Ernie Marquez, 94, in the family cemetery in Santa Monica Canyon.
Conservancy to Honor Historian Ernest Marquez
The Santa Monica Conservancy will hold a Spirit of Preservation Gala at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 31, in the East Wing Music Hall at The Broad Stage, 1410 11th St., Santa Monica.
The evening will start with cocktails and music in the upper terrace, followed by dinner and a program.
Ernest Marquez and Doris Sosin will be honored.
Marquez, a descendant of early Mexican land grantees in the Santa Monica Canyon area, has compiled over 10,000 photographic prints, rare negatives and ephemera focused on the development of Santa Monica and Los Angeles starting in the 1860s. His collection is housed at The Huntington Library. He is also the author of several books, including the bestselling Santa Monica Beach: A Collector’s Pictorial History.
Sosin is a co-founder and long-time supporter of the Santa Monica Conservancy, as well as the founder of the North of Montana Neighborhood Association (NOMA), where she worked to restrict the size of mega mansions being built that were changing the character and density of the neighborhood. She served on the City’s Recreation and Parks Commission, where she conceived of and advocated for a long-range master plan, as well as on the city’s Urban Forest Task Force.
Proceeds from the gala support the Conservancy’s educational programming and advocacy in Santa Monica.
Tickets, sponsorships and tributes may be purchased online at smconservancy.org.
Ernie looks pretty dam good for 94!
I saw Sharon Kilbride tonight at the Community Council meeting and she told me Ernie had a birthday at the beginning of the month. He is now 95.