Seal of Los Angeles County, California


The first Seal of the County of Los Angeles was established in 1887 and has been changed three times since then. It is used on official county documents, vehicular decals, on buildings, and is displayed on the bear-top shield badge worn by uniformed county officers. It is also featured prominently on the county's flag. The current seal was adopted in 2016 and is identical to a design initially adopted in 2004.

Design

The current form of the seal, adopted in January 2014, portrays an image of a Native American woman, representing the early inhabitants of the Los Angeles Basin, surrounded by six smaller iconic images, with three on each side. The words “County of Los Angeles, California” surround the seal.
The woman stands on the shore of the Pacific Ocean with the San Gabriel Mountains and the sun in the background.
On her right, there are the engineering instruments of a triangle and a caliper, a Spanish galleon, and a tuna.
On her left, the images of The Hollywood Bowl with two stars above it, the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel, and the championship cow Pearlette.

History

First seal: 1887–1957

The original 1887 county seal displayed grapes, surrounded by the words "Board of Supervisors – Los Angeles Co. Cal."

Second seal: 1957–2004

Former L.A. County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn designed a new seal, which was drawn by Millard Sheets, and adopted by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on January 2, 1957, effective March 1, 1957. It included an image of Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit trees, and the symbols of a cross and oil derricks.

Third and fifth seal: 2004–2014, 2016–present

In 2004, the seal was altered. A short time later, on May 25, 2004, the ACLU alleged that the seal's cross was a violation of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. The Board's new seal had also voluntarily eliminated Pomona and the oil derricks, without references by the ACLU.
In the current seal, the stars and an image of the Hollywood Bowl replaced the oil towers. The cross was removed, and replaced with an image of the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel.
Some official L.A. County buildings and older county vehicles still use old seals, probably due to lack of effort in removing the seals. Uniformed county officers issued badges before 2004 did not receive new badges when the seal was updated, and thus continue to wear the older design. Occasionally, when a new seal is adopted, old ones may continue to be used until they are no longer usable due to wear, as in Mississippi's case when it adopted a new state seal in 2014.

Fourth seal: 2014–2016

On Tuesday, January 7, 2014, the Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to put a cross back on top of the mission depicted on the County seal, stating that it more correctly reflected the history of the San Gabriel Mission. The cross on the mission was removed during renovation. The ACLU of Southern California expressed opposition, alleging the action would violate both the Californian and United States Constitution. A federal lawsuit was filed against Los Angeles County on February 6, 2014. Critics of the change, including Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, stated that the time and money spent defending the county seal was wasted when there were many other issues requiring the Board of Supervisors' attention. Kuehl proposed replacement of the seal with a graphic of a seal as an April Fools' Day joke.
In April 2016, the addition of the cross to the seal was ruled unconstitutional by U.S. District Court Judge Christina A. Snyder. The county accepted the ruling. As part of the court order, the 2014 seal was covered up at County sites and replaced with the 2004 seal, and badges, uniforms, and materials printed with the 2014 seal were removed and replaced with those depicting the 2004 seal.