Operated by Centro CHA in partnership with the City of Long Beach, the Center reflects decades of community leadership and serves as a place where residents and visitors alike can learn, celebrate, create, and connect.
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Since 1992, we’ve worked alongside Long Beach’s Latino community to advance culture, opportunity, and belonging. The Cultural Center is what more than three decades of that work made possible.
Long Beach is home to one of the largest Latino populations in California. For generations, Latino families have helped shape the city’s neighborhoods, economy, arts, education, military service, entrepreneurship, and civic life. Yet, despite these lasting contributions, Long Beach has never had a dedicated public cultural institution focused on preserving, celebrating, and sharing this rich history.
The Long Beach Latino Cultural Center was created to help fill that need.
More than a museum or event venue, the Center is a vibrant gathering place where history is preserved, creativity is celebrated, traditions are shared,and future generations can learn from the people and stories that helped shape
Long Beach. Through exhibitions, performances, educational programming, community events, and cultural experiences, the Center welcomes residents and visitors alike to explore the diverse histories, artistic expressions, traditions, and achievements that continue to enrich our city.
Culture has the power to bring people together across generations and backgrounds. By creating opportunities to learn from one another, celebrate shared experiences, and honor those whose contributions have helped build Long Beach, the Center strengthens community pride, civic participation, and a deeper appreciation for our city’s shared heritage.
— Ariana Sahagun, Centro CHA
“Es una gran necesidad para la comunidad. Especialmente ahora, más que nunca, la comunidad necesita sentirse vista y valorada.”
Rotating exhibitions celebrate the history, creativity, and lived experiences of Latino, Hispanic, Chicano, and Indigenous communities through art, photography, artifacts, multimedia, and storytelling. Exhibitions will uplift local artists, community leaders, neighborhoods, and defining moments that have shaped Long Beach.
Year-round indoor and outdoor programs bring the community together through music, dance, theater, film, festivals, sports, and cultural celebrations. Signature events will include Hispanic Heritage Month, Día de Los Muertos, Fiestas Patrias, family festivals, car shows, culinary experiences, outdoor movie nights, and traditional celebrations.
The community kitchen will celebrate Latino culinary traditions through cooking demonstrations, cultural workshops, community meals, nutrition education, and food entrepreneurship. The space will support local chefs, vendors, and small businesses while preserving family recipes, cultural traditions, and stories through food.
Rooted in the Cultura Cura philosophy, programs will promote healing and well-being through cultural connection, healing circles, storytelling, traditional practices, wellness education, and intergenerational learning that strengthen individuals, families, and community.
A community-centered collection will preserve and share the history, stories, and contributions of Latino, Hispanic, Chicano, and Indigenous communities. Archives, oral histories, photographs, publications, and cultural materials will support education, research, storytelling, and intergenerational learning.
El Mercado de Long Beach will celebrate local creativity and entrepreneurship by providing opportunities for artists, artisans, farmers, food vendors, and small businesses to showcase and sell their work. A future gift shop will feature locally made goods and cultural products that reflect Long Beach’s diverse talent, heritage, and entrepreneurial spirit.
The Long Beach Latino Cultural Center is the result of decades of community leadership and advocacy, culminating in a formal citywide planning effort that began in 2019. Residents, artists, educators, historians, business owners, nonprofit organizations, and civic leaders worked together to create a shared vision for a cultural institution that reflects the history, creativity, and future of Long Beach.
Centro CHA partnered with the City of Long Beach and Lord Cultural Resources to facilitate community engagement, coordinate the Steering Committee, document public input, and help shape the vision that ultimately led to the establishment of the Center.
The planning process included community workshops, focus groups, surveys, public meetings, and extensive stakeholder engagement to ensure the Center reflects the aspirations, history, and creativity of the community it serves.
Today, these planning documents remain publicly available so future generations can understand how the community came together to create this lasting civic institution.
Project Resources & Archive
“We are proud to support the creation of a space that celebrates and uplifts the rich cultural heritage, history, and contributions of Long Beach’s Latino community while honoring the generations of families and community leaders who have helped shape our city.”
-Councilmember mary zendejas
The center has been covered across local press as it moved from idea to reality.
The Opening
“Long Beach plans to open scaled-down Latino Cultural Center, pledges millions for renovations”
“Long Beach approves Latino Cultural Center in Downtown”
“Long Beach’s Latino Cultural Center will soon open its doors, with Centro CHA as its operator”
The road here
“Dancing, elotes and community: Long Beach honors Hispanic heritage at Chavez Park”
“Plans for Latino cultural center make progress, though building it could be expensive”
“‘We need help’: Long Beach takes first steps in creating a Latino cultural district”
Want to stay in the loop, bring programming to the space, or learn more? We’d love to hear from you.
Centro CHA, Inc.
Jenny Oropeza Community Center
401 Golden Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90802
562-980-0999
POINT OF CONTACT
Sign up to receive updates on exhibitions, events, programs, volunteer opportunities, and the continued growth of the Long Beach Latino Cultural Center.