What's with "the Queen of the Angels"? The nickname City of Angels is not a modern invention — it is older than the United States' hold on California. The pueblo's full name was El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles, the Town of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels, given for a Marian feast day. Over two centuries the town outgrew the long Spanish name, but the "Angels" stayed: Los Angeles has been the City of Angels since 1781, and everything that came later simply borrowed it.
Our Los Angeles retro logo carries California's grizzly bear and lone star — the emblem of the old California Republic — set over "1850," the year of statehood. Rendered black-and-white with the worn look of a vintage crate label or a roadside sign, it is rugged and authentic rather than glossy. The bear and star bridge the city's two stories: the adobe pueblo on the river and the state it helped build, a fitting mark for heritage worn rather than hung on a wall.
Why People Visit Los Angeles California
- Walk Olvera Street and the Old Plaza at El Pueblo de Los Angeles, the founding site and oldest section of the city.
- Step inside the Plaza Church — Our Lady Queen of the Angels, "La Placita" — and see the Avila Adobe (1818), the city's oldest standing house.
- Find the 1781 founders monument at the Plaza, which names all 44 pobladores by name, age, and origin.
- Trace the Los Angeles River, the Porciúncula the settlers built beside.
- Look up at the Santa Monica and San Gabriel ranges that ring the coastal plain — the mountains-meet-coast view that defines Southern California.
