
El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula, shortened to the Pueblo de los Ángeles, was the
Spanish civilian ''pueblo'' settled in 1781, which became the American
metropolis
A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural area for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications.
A big city b ...
of
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. The pueblo was built using labor from the adjacent village of
Yaanga and was totally dependent on local
Indigenous labor for its survival.
Official settlements in
Alta California
Alta California (, ), also known as Nueva California () among other names, was a province of New Spain formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but was made a separat ...
were of three types: ''
presidio'' (military), ''
mission'' (religious) and ''pueblo'' (civil). The Pueblo de los Ángeles was the second pueblo (town) created during the
Spanish colonization of California (the first was
San Jose, in 1777). —'The Town of the Queen of Angels'
was founded twelve years after the first ''presidio'' and ''mission'', the
Presidio of San Diego and
Mission San Diego de Alcalá
Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá (, lit. The Mission of Saint Didacus of Acalá) was the second Franciscan founded mission in the Californias (after San Fernando de Velicata), a province of New Spain. Located in present-day San Diego, C ...
(1769). The original settlement consisted of forty-four people in eleven families, recruited mostly from
Estado de Occidente. As new settlers arrived and soldiers retired to civilian life in Los Angeles, the town became the principal urban center of southern Alta California, whose social and economic life revolved around the raising of livestock on the expansive ''
ranchos''.
Founding
In 1542
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo (; 1497 – January 3, 1543) was a Portuguese maritime explorer best known for investigations of the west coast of North America, undertaken on behalf of the Spanish Empire. He was the first European to explore presen ...
, with a commission from Viceroy
Antonio de Mendoza, was the first European to sail along and explore the California coast. Although he claimed all he saw as territory of the Spanish Empire, no efforts at colonization were made for over two hundred years. Concerned about colonizing efforts by the Russians and French, Spain set plans in motion in the 1760s to establish a presence and defend its claim to the territory.
The Spanish settlement did not reach Alta California until 1769, when explorer
Gaspar de Portolà reached the San Diego area via the first land route from
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
. Accompanying him were two
Franciscan
The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...
Padres,
Junípero Serra
Saint Junípero Serra Ferrer (; ; November 24, 1713August 28, 1784), popularly known simply as Junipero Serra, was a Spanish Roman Catholic, Catholic priest and missionary of the Franciscan Order. He is credited with establishing the Francis ...
and
Juan Crespí
Juan Crespí, OFM (Catalan language, Catalan: ''Joan Crespí''; 1 March 1721 – 1 January 1782) was a Franciscan missionary and explorer of The Californias, Las Californias.
Biography
A native of Majorca, Crespí entered the Franciscan ord ...
, who recorded the expedition. As they came through today's
Elysian Park, they were awed by a river that flowed from the northwest, past their point and on southward. Crespí named the river ''El Río de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula'', meaning, in Spanish, "the River of Our Lady Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula".
The name derives from
Santa Maria degli Angeli (Italian: "St. Mary of the Angels") which is the name of the small town in Italy housing the
Porciuncula, the church where St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan order, carried out his religious life. The river that was called the Porciuncula is today's
Los Angeles River
The Los Angeles River (), historically known as by the Tongva and the by the Spanish, is a major river in Los Angeles County, California. Its headwaters are in the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains, and it flows nearly from Canoga Park ...
. Because the future town's name was a take on this "
Queen of Heaven
Queen of Heaven () is a title given by the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy, to Mary, mother of Jesus, and, to a lesser extent, in Anglicanism and Lutheranism. The title has long been a tradition, included in prayers and devotional literat ...
" Marian title, various versions of Crespí's formula would be used for the town, including ''El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles sobre el Río Porciúncula''.
