Remembering Leo Politi, Los Angeles’ forgotten storyteller

Leo Politi (1908-1996) walked, loved, wrote about, and illustrated the streets of LA, especially Bunker Hill and downtown’s Olvera Street.

His children’s books number over 20 and include “Pedro: The Angel of Olvera Street” (J. Paul Getty Museum, $15.95), “Juanita” (J. Paul Getty Museum, $77.34), “Little Leo” (NY Scribners, $69.99), “Moy Moy” (Charles Scribner’s Sons, $30.32) and “Mieko” (Golden Gate Junior Books, $49).

Perhaps his best-known is “Song of the Swallows” (J. Paul Getty Museum, $16.95), about a little boy who plants a garden to welcome the annual return of “las golondrinas” to San Juan Capistrano. The book won the Caldecott Medal in 1950 for the “most distinguished American picture book for children.”

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(Photo Credit: Chris English via Wikimedia Commons)