24WESTERN ENTERPRISEWILD WEST JUNE 2019SM
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n the fall of 1928 philanthropist Christine Sterling (1881–
1963) wandered through the vacant Avila Adobe, the old-
est extant building in Los Angeles, which had been con-
demned by the Department of Health as “unfit for human
habitation.” Why do people write and talk about history but do nothing
to save it? she wrote in her journal that day. The Olvera Street
dwelling certainly held historic significance. Among the city’s
earliest homes, it had hosted such storied guests as fur trapper
Jedediah Smith and U.S. Navy Commodore Robert Stock-
ton, who had established his headquarters there in 1846 when
accepting local authorities’ surrender to American forces during
the Mexican War. So, Sterling and like-minded Los Angelenos
set out to restore the Avila Adobe and transform the surrounding
Olvera Street district.
Its history dates from 178l, when Felipe de Neve, Spain’s new
governor of the Californias (Baja and Alta), resolved to establish
civilian settlements, or pueblos, in sparsely populated Alta Cali-
fornia. That year 11 families of settlers (pobladores) arrived at a
chosen site along a promising river in the frontier province.
There they established El Pueblo de la Reina de los Ángeles
(Village of the Queen of the Angels, or “the Pueblo” for short).
Agriculture and livestock were the lifeblood of the region, and
what would become known as Olvera Street started as a trade
distribution center. From the 1850s through the early 20th century
wine making served as the street’s primary industry.IT HAPPENED
ON OLVERA STREET
LOS ANGELES’ OLDEST MEXICAN COMMERCIAL DISTRICT
ONCE HOSTED ITALIAN WINE MERCHANTS AND OTHER ENTREPRENEURS
BY RAMON VASCONCELLOSThe Pueblo achieved city status in 1835. Around that time,
drawn by the Mediterranean climate, immigrants from the
northern Italian wine-making regions of Piedmont, Lombardy
and Tuscany began to settle and cultivate vineyards to the east
along the Los Angeles River. The greater community of Italian
immigrants desired wines reminiscent of home, further spurring
wine production.
While the bucolic nature of its environs proved appealing,
the burgeoning city of Los Angeles itself tended to be lawless
and raucous. Historian Leonard Pitt posited that the turbulent
politics of the Mexican era, followed by war with the United
States, contributed to a flow of itinerant, disgruntled youth (Mexi-
can and Anglo alike) throughout California. Many such young
men became highwaymen, or road agents. The violence was
particularly bad in Los Angeles County. Between July 1850 and
October 1851 there were 44 homicides in a county whose popu-
lation numbered only about 2,300. “There is no country where
human life is of so little account,” editorialized the Los Angeles Star
in 1853. “Men hack one another to pieces with pistols and other
cutlery, as if God’s image were of no more worth than the life of
one of the two or three thousand ownerless dogs that prowl about
our streets and make night hideous.” One chronicler dubbed Los
Angeles the “toughest and most lawless city west of Santa Fe.”
The opportunity to reap ill-gotten gains proved especially
tempting to card sharks, who targeted those both headed to andIn 1930 city officials recognized
Olvera as Los Angeles’ oldest street
and commercial hub. One Mexican
language newspaper hailed it as “an
alley that reminds us of old Mexico.”