El Pueblo de Los

Angeles
Joyce Lee
Daisy Magallanes
Estela Soriano
Joel Orellana
Union Station
- Los Angeles Union Station is the main railway
station
- It opened in May 1939 as the Los Angeles Union
passenger terminal, replacing the older La Grande
Station and Central Station
- The station was placed on National Register of
Historic Places
Plaza Catholic Church (1818-22)
-Was dedicated in December 1822
-Known as (The Church of Our Lady)
-The only building at El Pueblo that is still
used for its original purpose
La Plaza de Cultura y Artes
(vickrey/ Brunswig, 1888)
-It is a Mexican-American museum and cultural
center in LA.
-Museum is near Olvera Street in the Los Angeles
Plaza Historic District, also called El Pueblo
-Museum contains interactive exhibits designed
by experience design expert Tali Krakowsky
Campo Santo (The citys first
cemetery)
- El Campo Santo is a cemetery located at the
Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum
-As one of the oldest private cemeteries in
Southern California
- In the early 1850s, the family of William
Workman established El Campo Santo, or the
sacred ground, as a cemetery solely for the use
of their family
 Masonic Hall
-Often called a Private Lodge or Constituent
Lodge
-The basic organisational unit of Freemasonry
-Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered
by a Grand lodge
Merced Theatre (1870)
-Opened on January 30, 1871
-The oldest surviving theatre in Los Angeles so far
-Was also known as El Teatro Merced
Pico House (1869-70)
- One of the oldest and historic building in Los Angeles
- The Pico House is listed as a California Historical
Landmark (No. 159) and a National Historic Landmark a
part of the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District
- Has appeared in some films and television shows
Chinese American Museum
(garnier building,1890)
- The Chinese American Museum is a museum
located in Downtown Los Angeles as a part of the El
Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument
- It presents exhibits of fine art by chinese
american artists as well as historical exhibits
- Planning for the museum began in October 1984,
with the grand opening taking place on December
18,2003
Hellman/Quon Building
(1900)
-Named after its two long-time owners
-Isaias Hellman built it on 1900 and How
Shing owned it from 1921 until it was
acquired by California for the historic park
in 1954
-Currently the building is used for
exhibitions meetings, and education
workshops
 Las Angelitas del Pueblo
Docent/Tour Office
- Las Angelitas del pueblo has been conducting
plaza tours since 1969, introducing more than
10,000 visitors a year to the birthplace of Los
Angeles
 Firehouse Museum
(1884)
- The Plaza Firehouse was the first building in the
city designed to house fire fighting crews and
their equipment
- The Plaza Firehouse has been restored and
converted into a museum which displays
firefighting equipment of the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries
 Founders Plaque
-Located in the Plaza, the Founders Plaque pays
tribute to the 44 settlers (known as pobladores)
of the pueblo of Los Angeles, (town of the Queen
of the Angels).
-The names of the eleven founders of Los
Angeles, originally known as El Pueblo de la Reina
de Los Angeles sobre el Ro de la Porcincula,
(the town of the Queen of the Angels on the River
Porciuncula), are listed in plaques around the
Plaza circle.
Felipe de Neve Statue
-The father of El Pueblo, de Neve was responsible for
the founding of Los Angeles.
-In 1777, as the Spanish governor of the Californias,
he requested that Spain send him settlers for the
new colony.
-Soon after, he organized los Pobladores, the
expedition of eleven racially and ethnically diverse
pioneer families, which founded El Pueblo on
September 4, 1781. This statue in his honor stands in
the center of the Plaza.
 King Carlos III of Spain
Statue
-In 1781, King Carlos III of Spain ordered Felipe
de Neve to found El Pueblo de Los Angeles.
-The statue, erected in 1976 to celebrate the
200th anniversary of the United States, is
located in El Pueblo and honors one of the City's
founders.
Olvera Street
-Today a Mexican-style market and part of El
Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument,
Olvera Street was originally known as Wine Street.
-Renamed when it opened as a market in 1930 in
honor of Agustn Olvera, a prominent El Pueblo
figure in the 1840s and 1850s, Olvera Street
attracts over 2 million tourists and other visitors
annually.
-Many of the important historical sites in El
Pueblo, such as Avila Abode, are located on Olvera
Street, the brainchild of Christine Sterling.
Simpson Jones Building (1894)
-Built starting in 1888 by the Scottish widow of John A.
Jones, a local businessman, the Simpson/Jones
building now opens onto Olvera Street and is part of
the mexican market in El Pueblo.
-The structure no longer maintains its original
appearance; when a Bank of America branch moved
there in 1960, the bank altered the faade to resemble
a Mexican banco, even though there had never before
been a bank there.
-Today, the wrought-iron patio houses La Luz del Dia
restaurant, part of the Olvera Street tourist
attraction.
Visitors Center/Lost and
Found(Sepulveda House,1887)
-Today home to the El Pueblo National Historical
Monument Visitors' Center, the Sepulveda house was
once the private home of one of the most powerful
families in early Los Angeles.
-The Sepulveda House was built by Eloisa Martinez
de Sepulveda in 1887, at a time when all
predictions were that the population boom of the
1880s would last. -However, Seora Sepulveda's
hopes for Main Street were not fulfilled and by 1900
the area around her house was mostly industrial.
