LOS ANGELES COUNTY : Sybil Brand Honored on Her 90th Birthday
Sybil Brand, namesake of the Eastside women’s jail, was honored on her 90th birthday this week for 50 years of service to Los Angeles County.
The guest list to the buffet at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion included the Board of Supervisors, Sheriff Sherman Block and Cardinal Roger M. Mahony.
Brand spearheaded an effort to pass a bond issue that underwrote construction of more jails and juvenile halls, which were needed to help ease crowding in the county system. The Sybil Brand Institute for Women, in Monterey Park, was completed in 1960. She endowed the facility with two beauty parlors, explaining: “Even inmates need self-respect and self-dignity.”
Born in Chicago, Brand has lived in the Los Angeles area since the age of 2 and attended Hoover Street Elementary School. She survives her husband, Harry, and her son George.
More to Read
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.