A century separates 1926 and 2026, but many of the questions facing Los Angeles remain surprisingly familiar.

In celebration of the Haynes Foundation's 100th anniversary, historians, journalists, and civic scholars will use these two points in time to examine how ideas about democracy, governance, and the common good have changed over the past century.

Looking across 100 years of reform, they explore efforts to create a more effective and representative government, as well as the forces that resisted change. Reflecting on shifting ideas of civic participation and public trust, the panel considers how L.A.'s political, cultural, and ethnic landscape has reshaped what Angelenos expect from their government, and what that history can reveal about the city's future.

Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times columnist

Natalia Molina, Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at USC 

Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times columnist

Becky Nicolaides, urban historian and author of The New Suburbia: How Diversity Remade Suburban Life in Los Angeles

Raphael Sonenshein, political scientist and executive director of the Haynes Foundation

Moderated by William Deverell, director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West

Event produced in partnership with the Los Angeles History Collaborative, with the support of the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation.