El Pueblo de Los Ángeles Historical Monument, also known as Los Angeles Plaza Historic District and formerly known as El Pueblo de Los Ángeles State Historic Park, is a historic district taking in the oldest section 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, ...

, known for many years as ''El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula''. The district, centered on the old

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 ...

, was the city's center under Spanish (1781–1821), Mexican (1821–1847), and United States (after 1847) rule through most of the 19th century. The 44-acre park area was designated a state historic monument in 1953 and listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1972.

Historic images

File:LA founding pueblo marker detail.jpg, Inscription on historical marker "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de Los Ángeles - Felipe de Neve - September Fourth 1781" Image:LosAngeles-Plaza-1869.jpg, Plaza in 1869 File:LA-plaza-1876.jpg, Los Angeles Plaza (1876) File:Lugo Adobe housing Leeching Hung and Co.png, The Lugo Adobe (built 1840s, demolished 1950s) long anchored the east side of the Plaza File:Panoramic view of the Los Angeles Plaza, looking west, ca.1905 (CHS-5081).jpg, Los Angeles Plaza (c. 1905) Image:Old Plaza, 1930.jpg, The Old Plaza around 1930

History

Founding of the Pueblo

A plaque across from the Old Plaza commemorates the founding of the city. It states: "On September 4, 1781, eleven families of '' pobladores'' (44 persons including children) arrived at this place from the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California (), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Vermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja California peninsula from ...

to establish a pueblo which was to become the City of Los Angeles. At least ten (and up to 26) of the 44 were Black. Spain also settled the

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

region with a number of African and

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 ...

Catholics, including at least ten (and up to 26) of the recently re-discovered Los Pobladores, the 44 founders of

in 1781. This colonization ordered by King Carlos III was carried out under the direction of Governor Felipe de Neve." The small town received the name ''El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora Reina de los Ángeles sobre El Río Porciúncula'', Spanish for ''The Town of Our Lady Queen of the Angels on the Porciúncula River.'' The original pueblo was built to the southeast of the current plaza along the

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 ...

and near 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 ...

village of Yaanga. Excavations at the church site "recovered beads and other artifacts used during the period of mission recruitment." In 1815, a flood washed away the original pueblo, and it was rebuilt farther from the river at the location of the current plaza.

Growth of the Pueblo

During its first 70 years, the Pueblo grew slowly from 44 in 1781 to 1,615 in 1850—an average of about 25 persons per year. During this period, the Plaza Historic District was the Pueblo's commercial and social center. In 1850, shortly after California became part of the United States, Los Angeles was incorporated as a city. It experienced a major boom in the 1880s and 1890s, as its population grew from 11,200 (1880) to 50,400 (1890) and 102,500 in 1900. As the City grew, the commercial and cultural center began to move south away from the Plaza, along Spring Street and Main Street. In 1891, the ''Los Angeles Times'' reported on the shifting city center:

The geographical center of Los Angeles is the old plaza, but that has long since ceased to be the center of population. ... While at one time most of the population was north of the plaza, during the past ten years 90 per cent of the improvements have gone up in the southern half of the city. ... These are solid facts which it is useless to attempt to ignore by playing the ostrich acts and level-headed property holders in the northern part of the city are beginning to ask themselves seriously what is to be done to arrest or at least delay the steady march of the business section from the old to the new plaza on Sixth Street ...

Preservation as a historic park

The surrounding the Plaza and constituting the old pueblo have been preserved as a historic park roughly bounded by Spring, Macy, Alameda and Arcadia streets, and Cesar Chavez Boulevard (formerly Sunset Boulevard). There is a visitors center in the Sepúlveda House. A volunteer organization known as Las Angelitas del Pueblo provides tours of the district. The district includes the city's oldest historic structures clustered around the old plaza. The buildings of historical significance include Nuestra Señora La Reina de Los Ángeles Church (1822), Avila Adobe (1818) (the city's oldest surviving residence), the

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 ...

market, Pico House (1870), and the Old Plaza Fire Station (1884). Four of the buildings have been restored and are operated as museums. In addition, archaeological excavations in the Pueblo have uncovered artifacts from the long indigenous period before European contact and colonization. These include animal bones, household goods, tools, bottles, and ceramics. The district was designated as a state monument in 1953, and listed on the

in 1972. These steps, however, did not prevent the demolition, in the decades to come, of numerous historic and very old buildings, particularly those that once formed the eastern edge of the Plaza.

