L.A. wildfires destroy archives of Ethnic Studies pioneer

Zoom in: The Palisades Fire ravaged the Pacific Palisades home of Gómez-Quiñones, taking his archival collections, art, library, and other materials, Irene Vasquez posted on Facebook.

• Vasquez, the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department chair at the University of New Mexico, said Gómez-Quiñones bought his home in the 1970s.
• She said their daughter escaped the fire unharmed.

Zoom out: Gómez-Quiñones taught for nearly five decades at UCLA and mentored hundreds of students and future scholars on Mexican-American history.

• Author of multiple books on Chicano history, Gómez-Quiñones also wrote essays and poetry and was known as the Latino Cornel West for his prolific appearances in Spanish-language media.
• Students called him "GQ," and Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano considers him one of his most significant influences.
• "He taught us to take pride in what Mexicans and Mexican Americans had accomplished in the Americas," Arellano wrote.

Gómez Quiñones died of congestive heart failure in 2020 at his home in Pacific Palisades. He was 80.

• He was born in Parral, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, but his family migrated to Boyle Heights when he was an infant.
• Gómez-Quiñones began his studies as the Chicano Movement — the radical Mexican-American movement akin to the Black Power Movement — was growing.

What we're watching: Officials are still assessing the loss of landmarks and historic sites in the California wildfires, which have caused billions of dollars of damage and uprooted thousands of people.

• The Will Rodgers Foundation announced last week that the Palisades Fire claimed both historic homes of the famed cowboy actor and member of the Cherokee Nation.