El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument
Before Hollywood, before the freeways, before any of the LA you know today, there was just a small pueblo by a river. El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument marks the exact birthplace of the second largest city in America.
These are some of the stories that happened on these streets.
The First Town Moves to Higher Ground
The first town sat by the Los Angeles River in 1781. It grew slowly from 44 people to just 1,615 by 1850.
A big flood in 1815 destroyed the whole riverside town, and people moved to higher ground where the plaza sits today. This safer spot became the town’s main business and meeting place for seventy years.
The Avila Adobe Survives Two Hundred Years
Francisco José Avila built this house in 1818 while he was Los Angeles mayor in 1810. He used adobe bricks made from clay, water, and straw that kept rooms cool in summer and warm in winter.
Dark wood tables and four-poster beds show how people lived in the 1840s.
Later on, Commodore Robert Stockton used it as his headquarters in 1847 during the Mexican-American War.
Pico House Brings Fancy Living to Early Los Angeles
Pío Pico, California’s last Mexican governor, spent over $80,000 building the city’s first hotel from 1869-1870. Architect Ezra F. Kysor built the three-story Italian-style building with 80 bedrooms and 21 parlors.
Gas lights and running water made it the most modern place in town, and the middle courtyard even had a fountain with exotic birds in cages nearby.
The Plaza Church
The church started on August 18, 1814, as La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Ángeles. Workers finished and blessed the first building on December 8, 1822.
Flood damage forced rebuilding in 1861 using pieces from the old church, and it served as the spiritual heart of early Los Angeles for many years.
The Terrible Chinese Massacre of 1871
On October 24, 1871, about 500 white and Latino people attacked Chinese people in Calle de los Negros near the plaza. The fighting started when rival Chinese groups fought and police officer Jesus Bilderrain got hurt while rancher Robert Thompson died.
Angry crowds killed nineteen Chinese men that night, about ten percent of all Chinese people in the city. Officials charged 25 men with murder, but only eight got found guilty. Courts later threw out even those guilty verdicts.
Christine Sterling Saves El Pueblo From Being Torn Down
Christine Sterling found the condemned Avila Adobe in 1928 when city officials planned to tear it down. Born Chastina Rix in Oakland in 1881, she fought back by putting up a huge ten-by-twelve-foot protest sign on the door.
Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler helped her cause. At a July 1929 lunch, Sterling talked wealthy businessmen into paying for repairs. The city council called Olvera Street historic in September 1929, stopping the demolition.
Olvera Street Opens as Mexican Market
First called Wine Street, this narrow path got renamed in 1877 for Judge Augustín Olvera, the first county judge. Construction started in November 1929 using jail workers given by the Police Chief.
The city blocked cars and put in brick paving with Mexican designs. The colorful market opened on Easter Sunday, April 20, 1930.
Plaza Park Honors City Founders
Built in the 1820s, this middle plaza became Los Angeles’ main meeting place for markets and parties. A gazebo surrounded by memorial plaques marks the center today.
King Carlos III of Spain’s statue honors the king who ordered the town’s founding in 1780. Felipe de Neve’s statue recognizes the governor who picked the spot and designed the layout. Individual plaques for each founding family circle the gazebo.
The Siqueiros América Tropical Mural Fight
In 1932, Mexican artist David Alfaro Siqueiros painted a huge 80-by-18-foot mural above Olvera Street. Instead of the pretty tropical scene they wanted, he created political art showing a crucified indigenous man under an American eagle with revolutionary soldiers pointing rifles.
Officials painted over the controversial mural within ten years. It stayed hidden under paint for twenty years until the Getty Conservation Institute fixed it.
El Pueblo Becomes a State Historic Site
In 1953, California joined with Los Angeles City and County to create the historic site. The Plaza Firehouse became the first fixed building, brought back to its 1884 look as the city’s first fire station.
The state bought the Sepulveda Block for $135,000 in 1958 with major repairs from 1982-1984.
Visiting El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument
Located at 125 Paseo de la Plaza in downtown Los Angeles (90012), El Pueblo welcomes visitors daily all year.
You can enjoy free entry to museums and exhibits throughout the monument. The world-famous Olvera Street marketplace runs from about 9am to 6pm daily, with longer hours during special events.
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