During the expedition, Father Crespí observed a location along the river that would be good for a settlement or mission. However, in 1771, Father Serra instead commissioned two missionaries to establish the
Mission San Gabriel Arcángel-San Gabriel Mission near the present day
Whittier Narrows section of the
San Gabriel River. The missionaries encountered resistance from the
Tongva
The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous peoples of California, Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Channel Islands of California, Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . In the precolonial era, the peop ...
to their attempts to
resettle the Natives on the mission. The mission encountered further trouble in 1776 when a flood damaged the mission, convincing the missionaries to move and rebuild the mission on a higher and more defensible location: its present site in
San Gabriel. The first Spanish governor of
Las Californias,
Felipe de Neve had, as well, recommended to
Viceroy Bucareli Father Crespí's location on the Río Porciúncula (
Los Angeles River
The Los Angeles River (), historically known as by the Tongva and the by the Spanish, is a major river in Los Angeles County, California. Its headwaters are in the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains, and it flows nearly from Canoga Park ...
) for a mission. Instead, in 1781,
King Charles III
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms.
Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...
mandated that a pueblo be built on the site instead, which would be the second town in Alta California, after
San José de Guadalupe in 1777. The monarch, disregarding the production and trade roles of the missions, saw a greater need for secular pueblos to be established as the centers of agriculture and commerce to supply the crown's ever-growing military presence in "Nueva California." The priests at the missions ignored the royal mandate and continued their ranching, trading and production of tallow, soap, hides, and beef, often in competition with new pueblo ventures.
Settlement
Governor de Neve took his assignment seriously and had a complete set of maps and plans drawn up by May 1780 for the layout and settlement of the new pueblo, including the placement of government houses, town houses, the church, the fields, the farms, and access to the river – the ''Instrucción'' and the ''Reglamento para el gobierno de la Provincia de Californias''. But gathering the ''pobladores''-settlers was a little more difficult. After failing to recruit the target number of families in
Sonora
Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...
, he had to go as far as
Sinaloa
Sinaloa (), officially the (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities, and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales.
It is located in northwest Mexic ...
to finally end up with 11 families, that is, 11 men, 11 women, and 22 children of various
Spanish American castes:
Criollo
Criollo or criolla (Spanish for creole) may refer to:
People
* Criollo people, a social class in the Spanish colonial system.
Animals
* Criollo duck, a species of duck native to Central and South America.
* Criollo cattle, a group of cattle bre ...
,
Mulatto
( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...
and ''
Negro
In the English language, the term ''negro'' (or sometimes ''negress'' for a female) is a term historically used to refer to people of Black people, Black African heritage. The term ''negro'' means the color black in Spanish and Portuguese (from ...
''.

As local lore tells it, on September 4, 1781 the 44 ''pobladores'' gathered at
San Gabriel Mission and, escorted by a military detachment and two priests from the Mission, set out for the site that Crespí had chosen. In reality, several of the families were probably already working on their plots of land as early as late July. Governor de Neve gave the new town the name ''El Pueblo de la Reina de los Ángeles''-The Town of the Queen of the Angels. In accordance with the
Laws of the Indies and ''Reglamento'' the new towns in Alta California were to have four square
leagues of land; that is a distance marked by one league in each
cardinal direction
The four cardinal directions or cardinal points are the four main compass directions: north (N), south (S), east (E), and west (W). The corresponding azimuths ( clockwise horizontal angle from north) are 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°.
The ...
from the town center. The streets, however, were laid out at forty-five degrees from the cardinal directions, a plan which is still preserved in
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...
. The old town limits are still marked by Hoover and Indiana Streets in the west and east respectively. In 1784 an
''asistencia'' or sub-mission of the San Gabriel Mission was established on the central
plaza
A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Rela ...
, to provide religious services to the settlers.
Government
The pueblo came under the jurisdiction of the
Commandancy General of the Internal Provinces in the
Viceroyalty of New Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...
. As a pueblo, Los Angeles was granted a ''
cabildo'' (town council). The first municipal officers, the ''regidores'' (council members) and ''
alcalde
''Alcalde'' (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and Administration (government), administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor (position), corregidor, the presiding officer o ...
