Beneath a towering new mural in Downtown Los Angeles, labor champion Dolores Huerta stood Saturday, May 16th, among supporters as generations of activists gathered to honor her life’s work and decades of organizing for workers’ and civil rights.
Huerta, joined by members of her family and friends, attended the dedication of Walking into History at the historic Barclay Hotel at 4th and Main — where her image now stretches across the building’s north wall in the heart of LA, steps from major civic offices.
The mural, commissioned by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, was created by internationally acclaimed Boyle Heights artist Robert Vargas— whose street portraits and murals can be found in Los Angeles as well as throughout the world.
Vargas told the Buzz how he aimed to capture both strength and stillness in a single image, “I wanted to create a mural in a moment of pause,” he explains, “Still exemplifying defiance and her larger-than-life voice even in silence.”
Organizers said the mural arrives at a moment of ongoing debate over workers’ rights, voting access, immigration enforcement, and civil liberties, and is intended as a reminder that those struggles continue.
Saturday’s ceremony drew civic and labor leaders, including US Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Secretary-Treasurer Yvonne Wheeler, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Executive Director Angelica Salas, and AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein.
Weinstein emphasized the site’s significance, “The mural hails from the building, the Barclay Hotel, which is the longest-standing continuously operating hotel in Los Angeles — a fitting backdrop for our very own Lady of the Angels, Dolores Huerta,” Weinstein said at the event.
“Robert Vargas has an incredible gift for bringing emotion and humanity into his work,” Dolores Huerta told the Buzz about the artwork at the event, “there’s so much life and energy in this mural, it’s extraordinary.”
The large-scale portrait depicts Huerta with her arms folded, in a steady, resolute stance, rendered in bold color and sharp detail. The work rises above a busy civic corridor, facing toward the city’s center and state government.
Speaking to the crowd at the ceremony, Waters described Huerta as a force across generations, “Dolores, 96 years old, has inspired generations of Americans striving to move humanity further toward equality and justice,” Waters said of Huerta. “In these turbulent times, your steadfast commitment to social justice is needed now more than ever.”
Delores Huerta spoke about recent federal immigration enforcement and its impact on immigrant communities, “We all know what our immigrant community has been under, the way that they have been attacked, the way they’re being detained and all of this horrible stuff that is happening to our immigrant community,” said Huerta.
The labor icon closed her remarks at the ceremony with a powerful call to continued action, “So we all have a lot of work to do,” Huerta said to the crowd, “And we know that our work is just beginning.”
Huerta’s remarks drew sustained applause from the crowd gathered beneath the mural, chanting her rallying cry “Si Se Puede!” while standing shoulder to shoulder holding signs in support of immigrant rights.
Following the unveiling, a reception was held inside the historic Barclay Hotel, where supporters, labor leaders, and community members continued the gathering.
Dolores Huerta was recently named to the TIME 100 Most Influential People of 2026 list. At 96 years old, the civil rights icon and co-founder of the United Farm Workers is the oldest honoree on the list and also received the TIME 100 Impact Award for her lifelong labor and human rights advocacy— One of the most influential figures in American labor history. Nearly six decades after helping ignite the farmworker movement, and continued involvement through the Dolores Huerta Foundation— Delores’s presence in Downtown LA underscored the city’s deep ties to labor organizing and immigrant advocacy. More information about the foundation can be found here.