Dia de los Muertos, All Souls' Day marked in Southland

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Dia de los Muertos events are underway across the Southland to remember loved ones who have passed.

One event is taking place at downtown LA's Grand Park.

Artists there have set up altars to honor, for example, refugees who died trying to reach Europe, migrants who attempted to cross the border into the United States, beloved artists and women who died of cancer.

Self Help Graphics & Art, a community arts center in East Los Angeles, brought the celebration here decades ago.

"Self Help Graphics & Art started celebrating Dia de los Muertos in the early 1970s and really created a very Los Angeles-based celebration that references Day of the Dead in Mexico, but built by artists of Los Angeles and Chicano artists," said Betty Avila, co-director of the center.

Dia de los Muertos coincides with All Souls' Day, which similarly involves commemorating those who have died.

"We have this Mass here at Calvary Cemetery to pray for all the people who are buried here and also we're offering this Mass for all the souls of those who have died and have come before us," said auxillary Bishop David O'Connell of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. "But especially praying for those who need our prayers, who might be still in Purgatory."

Self Help Graphics is hosting a Dia de los Muertos event at Mendez High School in Boyle Heights on Saturday at 5 p.m.