Los Banos, CA (December 2, 2025) — On August 18, 1962, President John F. Kennedy arrived just west of Los Banos to break ground on the San Luis Reservoir, a joint federal–state water project that would alter the landscape and water storage capacity of California’s Central Valley. Standing alongside then-Governor Pat Brown, Kennedy spoke about the future of water in California and the importance of long-term planning. Thousands of onlookers gathered in the heat that afternoon, turning a rural Merced County field into a national moment. While the groundbreaking ceremony marked a major milestone in California’s infrastructure efforts, an unexpected piece of history emerged from that day through the lens of a local photojournalist.
Sam Vestal, a photographer who had previously worked on a Pulitzer Prize–winning team in Watsonville, documented Kennedy’s Los Banos visit. One image, in particular, has drawn attention for decades: a close-up portrait of the president wearing tortoise-shell sunglasses, his chin resting against his hand, with the reflection of the crowd clearly visible in each lens. According to reporting by Joe Moore of KVPR, this photograph became one of the most recognized images of Kennedy taken in the Central Valley. Moore reports that the photograph has appeared in exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution, including a 2017 display that marked what would have been Kennedy’s 100th birthday. The Vestal family was present for that anniversary exhibit, where the Los Banos photograph was among the images selected to represent the 35th president.
Kennedy’s visit signaled the Central Valley’s importance in shaping California’s water future. Construction of the San Luis Reservoir began shortly after the 1962 groundbreaking and ultimately created one of the largest off-stream storage facilities in the United States. Located along State Route 152 in the Diablo Range, the reservoir would go on to supply essential water to farms, communities, and energy projects across the state. For Los Banos, the presence of a sitting U.S. president underscored the area’s significance at a time when the state was undergoing major growth and investment in public infrastructure.
More than sixty years later, the photograph taken that day still serves as a reminder of how a single moment can preserve history. Through the work of Sam Vestal and the reporting of local journalists such as KVPR’s Joe Moore, the story of Kennedy’s visit continues to connect Los Banos to a larger narrative of California’s development, federal partnership, and the enduring power of a photograph to capture civic pride and public memory.