'' (municipal magistrate), were appointed by Governor de Neve. Subsequent ones were elected annually by the settlers, the ''
vecinos pobladores''. Since the government of Las Californias had a strong military orientation in this early phase of colonization, the civilian ''cabildo'' was originally supervised by a ''commisionado'' (commissioner) appointed by the ''
comandante'' (commander) of the
Presidio of Santa Barbara, who was charged with making sure the ''alcalde'' and ''regidores'' carried out their duties correctly. The first ''commisionado'' was
José Vicente Feliz, one of the soldiers who accompanied the original 44 settlers to the pueblo. The first recorded ''alcalde'' was José Vanegas, who served in 1786 and 1796. Vanegas was first listed as an
Indian in the original 1781 ''padrón'' (register) but then as a
Mestizo
( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...
in the 1790 census. The next few ''alcaldes'' reflected the mixed population of the small settlement: José Sinova, a
Criollo
Criollo or criolla (Spanish for creole) may refer to:
People
* Criollo people, a social class in the Spanish colonial system.
Animals
* Criollo duck, a species of duck native to Central and South America.
* Criollo cattle, a group of cattle bre ...
, 1789;
Mariano de la Luz Verdugo, a Criollo, 1790; and Juan Francisco Reyes, a
Mulatto
( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...
, 1793. Among the first ''regidores'' were Felipe Santiago García (a Criollo) and Manuel Camero (a Mulatto in the 1781 ''padrón'', and a Mestizo in 1790 census). In judicial affairs, both military and civil cases were appealed to the
Audiencia of Guadalajara.
''La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles''
On 18 August 1814 Father Luis Gíl y Taboada placed the cornerstone of a new
Franciscan
The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...
church amidst the ruins of the
original ''asistencia''. The completed structure was dedicated on 8 December 1822.
[Ruscin, p. 49.] A replacement chapel, named ''La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles'' (The Church of Our Lady of the Angels) was rebuilt utilizing materials of the original church in 1861. The term ''Reina'' (queen) was added later to reconcile the church's name with that of the town.
[Ruscin, p. 50.] The small chapel, also called "''La Placita''" and "the Plaza Church," served the total
Californio
Californios (singular Californio) are Californians of Spaniards, Spanish descent, especially those descended from settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries before California was annexed by the United States. California's Spanish language in C ...
and immigrant Roman Catholic community as the only church in the vicinity of the City of Los Angeles until the 1876 construction of the
Cathedral of Saint Vibiana. Saint Vibiana Cathedral became the English-speaking parish and ''La Placita'' became the Spanish-speaking parish. "The Plaza Church" still stands today, exhibiting
Spanish Colonial and
Carpenter Gothic
Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic or Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massin ...
architectural styles.
The Los Angeles parish was under the
Diocese of Sonora until 1840, when a new
Diocese of the Two Californias was established to serve the
Baja California Peninsula and Alta California. Both the dioceses of Sonora and the Two Californias were suffragan of the
Archdiocese of Mexico.
Mexican independence and era
After Mexico's
War of Independence
Wars of national liberation, also called wars of independence or wars of liberation, are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) ...
(1810–1821) from Spain, life began to change in Los Angeles and
Alta California
Alta California (, ), also known as Nueva California () among other names, was a province of New Spain formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but was made a separat ...
. With the
secularization of the missions, their land was distributed for the establishment of many more
ranchos. The Native population was displaced or absorbed into the
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
population.
Beginning about 1827, Los Angeles, now the largest pueblo of the territory, became a rival of
Monterey
Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a population of 30,218 in the 2020 census.
The city was fou ...
for the honor of being the capital of California; was the seat of conspiracies to overthrow the Mexican authority; and the stronghold of the South California party in the bickering and struggles that lasted down to the American occupation.
In 1835,
Richard Henry Dana Jr.
Richard Henry Dana Jr. (August 1, 1815 – January 6, 1882) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts, a descendant of a colonial family, who gained renown as the author of the classic American memoir ''Two Years Before the Mast'' a ...
visited
San Pedro Harbor as a sailor. His book, ''
Two Years Before the Mast
''Two Years Before the Mast'' is a memoir by the American author Richard Henry Dana Jr., published in 1840, having been written after a two-year sea voyage from Boston to California on a merchant ship starting in 1834. A Two Years Before the Mast ...
