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 ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

, 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 square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...

, 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 United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

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 The Lugo Adobe also called the Vicente Lugo Adobe or Casa de Don Vicente Lugo was a house in the city of Los Angeles, located on the east side of the Los Angeles Plaza at 512–524 N. Los Angeles Street. Don Vicente Lugo built the home in what is ...

(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 ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja C ...

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 state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

region with a number of African and

mulatto (, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese ...

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 Felipe de Neve y Padilla (1724 – 3 November 1784) was a Spanish soldier who served as the 4th Governor of the Californias, from 1775 to 1782. Neve is considered one of the founders of Los Angeles and was instrumental in the foundation of San ...

." 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 , name_etymology = , image = File:Los Angeles River from Fletcher Drive Bridge 2019.jpg , image_caption = L.A. River from Fletcher Drive Bridge , image_size = 300 , map = LARmap.jpg , map_size ...

and near the

Tongva The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . Some descendants of the people prefer Kizh as an endonym that, they argue, is more historically ...

village of

Yaanga Yaanga was a large Tongva (or Kizh) village originally located near what is now downtown Los Angeles, just west of the Los Angeles River and beneath U.S. Route 101. People from the village were recorded as ''Yabit'' in missionary records althou ...

. 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 (also ''Calle Olvera'' or ''Placita Olvera'', originally Calle de los Vignes, Vine Street, and Wine Street) is a historic street in downtown Los Angeles, and a part of El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument, the area immediatel ...

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 representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Charles III of Spain it, Carlo Sebastiano di Borbone e Farnese , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Philip V of Spain , mother = Elisabeth Farnese , birth_date = 20 January 1716 , birth_place = Royal Alcazar of Madrid, Spain , death_da ...

, the monarch who ordered the founding of the Pueblo de Los Ángeles in 1780, and another of

, the Spanish Governor of

the Californias The Californias ( Spanish: ''Las Californias''), occasionally known as The Three Californias or 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 s ...

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 The Old Plaza Firehouse is the oldest fire station in the city of Los Angeles, built in 1884. It is located near Olvera Street in the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District. It was named California Historical Landmark A California Historical Land ...

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 (Father Serra Park)

Los Angeles Plaza Park (also known as Father Serra Park) is an unstaffed, unlocked and open area within the plaza. It is the site of the demolished

. 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 Augustín Olvera, a prominent local judge. 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 ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

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 agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

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 Passport to Your National Parks is a program through which ink stamps can be acquired at no cost at park visitor centers and ranger stations at nearly all of the units of the United States National Park System and most of the National Park Servi ...

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
{{DEFAULTSORT:El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument * Museums in Los Angeles Parks in Los Angeles

History museums in California American West museums in California Downtown Los Angeles Historic districts in Los Angeles History of Los Angeles National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles The Californias Mexican California Adobe buildings and structures in California Buildings and structures in Downtown Los Angeles Spanish Colonial architecture in California Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in California African-American Roman Catholicism