Governor and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom unveiled the 20th class of the California Hall of Fame, the governor’s office announced, and the office said it will be the final class the pair will induct.

“For 20 years, the California Hall of Fame has celebrated the extraordinary people who make this state what it is,” Newsom said. First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom said, “20 classes in, the California Hall of Fame continues to showcase that California’s greatest strength is its people.”

The governor’s office listed the inductees: Edward Asner (1929–2021); Andy Beckstoffer; Barry Bonds; Betty Charbonnet Reid Soskin (1921–2025); Dominique Crenn; Guillermo del Toro; Shepard Fairey; Maxine Hong Kingston; Diane Ladd (1935–2025); Huey Lewis; Felicitas Méndez (1916–1998); Metallica; Joni Mitchell; ; Bonnie Raitt; Rob and Michele Reiner (1947–2025 / 1955–2025); Susie Tompkins Buell; and Robin Williams (1951–2014).

The release highlights achievements for several honorees: it notes Bonds’ record 762 career home runs and seven National League MVP awards, Metallica’s 125 million albums sold, Crenn as the first woman chef in the United States to earn three Michelin stars, and Pelosi as the first woman elected Speaker of the House. It also cites Méndez’s role in Mendez v. Westminster, the 1946 school desegregation win that laid groundwork for Brown v. Board of Education.

The governor’s office said the honorees will be formally enshrined during a ceremony at the California Museum in Sacramento this December. Danielle Wood, communications and marketing director for the museum, told The Golden Coast Journal on Nov. 13 that the induction ceremony is a private event and that the date has not yet been publicly announced. Wood said the ceremony will be livestreamed and invited the public to sign up at CaliforniaMuseum.org/HOF. She said a 20th California Hall of Fame artifact exhibition, featuring artifacts and ephemera on loan from inductees’ personal collections, will open the day after the induction ceremony.

The release also notes the California Hall of Fame was launched in 2006 and that inductees are selected annually by the Governor and First Partner. Asked who will select future classes after this final class for Gov. Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Wood said the Hall of Fame is a partnership between the California Museum and the Governor’s and First Partner’s offices, and that the museum will work with the new administration to continue the Hall of Fame. The museum pointed readers to californiamuseum.org/california-hall-of-fame.

State

Gavin Newsom

Governor · Democrat

Named 5 times in this story.

Everything the Journal has reported on GavinOfficial site

Portrait: Official portrait

Federal

Nancy Pelosi

U.S. Representative · Democrat

Named 2 times in this story.

Everything the Journal has reported on NancyOfficial site

Portrait: Official portrait

Sources & methodology

This report was written from the primary materials below. Links open at the original publisher.

Office of the Governor of California California Museum

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