'', includes a brief depiction of the pueblo and area, then dependent on the export of cattle
hides and
tallow
Tallow is a rendered form of beef or mutton suet, primarily made up of triglycerides.
In industry, tallow is not strictly defined as beef or mutton suet. In this context, tallow is animal fat that conforms to certain technical criteria, inc ...
. In 1835 it was made a city by the Mexican Congress, and declared the capital, but the last provision was not enforced and was soon recalled. In 1836–1838, it was the headquarters of
Carlos Antonio Carrillo, a legally named but never ''de facto'' governor of California, whose jurisdiction was never recognized in the north; and, in 1845–1847, it was the actual capital.
In 1842, a sheep rancher, pausing under an oak tree, discovered gold in
Placerita Canyon in
Rancho San Francisco, just north of the city sparking a minor
gold rush
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...
. In subsequent decades local mining employed
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...
and
placer techniques. Land however turned out to be the more "profitable gold", as ranching and development expanded as the town and region grew.
Mexican–American War
Manifest Destiny
Manifest destiny was the belief in the 19th century in the United States, 19th-century United States that American pioneer, American settlers were destined to expand westward across North America, and that this belief was both obvious ("''m ...
reached California at the time of the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...
(1846–1848). On June 18, 1846 a small group of
Yankee
The term ''Yankee'' and its contracted form ''Yank'' have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Their various meanings depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders, the Northeastern United Stat ...
s raised the California
Bear Flag and declared independence from Mexico in the
Bear Flag Revolt
The California Republic, or Bear Flag Republic, was an List of historical unrecognized states#Americas, unrecognized breakaway state from Second Federal Republic of Mexico, Mexico, that existed from June 14, 1846 to July 9, 1846. It milita ...
on the Plaza in Sonoma,
Northern California
Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...
. United States troops then took control of the
presidios at
Monterey
Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a population of 30,218 in the 2020 census.
The city was fou ...
and San Francisco, and proclaimed the invading "conquest" complete. In
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
, the Mexican citizens repelled American troops for five months, utilizing about 160
vaquero
The ''vaquero'' (; , ) is a horse-mounted livestock herder of a tradition that has its roots in the Iberian Peninsula and extensively developed in what what is today Mexico (then New Spain) and Spanish Florida from a method brought to the Americ ...
s, or cowboys, against about 700 American forces.
Los Angeles initially surrendered to the surprise invasion by United States forces. The small Mexican forces of Los Angeles fled at the approach of US troops, and August 13, 1846 the American flag was raised over the city. A garrison of fifty US Marines under
Archibald Gillespie was left in control. The city's population had been rent by factional quarrels when war broke out between
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
and the United States, but the occupation caused both factions to unite against the invading Americans. Gillespie's garrison was compelled to withdraw in October when the residents, Californio Lancers, vaqueros on horseback without firearms, only lances, revolted and chased the US occupying force back to the San Pedro Harbor. Los Angeles was not retaken until Commodore Stockton again captured the city on January 10, 1847, after the battles at the
Siege of Los Angeles,
Battle of Dominguez Rancho,
Battle of San Pasqual
The Battle of San Pasqual, also spelled San Pascual, was a military encounter that occurred during the Mexican–American War in what is now the San Pasqual Valley, San Diego, California, San Pasqual Valley community in the county of San Diego, ...
,
Battle of Rio San Gabriel and the
Battle of La Mesa. These battles, in which the
Californios
Californios (singular Californio) are Californians of Spaniards, Spanish descent, especially those descended from settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries before California was annexed by the United States. California's Spanish language in C ...
were greatly outmanned and outgunned, represented the important overt resistance to the establishment of the American regime in the
Los Angeles Basin
The Los Angeles Basin is a sedimentary Structural basin, basin located in Southern California, in a region known as the Peninsular Ranges. The basin is also connected to an wikt:anomalous, anomalous group of east–west trending chains of mountai ...
