Los Angeles City Council member and California State Senator Nathaniel “Nate” Holden has died at the age of 95, as revealed by close friend and Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn.
Born in 1929 in Georgia and raised in New Jersey, Holden became politicized upon his discharge from the army when his efforts to secure vocational training were stymied by racism. Finally accepted into a design and engineering program, he enjoyed a 17 year career in the aerospace industry in California, where he contributed to the development of the Surveyor lunar lander.
Turning his attention to politics, he came under the sway of the legendary Kenneth F. “Kenny” Hahn, whose career as a four decade long supervisor was intertwined with the Black community of South Central LA. He served as Hahn’s deputy for over a decade before his election to the state Senate in 1974, helping to establish Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday as a state holiday. By 1987 he was elected as city councilman for Los Angeles’ 10th District, where he arguably made his biggest impact. Before he left office in 2002 he led the rebuilding the Crenshaw District after the 1992 riots, and initiated the still ongoing revitalization of the Crenshaw Corridor.
Alternately known as “nice Nate” and “mean Nate,” he could turn on the charm to secure legislation for his constituents while possessing the fortitude to endure the drama common to big city politics, including an unsuccessful lawsuit alleging sexual harassment of female staffers, and drawing criticism for patronizing strippers on a trade mission to Korea.
Among the accolades he received was the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles being named in his honor in 2005.
Nate Holden was preceded in death by his wife Fannie Louise who passed in 2013, and is survived by his sons, former California Assembly member and Pasadena Mayor Chris Holden, and L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy Reginald Holden.