A TOUCH OF CLASS TEACHER ON EL PUEBLO BOARD CAN HELP SHAPE HISTORY.

Byline: Dan Laidman Staff Writer

If Angel Cervantes' students complain that history seems distant, he tells them to have a look around.

The San Fernando Valley native might then rattle off the story of Maclay Avenue, a route his kids at Morningside Elementary School travel all the time, starting with Charles Maclay, the person the street was named after.

``Maclay, his homeboy was Governor Leland (Stanford) up in Sacramento,'' Cervantes said. ``He got a tip-off that the railroad was coming through town and he bought up all the land in San Fernando.''

Cervantes' love of history propelled him to become the first person in his Mexican-American immigrant family to attend college, and now it has landed him a prestigious civic post.

As a member of the city's El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument Authority, the 33-year-old's dynamic approach to local history will spread beyond his classrooms of Morningside Elementary and Glendale Community College and reach more than a million people a year.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa nominated the Sylmar resident to the board, and the City Council confirmed him unanimously, giving the Valley rare representation on the panel that oversees Olvera Street.

``Mr. Cervantes is a historian who is not only passionate about Los Angeles history, but he also cares deeply about one of our city's oldest and most treasured monuments,'' said Diana Rubio, a spokeswoman for Villaraigosa. ``He was a natural choice to serve on El Pueblo Commission.''

The Department of El Pueblo de Los Angeles manages the cluster of historic sites marking the Spanish colonial settlement that was the foundation for modern Los Angeles.

The agency has been in the news lately for its business operations, with City Controller Laura Chick issuing a rare positive audit crediting new management with turning around a formerly dire financial situation.

While Cervantes said he is studying up to perform his business oversight duties as an El Pueblo commissioner, his focus is on the agency's other prime function - historical interpretation.

El Pueblo sees about 1.5 million tourists a year, and it provides 12,000 educational tours to groups from about 200 schools.

``I bring my students here every year on a field trip,'' Cervantes said. ``Now I can actually affect how the history gets disseminated to kids.''

Marianne Gatto, museum curator for El Pueblo and the author of its educational program, has been working with Cervantes since he joined the commission.

``Definitely he has a wealth of knowledge of Chicano history,'' she said. ``He is an advocate for children, and that's very important.''

In the spirit of making history feel urgent and alive, Cervantes would like to see more period photographs illustrating the signs around El Pueblo so people can see the contrast in their surroundings.

He wants to emphasize the area's multicultural origins and doesn't think educational materials should shy away from describing historical conflicts.

Some of those struggles resonate with Cervantes' own family history. His father, Pedro, came from the Mexican state of Michoacan, and his mother, Alicia, is from Jalisco.

Cervantes grew up in San Fernando as his father moved from agricultural labor to a job with General Motors in Van Nuys.

An influential teacher at Sylmar High School spurred Cervantes' interest in history, and he made it his major at Occidental College.

Cervantes went on to earn a master's degree in history from Claremont Graduate University before beginning his career as a teacher. He has served on the city of San Fernando's Cultural Arts Commission and created a public-access TV show about the history of the Valley.

Along with a partner, Cervantes has written and published a pair of children's books, one on San Fernando Valley history and the other about Cesar Chavez.

He has been politically active as well, taking part in demonstrations and a hunger strike in the 1990s to protest restrictions on immigrants' rights and affirmative action.

Today, Cervantes' activism is quieter, but he still aims to improve conditions for the North San Fernando Valley community in which he grew up. He strives to give students the type of educational experience their circumstances might not ordinarily provide.

``There's this great enlightenment that happens your first year of college,'' he said. ``And most people never get to experience that.''

Sitting on the main plaza of Olvera Street this past week, Cervantes recounted a quote from Malcolm X that he first encountered in his own freshman year that continues to inspire him.

``The only people who change history,'' he said, ``are the ones who change the way people think about themselves.''

Dan Laidman, [phone]

dan.laidman(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Sylmar teacher Angel Cervantes is a member of the city's El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument Authority. The department manages the cluster of historic sites marking the Spanish colonial settlement that was the foundation for L.A.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer