When I visited the National Chavez Center earlier this summer, the solemnity of the site hit me the moment I parked.
It sits on 187 gorgeous acres in the foothills of the Tehachapi Mountains, at the end of a winding forest road. All around are old buildings — houses, barns, trailers — that are what's left of La Paz, the kibbutz-like community Cesar Chavez established in the 1970s and where his final resting place is.
Waiting to greet me at the entrance was Andres Chavez, the center's executive director.
