The Brief

A mahjong set. A black dress with a deep V paneled with lace. A makeup box emblazoned with a Chinese name: Wong Liu Tsong.

Anna May Wong's mah jong set is one of the personal items on display to the public for the very first time at the exhibit.

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Some of Anna May Wong's personal belongings are on display for the first time ever at the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles, part of a new exhibition about the woman known as Hollywood's first Chinese American film star.

Unmasking Anna May Wong, which opens Thursday and runs until Jan. 26, 2025, gives a glimpse into the inner life of a screen legend whose magnetic presence and quest for better representation of Asian Americans in the arts and media resonates with audiences today.

"I feel that people are starting to wonder, 'Well, who was the first Asian American to be in this business?" said Katie Gee Salisbury, author of a new biography about Wong. "When you go back far enough, it's Anna May Wong."

Katie Gee Salisbury, who wrote a new biography about screen star Anna May Wong, co-curated the new exhibition at the Chinese American Museum.

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Salisbury co-curated the exhibition some 20 years after interning at the Chinese American Museum in college and stumbling upon the story of the L.A.-born Wong. Through talent and grit, she went from working at her father's laundry downtown to gracing the soundstages of Hollywood, where she starred in her first silent film at age 17.

Wong's acting chops caught the attention of superstar Douglas Fairbanks, who in 1924 cast her in The Thief of Bagdhad, catapulting her to international fame.

It came at a cost.

Wong's career-long battle against racist typecasting and sexism is chronicled in Salisbury's Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong.

Wong was fed up with playing dragon ladies and being treated as a second-class citizen when she was third-generation Chinese American. In 1931, she took a trip to China to learn the culture and language, an experience she documented on film. Salisbury said she came back changed.

Though she was a third-generation Chinese American, Anna May Wong had to file a special application to get traveling papers that proved she was a U.S. citizen and not an "alien" Chinese.

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Anna May Wong at her Santa Monica home which she designed with the help of renowned architect Rudolf Schindler.

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"She decided that she was no longer going to take on any unsympathetic roles," Salisbury said. "And she would only play roles that reflected well on her people."

Michael Truong, the executive director of the museum, said Wong's battles in Hollywood are some of the same waged today by Asian American creatives.

"We should look at her as a trailblazer and to continue on her steps to make sure that we are equally represented in media," Truong said.

The exhibition was inspired by a 12-foot-tall mural of Wong created in 2020 by the artist Rachel O'Donnell for a different show about red envelopes. Rather than paint over the mural when the exhibition ended, staff decided to build a new one dedicated to Wong that rides a surge in interest in her.

Michael Truong, executive director of the Chinese American Museum, said that the Anna May Wong exhibit has been several years in the making.

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Wong is the subject of a second recently-released biography Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong's Rendezvous with American History and an upcoming biopic to star Gemma Chan and to be penned by playwright David Henry Hwang.

She's been portrayed in the 2020 limited Netflix series Hollywood, and was the inspiration for a pivotal character in the film Babylon, which opened in 2022. That same year, Wong became the first Asian American to be featured on U.S. currency with the release of a commemorative quarter featuring her face framed by her signature bangs.

It's just one of multiple firsts that Wong achieved in a life cut short.

After leaving the U.S. to act in films and plays in Europe, Wong returned stateside to make the 1937 crime thriller Daughter of Shanghai, opposite the Korean American actor Philip Ahn. They were the heroes and the villain roles were filled by white actors.

The pair became the first Asian Americans to play a leading romantic couple in the sound era.

"It was kind of visionary that she helped create this script," Salisbury said. "Unlike many of her early films where she often had to die or was killed off, she actually gets a happy ending."

Two of Anna May Wong's dresses, gifted to the museum by author Lisa See, are on display.

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In real life, things were more complicated. Wong found work after her ingenue years were over — in 1951, she became the first Asian American to lead a television show with “The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong" — but roles became scarcer as she got older.

Wong struggled with alcoholism and developed cirrhosis of the liver. In 1961, she died of a heart attack at her home in Santa Monica, just a couple weeks before she had been scheduled to begin rehearsals for the Rodgers and Hammerstein hit musical Flower Drum Song.

"She was only 56," Salisbury said. "But if you consider all the things she did in her short life, it's worth several lifetimes."

In the wake of the Eaton Fire, Altadena and Pasadena’s music community have really shown up to support fire survivors, especially fellow musicians who lost instruments and record collections.

That effort continues this weekend with a special donation concert at a Pasadena record store, with the aim of getting vinyl records back in the hands of survivors who lost their collections.

“You know, our name is Healing Force of the Universe, and I think that gives me a pretty clear direction… especially after the fires,” said Austin Manuel, founder of Pasadena record store, where Sunday’s show will be held.

The record donation effort is the brainchild of musician Brandon Jay, who founded the nonprofit Altadena Musicians after losing his home and almost all of his family’s instruments in the Eaton Fire. Through Altadena Musicians’s donation and registry platform, Jay said he and his partners have helped some 1,200 fire survivors get their music instruments back.

Brandon Jay.

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Robert Garrova

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Now, that effort has fanned out to restoring vinyl record collections.

“All of that stuff evaporated for thousands of people,” Jay said. “Look at your own record collection and be like, ‘Wow, what if that whole thing disappeared?’”

