I was surprised to see that nobody in Los Angeles did much posting about Olvera Street on the internet. The merchants have a webpage and some other commercial group, too. The City of Los Angeles has a website about the "historic monument" of el Pueblo. It's got no fun in it almost entirely. So, allow me to present to you my loving take on my (almost) favorite street in all of Los Angeles, in mostly pictures.From the El Pueblo official site:
"ABOUT EL PUEBLO DE LOS ANGELES HISTORICAL MONUMENT
El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument is near the site of the early Los Angeles pueblo or town where forty-four settlers of Native American, African and European heritage journeyed more than one-thousand miles across the desert from present-day northern Mexico and established a farming community in September 1781. Since that time, Los Angeles has been under the flags of Spain, Mexico and the United States and has grown into one of the world’s largest metropolitan areas. Today, as a department of the City of Los Angeles, El Pueblo is a living museum that continues to fulfill its unique role as the historic and symbolic heart of the city, reflecting the Native American, African American, Spanish, Anglo, Mexican, Chinese, Italian and French cultures that contributed to its early history. Of the monument’s twenty-seven historic buildings, eleven are open to the public as businesses or have been restored as museums."
While I'm talking official, the city's official, original name is:
El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles del Río de Porciúncula,
The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels on the River Porciúncula
Because that takes a long time to say, most people reduce it to: Ell-lay (LA).
I was visiting Olvera Street, just after Christmas this year, early in 2009. I took some photos and because NOBODY else put them on the 'net, I'm glad to preserve the cultura.
In the next few days, I'll post the rest of the photographs. Click on them to see a much enlarged image.
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