. Lieutenant-Colonel
Frémont and
Governor of Alta California Andrés Pico
Andrés Pico (November 18, 1810 – February 14, 1876) was a Californio who became a successful rancher, fought in the contested Battle of San Pascual during the Mexican–American War, and negotiated promises of post-war protections for Calif ...
signed the
Treaty of Cahuenga, an informal agreement to cease fighting in California at the
Campo de Cahuenga in the
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...
in January 1847. Under the later comprehensive 1848
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). It was signed on 2 February 1848 in the town of Villa de Guadalupe, Mexico City, Guadalupe Hidalgo.
After the defeat of its army and the fall of the cap ...
, Mexico formally ceded nearly half its nation's total territory, including Alta California, to the United States.
Modern state park

A 1920s restoration drive led by Christine Sterling began a restoration of the historic area, starting with
Olvera Street
Olvera Street, commonly known by its Spanish language, Spanish name Calle Olvera, is a historic pedestrian street in El Pueblo de Los Ángeles Historical Monument, El Pueblo de Los Ángeles, the historic center of Los Angeles. The street is loc ...
. Today the Pueblo's original outline is preserved by the
El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument. Among its saved and restored buildings is the oldest standing residence in Los Angeles City, the 1818
Avila Adobe built by
Francisco Avila who owned
Rancho Las Cienegas -''"mid Wilshire area"'' and a successful cattle enterprise.
[Note: The oldest house in Los Angeles County is the Henry Gage Mansion, built in 1795 on the Rancho San Antonio site, presently Bell Gardens.] Across Olvera Street stands the 1887
Eloisa Martinez de Sepulveda House, that now is the
Los Angeles Plaza Historic District Visitors Center. The 1939 construction of the significant transit hub and architectural landmark, the Los Angeles
Union Station
A union station, union terminal, joint station, or joint-use station is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway company, railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently bet ...
east of the old Plaza, added to the Pueblo area's reinvigoration.
Of archaeological interest is the discovery of sections of the original brick lined ''
Zanja Madre''-the ''Mother Ditch'', which was a "surface and underground" gravity fed
canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...
and
aqueduct, that brought water from the
Rio Porciuncula-Los Angeles River near the
Arroyo Seco confluence, to the colonial pueblo and later the American city into the latter 19th century.
See also
*
Bibliography of Los Angeles
*
Outline of the history of Los Angeles
*
Bibliography of California history
*
History of Los Angeles
*
Los Angeles Plaza Historic District
LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to:
Science and technology
* Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation
* Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers
* Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...
*
Zanja Madre
*
Laws of the Indies
*
Spanish colonial pueblos and villas in North America
Notes
References
*Poole, Jean Bruce and Tevvy Ball. ''El Pueblo: The Historic Heart of Los Angeles''. Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2002.
*Ríos-Bustamante, Antonio. ''Mexican Los Ángeles: A Narrative and Pictorial History''. Nuestra Historia Series, Monograph No. 1. Encino: Floricanto Press, 1992.
*Ruscin, Terry. ''Mission Memoirs''. San Diego: Sunbelt Publications, 1999.
External links
Map Of The City Of Los Angeles — Showing the Confirmed Limits Surveyed in August 1857; by Henry Hancock U.S. Dep. Survey. ''Plan de la Ciudad De Los Angeles''. Surveyed by E.O.C. Ord, Lt. U.S.A. and Wm. R. Hutton, Assistant, August 29, 1849…— ''C. A. Bancroft, & J. S. Thayer, & W. H. J. Brooks; San Francisco, 1875. vi
RareMaps.com. accessed 11.23.2010''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pueblo De Los Angeles
History of Los Angeles
Colonial settlements in North America
Spanish mission settlements in North America
*
Populated places established in 1781
1781 establishments in The Californias
Downtown Los Angeles
History of Los Angeles County, California
Butterfield Overland Mail in California
Old Spanish Trail (trade route)
1781 establishments in New Spain