Gabriela Martinez

History 301
Professor: Verba
Placita Olvera Community Project
Olvera Street was an important site before becoming what is now the Mexican market.
In this essay I will talk about the first adobe (Avilas Adobe), and its history, the reasons for the
restauration of the adobe, and the author of this restauration, and how this street only portrays
part of what Mexican towns really are.
Some of the historic buildings are the Avila adobe, the Pelaconi House, and the
Sepulveda house. The first adobe now shown at Placita Olvera is at least 200 years-old, and it
was built in what was the city of La Ciudad de Maria de Los Angeles of Porciuncula. I am
focusing on the Avilas Adobe; it was constructed in 1818 by Francisco Jose Avila. After Avilass
death in 1832, according to lacity.org his second wife still lived in the adobe after he passed
away. Francisco Jose Avila was (alcalde) or major of Los Angeles in 1810. The adobe served as
an army post for a brief time during January of 1847 by the North American military under
Stockton. Avilas widow who died in 1855 lived in the adobe until she passed away; the adobe
was passed on to her two daughters Luisa and Francisca and each ones husbands, Manuel
Garfias and Theodore Rimpau. Francisca, her husband Theodore Rimpau and their nine children
lived in the adobe from 1855 to 1868 until they moved to Anaheim, California where Theodore
was the first mayor. From 1868 to the early 1920s, the adobe was rented and used as a
restaurant, rooming house for transients, or was frequently vacant. It was an important site that
linked the citys activities such as cultural, religious and economic. This important site was built

closed to the river to be able to deliver water used to irrigate the agriculture crops and to be also
used for the houses. The Pueblo was going through difficult times and was not cared for; on the
contrary Olvera street was mainly used to make deliveries for the businesses on Main St.; the
businesses eventually moved to the area around First Street. Olvera Street building gained
fame for the fact that it was once the quarters of Kearney, Stockton, Fremont and other heroes
of the American occupation of 1847, and not so much for being the oldest standing adobe of
Spanish construction. (Citizens of the Past) the city did not have any interest in the Adobe, and
decided to closed it until Sterling came along, and proposed the restoration. Not only the adobe
was deplorable, but the street as well. Phoebe S. Kropp says, Though this nostalgia obliquely
approved the installation of the American present, the street was also host to some less subtle
approvals of the American conquest of Mexican California. Most of these revolved around the
Avila Adobe. The structure worsened, and due to its situation was finally condemned in 1928 by
the City Health Department; Christine Sterling who came in the early 1920s began a public
campaign to save the adobe.(Citizens of the Past? Olvera Street and the Construction of Race
and Memory in 1930s Los Angeles) up until this point the interest of the city was to rid of that
part of the citys past history, and with the buildings and structures the peoples history as well
because they did not think as the Mexicans as being a part of this country. Even though only part
of what the real Mexican roots are have being capture in this street, people think this place looks
like little Mxico.
At the time of the proposal, United States economy was bad due to the beginning of the
great depression. Sterling began a campaign to get sponsors for the restoration of the adobe
therefore the construction began later than expected. One of the main focuses of Los Angeles city
was to create some kind of development to help benefit the economy; many people including the

publisher of Los Angeles Times Harry Chandler who was also interested in real estate liked
Sterlings idea of renewing the Adobe to create this attraction to the tourists. They propelled the
construction with different interests as just reconstructing a historic building. They were also
hoping for a city with fewer immigrants because Mexicans were not allowed in Olvera Street
after it opened its doors only Anglos were allowed to work there.
It is worth note that Balderrama and Rodrguez argue that the plaza was chosen for
maximum psychological impact. Because even though Mexicans accounted for a small
percentage and received one third less from public help than Anglos did, they were blamed for
the economic crisis that the country was going through during the early depression, and stating
that seventy percent of the funds were given to Mexicans. This cause the deportation of at least
35,000 Mexicans whether by force, free will, or pressure from the government. (Citizens of the
Past? Olvera Street and the Construction of Race and Memory in 1930s Los Angeles) because at
any given time the government and the media can change the point of view about any minority;
they can place them in a less valuable position or use them as they pleased either to blame them
about the economy or any other hardship the country might be going through. At one time there
were the Japanese, another time the Muslims, the Chinese, and so on and so forth. And right
before the great depression the Mexican were the responsible to the economys condition.
According to Kropp, Olvera Street helped to fix a memory of the Mexican past firmly in the
public mind. Opened on Easter Sunday, 1930, to an enthusiastic Anglo public, the colorful
attraction transformed the five-hundred-foot alley into El Paseo de Los Angeles, (Citizens of
the Past? Olvera Street and the Construction of Race and Memory in 1930s)

Olvera Street former Vine Street was renamed in 1877, in honor of Agustin Olvera,
the first superior court judge in Los Angeles County, whose family has longed lived in the pueblo
and who had died the year before. (P44 El Pueblo: The Historic Heart of Los Angeles) the
importance of this buildings history is deeper than only the fact that it was once the heroes
fort; it is also important to mention that its original owner Francisco Jose Avila was from
Mexican descent. It is bizarre that they were honoring the memory of a Mexican American yet
they were kicking the Mexicans out of this country.
Now the Adobe is open to the public as a museum and is furnished as it might have
appeared in the late 1840s with the Sepulveda familys furnishings. The Florence Dodson de
Schoneman of the Sepulveda family, which formerly owned Rancho Los Palos Verdes, was the
first to respond to the appeal for help in restoration. Through her efforts, and in good time, a
whole room was furnished with Sepulveda family possessions. (Los Angeles: From the days of
the Pueblo p98, 99). At least they kept some of the history in this buildings, but is sad to learn
that at that time many Mexicans were affected by this decisions of restructure.
Mexico is not the way they portrayed it; the culture is richer than only a colorful street
and markets. Because in Mexican folklore each state has its own traditions. For example, the
state of Oaxaca is best known by its (moles); the state of Puebla is best known by its traditional
(dulce de camote) sweet potato candy, and (chiles en nogada); the state of Texcoco is best known
by its (barbacoa) barbecue; the state of Guanajuato is best known for its leather shoes and bags,
and so on, therefore you cannot portray a whole country in just one street.
In conclusion the first adobe is important because it takes you to Los Angeles city roots;
the real Mexican history became important through Olvera Street. Sterlings idea of the Olvera

Street was completed, and changed Los Angeles Citys economy during the great depression.
Even though the real Mexican roots are not completely portrayed in this small area, many people
whether Mexicans or from any other race relate it to Mexico City.

Cited Page
"City of Los Angeles Seal El Pueblo De Los Angeles Historical Monument City of Los
Angeles Flag." The Avila Adobe : El Pueblo De Los Angeles : The City of Los Angeles.
N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.
Kropp, Phoebe. "Olvera Street and the Construction of." n.d.: n. pag. Print.
Poole, Jean Bruce., and Tevvy Ball. El Pueblo: The Historic Heart of Los Angeles. Los
Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute and the J. Paul Getty Museum, 2002. Print.
Robinson, W. W., and Doyce B. Nunis. Los Angeles from the Days of the Pueblo: A Brief
History and Guide to the Plaza Area. S.l.: California Historical Society, 1981. Print.