Contemporary images

Image:Old Plaza (Los Angeles).jpg, Musicians performing at the Plaza File:MNSR de LA entryway 027.jpg, Plaza Church in early 2007. Image:Old Plaza Firhouse (Los Angeles).jpg, Old Plaza Firehouse Image:Garnier Building (Los Angeles).jpg, Garnier Building File:LA founding historical mural.jpg, Mural shows important events File:Plaza Methodist Church.jpg, Eugene Biscailuz Building and former Methodist Church HQ, now Mexican Cultural Center File:Sanchez Street, Los Angeles.jpg, Sanchez Street, which runs south from the center of the Plaza's south side File:Brunswig Building.jpg, Brunswig Building

Major sites

The Plaza

At the center of the Historic District is the plaza . It was described in 1982 as "the focal point" of the state historic park, symbolizing the city's birthplace and "separating Olvera Street's touristy bustle from the Pico-Garnier block's empty buildings." Built in the 1820s, the plaza was the city's commercial and social center. It remains the site of many festivals and celebrations. The plaza has large statues of two figures in the city's history, including

one 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Charles III of Spain Charles III (; 20 January 1716 – 14 December 1788) was King of Spain in the years 1759 to 1788. He was also Duke of Parma and Piacenza, as Charles I (1731–1735); King of Naples, as Charles VII; and King of Sicily, as Charles III (or V) (1735� ...

, the monarch who ordered the founding of the Pueblo de Los Ángeles in 1780, and another of Felipe de Neve, the Spanish Governor of

the Californias The Californias (), occasionally known as the Three Californias or the Two Californias, are a region of North America spanning the United States and Mexico, consisting of the U.S. state of California and the Mexican states of Baja California a ...

who selected the site of the Pueblo and laid out the town. In addition to this, the plaza is dedicated to commemorating the original forty-four settlers (Los Pobladores), and the four soldiers who accompanied them. A large plaque listing their names was erected in the plaza, and later plaques dedicated to the individual eleven families were placed in the ground encircling the gazebo in the center of the plaza.

Buildings on the Plaza

La Placita Church

The parish church in the Plaza Historic District, known as La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Ángeles (The Church of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels), was founded in 1814. The structure was completed and dedicated in 1822. The present church, which replaced it, was built in 1861.Ruscin, p. 49 The church was one of the first three sites designated as Historic Cultural Monuments by the City of Los Angeles, and has also been designated as a California Historical Landmark.

Old Plaza Firehouse

The Old Plaza Firehouse is the oldest firehouse in Los Angeles. Built in 1884, it operated as a firehouse until 1897. The building was thereafter used as a saloon, cigar store, poolroom, "seedy hotel", Chinese market, "flop house", and drugstore. The building was restored in the 1950s and opened as a firefighting museum in 1960.

Los Angeles Plaza Park

Los Angeles Plaza Park (formerly known as Father Serra Park) is an open area within the plaza. It is the site of the demolished Lugo Adobe. In June 2020 protestors toppled a statue of Father Junípero Serra, due to Serra's role during the colonization of California.

Buildings on Olvera Street

Olvera Street, known for its Mexican marketplace, was originally known as Wine Street. In 1877, it was extended and renamed in honor of Judge Augustín Olvera, the first ever elected county judge in Los Angeles. Many of the Plaza District's contributing historic buildings, including the Avila Adobe and Sepulveda House, are located on Olvera Street. In 1930, it was adapted by local merchants into the colorful marketplace that operates today.

Buildings on Main Street

Buildings on Los Angeles Street

Historical Mural painting

Various historical events of Los Angeles are depicted in a colourful

trompe-l'œil ; ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional surface. , which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into perceiving p ...

mural painting.

Part of historic trails

Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail

The Pueblo de Los Ángeles is participating site of the

Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail The Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail is a trail extending from Nogales on the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, through the California desert and coastal areas in Southern California and the Central Coast region to San Francisco.

, a

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

area in the United States National Trails System. A driving tour map and list of sites by County can be used to follow the trail.Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail
National Park Service. Accessed 9/9/2010

Old Spanish National Historic Trail

The Pueblo de Los Ángeles was the final destination of the Old Spanish Trail. It is a site on the Old Spanish National Historic Trail, which was established in 2002. Museums, historic sites, and markers along the Old Spanish Trail identify sites from Santa Fe to Los Angeles. The visitor center of the Avila Adobe offers a National Park Passport Stamp for the trail.

Historic map

References

External links

El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument
- official site

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080730041849/http://www.olvera-street.com/html/olvera_street.html The Olvera Street websitebr>official National Park Service Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail website
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