Pelanconi House (1885-57)
-Built by Giuseppe Covacci chi and
purchased by winemaker Antonio Pelanconi
in 1871, the Pelanconi House is the oldest
fired brick building standing in Los Angeles.
-Now painted white, it is home to the oldest
business on Olvera Street, La Golondrina
Caf, reputedly the first restaurant in the
city to serve Mexican instead of Spanish
food.
-The caf also boasts a fireplace fashioned
from stones from the remnants of the Zanja
Madre.
Hammel Building (1909)
-This Olvera Street building was initially used as a
machine shop.
-Originally owned by a French vegetable farmer, the
building was willed to the Hammel in the 1880s, but
was not converted to the Hammel Building until twenty
years later.
-This sign details the historic value of the Hammel
Building.
Siqueiros Mural, (America
Tropical, 1931)
-Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros began the mural
era in Los Angeles in 1932 with his painting of "America
Tropical" on the faade of Italian Hall on Olvera Street.
-The mural depicts a native person crucified on a double
cross, with what the artist called an "American imperialist
eagle" stretching out its talons above him.
- Siqueiros stated that the mural represented "the
destruction of past American national cultures . . . by the
invaders of both yesterday and today." The mural was
quickly whitewashed. Plans to conserve the mural were
announced in 2006.
 Italian American Museum (1907-
08)
-In the early years of the 20th century, as the
Italian population continued to grow, the
community sought a center.
-Italian Hall, constructed in 1907-1908 provided
this. The hall was the social center for the
community; weddings, banquets, dances, and
Italian civic organization meetings were common
happenings in the building
Old Winery El Pueblo Gallery
(1870-1914)
-In 19th century Los Angeles, wineries were a
vital business.
-Two wineries were built in El Pueblo in 1870 and
were used for that purpose until 1914, when
Prohibition took effect.
-Today these former wineries are an exhibition
gallery for El Pueblo.
Avila Adobe Museum (1818)
-This home, built on Olvera Street in 1818 of
adobe brick, is the city's oldest residence.
-Once home to Francisco Avila, one of the
Pobladores, and his family, the residence fell into
disrepair in the early 20th century, but was
purchased by preservationist Christine Sterling in
the 1920s and restored.
-Today Avila Adobe is the site of a museum that
captures pueblo life during the rancho period of
the 1840s.
 Plaza Substation (1903-
04)
-Built in 1903-1904, this was the first and largest of
fourteen substations that supplied electric power to
the Los Angeles Railway Company's yellow streetcars--
the first mass transportation for Los Angeles.
-The trolleys operated from 1896 to 1960.
-Plans now call for the building to become a museum
on Los Angeles trolley cars.
 Plaza Methodist Church
(1925-26)
-The Plaza Methodist Church (La Iglesia Metodista
de la Placita) is among the most recent buildings in
El Pueblo.
-Built on the site of the old Olvera Adobe, the
structure was originally a clinic and training school
for the handicapped.
- The church boasts Spanish-style dcor, which was
renovated in the 1960s, when the United Methodist
Church began leasing the land from the State of
California for fifty years for one dollar per year.
Leo Politi Mural,The Blessing of
The Animals(1978)
-Located on the Biscailuz Building, this 1978
mural features the images of people associated
with the history of Olvera Street.
-Politi, an artist, children's book author, and
Olvera Street resident for over 30 years,
requested that his memorial service be held in
front of the mural, called The Blessing of the
Animals, when he died
El Pueblo Administrative Offices
(biscailuz building,1925-26)
-One of the most recent buildings in El Pueblo,
the former church now houses the offices of the
El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument.
-Originally the Plaza Methodist Church (La Iglesia
Metodista de la Placita), the Biscailuz building
was, in 1965, renamed in honor of Sheriff Eugene
Biscailuz, who was an avid supporter of the
efforts to revitalize Olvera Street.
 Placita de Dolores
-La Placita de Dolores is a small plaza that
commemorates Mexico achieving its
independence from the country of Spain.
-The courtyard features a small replica of the
bell of Dolores, as well as a mural painted by
Eduardo Carrillo and a plaque offering a
dedication to the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family
and descendants of the Shoshone tribe.
-The Bell is called The Bell of Dolores because
the first inklings of Mexican freedom began in
the village of Dolores.
Father Serra Park
-This park, located in El Pueblo, is named for
Father Junipero Serra, the founder of the
California mission system.
-Father Serra first visited Los Angeles area in
1782, and resisted the fledgling civilian
settlement on the grounds that it would threaten
the well being of the Indians residing there.
-Also in Father Serra Park is the site of Lugo
Adobe, the home of one of the great ranchero
families in El Pueblo and the wealthiest family in
Southern California during the 1850s.
The Plaza/Kiosko
-The plaza was the center of community life for
the first settlers in Los Angeles
-It is a square space with a circle of shade trees
surrounding a bandstand or kiosko (where events
are held in Mexican spanish)
-Often used for festivals
Antonio Aguilar
-The 18-foot, bronze statue of Aguilar features him
sitting on a horse-a fitting depiction of the performer
who died in 2007.
- Aguilar was known as El Charro de Mexico(the
Mexican Cowboy)
-The statue was erected in the middle of an already
existing fountain off of Alameda Street at El Pueblo de
Los Angeles Historical Monument.