William D. Estrada

Los Angeles's Olvera Street (Images of America: California) (Images of America (Arcadia Publishing)) William D. Estrada

Olvera Street Mexican marketplace and its plaza form the home of Latino culture in the Los Angeles region. Still standing in this downtown location of many fiestas, including Cinco de Mayo, are the Avila Adobe, plaza church La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora La Reina de Los Angeles, Pico House, Sepulveda House, and L. A. Firehouse No. 1. El Pueblo de La Reina de Los Angeles was founded in 1781. The 1820s built plaza was ruled for decades by the magnanimous Judge Agustín Olvera. Wine Street was renamed in his honor after his 1876 death and took on a back-alley toughness depicted in early Hollywood films. In the 1920s, Christine Sterling campaigned to save the Avila Adobe from demolition and transform Olvera Street into an internationally recognized tourist destination, which opened in 1930. Today the old plaza and Olvera Street shops, restaurants, museums, and vendors draw 1 million people annually under the auspices of El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument.