Sunday, May 18, will mark a significant milestone in Healdsburg history. Abel De Luna, the city’s first Hispanic mayor during his city council term 49 years ago, will return to town, along with farmworkers rights legend Dolores Huerta. The purpose is the renaming of the former Fitch Mountain Elementary school, which has been serving as Healdsburg’s community center for 15 years, as the Abel De Luna Community Center.
The timing is perfect. Just weeks ago, the city approved plans to turn the north Healdsburg location into more than just the edge-of-town head office for the city’s Community Services department. Already it’s the location of Corazon Healdsburg, an Alliance Medical Clinic, and a YWCA pre-school, and recently it served as the temporary Healdsburg library.
The new Abel De Luna Community Center will also be upgraded to a much-anticipated “Multicultural Center,” fulfilling the goal of a year-long exploration by the city in ways to meet diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) priorities for the diverse populations of Healdsburg.
Abel De Luna was a respected and influential business, community and civic leader in Healdsburg during the 1970s and 80s. He and his wife Emilia, a beautician, moved to Healdsburg after they were married in 1970. He threw himself into local activism, and in March, 1976, Abel De Luna became the first Mexican-American elected to the Healdsburg City Council.
Two years later, at the age of 31, he became the first Latino mayor, serving two years from March 1978 to April 1980.
Living History
De Luna became an influential local businessman, establishing La Luna Markets and the legendary Aven Theater where he showed mainstream and Spanish-language films. He also launched the record label Luna Music and radio network Moon Broadcasting, which elevated local Latino musical talent to global stages and award recognition.
“I didn’t want to import artists from Mexico—I wanted to create our own musical idols right here, in our own communities in California, and give our young talent a real chance,” said De Luna recently.
The radio network also played a critical role in providing crucial information on health, education, and job opportunities to unite and empower many rural communities across Northern California and other western states.
With the naming of the Abel De Luna Community Center, Healdsburg residents and city leaders pay living tribute to a once-young immigrant who arrived with the sole purpose of serving and uplifting this community.
The presence of Doloresa Huerta adds a significance to the event that is hard to fathom. She has been associated with the farmworkers’ efforts for close to 60 years, as a colleague of César Chávez and life-long advocate for workers’ and women’s rights.
Huerta “may not remember the little Mexican kid who barely spoke English but threw himself into civic service and the farmworker community,” said Maria Garcia, a biographer for De Luna. “But 50 years later she comes around in full circle to honor that kid, and his many achievements and a long life of service.”
Multicultural Center
The idea of his name being applied to the community center arose last year, when it was prominently mentioned as a possible name for the 34-acre Saggio Hills park in development. However a city ordinance prohibited officially naming anything after a person still living; and Abel De Luna and Emilia are still very much alive and living in southern California.
When Pomo basket weaver Laura Fish Somersal was honored as the name for the new park, the city decided that De Luna could more appropriately be recognized by applying his name to the community center, and made an exception to the rule to apply here.
Between 2022 and 2023, the city had embarked on a lengthy self-examination on how diversity, equity and inclusion – DEI – could better be integrated into Healdsburg’s city planning. Among the key conclusions of the resulting DEI Report was that Healdsburg should develop a “multicultural center” within the Community Services and Parks and Recreation department.
“When asked about the ideal location for the Healdsburg Multicultural Center, participants overwhelmingly favored integrating it into the existing Healdsburg Community Center at 1557 Healdsburg Ave.,” read the report.
Initial funding for the multicultural center came from a February 2024, Healthcare Foundation grant of $285,000 to explore the potential for a multicultural Community Wellness Center to realize the multicultural center recommendations contained in the DEI Plan.
A year later, 4th district Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore convinced the board to contribute $500,000 in county grant funding for implementation of the Multicultural Center concepts identified in the Healthcare Foundation’s report. The money would also help enhance the Community Center’s role as a resiliency hub during disasters for emergency response and recovery.
“This is part of a suite of things that I have brought forward that focus on multicultural centers, resilience hubs we’re calling some of them, and predominantly Latino-serving institutions,” said Gore. Other similar grants were made to La Familia Asana in Cloverdale and what’s called the Bluebird Center in Windsor.
“The exciting thing is that this really dovetails perfectly with the work of the Healthcare Foundation and Corazon to envision this place as a multicultural center, not just a former school,” said Gore.
So with the stated need for a multicultural center in Healdsburg, and the availability of the money to create it, the Healthcare Foundation’s Amy Ramirez came before the city council on April 21 to pitch plans for the newly-renamed Abel De Luna Cultural Center to become that multicultural hub.
The May 18 event, scheduled from 1 to 5 pm at the newly named Abel De Luna Community Center, will feature live music, guest speakers, and appearances by local elected officials.
