FILE – A member of the Grupo Coatlicue blows on a conch shell during a performance of a traditional Aztec dance, an agricultural prayer ceremony in motion, during an Indigenous Peoples’ Day event, Oct. 14, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles city and county offices were closed Monday for Indigenous Peoples Day while federal offices were closed for Columbus Day, which remains a federal holiday.
Indigenous Peoples Day is not a state holiday, so state courts and other state offices stayed open. A bill approved by the Legislature in 1998 and signed into law by then-Governor Pete Wilson designated the fourth Friday in September as Native American Day, a state holiday when state courts and other state offices are closed.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has proclaimed Oct. 13, 2025, as Indigenous Peoples Day.
Schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District were open. Buses, rail services and Metrolink trains in Los Angeles ran on a regular schedule.
The US Postal Service did not deliver regular mail on Columbus Day, and post offices and most major banks were closed.
More than 100 US cities celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day
A 2017 ordinance declared the second Monday in October in Los Angeles as Indigenous Peoples Day, replacing Columbus Day as a holiday on the city calendar.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors also voted in 2017 to declare the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples Day, replacing Columbus Day as a holiday on the county calendar.
More than 100 cities around the nation have opted to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day over Columbus Day.
A multicultural Indigenous Peoples Day celebration highlighting Indigenous identity, art, dance and history were held from noon-2 p.m. at Cal State Los Angeles and included performances, art workshops and educational videos.
Columbus Day
The Oct. 12, 1492, sighting of land by a sailor on board the Pinta during Christopher Columbus’ initial voyage to the Americas was first marked as a holiday in 1892.
President Benjamin Harrison declared Oct. 21, 1892, “as a general holiday for the people of the United States” to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of America following passage of a joint resolution by both houses of Congress.
The resolution came in response to a lynching in New Orleans, where a mob had killed 11 Italian immigrants.
In 1907, Colorado became the first state to declare Columbus Day a holiday.
Columbus Day became a federal holiday in 1968, celebrated on the second Monday in October under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act.
In his proclamation declaring Monday as Columbus Day, President Donald Trump said, “Outrageously, in recent years, Christopher Columbus has been a prime target of a vicious and merciless campaign to erase our history, slander our heroes, and attack our heritage. Before our very eyes, left-wing radicals toppled his statues, vandalized his monuments, tarnished his character, and sought to exile him from our public spaces.
“Under my leadership, those days are finally over — and our nation will now abide by a simple truth: Christopher Columbus was a true American hero and every citizen is eternally indebted to his relentless determination.” (CNS)
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