About the Monterey Christmas Angels

The Christmas Angels have been used as holiday decorations in Monterey, California since 1956, when the first angels were designed by artist Erica Franke.

An admirer of Mexican folk art, she fashioned 88 angels after the somewhat primitive style used by the priests in California missions to teach Christianity to Indians. These angels had brightly colored clothing, dark skin and somber expressions.

In 1970 some of the angels were sold and the others were restored, with some changes to skin tones, hair and eye color and facial expressions.

Recently the Monterey Cultural Arts Commission commissioned the original artist (now named Erica Barton Haba) to create ten new angels. These angels were displayed in Colton Hall in 2001, then for the 2001 Christmas season they were moved outdoors, to adorn the Custom House and Pacific House on Custom House Plaza in Monterey.