Leo Politi Biography

Hailed as the "Artist of Olvera Street," Leo Politi captured the heart of Los Angeles through his paintings and drawings that sometimes sold for as little as a quarter or less. To make ends meet in the 1930s Depression Era, Politi and his wife Helen set up an easel on Olvera Street to sketch tourists and children using charcoal, pencil or brush. In addition to the portraits he sold, Politi's art examined the ethnic diversity of Los Angeles, especially the many children he saw on Olvera Street. He fell in love with the Latin American culture of Olvera Street and its emphasis on the family unit. Along the way he created characters that would evolve into more than 20 books and countless drawings, sculptures, paintings and murals.

His first book, Little Pancho, was based on a child who never smiled, a youngster Politi noticed on Olvera Street. The character became one of his most beloved. One character led to another, each representing someone or something special about Los Angeles. His second book, Pedro, the Angel of Olvera Street, grew out of ideas from handmade Christmas cards Leo sent to editors in New York. Set during Las Posadas, one of the most colorful Olvera Street events in which shopkeepers and their children reenact Mary and Joseph's search for shelter in Bethlehem. Considered a true innovator of children's books, in 1950 he was honored by the American Library Association with the Caldecott Medal for his most famous book, The Song of the Swallows.

Born in Fresno, California in 1908, young Leo moved with his family back to Northern Italy when he was 6 years old. After graduating from the Royal Palace of Monza near Milan, Politi returned to Fresno. He met Helen Fontes who worked as a waitress in nearby Madera. They moved to Los Angeles and were married in 1934. They were poor, in love and surviving during the Depression. At first, the Politi family rented a series of bungalows on Bunker Hill, which at that time was a large, hilly area of steep, narrow streets and alleys that formed the heart of Los Angeles with Victorian homes and bungalows. As their family grew to include son Paul and daughter Suzanne, the neighborhood was demolished and the family was forced to move to next-door Angeleno Heights, one of the oldest suburbs of Los Angeles. Here he spent the rest of his life.

The constantly changing demographics of Los Angeles inspired Politi's water colors in books for the adult reader including Bunker Hill, Los Angeles: Reminiscences of Bygone Days, Tales of the Los Angeles Parks and Angeleno Heights.

In 1980, a branch of the Fresno Public Library was named for him. He is also remembered as the namesake of Leo Politi School in Los Angeles, dedicated in 1991. Monticillo de Leo Politi, an area of Elysian Park close to Dodger Stadium was dedicated in 1994. Leo Politi died on March 26, 1996. Later this year, the corner of Sunset Blvd. and Echo Park Avenue in Echo Park will be dedicated as Leo Politi Square.

Special thanks to Angel City Press.