Garvanza is a neighborhood in northeast

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, ...

. Fourteen

Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments are sites which have been designated by the Los Angeles, California, Cultural Heritage Commission as worthy of preservation based on architectural, historic and cultural criteria. History The Historic-Cul ...

s are located in the neighborhood.

History

The town of Garvanza was originally part of the

Rancho San Rafael Rancho San Rafael was a Spanish land grant in the San Rafael Hills, bordering the Los Angeles River and the Arroyo Seco in present-day Los Angeles County, southern California, given in 1784 to Jose Maria Verdugo. Geography The rancho include ...

, owned by

Jose Maria Verdugo Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. Given name Mishnaic and Talmudic periods * Jose ben Abin * Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galilean * Jose ben Halafta ...

. Its name comes from the fields of garbanzo beans that once flourished in the area.laist The Neighborhood Project: Garvanza

Andrew Glassell Andrew Glassell Jr. (September 30, 1827 – January 28, 1901) was an American real estate attorney and investor. He was one of the founders of the city of Orange, California. Early life Glassell was born in Orange County, Virginia. Glasse ...

and Alfred Beck Chapman bought the land in 1869. Glassell and Chapman sold the land to Ralph and Edward Rogers, real estate developers and brothers. In 1886 the Rogers brothers subdivided the land and began to sell lots in what they called the "Town of Garvanza". The town was annexed by the city of

in 1899. Garvanza was served by Henry Huntington's

Los Angeles Railway The Los Angeles Railway (also known as Yellow Cars, LARy and later Los Angeles Transit Lines) was a system of streetcars that operated in Central Los Angeles and surrounding neighborhoods between 1895 and 1963. The system provided frequent loc ...

(LARY) as early as 1902, and the LARY had a direct line from Garvanza to

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 ...

by 1904. By 1907, Huntington had extended the Garvanza line in two directions: along York Blvd. and along North

Figueroa Street Figueroa Street is a major north-south street in Los Angeles County, California, spanning from the Los Angeles neighborhood of Wilmington, Los Angeles, Wilmington north to Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, Eagle Rock. A short, unconnected continuation of ...

. Two bridges connect Los Angeles and South Pasadena through Garvanza. One, the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad railroad bridge spanning the Arroyo Seco, was first built at grade in wood in 1885, and has been rebuilt twice at the current location since then, first in wood in 1889 and then in steel in 1896. The current steel bridege, which is listed as Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument No. 339, was modified for dual tracks a century later for use in the current light rail system. The York Boulevard bridge over the

Arroyo Seco Parkway The Arroyo Seco Parkway, also known as the Pasadena Freeway, is one of the oldest controlled-access highway, freeways in the United States. It connects Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles with Pasadena, California, Pasadena alongside the Arr ...

was built to replace a small wooden toll bridge which was inadequate to support the growing traffic between South Pasadena and Los Angeles. The old toll house still exists on the South Pasadena side. The Judson Studios, which created much of the stained glass that graced Craftsman and Mission structures 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 ...

, have been located in Garvanza since 1911. In the early 20th century, Garvanza was considered an enclave of the local

Arts and Crafts movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...

. In 1997, the city of Los Angeles officially redesignated the area "Garvanza." Garvanza is incorporated into the City of Los Angeles "Highland Park-Garvanza HPOZ (Historic Preservation Overlay Zone) Preservation Plan" area adopted by the

Los Angeles City Council The Los Angeles City Council is the Legislature, lawmaking body for the Government of Los Angeles, city government of Los Angeles, California, the second largest city in the United States. It has 15 members who each represent the 15 city council ...

December 9, 2010. On July 25, 2019, the Garvanza Improvement Association was awarded a preservation award by the

Los Angeles Conservancy The Los Angeles Conservancy is a historic preservation organization in Los Angeles, California that works to document, rescue and revitalize historic buildings, places and neighborhoods in the city. The Los Angeles Conservancy is the largest m ...

Geography

Garvanza is bordered by Figueroa Street on the west,

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

city limits on the north, San Pascual Avenue/110 Freeway on the east and York Boulevard on the south. Highland Park is west, South Pasadena and Hermon are east. Official city signage was installed in 1997. Map of Los Angeles County - October 1893

Map of Los Angeles County - October 1893

Parks and recreation

* Garvanza Park - 6240 East Meridian Street. * Garvanza Skate Park - 6240 East Meridian Street.

Education

The

Los Angeles Unified School District Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a State school, public school district in Los Angeles County, California, United States of America. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the List ...

operates district schools. * Garvanza Elementary School - 317 N. Avenue 62, Los Angeles, CA 90042.
" Garvanza Elementary School. Retrieved on May 15, 2021.

Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments

Garvanza has fourteen Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments: * Judson Studios - 200 S. Avenue 66, Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 62 * Abbey San Encino - 6211 Arroyo Glen Street, Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 106 * McClure Residence - 432 N. Avenue 66, Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 107 * Santa Fe's Arroyo Seco Bridge - 162 S. Avenue 61, Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 339 * Frederic M. Ashley House - 740-742 N. Avenue 66, Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 402 * Robert Edmund Williams House aka Hathaway Home for Children - 480 N. Avenue 66, Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 411 * Garvanza Pumping Station and site of Highland Reservoir - 420 N. Avenue 62, Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 412 * George W. Wilson Estate - 616 N. Avenue 66, Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 418 (Destroyed by fire on December 15, 1989) * Fargo House - 206 Thorne Street, Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 464 * Dr. Franklin S. Whaley Residence - 6434 Crescent Street, Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 528 * Charles H. Greenshaw Residence - 1102 Lantana Drive, Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 565 * Monroe Cottage - 6310 Crescent Street, Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 894 * Stewart Farmhouse - 126 N. Avenue 63, Losw Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 1028 (Moved from 511 W. 31st Street after designation) * Donnelly House - 1121 N. Avenue 64. Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 1041

Notable people

* Cora Scott Pond Pope (1856-?), suffragist, teacher, pageant writer, real estate developer

Historical photos

File:Los Angeles and San Gabriel Railroad train on the bridge at Garvanza, the first trestle across the Arroyo Seco, approaching Highland Park from South Pasadena, ca.1885 (CHS-6666).jpg, 1886 view of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Railroad crossing the Arroyo Seco at Garvanza File:Arroyo_Seco_Trestles_Rail_and_Street_Car_lines_from_Pasadena_to_downtown_LA.jpg, 1895: Pasadena and Los Angeles Electric Railway and Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad train in the Arroyo Seco at Garvanza File:ArroyoSecoPkwy(CA110)1940.jpg, York Boulevard bridge (background) and The Marmion Way (foreground) bridge over the Arroyo Seco Parkway in 1940

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Neighborhoods in Los Angeles Arroyo Seco (Los Angeles County) Northeast Los Angeles