You might know Jay from several bands over the years, including Lutefisk, a 1990s alt-rock band based in Los Angeles. He and his wife, Gwendolyn Sanford, composed music for TV shows, including Orange is the New Black and Weeds.

Jay plans to play some holiday tunes at Sunday's record donation show (which LAist is the media sponsor), along with fellow musician Daniel Brummel of Sanglorians. Brummel, who was also a founding member of Pasadena’s indie-rock sensation Ozma, said he was grateful to Jay for his fire recovery work and to Manuel for making Healing Force available for shows like this.

Brummel, who came close to losing his own home in the Eaton Fire, recalled a show he played at Healing Force back in March.

Ryen Slegr (left) and Daniel Brummel perform with their band, Ozma, on the 2014 Weezer Cruise.

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Even Keel Imagery

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“The trauma of the fires was still really fresh,” Brummel said. After playing a cover of Rufus Wainwright’s “Going to a Town,” that night — which includes the lyrics “I’m going to a town that has already been burnt down” — Brummel said his neighbors in the audience told him the rendition hit them hard. “It felt really powerful. And without that space, it just wouldn’t have occurred.”

Details

Healing Force of the Universe Record Donation Show
Featuring: Quasar (aka Brandon Jay), Sanglorians (Daniel Brummel) and The Acrylic.
Sunday, Dec. 14; 2 to 5 p.m.
1200 E. Walnut St., Pasadena
Tickets are $15 or you can donate 5 or more records at the door. More info here.

Topline:

The case: In September, the city settled a lawsuit brought forward by two brothers in their 70s who said they suffered serious injuries after an LAPD officer crashed into their car. Days before the $18 million settlement was reached, lawyers for the brothers said Feldstein Soto called an expert witness testifying for the plaintiffs and “attempted to ingratiate herself with him and asked him to make a contribution to her political campaign,” according to a sworn declaration to the court by the plaintiffs’ attorney, Robert Glassman.

The response: Feldstein Soto did not respond to an interview request. Her spokesperson said the settlement “had nothing to do” with the expert witness. Her campaign manager told LAist the city attorney had been making a routine fundraising call and did not know the person had a role in the case, nor that there were pending requests for her office to pay him fees.

What Jurado says: In a statement to LAist, Jurado said she wants to “make sure that the city’s legal leadership is guided by integrity and accountability, especially when their choices affect public trust, civic rights and the city’s limited resources."

What’s next: The motion needs to go through a few committees before reaching the full City Council. If it passes, the motion calls for the city attorney to “report to council in closed session within 45 days regarding the ethics breach violation and give updates to the City Council."

Every year in Santa Ana, Luis Cantabrana turns the front of his home into an elaborate altar in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe that draws hundreds of visitors.

Along the front of the house, the multi-colored altar is filled with lights, flowers and a stained-glass tapestry behind a sculpture of the Lady of Guadalupe. Cantabrana’s roof also is lit up with the green, white and red lights that spell out “Virgen de Guadalupe” and a cross.

Visitors are welcomed with music and the smell of roses as they celebrate the saint, but this year’s gathering comes after a dark year for immigrant communities.

Luis Cantabrana stands in front of the stunning altar he built in front of his home in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe. Every year, his display draws hundreds of visitors.

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Why do they celebrate? 

In 1513, the Virgin Mary appeared before St. Juan Diego between Dec. 9 and Dec. 12, asking him to build a church in her honor. Her image — a brown-skinned woman wearing a green veil with her hands together in prayer and an angel at her feet — miraculously appeared on his cloak.

To celebrate in Santa Ana, worshippers gathered late-night Wednesday and in the very early hours Dec. 12 to pray the rosary, sing hymns and celebrate the saint.

Cantabrana has hosted worshippers at his home for 27 years — 17 in Santa Ana.

The altar started out small, he said, and over the years, he added a fabric background, more lights and flowers (lots and lots of flowers).

“It started with me making a promise to la Virgen de Guadalupe that while I had life and a home to build an altar, that I would do it,” Cantabrana said. “Everything you see in photos and videos is pretty, but when you come and see it live, it's more than pretty. It's beautiful.”

The Santa Ana home's elaborate altar in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe draws hundreds of visitors each year.

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Destiny Torres

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LAist

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Gathering in a time of turmoil 

Many also look to the Lady of Guadalupe for protection, especially at a time when federal enforcement has rattled immigrant communities.

“People don’t want to go to work, they don’t want to take their kids to school, but the love we have for our Virgen de Guadalupe,” Cantabrana said. “We see that la Virgen de Guadalupe has a lot of power, and so we know immigration [enforcement] won’t come here.”

Margarita Lopez of Garden Grove has been visiting the altar for three years with her husband. She’s been celebrating the Virgencita since she was a young girl. Honoring the saint is as important now as ever, she said.

“We ask, and she performs miracles,” Lopez said.

Claudia Tapia, a lifelong Santa Ana resident, said the Virgin Mary represents strength.

“Right now, with everything going on, a lot of our families [have] turned and prayed to the Virgen for strength during these times,” Tapia said. “She's a very strong symbol of Mexican culture, of unity, of faith and of resilience.”

See it for yourself

The shrine will stay up into the new year on the corner of Broadway and Camile Street.