The founding block survived all of it. El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument still holds the Old Plaza, the Plaza Church that Angelenos call La Placita, and the Avila Adobe of 1818 — the oldest standing house in the city. Olvera Street, the lane beside it, was a service alley headed for demolition until a preservation campaign reopened it in 1930 as a Mexican marketplace; it has been one ever since. A short walk away, Little Tokyo, Chinatown, and Olvera Street sit within a few blocks of one another, which is about as honest a summary of the city as any map can give.
The village grew through the eras. Mexican independence reached Alta California in 1821, opening the rancho years, when cattle hides moved through the port and land was measured in leagues rather than lots. Los Angeles was incorporated as an American city on April 4, 1850, the year California joined the Union, with a population of about sixteen hundred. Cattle gave way to vineyards — the city was California's first wine region — then to citrus, then to oil, and the pueblo spread across a coastal plain ringed by the Santa Monica, San Gabriel, and Santa Ana mountains.
Why People Visit Los Angeles
Travelers come for the climate, the coast, and the culture, but the quietest surprise is the history: a two-hundred-and-forty-year-old pueblo tucked into the middle of a modern metropolis. History and everyday life sit side by side here in a way few American cities can match, and the founding block asks nothing but a walk.
