Van Dine Family Americanism Award

Monique Sugimoto is the 2024 recipient of the Van Dine Family Americanism Award to be presented at the Palos Verdes Independence Day Celebration on July 4th, 2024. Monique was chosen for this award as she exemplifies her commitment to service, learning and community engagement every day with her outstanding efforts on behalf of our Peninsula Community that she loves.

Born in Illinois, she spent her formative years in El Paso, Texas. Monique was a former teacher - first teaching French and English to junior high school students - and later ESL in Japan to students of all ages. She later worked in natural language research and software development.

Monique received her graduate degree from UCLA in Library and Information Science. Since 2012 she has been the Archivist and Local History Librarian with the Palos Verdes Library District (PVLD). Monique was instrumental in creating the comprehensive Doors Open Peninsula Commemorative Booklet celebrating 100 Years of history on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. She is also the broadcaster of the entertaining electric bike tour video series, Pedal PV which airs on PVLD’s YouTube channel.

Monique is adjunct faculty with UCLA Department of Information Students, and volunteers with the Palos Verdes Peninsula Village. She lives with her husband Haru, her willing video series cinematographer, in Lunada Bay.

COMMUNITY LINKS

Our history is everywhere!

Palosverdeshistory.org is the updated digital repository from the Library's Local History Center of all things history for the Palos Verdes Community. To contribute your recollections or images, click on Login to register for an account.

For your next ride (drive or walk) around the Peninsula, checkout the Pedal PV Playlist on the PVLD Youtube channel.

Pedal PV Episode 6 is on the Native American history on the Peninsula and documents beautiful artifacts going back 5,000 years. The slides from the digs noted in the episode are in the Slides of Peninsula Archaeological Sites collection on the digital repository.

If you are wondering what kind of collections the Local History Center has, see the collection guides on the Online Archive of California.

Any day is a good day to browse through the Palos Verdes Peninsula News (1937-1980) hosted at the California Digital Newspaper Collection.

Join Maria Serrao with RPVtv Channel 33 for episodes of History on the Hill with the Local History Center. The latest episode is on Peninsula architecture.

"Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who, have a right …and a desire to know."
John Adams

"Libraries store the energy that fuels the imagination. They open up windows to the world and inspire us to explore and achieve, and contribute to improving our quality of life."
Sidney Sheldon

“Librarians are just like search engines except they smile and talk to me and don’t give me paid for advertising when they are trying to help. And they have actual hearts”
Matt Haig

"I have found the most valuable thing in my wallet is my library card."
Laura Bush