possibly a representation of a Spanish mission or California's indigenous tribes. The cross has been on the county seal since 1957 in a panel with two stars above a depiction of the Hollywood Bowl. The Bowl was intended as a symbol of culture while one star represents film and the other television.
The panel is one of six around the seal's main figure, Pomona, a Roman goddess of fruits and trees representing the region's agriculture. The seal's other symbols are: a triangle and calipers to represent industry; oil derricks; the Spanish galleon San Salvador that was sailed into San Pedro Harbor in 1542 by the explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo; and a tuna and a champion cow named Pearlette, for the once-huge fishing and dairy industries. Supervisor Don Knabe said removing the cross was like "rewriting history" in a region shaped by Catholic missionaries.
"Where does it all end?" he said. "I do not think we should capitulate. As the largest county in America, if we roll over, what's next?" But other supervisors indicated that they wanted to avoid a court battle that some supervisors predicted the county would lose.
Federal courts have ruled against government agencies in similar cases in New Mexico and Illinois in the 1990s. In California, the city of Redlands recently agreed to remove the cross from its logo after the ACLU threatened legal action. The ACLU then received calls complaining about the Los Angeles County seal.
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES OFFICIAL SEAL
The Goddess Pomona – the goddess of gardens and fruit trees – is holding in her arms a sheaf of grain, an orange, a lemon, an avocado and a few grapes to represent Los Angeles County’s agriculture.
She stands on the shore of the Pacific Ocean with the San Gabriel Mountains in the background.
The engineering instruments – the triangle and the caliper – relate to the industrial construction complex of the County and Los Angeles’ vital contribution to the conquest of space.
The Spanish galleon is the San Salvador, which Cabrillo sailed into San Pedro Harbor on October 8, 1542.
The tuna represents the fishing industry of Los Angeles County, and the championship cow, Pearlette, represents the dairy industry.
The Hollywood Bowl indicates the cultural activities, while the two stars represent the County’s motion picture and television industries.
The cross represents the influence of the church and the missions of California.
Oil derricks are symbolic of the oil fields that were discovered on Signal Hill.
The words “County of Los Angeles California” surround the seal.